Valentine's Day

I know, it's a little late, but such is life. Sunday was Valentine's Day. It was also a big snow day. We've been getting a lot of those lately. Being the traditional folks that we are, we decided to spend our Valentine's Day the same way most people do...we took the kids indoor snowboarding with friends. What? That's not how you celebrated? Shame on you! Sorry for the poor picture, but this is the front of Snow Valley in Peer...at night...through a windshield...in the snow. That enclosure that you see angling up the the right is the trick snowboarding area inside. I'll have to go back on a clear and sunny day and take some more pics of the outside. It's really an interesting building. For more details, you can check out their website. In case you were pondering the question as to why we went to an indoor snowboarding/skiing facility when we had several inches of fresh powder on the ground outside, the answer is...Belgium is flat. As a pancake. At least this region of it is. While our KB friends were hustling around, trying desperately to find decent hills to go sledding on with their kids, we went straight to the source of fun...Snow Valley! This is one of the cafe areas inside the facility. I think that I mentioned this before, but Belgians are geniuses when it comes to entertaining the kids and keeping the parents content at the same time. There is a larger restaurant to the left of this, but it was full of locals who don't understand why crazy Americans carry cameras with them everywhere that they go and insist on taking pictures of the strangest things. My kids tend to agree with the locals. Therefore, I didn't get any pictures of that. There are large windows lining the entire wall of this eating area, as well as the main restaurant, so you can watch your friends and family playing in the snow in a maintained temp of -2 Celsius, while you relax in warmth with a nice meal and cup of coffee. This is the kids/beginners area. You ride the sidewalk escalator up the hill, waddle your way off, and then snowboard or ski back down again. When you feel comfortable, you can go to the slightly bigger hill opposite it. This one is 100 meters long. Brandon had a blast on this one. Jess decided she was in more of a relaxing mood than a snowboarding one, so she hung out in the cafe and checked out the action. The main slope is to the left of this, and it's 235 meters long.

This is the Boarders Paradise Funpark. It's on the far right side of the building. This is the slope that I took a picture of from the outside. Quite a few people were doing some fancy ticks in this area. It was a lot of fun to watch. In all, we had a really great day. (And we wore Brandon out, which is always a bonus.) I hope that you and yours had a great Valentine's Day as well. If not...there is always next year. And snowboarding in Belgium.