Snow Day!!!!

Our next stop on our adventure was Queenstown. It was a two hour drive from Te Anau and we were not ready to get back in the car but nevertheless we started our journey. Bill and I and the kids have been to Queenstown once before and loved it so we were pretty excited to get back there. For the rest of the day we let the kids play, checked out our apartment(a two bedroom with one bath and a full kitchen) and unpacked a little.

The next morning we woke up, had some breakfast and headed for the slopes! It was a beautiful day, perfect for the snow. We bundled the kids up(they looked so cute in the their snow gear) and headed for The Remarkables Ski resort. The road to the resort was a windy, narrow road so we were very glad that it wasn't icy that day. We saw some of the most dramatic views on the way up the mountain. We made it to the top, got the rest of our gear on and road the magic carpet(a moving conveyor belt) to the lodge. The kids really liked doing that! We heard that there was an area dedicated to sledding at this resort but quickly found out that that particular part was not open yet as this was the opening day of the resort. We were pretty bummed but quickly got over it and found a big area of snow off the side to play in. The kids were having a great time trudging around in the snow. Bella kept falling and getting up and falling again laughing all the while. She and I also had fun making snow angels and throwing snow at each other. Charlie, on the other hand, was a little more timid. He could walk pretty well on top of the snow but if his feet sunk at all or any snow touched his skin, he would whine. Bella saw a little girl go down the slopes on skis and decided that she wanted to do that as well. Bill and I took her to the lodge to get skis. He rented skis as well so that he could teach her and ski with her. In hind sight and from looking at pictures the whole thing was a bad idea but you never know until after, right? She was not at all interested in getting fitted for boots. She fussed and whined when they took her boots to fit her skis and pretty much threw herself down when I said let's go outside and go skiing....I mean how dumb are we? We got outside and Bill really tried to show her how to ski but unfortunately Bella had other ideas. I think, in her mind when she put on the skis she would magically know how to do it and it didn't work out that way. So bad led to worse and needless to say she ended up having the worlds biggest screaming tantrum on the top of the mountain. All was not lost, however. Bill picked Charlie up, held him dangling between his legs and sailed down the hill of the bunny slope. Charlie loved it and kept saying "More, More!" After Charlie was through we gathered up Bella and left the mountain. It was a fun and eyeopening experience...