We caught the Olympic bug. Badly. We don’t normally watch TV, which makes this development especially dramatic. But the Olympics? The Olympics are exempt. The Olympics take over everything.

Case in point: one particular boy became deeply passionate about curling. Not casually interested. He knew curlers’ names. He was asking to join a curling club. He was explaining rules. He had thoughts about the stones.

And right as this was all happening, “Ski Week” was approaching.

Now, Ski Week is a thing in Austria. Schools are closed, families head to the mountains, and everyone pretends they planned it all calmly and in advance. The reality? It requires booking approximately one year ahead, a tolerance for cold, and a willingness to spend a small fortune on something entirely dependent on weather.

Mom has … none of those qualities. She doesn’t ski. She doesn’t love the cold. And she does not enjoy planning things a year in advance. (She tried in August ... and again in October. It did not go well.) So, naturally, we had no Ski Week plans.

And then, just as Mom was about to buy another family’s ski week vacation because they couldn’t go anymore, she said, “Hrm … I wonder if we could go to the Olympics. Italy isn’t that far.” (Important context: this is the same family that once “accidentally” went to Italy for lunch.)

So she looked. Casually. Just "to see".

And somehow (against all logic) it was cheaper and easier to plan a week at the Olympics than a week of skiing.

So … we went to the Olympics Best accidental trip ever. Even better than the accidental lunch trip!