Day 92 - Snow Igloos And Future Plans In Scharnstein

Day 92 started the way most of our Austrian mornings do now. A 7am wake up, coffees on, breakfast sorted, and straight into work for me while the kids tackled their schooling. Reading and handwriting were the focus today and they both knuckled down well, which made the rest of the day feel lighter from the start.

Just before we wrapped up, a message came through from the Austrian family down the road. With all the fresh snow overnight, there was finally enough to build a proper igloo in their backyard. That was all the motivation the kids needed to power through the last of their work.

Once they were done, they rugged up and headed down to join the Austrian and Norwegian families. Kia and I stayed back to plan the next leg of our trip. We finally made some solid progress on how we are going to move between Sicily and Lake Garda. Accommodation options, whether to hire a car, how long to stay in each place, how to break up the travel days so we are not constantly packing and unpacking. It felt productive. We know now that we need space. We have learnt that lesson well. Small and compact does not work for our family. The kids need room to breathe and move.

Curiosity eventually got the better of me and I headed down the road to check on the igloo build.

By the time I arrived, the igloo was finished. Completely built. Proper walls. A small doorway. A snowman perched on top. And inside, all six kids plus a couple of adults squeezed in comfortably. It was impressive. I had missed the build but they were all glowing with that proud, slightly frozen, just-built-something-awesome energy.

It was around 1:30pm and none of them had eaten lunch. They had been down there for hours. Peeling them away was a battle, but hunger eventually won and we got them home around 2pm.

Kia was back on video editing while the Norwegian mum needed to duck to the shops before her parents arrived to stay. One of her daughters came over and hung out with Emmett playing card games, which gave everyone a bit of breathing room.

Maddie and I also needed to grab groceries for dinner and some snacks for the weekend, so we headed down to the shops. When we reached the car, it was completely buried. Nearly 100 millimetres of snow across the roof, bonnet and windows. Proper covered.

We brushed it all off by hand. I forgot gloves. Rookie mistake. My hands were frozen by the end of it, but there is something satisfying about clearing that much snow off a car.

Back home, groceries unpacked, I convinced Emmett we should build our own snowman. He was keen and I wanted to set up a time lapse. We headed outside with one of the Norwegian girls and got started.

The snow looked perfect but it was too crumbly to compact properly. Every attempt at rolling a base just fell apart. So we pivoted and started building our own igloo instead. Two solid rows in and it was starting to take shape, but darkness came quickly and we had to call it.

The time lapse did not record. No footage. No photos. Slightly frustrating, but maybe that is the lesson. Not everything needs to be captured.

It is meant to rain tomorrow, so we will see if there is anything left to finish. I am keen to get back to the slopes soon, but honestly, the rest day was needed.

The harder part of the day was not the snow or the planning. It was trying to plan the future while the kids bounce off each other in a confined space. We have learnt this the hard way now. Space matters. Outdoor access matters. The kids can go outside here, but unless we go with them, they often choose not to. And when they stay inside, the tension builds.

Still, we locked in some good decisions for what comes next. That feels grounding.

Snow igloos. Frozen hands. Grocery runs. Crumbly snowmen. Big travel plans between Sicily and Lake Garda. Not a huge day, but a full one.