With a tip from Kai’s fellow classmates, we decided to book a ski vacation over the long Easter weekend at a resort in the Czech Republic.  We didn’t know what to expect — what the hotel would really be like, would there be snow, and even if the snow was there would the skiing be good?  It turned out that all-in-all is was a great facility to get this family on the path to becoming a ski family.  It was almost too simple — the ski rental was part of the hotel on the basement level and then right outside the door was a ski school and a small poma lift to connect to the larger mountain (although our mountain was not connected so some of the larger ski areas in the valley).  After a few days of lessons (in addition to a few from his stay in Japan), Kai took off literally.  I could barely keep up.  Teo also made his way onto the skiis and with the help of Chika even did a full run from the top.  I was hard to be up at the crack of dawn to go back to work again, but the pride I felt for how well the family did made it just a bit easier.