lake E I B S E E

The location of the Edelweiss Resort is what makes it {in our opinion} the place to stay. Surrounded by the Alps- the mountain views are spectacular.

I don't know that anyone could ever see or do everything that is available down there. The hiking and trails are endless.
The proximity to huge historical landmarks {castles, cities, history} is perfect.
The charm of the small villages and fields of cows {yes, more cows} along the way are a bonus.

Within ten minutes of the resort is the Zugspitze. It is the highest mountain in Germany, they offer tram rides up to the top. Super cool, but also super expensive- we opted to skip the trip up this time.

Instead, we checked out Lake Eibsee- a beautiful mountain lake at the bottom of the Zugspitze.

After an early morning, a full morning of walking {hundreds of stairs} at Neuschwanstein and an afternoon of swimming at the hotel we loved the calm and beauty of the whole area.

Too late to rent the paddle boats, we found a quiet spot and just took in the scenery.

The water was freezing, but not cold enough to stop Coleman and Caden from getting their feet wet. By the time we left, Coleman had gone all the way in- even dunking his head under.

Our little blondie isn't too fond of walking up huge hills, but he'll swim for hours. Literally- hours. He LOVES the water! The cold doesn't seem to phase him.

Not long after we got to our spot on the lake, we noticed a German dad with his two little girls- also there for a quick swim. I quickly pointed out {to Starr} his typical European spandex swimwear and the little girls without their tops on. Here, it's the norm. Not pretty, but they don't think anything of it.

What Starr & Mac {or the rest of us} didn't realize was that we were going to get even more German culture than we expected.

The spandex was enough, but as they went to leave, I turned to see the dad completely naked- standing right there on the side of the lake. He was done swimming, he had to take off his wet clothing and change back. Nothing unusual in Europe.

Of course, I had to point it out. Sometimes, it feel so good to just laugh. Ahhh, the memories.

saturday F O O T B A L L

It was a rough start with a loss today for their first football game. But, YEAH- it's football season. Ty is #25 and Justin is #18 this season. Ty didn't see playing time today and is frustrated after standing on the sidelines the entire game.

Justin played most of the game- as Tight End on Offense and Defensive End on defense. I'm the first to admit I don't know the rules of football. I know he tackles on defense and he catches the football on offense.
Having played a new position almost every year, I do know it's a lot easier to follow him as he's receiving the ball.

Now, being a senior he just seems bigger and easier to spot as well. He had some beautiful plays and worked hard from start to finish.

Here, games are played on Saturdays to avoid interference with the runway lights being on a military base. Their first game today was in Stuttgart, Germany- about a two and a half-hour drive from our house.

With only six regular-season games, I'm afraid it is going to be a quicker season that we want.

In the third quarter today, Justin had a beautiful sack, then went down on the field. For him to stay down, I knew something was wrong and panicked thinking it was his ankle. Turns out, his ankle held up just fine- instead it was severe cramping in both legs.

He ended up going back in the game after severe massaging from the training to get them moving again. He worked his heart out. I think the pace of playing on offense and defense caught up with him. Definitely dissapointed- hopefully next week is an improvement.

He loves his green gloves his old coach {Fenny} gave him as we left Mulvane. It feels like a little piece of Mulvane is here on the field with him.

neuschwanstein C A S T L E

They're gone. I'm so sad. Jim took them to the airport this morning so I didn't have to break down saying goodbye. The first day they were here I said, "I just feel soooo far away and isolated over here."
Fresh off their long flight in Mac replied, "You are so far away."

At this point, that's probably the most difficult part of living here. I've made some amazing friends already, but I miss being close to family and friends.

Anyhow, for today- I am thankful for the new great memories we now have to add to our collection.

Edelweiss is an amazing resort for military members down in Garmisch- which is where we stayed. It's also where we will be taking anyone and everyone who comes to see us. It's just that beautiful. The setting, the region of Germany, the hotel itself- phenomenal.

We planned our days around the sights close to the hotel and were definitely not disapointed with ANY of it. The weather could not have been more perfect- clear, sunny days the entire time they were here.

