skiing and birthdays

The last few weeks have been highlighted by skiing and birthdays. We did our first ski trip ever with the girls to celebrate my birthday (February 4th), and the girls loved it so much that we went back for Ella's birthday and Valentine's Day. I had been skeptical of going skiing as a family, because it requires a lot of time, hassle, and money, but I was very pleasantly surprised with how much we all enjoyed it. We went to a resort in the southern French Alps called Les Orres. 

It's located just up the mountain from Embrun, an Alpine town where Ella's namesake, Ella Doeppner (my mother's maternal grandmother), spent the last years of her life. Great grandmother Ella has a special place in family lore. She was apparently a lovely person, and she made it through a stay at a Nazi concentration camp (teaching English there!) before being delivered to France by her son, Tom (who immigrated from Germany to the U.S. and joined the U.S. army). So it was perhaps fitting that our little Ella received a special birthday surprise from the restaurant at the ski resort--they gave her a large sparkling candle (almost thought it would shoot into the air) and everyone in the restaurant sang, provoking a rare blush from Mademoiselle Coquine.

Other highlights included Ella's birthday party at the ice rink and day trips to the Pont du Gard and Arles. And Ella finally lost her first tooth!