Ski Weekend

Back at Thanksgiving, the Bonfils suggested a group of us take off for the weekend and go skiing.  Giggles is pregnant, so she said she'd tag along for the weekend, but wouldn't be able to hit the slopes.  I'm not a skier, but I'm all about playing in the snow, and so I said to count me in for the fun.  By the time we had it all planned, there were 14 of us headed towards the Alps!  

Munchkin found the chalets for us to stay in, the bossman rented an extra car, the women planned the meals, and then suddenly it was time to drive towards those gorgeous mountains.  Here was our first glimpse of the snowcaps!

Getting closer...

 Almost there!

This was the view from our chalet window:

We arrived too late on Friday night to be able to go out and enjoy the snow, but we went ahead and rented our gear.  Since Barney is also pregnant, a big group of us did snow-shoeing, and only a small handful of the men actually skied.  I'd never done snow-shoeing before, but I had SO MUCH FUN.

What's a fun trip without thecamelridingcowgirl?

 Seriously...so many fun memories with this girl!

The bossman's daughters came along, and that was fun to have the kids around.  They made snow angels, ate icicles, and kept (or set?!) pace right along with us on the trail.

 The bossman's wifey.

My "I'm having SO MUCH FUN!" face.

A view of the village and all the chalets.  We were in Pra Loup, France, which is about halfway between Marseille and Torino, Italy.  It took us about 3-4 hours to get there.

Me and Barney.  Since I've ever only gone to the beach with her, this was fun to play in the snow instead.  (This photo was taken later in the day, near sunset.  I hadn't been cold all day, but all of a sudden I was, and put up the hoodie of my sweatshirt.  I didn't care how ridiculous I looked, I just wanted to be warm!)

Woody and the Crazy Cajun.   They had fun wreaking havoc on some of the snowmen people had built.  Woody full on body tackled one.

Here's the Crazy Cajun kicking the head off of one.

The pictures we all got from this place were incredible, because it was so ridiculously beautiful.  I mean, seriously?!  This place was gorgeous.

You'd think I went to Narnia!

Really?  I took this photo with my iPhone.  Goodness.

On the drive home, we passed this cute little town, and I was able to snap a few photos from the car.  I have no idea the name of the town...it's somewhere between Pra Loup and Sisteron.

All in all, we had a wonderful time and everyone agreed we should do that every winter.  January and February can often be sort of downer months in France...the winter of November and December are bearable because you have the excitement of the holidays, but once they're over...there's just winter.  Nothing to look forward to for months except cold, rain, wind, and dark.  Bleh.  But...by planning a little weekend getaway for the end of January, it gave us something to look forward to, and then rejuvenated us to push through February.  Winner winner chicken dinner!

I know I've been a major slacker on blogging lately.  I don't even have an excuse.  I can't even promise I'll get better.  Blame February.