A flurry of snow and snow memories…

We had a little flurry of snow on Saturday and my daughters ran out in their pyjamas to make the most of it. It didn’t settle for long and was certainly not enough to make anything  or even have a mini snowball fight, but it was magical nonetheless and lasted a couple of hours, so there was plenty of time for catching snow flakes on our tongues!

At least the snowflakes we stuck on our windows in the hope of conjuring up some snow, seemed to have worked their magic 🙂

We have missed out on a proper snowfall here in the South of England for over three years now, which has been disappointing for my daughters . They have strong memories of the four snowy winters ( well, at least a couple of days of proper snow…this is England after all!) that they enjoyed in their early childhood; with plenty of time for sledging, snowman building etc and they do wonder what has happened to “proper” winter (the one they remember from their early years and that they enjoy seeing in their picture books).

This time last year, fearing the snow wouldn’t return, we treated our daughters to a trip to Austria for guaranteed snow. When we arrived in Vienna, where we visited friends, it was actually quite warm – eek! But luckily we received a tip that there was snow on a mountain about an hour and a half away by train, so we made an early start and enjoyed a marvellous day of snow fun in a small mountain village called Semmering. We hired a couple of sledges and took a cable car to the top of the 3km sledging run.

The run is dotted with characters and colourful tunnels to make the journey interesting for children.

I shared my sledge with my eldest daughter

and my youngest rode with Daddy

It was such fun; we felt quite out of control at times, but it was oh so exhilarating (like skiiing) and our daughters said it was the “best thing that they have ever done” with us, so it was so worth the travel and expense. We will probably go there or somewhere similar next year for sledging as it was a wonderful family experience for us. My daughters are very cautious by nature (the eldest only started riding a bike at 8yrs and the youngest is still too worried to even try yet), so it was amazing to see them trust us and let themselves go. It was such an enjoyable experience, with plenty of playtime in the snow on the way there from the station too. This is what memories are made of 🙂

We have a lovely German traditional wooden sledge in the garage that needs some use. We haven’t given up hope of more snow….

“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! ”