Last Day at Sunday River

Still no new snow, but never mind, the weather is clear and ideal for skiing. Everyone is sad that it is our last day and Mr King, not wanting any last minute incidents, gave a calming speech at breakfast about remaining in your comfort zone, the year 10 boys, of course, took every word on board !!!!. Unfortuantely, we do have a few of our pupils who have colds and have elected not to ski so its off to bed for them and hope they feel better before our journey home.

Scott did indeed get to wear the shorts on the last day and we have had several offers from the hotel staff to purchase the shorts as they seem to be very popular with the locals, not much around here to keep them entertained!!!

The resort was buzzing with several locals coming to the mountain for the weekend but this did not seem to affect the slopes which still remained relatively empty. Everyone was eager to enjoy their last day skiing and they were not disappointed with both groups taking on new and challenging runs to finish with. At the end of the session we all met up with Paul and Michelle presenting certificates celebrating our pupils efforts during the week, we are indebted to them both for keeping our pupils safe on the mountain and ensuring they enjoyed their week.

On our way back to the hotel Harry got very excited as he thought his mum and dad had sent a late birthday present !! it will not fit in your bag Harry

We are going out to an Adventure Centre tonight, with a climbing wall, golf, laser tag and many other activities.

A great way to unwind was to take the kids to a place where they could shoot each other, safely! Pup, Russell, Robin,, Ed and Amy all had a go on the climbing wall.  However, Iona put all the boys to shame at the speed she scrambled up the wall.  We couldn't stop her and she was soon going up again. 

 

Mr King and Miss Joyce trying to untangle the ropes

Iona was up and down the wall in no time, a natural

We got back to the hotel at 10.15 and off to bed to prepare for our journey home, sadly it is now snowing heavily so we will miss out on the powder, never mind may be we can enjoy next year!!!
See you back in the UK on Monday morning

Day 4 Sunday River

All the talk this morning on the television is about the snow storm due, not sure if it is going to hit us but we have our fingers crossed as to ski in powder conditions before the end of the holiday would be great.

This morning the higher group are skiing from the hotel across to the main centre, rather than taking the shuttle bus, we are hoping that the whole group can ski back to the hotel at the end of the day.

Back at 9.30pm your time to update the blog

The weatherman could not have been more wrong as we enjoyed our best day on the slopes with sunny and perfect snow conditions all day.

The shorts were being worn by Alex who after having skied so perfectly all week goes and causes mayhem on the slopes with people losing skis and falling over. Following todays skiing we have a long list of contenders, Mr King went out with the lower intermediates and was lucky to survive the experience. Sitting next to Scott on the chair lift and when coming up to exit Scott fails to raise his ski tips and loses both skis and has to run instead of skiing off the lift. He survived to tell the story so to did Harry, Iona and Chloe who also had incidents today. Mr King is hoping for a quiet last days skiing so will NOT be skiing with the lower intermediates!!!!

Before dinner the group watched the final of the Sunday River table tennis tournament with Ollie taking on Alex. After some excellent play Alex came out with the win and walked away with the prize money of 10 dollars!!!, Ollie was happy with his 1 dollar prize !!. Tonight we are having another swim and then a pool competition and probably early to bed again.



Today we had our first non skiers of the trip, a few of the group had been trying to fight off cold symptoms but in the afternoon session it got the better of them and we decided that some rest in bed would be the best activity for them so Miss Joyce took Daniel, Chloe, Kiera, Amy and Sophie back to the hotel. Lets hope the rest means they are able to ski on our last day.

This is a view of the Jordan Grand, our hotel, from the mountain top

The photo challenge proved to be very competitive, here we see the year 10 boys with their nativity scene, the wise men bringing gifts of training shoes, ice cream and a touch pad.



Alex's team response to the challenge of inventing a new Walt Disney character



This catagory was What happened next !!, dont worry they are on the ground floor

Day 3 Skiing at Sunday River

A very popular choice for the person most deserving to wear the shorts today, Miss Joyce reckons that she only fell over to stop and help someone in trouble but none of the pupils were buying this story, she even had members of the hotel staff attending the unvieling ceremony, these shorts are now becoming the talking point of the hotel staff.

The day started with a celebration of Harry's birthday, 10 years old. Harry is becoming a very popular member of the group with both the hotel and ski staff all wanting to adopt him, he has that ability to get grown ups running around after him, going out of their way to ensure that he has everything he needs, nice one Harry !!





Brilliant sunshine stayed with us all day on our 3rd day skiing with the temperature remaining low enough for the snow cannons to continue to produce snow, conditions were very good. The top group had the prospect of tackling some black runs and skiing back to the hotel at the end of the day. The other group were continuing to gain much experience on the many blue runs spread over the mountain. At the end of the day Mr King was bombarded with stories of crashes and incidents that might win the right to wear the shorts, voting will take place after dinner and could take some time!!!



Daniel had a few cold symptoms in the morning but still elected to ski, Mr King and Miss Joyce took him under their wing with a gentle ski with a hot chocolate half time stop, well done Daniel as he managed to ski the whole day, amazing what the promise of a hot chocolate can do.

