Monday, January 26, 2015

Garmisch and Linderhof

This past week we took a trip to Garmisch, Germany for a long weekend.We stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge, which is an American Resort there.

For our friends who used to live in Germany with us- look where the firetruck from the Food Court ended up!!  Charlotte and Toby used to ride this every time we went to visit the food court on base until it was finally replaced by a Lightning McQueen ride.  Amelie loved this so much. She made a beeline for it every opportunity she got. We also enjoyed the hotel pool, hot tub, gym, buffet breakfasts and dinners, and American amenities.

We also rented sleds and followed the rental guy's directions to a cow pasture where we could go sledding.  We started out on the hill right by the side of the road.

 The snow was perfect!

 I taught the Bear about snow angels.  He's a pro now.

 King of the Hill!
After a while, we decided to trek across the field to the opposite hill. Rob and I pulled the kids on the sleds.  This hill was much steeper than it looked from a distance.

 Rob braved it first.

But his sled didn't make it to the bottom of the hill with him.  It was really steep.

I made it down with my sled once, but only because Rob made a pretty good track for me first.

 On sleds or off, it was a fun day.

 The next day I stayed at the hotel to hang around the pool with Jake and Ami, while Rob hit the slopes with Charlotte and Toby.  The kiddos had a lesson and loved their first ski trip.  Over dinner I was told that it was harder than it looked, and that they were sore and tired.  When we told them next year it would be easier, Charlotte burst into tears that she wouldn't get to go again the next day.  That really surprised me! Toby told me that now he has five sports he is good at- soccer, t-ball, swimming, reading, and skiing.

The next day it was time to go home.  But not without a side trip to Linderhof!  So, maybe it was snowing a ton, and maybe it wasn't exactly on the way home, someone who stayed at the hotel all day the day before wanted to go see it and so we did.  The drive was a bit treacherous, but I think it was worth the trip.

 The kids were not super happy about the hike through the snow to the palace, but they made it. King Ludwig II was a bit of a nut, and loved building castles.  He built three in Bavaria, but this was the only one finished before his death.  It is kinda like a little kingly bachelor pad in my opinion.  Some of my favorite Ludwig craziness?  He slept during the day and stayed up all night.  He also dined alone, but had the table set for four and carried on imaginary conversations with the deceased French king Louis XV and Marie Antionette. He never married- shocker, right?  They don't allow photos inside the palace, but if you'd like to know more about it and see pictures, you can read the wikipedia article here.

Beautiful gardens, even in the snow.

Amelie liked it.

 On our way out, the swans came up from the pond to pose for photos in the snow.  We then headed home and nearly experienced death by gps.  The road we were directed down was fine until we hit the Austrian border.  Then there was a snow gate and signs for vehicles that had chains on their tires only, and started heading up into the alps.  We had to turn around and add an hour to our drive, but we made it home safely.  It was a fun weekend away.  Jake is still talking about the hotel, and how he would like to live there instead of here.  Poor Bear has spent too much of his recent life living in hotels!

Friday, January 02, 2015

reflecting on 2014

Christmas came and went at our house once again. I love Christmas!  I also love when Christmas is over and we can take down the tree and reclaim our living room, put away the heavy foods and return to eating like normal, make resolutions, read a good book, and get back into routines.


A couple of days after Christmas we even got our first snow!  We had that (not) fabulous ice storm in Georgia last year, but this was REAL snow... perfect for making a diminutive snow person.


At the beginning of last year I posted some resolutions... yeah, I didn't accomplish any of those.  I did make progress on all of them- I memorized about 10 scriptures, I am down a little bit of weight, with some more yet to go, and the kids have learned a few more life skills- loading the dishwasher, vacuuming, cleaning the toilet, etc.  (No, they are not indentured servants.) But I am totally fine with that.  I suppose I could feel defeated, but I choose to see it as "practice makes progress."

Other progress we made in 2014:
Moved out of our home in Georgia, spent 3 months in transit, and moved into our new home in Germany.
Rob was called to serve as the Secretary in the Elder's Quorum of our new ward and is enjoying his new job and getting to exercise his language muscles.
I was called as the Primary President a few weeks ago and am adjusting to my new responsibilities.  (Or trying to, anyway.)
Charlotte has become an avid reader, was baptized, and has made new friends and adjusted well.
Toby is a beginning reader, a Super Mario aficionado, and loves going to Kindergarten.
Jakey is adjusting to having his own room, being the big brother during the school days, and is the cuddliest three year old ever.
Amelie is walking, talking, loves stuffed animals, and still doesn't know she is a baby. She spoke her first sentence during the New Year's Eve fireworks the other night, "I want Da!"  (Apparently Daddy can protect her from scary noises better than Mommy.)

Plans we have for 2015:
Travel, travel, travel!  One of the main reasons that we love living in Germany.
Charlotte and Toby are beginning piano lessons starting next week.
I am starting an artist's group in our home.  This is inspired by Charlotte's request for an art class- which, since I have been unable to find a suitable option, we are creating our own.  More about this after we have met a few times and see how it is going.
Rob and I are planning something special for our 10 year anniversary next Fall. Stay tuned.
Jake will be starting German Kindergarten.
Amelie will begin going to Nursery at church in March.  (February if I can sneak her in!)
We are going to have a rocking garden this year.
And we are all going to learn more German!  Really this time.  Santa brought Rob and I Rosetta Stone, Toby and Charlotte get German and Spanish at school, and Jake will begin to learn German at school.
 It may not work out perfectly as planned, but that is okay, there will be more progress made.