Garmisch Getaway

Ryan loves our Bavarian Alp getaways to the Army's resort called Edelweiss. He craves his mountain fix, the American amenities at the hotel and particularly a really yummy American style filet mignon. So it comes as no surprise that Ryan is on their email list with special offers like the half off deal they advertised in August. We called the cousins to see if they'd like to rendezvouz there on Oct 3 when the kids would all have German Reunification Day off school. They were game! Hurray!

Fast-forward a couple weeks when Ryan saw how burnt out I was from sleepless nights and suggested I go check into a hotel with the baby to recoup. So sweet an offer, but the only problem was that I was too far gone to even imagine orchestrating replacing myself for a day and a half! I got close a few times checking local hotel options and my calendar to figure out the best days to be gone but it was just too complicated and expensive. I enjoyed teasing Ryan about taking him up on the offer when the evenings got hairy.

Then it dawned on me -- why not just book an extra room for me and Jake at Edelweiss?! After some sweet-talking on Ryan's part with the hotel, he was able to make it happen. Hallelujah!!!

To get the rest I needed/wanted, I should have disappeared for the entire trip but didn't want to miss out on time with the cousins and the stuff we wanted to do with them. We did our usual where the adults enjoyed dinner in the restaurant while the older Carter cousins watched the little ones up in the rooms with a pizza feast. Poor Camilla's arms and back got a workout from soothing Jake who became pretty fussy for them! It's so wonderful to have these girls around!!!

The following day we enjoyed the buffet breakfast, pool time, a hike up Partnach Gorge, and some good ol' fun on the rodelbahn {alpine slide}. It was fun to hear about the rest of the cousins' summer and how the beginning of the school year was going. We got a beautiful, sunny 70 degree day to enjoy the changing fall folliage around us on the walk up the gorge. Camilla shot these pics of our time.

Jake was zonked out the entire walk in his happy place.

Kid has a serious receding hairline!

The kids' reward for being happy hikers was those chalky candy necklace/bracelets. Ryan asked Easton if he could "look at the time" and tried to take a big bite out of the large clock piece. Easton wasn't too happy about that and wrenched free as we gave Ryan a hard time for teasing him. Easton recovered quickly but went to work on that piece so Ryan wouldn't get another go at it.

I actually can't remember what we did for the rest of the day after we parted ways with the cousins. We still had another night and day at Edelweiss and I was disappearing until 11am the next day. What did I do with my freedom? Read more than 2 pages of my book at a time w/o passing out from exhaustion, feed Jake, sleep, shower and get completely ready for the day - I even put on eye-liner! I seriously can't even remember the last time I did that, it's been years! It was glorious!

See, I've never been as excited about our jaunts down to Edelweiss as Ryan. I am more rested by days off at home where the kids can wake up, watch cartoons, and feed themselves breakfast while I sleep in behind closed doors. At Edelweiss, the kids wake up and we have to be up because they are hungry and on top of us. Then we have to get everyone dressed and ready to be seen, hobble down to the buffet breakfast where they demand specific favorites which you can't get fast enough for them, only to have them eat a few bites here and there before slinking off to watch the lobby's kid movie. By the time you've finished your meal and take them up to the room to get swimming gear on, they're hungry again.

The restful part of my getaway was not having to participate in all that. Thank you, Ryan!!! My little man Jake didn't cooperate too well with the sleeping part of my night off, but look at this face! He's easily forgiven!

This family picture means a lot to me. Ryan hates to wait around for things to happen - it kills him. When we met back up at 11am, he'd already loaded the kids into the van. He knew I wanted to take a family picture while we were down here but I don't think he figured on the process. By the time we'd gotten the kids' shirts changed, hairs put in some semblance of order, scouted out spots to take the picture, put bandaids on knees that got ouchies, and soothed tantrums, it was time to feed Jake. A full hour later and we were ready. Ryan was so patient with the process even though I knew it was seriously testing him as he paced. Man, I love him!!!