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During dinner we celebrated Harry's birthday with a chocolate cake, Harry disappeared up to his room with the majority of the cake and there was no sign of it later!!

After another group swim and hot tub Miss Joyce organised  a table tennis competition, there was some very competitive matches played with Alex and Ollie getting through to the final which will be played tomorrow evening. Pupils were also given a photographic challenge, with several tasks to complete during the evening, one being to get a photo with as many American people in the picture as they can, the girls seemed to be favourites having got a large number of young men to pose, with their clothes on I hasten to add.
All in bed again by 10.00pm

Day 2 Bowling

Having the swimming pool and hot tub is a great way to recover all aching muscles and most of the group took advantage before dinner. In the evening the whole group visited a bowling centre nearby, we had the entire centre to ourselves and with some help from the manager in scoring we were soon hurling the small bowling balls down the alley. No computorised systems here just a pencil and score sheet, felt as though we had stepped back in time. The evening was of course not competitive just for fun but Mr King did win all three games

 Arrived back at the hotel at 10.15pm and everyone was more than happy to go to their rooms to sleep. Much discussion was had on the bus journeys regarding the wearing of the shorts and a prime target seems to be favourite with the pupils, check out on our next blog who the poor person will be.




 

Alex wearing protective head gear as the game was fairly dangerous!!

The younger boys found Candle Pin bowling good because the size and weight of the balls was less than a quarter of that of ten pin balls

Day 2 Sunday River

After a great nights sleep, some of the rooms were fast asleep by 9.30pm, we rose for another wonderful breakfast of pancakes, bacon and potato cake. Miss Joyce has said that we can eat as much as we like as we will burn it all off by the end of the day, Mr King is very relieved by this news !!!

The group met in the hotel foyer ready to catch the shuttle to the slopes, however there were a few organisation issues, mainly to do with a few pupils having the wrong poles and helmets but Miss Joyce soon had them back on track. 

There were a few changes made by our instructors to the groups and with some final checks needed before venturing off up the mountain in part sunny weather with a chilly breeze. The beginners and lower intermediate group have really progressed alot today and are now on course to be able to get to the top of the mountain tomorrow and ski all the way back to the hotel. The higher intermediate group have been flying today, it has been non stop skiing all day, it has been difficult to get them to stand still long enough for any photos. Paul, their instructor is so pleased with their progress and they have be able to cover a large amount of pistes on the mountains in just two days. As for the union jack shorts, well it has been very quiet with no one doing anything too embarassing, but we still have the evening to come !! bowling tonight.

You may be wondering as to who ended up wearing the union jack shorts today, after a conclusive result in the voting it was Russell for having drawn the attention of both Miss Joyce and Mr King in helping to get him up after a fall only to cause them both to fall over, not cool for teachers to be seen in this unusal and very rare position.

Day 1 skiing at Sunday River

Our pupils were up way before time, despite the very tiring journey.  Obviously keen to get going.  Long may it last!!  But before we left for the slopes we needed to top up our energy with a delicious cooked breakfast - American style.  The ski fit all went smoothly and quickly and by 10.30am we were hitting the slopes.  Our instructors are Michelle and Paul.  They organised the group into ability groups and then they were off for their 2 hour ski lesson, with the sun shining.  The perfect start to the week.

 After lunch, the conditions became cooler and there were a few snowflakes!!  So we have to be prepared for whatever weather condions are thrown at us!

 However, at the end of day 1, we are very eager to report that there have been no injuries, only happy faces!!  We now await our dinner, followed by a swim, steam or sauna, with a time to relax and chill out in the spacious rooms with a great selection of DVDs.  Mr King is hoping for an early night!! At dinner we will be voting for who wears the boxer shorts.  Current contenders - Russell, who nearly managed to take out Mr King and Miss Joyce while they were helping him get up after a fall, Chris - losing his glove off one of the chair lifts thus causing Mr King the happy task of retrieving it and Alex Proffitt - for the most falls throughout the day.  You will need to wait for tomorrow night to see who got the vote.

Alex being rather camera shy



A night spent in the hot tub calmed any aching muscles



Our journey to Sunday River

Thankyou to all you parents for ensuring we got a prompt departure at 1.30pm. Arrived at Heathrow and parked up the mini-buses, transfer then to terminal 5 was not as bad as we thought, Harry and his pet dog led the way through the airport, Harry is only 9 years old but a born leader and obviously an experienced traveller. The flight was relaxing and fairly smooth and we touched down in Boston ahead of schedule.
Our last stage of the journey was a 3 hour bus ride, amazingly all the group fell asleep so before we knew it we were pulling into Sunday River and the Jordan Grand. Check in was very fast, the rooms are very spacious and have huge flat screen TV's and a kitchen, pupils are in heaven, all they need is a maid to do all the channel changing and to put the pop corn in the micro wave. After working out were the beds were !!! some of them were built into the wall and had to be lowered to the floor, pupils were odered into their beds to coninue their nights sleep, we did not get any resistance!!
Breakfast is at 8.45am and then off to do ski fit and finally onto the slopes by 10.30am. Snow conditions are ok but with a storm bringing snow on Friday this will be welcomed.

Have my camera primed and will post some photos this evening of our day, just a view from the hotel.