Sunday, March 6, 2011

W2 of Y3

Ski Week: Day 1

Up early for their first day of ski school. Eating oatmeal and hot chocolate on the patio with the beautiful Alps to look at. It's gonna be a good day!

All suited up and ready to go. Seriously... they are so hot and sweaty right here and are so mad that I made them stop for a pic before going outside.


They are so cute! First time going down this year. They picked it back up so quickly.

After dropping the boys off, Whitney and I went back to the resort and enjoyed having the pool and hot tub all to ourselves!

I had so much fun just hanging out with Whitney for the day!

She loves puzzles!

Olympic Stadium and the Partnach Gorge

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the hometown of Maria Riesch and Felix Neureuther, hosted the Alpine World Ski Championships this year. We took a tour of the olympic stadium but it was so dark none of the pictures really turned out. It looks pretty much the same as it did when the Winter Olympics were held here in 1936 (minus the swastikas, of course).

Here is a pic of what it looked like in 1936... crazy!

We heard that the best time to see the Partnach Gorge was in the winter at night - so we went to check it out (yes, with torches!)

We looked like an angry mob!

The path was covered with huge icicles from the waterfalls and short, narrow tunnels.

A water fall in the summer - huge icicle in the winter

The path used to be used by loggers and hunters but it was very dangerous. This statue of Mary and Jesus was put here to protect the men on their journey - still several died.

Day 2

Waiting for their ski instructor. They won't even look at the camera anymore.

Today we get to ski!!

Such a great day for skiing!!


I was shocked when we just happen to see the boys class going up the same run as us!! (see all their little fit dangling?) The fog was terrible in some parts. The higher you went up the mountain though, the better it got.

It was so fun watching them with their class when they didn't know we were there.

uh-oh.. busted! They saw me. I wanted to stay to watch them but Jeremy wouldn't let me.

We decided to go get lunch at one of the many biergartens. They keep the drinks in the snow and cook nothing but brats on a huge outdoor grill all day long.

The german music is blarring from the speakers and we can sit and watch the skiers as they pass by. HEAVEN!

We went to catch up with boy after their school was finished and they were ALL smiles! They loved it. They begged us to go back up with them a few more times... so we did.

The boys were annoyed with me for getting nervous on the lifts. Little Aiden looked like he could slide right through the bars!

This lift was better because it was enclosed. So fun skiing with my boys!

I did have a minor boo-boo from the first day. It didn't hurt that bad but I thought it looked cool!

Griesbrau

That night we wanted to do the Griesbrau brewery tour again. We did it last year too but liked it so much we went back. This time we hired a babysitter from the resort and brought Lindsay with us. It was such a fun time!

Wolfgang - he hasn't changed a bit!

I know this looks disgusting! But it was so, so good! Pig knuckle, red krout, and spätzle - YUM!

Feeling fat and happy!

Day 3

Back out for another day. The weather was even better than the day before. I got brave and went up a really high lift (with heated seats)! After I saw the amazing views I was so glad I did. Unreal!

We were up so high it made our stomachs feel weird.

Lunch! Käse Spätzle. I can't get enough of this stuff!

We caught up with the boys again and, of course, they wanted to keep skiing with us.

Jeremy goes on easy runs for me - but then goes off the beaten path to make it more challenging and fun for him. The boys would just blindly follow him and go on these big jumps (like this one) without a moments hesitation. It was making me crazy!

Sausalito's

We heard about a new "Mexican" restaurant in Garmisch that the wanted to check out.
In case you are ever in Garmisch... this is NOT a Mexican restaurant!


As you can see, Lindsay and Connor can have a good time no matter how bad the food is!

You can't really tell but the restaurant (on the right) is next to the Live Nude Girls club (on the left). It made for interesting dinner conversation with the boys.

Day 4


Today was Whitney's day to go sledding. This is one thing that Garmisch lacks - good places just for sledding!

We managed to find a small hill. It was ok for Whitney.

at least we didn't have to take her up too high every time.

Of course we went swimming/hot tubbing every day after skiing. I'm not sure what the boys like better - skiing all day or swimming all night!

The boys wouldn't let us get by without having McD's at least one night for dinner while we were there.

That night Jeremy and I had a wonderful meal at the resort. Steak and Salmon.

Of course we shared the Bavarian apple streudel for dessert!

Day 5

The last day of ski school ends with a race. Jeremy and I didn't ski this day so we sent Lindsay to record the boys during their race



They didn't win but they were still happy to have completed their advanced-beginner class. Next year they get to ski with poles! Also, next year Whitney gets to be start the class.

They each got a photo of the entire class. Their instructor was awesome! I was worried the boys wouldn't get an instructor they liked as much as the one they had last year - but they did!

Good job boys!!!

That night some of the kids from the boys class were going to "kids night out". The boys begged us to let them go with their friends. I was a little disappointed. We were planning on going to pizza hut to celebrate their 'graduation'. But we let them go.

They both admitted that they hated it and wished that they stayed with us. (I was a little happy to hear that.)

Whitney was happy because that meant we had the whole night free just to play with her at the pool!

She put her swim suit on by herself. (the bottoms were on backwards all night!)

Good bye beautiful Garmisch! We are already looking forward to our return trip next year!!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

W1 of Y3

Finally!!!

Jeremy finished our 2009 blog book. He did such a great job too. All the time spent posting every single week feels so worth it after seeing a whole year in such a beautiful book. The kids really enjoy looking at it too. Here are a few pics of the book.



Thanks Honey!!

Also this week we had some drama with Aiden's teeth. He has 4 loose teeth! After we finally convinced him to let us try to pull some out, he now only has 2 loose teeth. He has such a goofy and totally adorable smile now!

SKI WEEK

It's that time of year again for our annual ski trip to the Bavarian Alps in Garmisch, Germany. It's only about 4 hours from our home but we hit terrible stau's the whole way.

Lunch on the side of the road


First sign on the Alps in the distance. Yay! We're almost there!!


The kids needed to stretch and entertain the other cars behind us while we sat still on the autobahn for hours!! We ended up finally getting to the resort after 8 hours. Poor Jeremy wasn't too happy about driving all day on his BIRTHDAY! :(


We went straight to Zuggy's to celebrate Jeremy's big 3-5 birthday.


They only had cheesecake - but it was yummy! Happy birthday!


After the "party" the CDC club (cool dudes club) went to play some pool together.


Trying to do CDC with their fingers. Obvioulsy, Jeremy is the weak link here.

DACHAU

The next morning Jeremy and I left early in the morning and let the kids sleep in, swim, explore with Lindsay. We wanted to go to Dachau concentration camp but were told not to bring kids. It was about 45 minutes away from the resort.

The tour was very depressing and disturbing. We left half-way through. I honestly didn't need or want to see anymore.





This was the court yard where the prisoners had to stand for hours every day.



These were their beds. When the US Soldiers invaded this camp and set the prisoners free there were over 30,000 prisoners crammed into these living quarters.


This is where all the other living quarters were before they were torn down.


The sign on the gate: Arbeit Macht Frei means through work, one will be free because they were worked to death, literally, and death is what set them free. So awful.

We couldn't get home to our babies fast enough after that. We hurried back to the resort to pick everyone up to go get fitted with our ski gear at the lodge.

It's so much work getting all the boots, ski's, gear, etc...

I love watching Jeremy in action here. He's a pro at it! He learned from his Dad who did it for all 3 of the boys every year. I don't know how he did it!

After everything was ready for skiing in the morning we had time to get settled in our room a little. Jeremy and Aiden were having fun throwing stuff at me for the loft.


A well-deserved dip in the pool after a long day! Tomorrow we ski....