Afterward, we headed into downtown Garmisch because we'd always wanted to but never made the time for it on previous trips. We meandered, got the kids lunch and then some yummy gelato and then quickly browsed some fun Bavarian clothing stores. The best part was just walking the pedestrian zone and enjoying the atmosphere on a gorgeous day.

Cutest old man in his regular Bavarian attire. It's cool and familiar to me now to see the well-worn lederhosen paired with the dressier jacket and hat.

We love the Bavarian murals!!!

What's not to love about this cute crew! They'd just passed a young couple who did a double take counting the kids with Ryan. It was funny to witness from a distance. When I was younger, a bigger family didn't seem like such a big deal. Now that I've got four young kids, I often question my ability to keep up with them and look back and smile at how challenging I thought it was with just one baby, then two young boys, then three kids. Four is definitely working me right now! Tamsyn told me I'm in the hardest stage with them all being so young. I'd have to agree at the moment although there's much to love about it all the same.

A happy girl with her proud daddy who's man enough to wear the baby harness and give his wife a break. I'm one lucky girl!

Sommerrodelbahn

Upon returning from our trip to Ireland with Easton, we picked up Morgan and McKay at the cousins' and enjoyed an evening at Edelweiss Lodge with the promise of great weather the following day. We love these alpine slides - a summer rite of passage when in Bavaria! I didn't ride, but was the honorary photographer obviously. I've already posted these pictures on Facebook, but gotta have them here too - the more official family record.

Here's Ryan and Easton showing us how it's done!

I think McKay liked it. Just maybe a little!

I wondered about Morgan, but she came off the first ride skipping and hopping asking for another ride despite this face and white knuckle grip on Ryan's knees.

And her second ride - the forced grin says, "See, I'm having fun!" Still white knuckle - but she's developing a love for speed!

In fact, the following day the kids were asking to ride their bikes down the hill and into the cul de sac on our road out front. For the first time, I let Morgan ride her big wheel-like tricycle on the road with the boys because I could tell she wouldn't take no for an answer. She was a speed demon and neighbors came out to see her since they heard her high forced laugh as she sped down each time. After the second time down, I made the boys go get me one more helmet for her - I'd never seen her ride with such abandon! She was the happiest girl in the world for that hour!

They truly are best friends and it makes me so happy!

Look at that face, I could just eat her up!

Nothing can deter this boy when an un-interrupted chance to play video games presents itself! This is soooo Easton with the DS and I have many pictures of McKay totally passed out on any given car ride.

A 4th of July in Bavaria

My patriotic pyro husband MUST have 4th of July fireworks. We headed down to the base and resort at Garmisch for their show and to see the quaint towns below the Alps without feet of snow.

On our way down, we stopped at Linderhof Palace which is like a petite Versailles mixed with a bit of the Orient built by crazy King Ludwig II in the late 1800s. This guy built the Cinderella castle Neuschwanstein and a few others, but was a loner and died young. You just shake your head at all this ornateness sometimes!

Our camera has been acting up and stopped taking pictures for the rest of the weekend. It was actually quite liberating! Ryan just asked if I was finally posting the rest of our Paris trip. I said, “Nope. Garmisch. Less pictures.” [Also an apt sample of my communication skills post-dinner.]

On Friday, after a yummy breakfast buffet where my boys ate their hearts out, we braved a rainy day determined to be undeterred. Back to the buffet though, my boys typically don’t actually eat much when we’re out. But there they were, starting off with a bowl of cereal while Ryan and I gathered the other buffet items. They’d do pancakes, bacon, watermelon, a hard boiled egg, and orange juice. It was fascinating to me! They were so happy and content it was actually not a nightmare to be eating in public! And I got my omelette made to order, Yum!

Alright, Friday we headed to Eibsee Lake to go out on a boat but we had to wait for the rain to subside as Ryan insisted it would. I don’t know why I haven’t taken this weather seriously yet and outfitted us all with proper rain gear. I’m still a doubting desert girl deep down. The rain stopped just long enough for us to do a motor boat ride and then it was back to rain.

