Not quite the Swiss Alps......

Ever since Astrid's first visit to the snow, while we were in Switzerland, we have vowed to take her back...... to the snow (Switzerland is also on the agenda, but that might be awhile away).  Here she is in Switzerland, enjoying her first taste of snow in October 2012 at Jungfraujoch, at a mere 3466m above sea level.

Last Winter, by the time we had a Fiji holiday and got through Astrid's birthday and all our other around the house jobs, Winter was over. Of course I was also pregnant with Soren, so a day trip to the snow wasn't high on the agenda.  Now it's Winter again and we still haven't gotten around to that snow trip.  Astrid would love a day at the snow, but Soren is too little to get much out of it, and it really does seem like a lot of effort to drag two small children up the NSW ski fields for a couple of hours play time in the snow.

The weather has been foul here the last week or so....... We have had lots of days where the apparent temperature really hasn't got above zero for most of the day, and it's been sleeting or snowing for part of the day. OK, the snow wasn't sticking but there have been snowflakes in the air.  Luckily for us (and our lazy parenting) it did actually snow at nearby Corin Forrest. It is only a 30-40 minute drive from our house, so a much more manageable (and cheaper) outing with 2 small kids. 

It snowed so much there on the Tuesday last week that they had to close the road.  We thought we'd try and get there later in the week to see the snow. Wednesday we were busy but Thursday seemed like the best option.  Wednesday turned out to be a slightly warmer day and some of the snow had melted but it looked like on Thursday morning that the road was open and there was at least some snow.

We packed up enough spare clothes, food and possessions to last us a week away, and headed out after breakfast.  Astrid was beyond excited about going to the 'snow.' We hoped she wouldn't be too disappointed with the fairly pathetic local snow. Luckily she couldn't remember too much about Switzerland!

Soren had a nice nap in the car as we drove, and Astrid was becoming increasingly distressed that she hadn't yet spied snow. About 200 metres from Corin Forrest we started seeing snow on the ground.  When we got there, there was at least some snow to be seen. Although it was obviously starting to melt!

As we got out of the car we verified it was snowy and very cold, but Astrid was keen to go and investigate. The staff had closed off access to the other side of the creek, where the majority of the snow was, and the snow play area was also closed.  Apparently the day before some kids had broken into the snow play area and ruined their base coat of snow. That and the slightly warmer temps meant that there wasn't much snow left where we could access.  Us and a several other families with young children were wandering around looking a little disappointed.
  

Undeterred Astrid had a play in what little snow there was and built a tiny snowman.  Soren enjoyed being rugged up and warm. He looked confused as to why he felt so warm and cosy but his face was freezing!

Just as we were thinking of heading off the staff looked a bit worried about all their potential visitors running away due to the lack of snow, they decided to open up access to the other side of the creek.  Yay, more snow.......

Astrid loved running, jumping and playing in the snow. she also thought making tiny snowballs and throwing them at me and the camera was the best fun ever.

Of course it quickly turned into having to sit in the snow....... thank goodness for waterproof ski pants!  Soren had his first stand in the snow, and looked like he desperately wanted to have a good crawl around in it. We didn't think that was a good idea though (mean parents)!

There were plenty of other small children around so we had a play and built more snowmen.  Other kids had come equipped with their own carrots and kindly donated some to us for use on snowmen.  The small patch of snow eventually become littered with small snowmen, built by various small children (and parents).

Astrid was obviously getting a bit hungry and decided to eat the snow...... at this point we thought we had been cold for long enough and headed into the cafe to warm up and have a hot drink. The warm fire and hot chocolate made Astrid a happy girl. Soren looked on in envy and made to with demolishing several biscuits (since under no circumstances was he going to drink his bottle).

 

It was now lunch time and miserably cold and windy. Despite that, we had to drag Astrid away from the snow, with the promise of another snow visit in the future.  Next time we might even manage some tobogganing, and hopefully slightly more snow!

Both kids managed to nap all the way home and we declared it a successful outing. It wasn't quite the Swiss Alps, but it was quick, easy and fun, so a pretty good day out for two young kidlets.