Funny Confession #316

Grocery shopping is much better with a cute bag

Pretty In The City

This morning brought me a slick white bike commute and a gorgeous run.  

Run Vars

The snow conditions in Vars were a runner's dream.  We could ski all morning...and then get out on the roads for afternoon runs.  This is rare, and true die hard skiers don't love these conditions (it means there isn't a ton of snow), but to the runners...it is amazing.

Please admire these conditions...perfection...snow on the mountains, clear-ish roads....

Lucky for me, my fave running buddy was by my side.

And for the icing on the running cake... O ran with me too!  I can count on one hand the number of times he and I have run together, so this was a very special treat.

The hilly run we did took us right past Napolean's refuge...too cool...

 This is the summit...getting to it is not easy...a photo op is a must...

And here are the machines Nixons at the top.  These 2 are super human - 10 years older than us and 10x more fit...always.  Such inspiration.

Celebrating with La Famille a Vars

The slopes and the food were ridiculously good, but the holidays in Vars were all about family.

Uncly Ry was with us.  It was so fun to spend time with him on the snow, and to share Vars with him.

Team Nixon was with us.  The coolest family we know, we are so glad they are ours.  We love that they rallied all the way from Park City to be with us for the holidays.  They say they were motivated by last year's video...so cool that they took that inspiration and made it happen.  LOVE.  French alps sure look good on them...should we do it again soon??

Our Vars family was there, being fab hosts as always.  Their cousins were there, and their cousins cousins, and their parents...and in our family that means we are all family.  We were surrounded by love and laughter and snow and sun...and eclairs.  Fa la la.

Together, with family, we celebrated xmas with the annual Vars spectacle, and a visit from Pere Noel.

We went to torchlight parades, cousin Gabby even got to participate...like a true french ski instructor.  

 And we celebrated a lot of every day moments, Vars style...like lunch in slope side chalets

 Cousin snuggles

Playmobile sessions...

 A lot of uno...

 Dinners in

 Bed time stories

Playing in the snow...

Staying up late to giggle

Wheelies With Capoz

MC was in town from PDX a few weeks back.  It was so much fun to share our city with him.  He was passing through AMS on business, and so we only had him for one night.  We did it up.  We hoped on the oma fietsen (grandma bikes) and rolled to de Kas.

After lots of wine dinner, the boys were popping wheelies on their oma fiets.  Not easy to do, and not designed to do it (the boys or the bikes).  O ended up breaking his chain...

Which they tried to fix....

But could not.  And so he grabbed ahold of MC's bike and MC towed him all the way home...a hilarious memory...

Funny Confession #315

Thank you HB for this recent post which reminded me the Vondelpark loop wasn't all about me and my podium drama.  My hubby and kids also ran the race!  O ran a 10k and the kids ran 1.5k.  This was O's first race post knee surgery and maybe his first 10k ever.  He crushed it.  So happy to see his knee so strong!  The kids did awesome too!  And, like all things, it was even sweeter because we shared it with buddies.  All four members of HB's family rocked the race too.

 Photos below are from HB

 These two are well on their way to ruling the upcoming Paris half marathon...

Hello Goodbye

When I landed on Monday morning, after my whirlwind trip to PDX, I had about 20 minutes to see this guy at the airport, before he took off...for a whirlwind trip to PDX.  Some weeks are crazy.

Can't wait for our next Hello.  I like Hellos more than Goodbyes.

Vars Holiday - Food

Tartiflette, fondue, raclette, eclairs (in bed), noodles, hot cocoa, du vin rouge, Genipi, frites, oysters, saucisses, baguettes, soup, crepes, coq au vin...this is the Vars diet, and we freaking love it.