We headed into Oberammergau, famous for it’s Passion Play held every ten years for almost 400 years now. We were there to browse wood carving shops which are just amazing! We scoped out favorite nativity characters and backdrops but the children ruled out any real concentrated effort which must have really annoyed the shop keepers. I’m the idiot that picked up one piece despite “Don’t Touch” signs posted everywhere. Just about gave the proprietor a heart attack and my cheeks were flushed with embarrassment for at least a half hour! Tired of dodging the rain with our troups, we succumbed to their pleas to go swimming at the hotel.

On Saturday we were in search of adventure! We took the Eckbauer cable cars and hiked down the mountain in an effort to do something until the “sommerrodelbahn” opened at 10. We like rodelbahns , or alpine slides or summer tobogans!!! I loved hearing Ryan hoopin’ and hollerin’ all the way down the mountain! And the boys all grinning from ear to ear with wind parted hair was pretty cute too! We found another rodelbahn and zipline in Oberammergau with goats looking on. We also ate some “fire cheese” at a cheese factory in Ettal, saw a wedding in their famous cathedral, and watched a wood carver and some other artisans in Oberammergau.

The boys got a bit of swimming in before the 4th of July festivities began. The hotel had “carnival” games for the kids, but the real fun was the magician and Bavarian culture program. The boys have been doing “magic” tricks since then with any types of ropes they find. We got a kick out of the Bavarian costumes, long horns’ music, dancing, and yodeling but were anxious for FIREWORKS!!!

Luckily, our room faced the show so we watched from our balcony. We’d gotten little party horns earlier at the carnival, but Ryan’s horn made this forlorn honk that had us all in fits of laughter. Morgan was in awe and a scared stiff by the fireworks while the boys loved and laughed through the whole thing. Happy Birthday, United States of America!!!

Garmisch Trip - Day 3

Click on the album to see it larger with captions.

DAY 3, Rule #3 – Be flexible and keep tabs on the weather and kids’ blood sugar!

Our kids clamor for cereal every morning almost as soon as they wake up. We headed down to the breakfast buffet to get them their beloved cereal, but as we’ve found – if you don’t get them a lil of whatever is meant to be smothered in syrup, you’ll wish you had! Today was those cardboard wanna-be waffles. This morning, Ryan had also grabbed a small icing covered apple roll and grabbed one for Easton. Easton ate the icing off and then whined that he didn’t want the rest. Remember the previous post - he loves any frosting! McKay saw this and had to have an apple roll too. After eating the icing off, he complained he didn’t want the rest because “it too spicy.” He uses this excuse any time he doesn’t want to eat something, it’s always something real bland, and oddly enough this kid loves spicy stuff – salsa, strong ginger snaps.

After enduring breakfast, we saw a clear beautiful morning and decided we needed to go up Zugspitze – the highest peak in Germany. It has a four country panoramic view and border crossing to Tirol, Austria on the summit. It’s a round trip by way of a cogwheel train then the glacier and Eibsee cable car (on the German side of it). Info relevant to my family - Mount Adams in WA that I think we've all climbed at least once with Dad is 12,281 feet (3,743 m) while Zugspitze is 9,718 ft.

I never made it to the summit cuz of unexpected altitude sickness, but as we ascended Zugspitze by cable car, all I could think was how fun it'd be to take a black garbage bag and slide down it like we did on Mt Adams! In fact, I loved these little slides I saw kids carrying around that resembled plastic shovels just big enough to slide on.

We checked out of the hotel and rushed over to the train station. All the snow made it crazy trying to park with all the skiers parking wherever they wanted. If we didn’t catch the 10:24 train we had to wait an entire hour so imagine the fun we had trying to get our little ones to hurry in all that snow! Easton isn’t used to wearing his snow boots and was having holy fits all morning, especially when we asked him to hurry. His screaming made it sound like we were scaring the living daylights out of him and he was screaming for water of all things. ARGH!

We got to the train platform as everyone was boarding and it took about an hour and half to reach Eibsee. We had many stops picking up mostly skiers so I was glad we’d gotten a seat at the initial stop! While on the train, the one picture I wished I’d taken was of a small church with an onion dome steeple and a terraced cemetery in front of it. The grave markers appeared to be intricately carved wooden crosses.