Our next stop was the Neuschwanstein Castle. Construction started in 1869. It was never completed because of the early, unexpected death of King Ludwig II. The second floor remains unfinished. We walked through several rooms including his bedroom, music hall, kitchen, study and servant's quarters.

It's hard to pick a favorite spot or favorite day when we did so many cool things back to back. I'm thinking this might have been the highlight for me for the weekend. The Bavarian region of Germany is breathtaking.
The locals wear the traditional clothing and the cows have bells around their necks. Jim came to a screeching halt on a busy street for me to run across and get a picture.

Not only do they look cool- I loved listening the ringing bells. Oh, I just love cows- that's all there is to it. If only Jim would have been a rancher.


After a walk up the hill, we took a tour throughout the castle.

I think they said we walked approximately three hundred {300} steps. The boys did fine {once we reached the top}, Jim and Mac did fine, but Starr and I were both feeling it in our legs for the next couple days. It was a mini workout.

As the inspiration for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle, it was stunning. The detail inside the castle was incredible. The views from every level were breathtaking.

Pictures just don't do it justice. I think we all just looked around with eyes wide open trying to take in the beauty. I have no other words to describe it.

Looking down from the castle across the valley to the other castle. Touring through one was enough for us, but the view still incredible. We wouldn't mind going back if anyone wants to come visit.

T W O fractures, T W O bones

Yesterday was a day that didn't go quite as planned. Turns out, it was a blessing. With the boys in school Starr, Mac and I had plans of a day trip down to Heidelburg to check out the castle and beautiful city. It's just over an hour drive- not too far.

After staying up most of the night before with Caden, I ended up keeping him home from school {against his will} and taking him into the doctor. He has a horrible ear infection. Within minutes of getting home from the clinic with him, Jim called.

The school nurse called him at work to let him know Coleman had fallen off the monkey bars at recess. She said he was crying hysterically and we should go in and get him. I did a quick turn and ran back on base to the elementary school. The thought crossed my mind how grateful {again} that we made the move this summer to live only five minutes from base. I was able to get to him quickly.

I found him in the nurse's office sobbing uncontrollably. It was a different kind of cry.
My heart dropped.

While trying to jump from one bar to the next on the upper monkey bars, he fell landing on his hands- arms extended, taking the weight of his fall. Jim met us in the school parking lot and we raced to the ER on the other base {Landstuhl Hospital}- a 15-minute drive that seemed to take forever with about a million speed bumps. Each jolt causing my poor little guy to cry out even louder in pain.

I don't think there is anything worse than seeing {and hearing} one of my boys in pain and not being able to stop it. Moms are supposed to be able to fix everything. It was horrible-reminding me of a few years back taking Justin to the ER when he broke his wrist playing football. In middle school, he sobbed the entire drive as well.

With the emergency room full, we were fortunately put at the top of the priority list and received really great care. The x-rays showed that he definitely broke it. It's his right arm {his dominant hand} on his forearm. Two breaks on both bones. Fortunately, the doctor said it's the best break possible.

His growth plate is ok and the fractures didn't go all the way through the bone. Luckily, he's young and the bones are soft and flexible. Had it been an adult, he said the bones would have snapped all the way through making a mess.

Once the Motrin kicked in and the splint was on stabilizing it, he let it be known that this was the worst day of his life. In his opinion, tonsils were easy compared to this.

It's a 48-hour wait for the swelling to go down and we'll be back into the orthopedic surgeon for more x-rays and a cast. For today, it's another day off and a little pampering by a mom who still feels horrible.

As beautiful as Heidelburg is, I'm so grateful that we were home.

M U N I C H olympic stadium

Continuing on the first day of our travels, we stopped in Munich to check out the stadium that was built as the main venue for the 1972 Olympics.

As a bonus, we checked out the BMW museum and plant that happened to be just down the path- along our way to the stadium.

It was all quite impressive. The swimming pool huge- I think Coleman counted 12 diving boards. Open to the public, lots of people were swimming.

Coleman especially wanted to jump in- he loves the water. We had to hold him back!
We noticed there were no lifeguards on duty- something you would never see in the US.

We really wanted to go down to the track and run some laps. Instead, we had to settle with hanging at the top- which was still pretty cool.

