W O R L D cup ski jumping

I'm SO happy for the fun we had during our winter break.

If you are going to live in Europe, you have to travel.

That’s all there is to it. It’s a trade-off being so far from family in the states and makes it worth being over here.

We are absolutely amazed each time we visit a new place.

This time with Justin home and the boys out of school, we planned another trip to one of our favorite spots: Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian region of southern Germany. 
 

Staying at the military resort, it is the most central, most convenient spot. With a small base, we can shop at the commissary and get our rationed gas {saving a ton of money}. 

As a bonus, we always seem to meet up with friends staying there at the same time. It makes it so much fun for the kids to hang with their friends.

 About the only thing we do the same each time we visit Edelweiss is the hot tub and pool. There are so many things to do that our day trips and sightseeing is different every single time. 

 

For this three-night, four-day trip the survey of favorites ended up as follows:

Jim: Italy/Ötzi
Sheila: World Cup Ski Jumping
Justin: Italy
Ty: Olympic Arena Ice Skating {duplicate from a trip last year}
Coleman: Ötzi
Caden: Olympic Arena Ice Skating

I think it is super important when trip planning {especially with kids} to balance the busy with the relaxed. It is tempting to plan an agenda getting up at the crack of dawn every day to get as much in as possible.

 

This time around, it was nice to sleep in a little. It was nice to watch movies at night. Other than our four-hour drive down to Garmisch, it was nice to stay within a two-and-a-half hour drive radius of our hotel. Needless to say, we still saw a lot.  

Day One was my favorite hands down.

 

We drove straight to the hotel, parked and called a taxi to take us to the venue. With 30,000 people attending, we decided not to try to find a parking space.

The Germans were so excited. I loved the energy in the air. They were especially excited when their German competitors were up to jump. They started singing and waving their flags. It was great. The jumpers were amazing- even from a distance to see them take off and go so far was incredible.

It was cold.

It was even a little crowded.

The boys were a little bored, but did alright. They were much better with a hot cider in their hands and German kuchen in their mouths. It was fun to have our friends Randy, Michelle and Ryan to hang out with too.

The taxi let us know where he would pick us up in an attempt to avoid some traffic.

We called him and what was supposed to be a 15-minute wait turned into an hour. The boys might have liked my plan a little better had we not froze waiting for the taxi.

Oh, well.
 

It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing that we can check off our list. No regrets, right? 

Check out this brotherly love- melts my heart.