Up at Eibsee, we got on the glacier and Eibsee cable car to take us to the summit. Once we were up there with a gorgeous clear view in every direction, the boys started their theatrics. I’m so sad I didn’t really get to take it all in because I was trying to reassure them we’d be inside soon. They whined and cried the whole time. McKay hates cold winds and I’m still not sure why Easton was whining.

We crossed over to the Austrian overlook and decided to have lunch since it was 1pm. Perhaps low blood sugar was to blame for all the weeping and waling! But our ordeal wasn’t over! The boys whined while we got the food from the cafeteria. They whined that they wanted dad’s KitKat. (Apparently he doesn’t know to hide all such treasures from munchkins til they’ve eaten the main course). They wailed when I was splitting the big plate of spaghetti three ways. As we were trying to get McKay to stop his holy fit, Ryan accidently knocked over one of the hot chocolates all over McKay’s leg, the table and the floor. An entire cup! What a mess and imagine McKay’s howling! I avoided all eye contact with the people around us – all of which were older with no lil ones present of course. Lucky them!!! I’m sure we were quite the show! And of course, Morgan then needed to eat right that moment!

As we were getting up to leave and cleaning up more of the mess on the floor, a real nice lady who enjoyed the show was trying to joke with us about what happened in her broken English. Ryan replied to her, pointing at McKay, “Yeah, terrible twos!” I quipped, “You knocked it over, Ryan” and he said, “Oh yea, terrible twenties!” The lady was laughing, but I had to laugh at what comes out of our mouths under fire. We haven’t seen our twenties in a few years and this was just one more shining example of how glamorous parenting in public can be.

Once our bellies were full again and we were able to enjoy our scenic overlook, it was time to head back down the mountain. We took the cable car down and boy were our ears popping a lot! Too bad I didn't take up someone's advice to have us all chew gum! The cable car was so packed like sardines that I had to keep telling myself not to freak out and succumb to claustrophobia! Don’t be fooled by the smile on my face in the pics! McKay and Easton were holding on to my legs and I just kept reassuring them in order to keep my mind off the situation. Finally, McKay had had it down in the darkness and frankly, I was a bit worried about him being trampled if he lost his footing so I picked him up. Easton looked a bit frightened, but he kept it together thank goodness! I was sooooo glad to get out of there!

We had a nice train ride down again and I just couldn't believe what a beautiful clear day we got! Once the kids began getting antsy, Ryan started taking real closeup face pictures of the boys and had them laughing their heads off! It was rather funny but I was exhausted. Every pic he took of me on the way down totally showed it!

Once we all got settled back into the car, McKay crashed in his car seat before we got out of the parking lot! Easton, Morgan and I weren't far behind once the heater was on. I tried taking pics of my favorite murals on various buildings as we left town, but they all turned out horrible! I'll try again next time. Ryan got us home in good time. At one point he said,"Look, I'm going 110!" Miles per hour! A bit alarmed I replied,"But should you?" It was a passenger safety and life of the car concern - and then I faded back to my nap. Ryan sure loves the autobahn!

Garmisch Trip - Day 2

If I had to say what we gained from this vacation was what rules us Carters should follow to make a good trip.

DAY 1, Rule #1 - Try it, you might like it!
DAY 2, Rule #2 – Taking it easy on vacation makes it feel like a vacation!
Day 3 -- coming up next!

I was truly looking forward to Saturday morning because I was scheduled for a massage! YAHOO!!! First, however, we had to eat breakfast and I had to have Morgan good and full so she’d sleep for Ryan and not be a screaming banshee.

Meals are such a trying experience at this stage of the game – too bad it has be seen in public now and then. I had Morgan in one arm and tried to hold my tray in the other and then eat one handed. Ryan loaded up for the boys and himself and then had to pop up and down to meet their whining needs. Bless him!