After the seriousness and quiet calm of Dachau, it was fun to play around a little more.

More than anything, I can't wait for the London Olympics next year.

Maybe, we'll get to check out that stadium as well while spending our time in Europe. I'm sure it's beyond amazing.

 LOVE the Olympics.

D A C H A U concentration camp

They're here! Starr and Mac arrived on Wednesday. We took off running on Thursday and already- it's been an action-packed BLAST.
Wednesday, we made our way back from the airport {only 1 1/2 hrs from our house}, went to the train station for Paris tickets, checked out our village bakery, got registered for base access and tried to get them rested up and recovered from jet lag.

Thursday, we set off for an amazing weekend. Our first stop was Dachau Concentration Camp- the first and longest-operating concentration camp. More than 200,000 were imprisioned and 41,500 were murdered. Just walking on the grounds was a sobering experience.

We walked through the museum with artifacts and pictures containing an abundance of information. They have a reconstructed bunker set up with bunkbeds. We hesitated to take the little guys through the museum because of the graphic nature of a lot of it.

They recommend no children younger than twelve go through the museum. After talking about it, we decided it was ok for them to see some of it- this is history. Horrible, horrible history. This picture below is the outside of the gas chamber and crematorium building.

As horrific as it was, we tried to explain in the most simple terms what happened. A really bad man made really bad decisions and killed many, many good people. I think they got it- even just a little understanding that I hope stays with them.

It's one thing to read about it. It's a completely different experience walking on the grounds where the history was made. I think we were most affected by the crematorium at the end of our time there. In spite of not being a "death camp" like Ausschwitz, more than 41,000 died from murder, disease and malnutrition.

In the gas chamber and crematorium building, they have the disrobing rooms on both sides that they initially brought the prisoners to.

Here, the prisoners were to disrobe and leave their clothes as they went into the gas chambers disguised as showers. They even installed fake shower heads in the ceiling to make it look like a real shower.

I can't even imagine the suffering they endured. The above picture is in the gas chamber. Directly below is from the crematorium.

As soon as they were taken in, they took the clothing to a disinfecting room, then brought in a new group of prisoners and did the same thing.

This ditch area leading to the fence was prohibited for prisoners.
The soldiers sat in the watch towers. Any who entered this area were shot.

A display said many intentionally entered this zone to put an end to their suffering.

It was a sobering day, but there was a peaceful, calm feeling at the same time.

Perhaps knowing those who suffered are no longer in pain and living in these horrible conditions. I don't know how else to describe it.

I'm thankful were were able to experience it.

cadens E X C I T E D

His daddy woke him up this morning. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. So did his mamma- it was too dang early. A couple minutes later, Coleman came in excited to wake him up and brought his clothes down since he made his way to our room sometime in the night.

The thought ran through my head- this is going to be a long year of early mornings with a little guy who finally likes to sleep in.

Then, he jumped up. He got dressed and said to me, "OK, mom. I really am excited."

Ahh.... what a relief. Whenever anyone asked if he was excited for school he responded with a faint- not really.

Two years ago, we started talking about preschool. No way- he was not interested in leaving the house AT ALL. I dropped it. Last year, we brought it up again- no way. With our move, he was in luck so we didn't start him. As soon as we moved, I threw it out there that we could start him in German kindergarten or even preschool.

He was even more set on never going to school. Never.

Today was the end of the road and gratefully, he left with a smile. Out of options and excuses, he had to start school sometime. While he is my little buddy, I couldn't be more excited. I love my boys but, this house is quiet and soon will be clean. Clean and it will stay clean.

The kitchen sink will stay empty without millions of dirty dishes. The toilets will stay flushed. The toys will stay put away. At least for the day. I can't wait.
No tears here- even being our baby. I didn't even get choked up. He didn't want me to take him to the bus and let me know Coleman could take him. No way. So, Lady and I walked down there and watched them get on the big ole' bus.

Coleman let him know he'd sit with him, then as he got on first- promptly sat with another kid. Caden jumped on the seat behind, but geez... brothers.

His daddy is meeting him at the school to get him to class. Can't wait to hear how his day goes.