Playing in (what is left of) the snow.

Today was another extremely beautiful day! As I put on my Facebook status; the sun is shining, the breeze is just right, and the view is breathtaking. Unfortunately because of the high temperatures it means that the snow is melting fast.

Sybille told me earlier today that normally the snow would stay until April. As you might have been able to see in some of my pictures from yesterday – or the one’s from today – there are spots higher up than we are that are void of snow. I think that normally even where we are there would be snow until April.

They have buses that are constantly going up the mountain for all the skiers and snowboarders so we took one up a little higher to where the beginners learn. We were going to try and do a little tobogganing, but it didn’t work very well. We went over to this little area away from the hill and the kids played for a bit. It was Sybille, Adeline and I, with Bastien, Clémence, and Sylvain. Of course we all had sunglasses on and Sylvain looked so adorable (all the kids did, but you know how it is with babies). And it was Bastien’s first time on a bus!

We met Aurore, Jeff, and Maëline for lunch at this restaurant; Le Rouge and we ate outside! It was really neat. Some of the chairs had blankets over the back and they had benches with fur coverings. And the entire time I had this incredible view of the mountains.

Tonight after the big kids were in bed we brought out the game ‘Sushi Bar’. We played it last year in Canada when they visited us, but I needed a small refresher. So you have these – I don’t know what to call them…they’re like dominoes – some with good sushi (blue +points) and others with bad, smelly sushi (red -points). There are 5 die; one side good sushi, one side bad sushi, one side blue chop sticks, one side red chop sticks. You get three roles per turn. After each role you have to keep at least one that you don’t role again. Obviously if you get bad sushi you pick up a bad sushi, good sushi = good sushi.

The points go from 1 to 6 and -1 to -6. If at the end of your three rolls you end up with say, 3 good sushi, a bad sushi, and red chop sticks you would pick up the 3rd good sushi, and so on each turn. You stack the ‘dominoes’ on top of each other because you don’t want the other players to remember what you have! That’s where the chop sticks come in. You need three of one colour to steal the top number from someone’s pile (you can choose who); blue for good sushi and +points, red for bad sushi -points. If you get 4 or 5 chop sticks you can choose any ‘domino’ from anyone’s pile.

So if you remember that someone has a +6 hiding somewhere you’re in luck. Or a -1, that’s good too. Scoring is simple, you add up the +points, take away for the – and see what you have left. The highest I got tonight was +7. Jeff beat everyone all the time with +11 (twice, I believe) and a +10. I feel like my explanation is kind of confusing…I hope the pictures help a little.

And that was my day! Also, despite the sunscreen I put on, I think my cheeks got a little burnt…my scalp also, where my hair was parted because of my braids. Fun! Maybe I should go tanning……ha ha ha ha ha.

*The last two are the late afternoon sun on the mountains, and what I could get of the sun setting. I’ve also decided that this is a good size for pictures. I might go back and edit my other posts, who knows!

Posted by hollyjb on March 21, 2011

https://hollyjb.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/playing-in-what-is-left-of-the-snow/