Skiing with the Harshbargers

There is an indoor Snowhall about an hour and 1/2 away in France.  

It is a great way to teach kids to ski as it has bunny hills and a conveyor belt to take you to the top.  Tessa screamed the whole way down saying, "I'm gonna die." Then she cried at the bottom for an hour before getting enough courage to try again.  It was a little challenging trying to teach 3 kids at once.   I asked the boys how much they enjoyed it on a scale from 1 to 10 and they gave it a 9.  I said, "Great, then we can come and do it again." And they replied, "NO WAY!"  

Well, maybe I can make them do it again next year.  

That night we went to the Burg Lichtenberg Christmas Market

Thanksgiving Dinner

I was not in the mood to make a big Thanksgiving dinner so we 

had a delicious meal at an Indian Restaurant.  

I wouldn't mind making that a tradition.

Visit from Emilie and Wendy

We were lucky to get a visit from Emilie and Wendy just days after Emilie got home from her mission to Guatemala.  I can't believe that she thought of us while there and brought us all gifts.

Ryan took them to two Christmas Markets, Luxembourg and Trier.  We also went to Heidelberg and Burg Lichtenberg.  We were so thrilled to have family visit.

Morocco

At the Market

Parking lot

Aït Benhaddou

 Moroccan earthen clay architecture and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site 

We bought some art from this boy who painted with saffron and a flame

Sahara Desert

We drove through a snow storm to get to the Sahara Desert, which added 2 hours to the 7 hour drive.  We were transferred from our private driver to another driver that sped us another 10 minutes through the dessert until we got to the camels.   It was nothing short of a miracle that we made it in time for a camel ride at sunset to the Berber Camp.   I have always wanted to ride a camel and daydreamed of this moment.  But it was chilly and windy with sand whipping me in the face, I couldn't wait for it to end.  It was picturesque, though.  We rode for at least an hour as the sun set.  By the time we got to the camp, it was really dark and really cold.  Unfortunately, we did not bring proper clothing as we thought it would be warmer.  They fed us a yummy dinner and then built a fire. We were supposed to dance around the fire but I almost climbed in the fire to keep me warm.  We had a huge berber tent with 3 beds in it.  We took the blankets from one bed and added them to another and slept in the same bed.  We woke up early to see the sun rise from Algeria.  Pretty incredible.

Fes Morocco

Our plane was a couple hours delayed but we were still fall in love with Fez.  

We stayed at a charming riad in the center of Old Town.  

We were able to fit in a bit of shopping and a delicious meal.

Riad Roof

View from the roof