St. Urban, Austria Ski Break
February 16-20, 2008

We left Salzburg and made the 3 hour drive south to our Kinderhotel St. Ubanerhof. It was not a five star resort, by any means, but it was PERFECT for our families and all inclusive. We had originally booked two small apartments behind the main hotel, as they had more room for us. When we checked in they asked if we would mind taking the same size apartments in the main hotel, which was great, as it meant we didn't have to trek through the cold (or colder) to go to the restaurant or to the kids' activities.
We had our own table at the restuarant throughout our stay. The food was not great, but good enough, and certainly there was always enough of it. Every day throughout the day and into the evening they have their playland open, a large play place where we can drop off the kids in the care of the babysitters there, allowing us to relax or ski, or whatever. We spent more time together than in the playland, sometimes just going with them, but it was nice to get a little time to relax.
The first day Jason and I went skiing at the resort just 5 minutes drive from the hotel it was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was actually quite warm. We skiied for about an hour and a half before I decided to take a run that had a number of large jumps, just to try it out. Unfortunately I took one and went straight down on my face and shoulder. At first I just thought my face was a little bit dazed until I started to get up and realized that I had dislocated my shoulder. I popped it back into place, at this point wiping blood from my face (my goggles were COMPLETELY cracked, so I must have slammed down hard!). I tested out my shoulder, moving it around a bit and then trying to lift my arms, at which point my shoulder popped out again. I bent over and pushed it back into place, but realized at this point something was wrong. Every time I tested it, trying to lift my arm up, I could feel the shoulder coming out of its socket (at least that is how it felt). A snowmobile carried me back down to the mountain. Jason went and got the car and drove me back to the hotel. Heather and I (the girls we left at the playland) then made our way to Klagenfurt, about 30 minutes away, to the emergency room there. I was actually quite surprised (although not sure why) at the efficiency of this hospital. We logged in, a few minutes later my name appeared on the TV screens telling me where to go. A doctor briefly examined me, checked for a concussion, and then sent me to X-Ray. A few minutes after that I was called back in and told it looked like a break somewhere in the shoulder joint, so they sent me to the CT room. After that procedure, they called me back in and told me I had to wear a sling for four weeks. I was actually relieved it was as simple as that and the whole ordeal only took a little over an hour and we were driving back to the hotel. Austrian efficiency at its finest! I think the most frustrating part of the whole thing is that I am just a casual skier, I don't need complicated runs or anything fancy, so it frustrates me that I was so stupid to try out something different. Lesson learned.
Obviously this put a damper on my own personal vacation, as I was done participating in any physical activity, but the girls had a tremendous time with their friends and I still had a good time watching them and hanging out with the Birnbaums.
One morning we put all of the kids into ski school for the morning. Ashley and Sam cried immediately and we almost took them out before deciding to just bite the bullet and leave them with the instructors. Jason and Laura went skiing while Heather and I hung out at the lodge reading (me in a sling and Heather 6 months pregnant). An hour or so later I snuck back to the ski school to peek in on the kids. Ashley and Sam were still crying! Katie and AJ seemed to be dong pretty good. I took a couple of videos. You can tell that Ashley is crying the whole time she is in line and the whole time it was her turn to practice.
They took a bathroom break a short time later, at which point we couldn't handle seeing the smaller kids in such agony, so we took them out. Unfortunately Katie and AJ asked not to have to go back, so we succumbed and took them sledding for the rest of the morning before lunch. They had MUCH more fun doing that than being in ski school. Maybe next year we'll have better luck!
The next couple of days we just relaxed, swam, and played at the playground at the hotel. The kids had a great time, I did even though skiing was cut exceptionally short, and we would recommend this place to anyone with a family that doesn't need a large ski resort with dozens of lifts and runs. It was perfect for us and our young families and the weather was FANTASTIC. It was actually quite warm and sunny the entire time!
We left Wednesday morning to drive to the Bratislava, Slovakia airport to catch our flight to Barcelona, where we would spend the next 4 days!