I tried a Swedish massage with those hot stones. Man, I should invest in my own set of stones – that was awesome! I liked my masseuse until she got comfy chatting with me and began to show her loose lipped, worldly young 20s-ness. It would have been fine except for the profanity. I actually like getting to know all sorts of people and finding out about things they know or have done that I’d like to add to my life list, or bucket list. She’d always wanted to live in Europe and grown up poor. She went to massage therapy school and then signed up with the Army so she’d get school paid for and get to travel. We have new friends here who did this with dental school and sounds like a good plan to me!

The only other kink to my massage was the fountain that was my nose! ARGH!!! I kid you not, it would not stop running and running – totally disgusting! I couldn’t breathe and was so mad I couldn’t just relax and enjoy those hot stones massaging away all the knots in my back from this move and carrying Morgan around. Guess I’ll just have to do it again when this cold finally takes a hike!

After my massage, I hurried back to our room fearing the worst with the boys bouncing off the walls, Morgan screaming, and Ryan . . . but all was serene on the scene! HURRAY!!! I was so grateful Ryan didn’t have to suffer while I was away! It was snowing still and continued all day. I offered to take the boys swimming while Ryan caught a nap. The plan was that Ryan and Morgan would come down when she woke up.

So off to the pool we went! The boys loved sprinting to the elevators to push the buttons. I realized I missed seeing their lil bods in swim suits and bare feet scampering about. They grow up so fast! I would have enjoyed taking my book to read poolside but the boys are just too little and still require vigilant eagle eyes.

My eyes and mind did wander time to time as I was mesmerized by the different types of falling snow outside! It was like watching a bonfire, I just got lost in it. By the end of the three hours there with the kids, I’d seen so many different types of snow falling and realized how joyful and rejuvenated it made me feel! I just couldn’t get enough of it!

I realized a few other things too. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a collection of tattoos in one place before! Men and women! Guess that comes with the military, eh? Also the ratio of fit men and women here to my stateside pool time in little ol’ Leesburg was staggering. I won’t delve into my feelings of flabby inferiority; let’s just say it was alive and kicking!

I actually had a good time watching the boys play in the pool. Because it was pretty quiet there while most hotel guests were out enjoying the snow and slopes, McKay ventured off the steps. First he took a few rounds holding on to the edge where he exclaimed he was “swimming” and then he timidly walked away from the edge and was real excited about that because it meant he could follow Easton wherever. Easton surprised me the most because by the end of our time there he began going completely under water all by himself! I wasn’t even asking him to try it! He just did it on his own! YAHOO!!! I wondered if it’d ever happen! This my kid who has howled any time water got in his eyes whether he was in the tub, shower, or pool. I only wish we’d stayed longer at the hotel to hang at the pool so he’d pair up his new doggy paddle with his underwater bobs. He’s rather proud of his new skills and we keep congratulating him on it!

Easton cracked me up with his attempts at being social. There was a little boy there with his family. One time as the kid passed by, Easton roared at him in an attempt to play with him. The kid was the youngest of three boys and Easton’s age and he understood the growl gesture and so Easton and McKay had fun chasing the boy around the pool until the family left. The second attempt of this tactic didn’t work. Easton growled, the kid again was the youngest but had an older brother and sister and mom who you could tell doted on him. This kid yelped and swam away leaving Easton a little sad and concerned.

I called Easton over poolside and told him that if he wanted to play with the boy he should say, “Hi, my name is Easton. Will you play with me?” My cute little sponge took it in and when the boy warily swam by again, I saw Easton cautiously approach him and deliver his new greeting with perfection. The boy said yes! They started chasing each other and McKay joined in, of course. I found it really funny how McKay eagerly tried to engage kids with a simultaneous growl to Easton’s. This time, McKay was still using the growl tactic but was real curious as he saw Easton try a new strategy. I’m excited to see this all play out as they get older and learn from one another.

McKay does size people up pretty fast and I watched him get out of the pool to stand on the side of the deep end. He started gesturing and ordering a 14 yr old real timid boy (perhaps with some sort of delay) to do something like swim in another place. The boy kept silent as he slowly backed away from the edge where McKay was, all the while keeping a steady eye on this pint-sized dictator. Once McKay had said his peace, he walked back around to the stairs of the kiddy side of the pool. He’s too funny sometimes!

Ryan and Morgan finally emerged a bit after 2pm so the boys had swam 3 hours! Ryan and I grabbed some poolside paninis which the boys refused to get out of the pool for. Finally I got them out of the pool and fed them. It was great we ate so late because me and the boys weren’t much hungry for dinner so Ryan could justify going back for another filet mignon. We ended our lazy day in true fashion with rented movies. I wish we were better prepared with snow gear for everyone to enjoy all that snow but this day was perfect for us. Next year we’ll be better outfitted to take it all in or maybe we’ll just opt for the same ol’ thing!

Garmisch Trip - Day 1

Since we've arrived in Germany, we've kept our ears open for favorite destinations. Ryan had heard about Garmisch from coworkers and he got us reservations as fast as he could for President's weekend. On the US base in Garmisch, there's a resort/lodge. Ryan says it's nowhere near Utah ski resort status, but it was a nice getaway. We will try to head back for their big 4th of July fireworks and do a bit of camping we think. Anyhow, Garmisch is in Germany's southern Bavarian Alps and is gorgeous!

We started our trip dark and early Friday by being out the door at 5:30am to get to Garmisch in time for Easton’s ski school. It had been snowing pretty lightly and steadily all night and continued through our drive which made it take longer to get there. Ryan does love driving on the autobahn and I’m so glad he doesn’t mind driving! At least every half hour, if not more, Easton would say, “Are we there yet?” We got him there just 20 minutes late.

Ryan has loved to ski all his life and has been excited to get our kids skiing. We signed Easton up for an all day ski class. When we first mentioned it to Easton, he had a fit saying he was scared and doesn’t like to try new things so we dropped the discussion. The day before our trip, I told him he would be going to a special class to play in the snow, make new friends, and have lunch and snacks. He thought that sounded fun so we avoided telling him about ski school until he was getting out of the car. He didn’t like the idea, but Ryan bribed him with xBox game time so he gave in. I think Ryan could have taught him how to ski, but I think Easton does better for strangers. We’re always told what a well behaved kid Easton is at church and being in any learning session. We hoped ski school would work the same way!

A nice girl outfitted Easton with all his gear. McKay saw it all and wanted his own boots – “Mommy, I want boots.” And his latest new regular addition, “ I want my own.” It was pretty funny seeing Easton try to walk in those ski boots and falling all over the place. McKay and I dropped Easton off at ski school and by the time we left him there, he was a happy camper with a goofy helmet!

Ryan eagerly headed off to the slopes while McKay, Morgan and I headed back to the hotel to check out our accommodations and have some down time. We were supposed to meet up for lunch, but I got lost and only caught Ryan as he headed back to ski. He said Easton was loving his class. HURRAY!!! McKay said he wanted to go back to the hotel for a nap and to “watch a woovie”! Yes please! I love how this kid loves to snuggle! Someday I’ll get to go have adventures of my own but this season of my life has its own perks like snuggling with my wee ones!

We headed back to see Easton ski at 2:30 and Ryan was already there helping him. I LOVED THIS!!! Easton was eating it up and skiing much better than I ever expected! He didn’t even freak out when he’d start skiing backwards after letting go of the rope tow! The pictures tell it all. Look at those truly joyful grins! McKay really wanted to ski so bad and I now even have an inkling to try it next year if we can have Morgan and McKay taken care of! (Click on the picture if you want to see it bigger.)


Once back at the hotel, we hit the pool and Ryan took to the hot tub. McKay stuck to the stairs with me and Morgan while Easton roamed the 2’ deep area. Afterwards, we cleaned up and headed for dinner at the Pullman. The food was really good and the live pianist playing Sound of Music medleys and view of the snow falling gracefully outside created the perfect ambiance. Well, it would have been perfect if we didn’t have the kids falling apart! Ryan loved his filet mignon and spinach artichoke dip, Easton loved the bread, I really liked this strawberry butter on the bread and the Jagerschnitzel was alright, and both boys enjoyed their scoop of icecream at the end. I’ve always loved apple desserts, but no apple strudel or roll here even compares to Ryan’s apple pies! I’ve become such a snob on that front!

A good long day where everyone enjoyed their activities and we all sacked out by 9:30pm! I said to myself,"Self, Great Day!"

Castle Hoppin' in Bavaria

What do you do with an open weekend in Germany? Well, we were going to head to Paris but then decided that the three little kiddos wouldn't think it'd be much fun walking the streets of yet another odd city in the freezing cold. So we decided on a "day trip" to see some castles. Our goal was to leave at 10am.

Hmmm, funny thing about this relocation, I have absolutely no concept of what time it is here. It is not helped by the fact that the only clock in our hotel room is on the room phone and is TINY and on what I call military time. I'm still trying to get the hang of what time it is when the clock goes past 12pm. That's serious thinking for this gal right now!

I can't stand not knowing what time it is. When Morgan wakes up to eat in the middle of the night, it kills me to not know what time it is and how many more feedings I may have to wake up for. Ryan finally went and bought a clock for us last week, but the boys keep resetting it. You'd think I'd wear a watch and I would if I could find one that didn't give me a rash with the metal touching my wrist. I should look into the cause of that sometime.

Anyhow, back to trying to leave at 10am. The castles we were going to see where 2 hours away and closed at 4pm. We ended up leaving at noon and hit traffic. I'll interject here that I had no idea where we were going or what the weather was like. That would have been helpful info given that we were headed for the Alps! My poor family and I had our coats, but left the scarves, mittens, and hats at home. Brrrrr! Click on the picture below to see all the pictures.

Hohenschwangau Castles

We were headed for Hohenschwangau. I have a love/hate relationship with our new GPS. Love not having to be Ryan's navigator while kids are screaming, but I love looking at maps while we drive places because I really like to have a feel for where we are in relation to other places. I still haven't google mapped Hohenschwangau yet, so I can't even tell ya where it is except that it's at the beginning of the Alps. Kills me to say that!

We got there an hour before everything closed up for the day but missed the chance to catch any of the tours inside either castle. Finally we decided to stay the night and try to do both castles on Saturday which turned out really well! Note that we hadn't planned to stay the night and the boys were rather confused that we were staying in our same clothes to sleep in and wear the next day. Ergh!

About the Castles: Hohenschwangau dates back to the 12th century and the Knights of Schwangau. After the 16th century it felt into ruin. In 1832, King Maximilian II of Bavaria bought and rebuilt the "jewel of German romanticism" for use as a summer hunting retreat. His son who became King Ludwig II loved its situation and built Neuschwantstein close by. King Ludwig absolutely loved Richard Wagner's operas and dedicated this new castle to him and his operas, particularly "Swan Lake." Neuschwantstein's architecture inspired Walt Disney's creation of his Disneyland trademark castle.

Our highlights: Loved the thick hot chocolate and the boys wearing it all over their faces! No love for the hotel's shower and refused to use it - the hotel was adequate but worse than a Motel 6. Loved seeing my boys devour watermelon for breakfast at the buffet and even push aside beloved cereal! Loved the new inch of snow on everything in the morning so the castles looked like you should stop and paint them, so we took pictures! No love for the sub-freezing weather and being ill-prepared. Loved our short uphill walks to the castles and Germans overestimating the time it'd take for these walks. Loved that Morgan had to take a gander during the tour but slept for all the time we needed to be outdoors. Loved that the boys behaved really quite well during the tours. Ryan and I still needed to buy the tourist booklets to understand what we saw but missed the tour guide sharing because the boys didn't understand that the ropes were meant to keep you from touching or sitting on treasured royal antiques. Loved all the murals Bavarians have painted on their homes, buildings and all over inside these castles! WOWEE! Wished we'd brought some Motrin for our aching bodies after carrying kids all day!