Our Week in Garmisch

My Couch Potatoes!  Bobby has Nutella all over his face. 

That's a sight, right?  We brought school work to do during the mornings when we had nothing scheduled before going swimming.  The first morning we woke up and were down at the pool in Brian's hotel at 10am because that's when the website said they opened.  The kids were really excited to swim, and I promised them four straight days of swimming.  The people at the wellness center desk looked at us weird and said that the pool opens at noon during the school year.  That was a major pain because I also had high hopes of getting Bobby a nap every afternoon.  Change of plans, we had to be at the pool after noon everyday instead so we spent the mornings doing schoolwork with the big kids and having the little ones watch German cartoons.  Educational, right?  Language skills are important in our family.  :)  They were in heaven since we don't do that much TV unless someone is sick.  We did make several trips to the park as well between school and pool.

We did another hike with Brian's colleagues as part of the conference.  Again we had a wonderful time.  I carried Bobby and he napped in the Ergo on the way there (uphill,) and he walked all the way back with his new found energy.

You have to look hard, but there is a duck between the boys in this pic.  Bobby loves ducks and this duck loved Bobby.  It got out of the water and followed us a good ways down the trail.  We finally just HAD to dig in our bags for some crumbs to share with him.  He was too sweet.

Duck is in this picture too, but he is well camouflaged..

At the end of our hike

That very night we went to see what Brian calls the "slappy boys."  It is a traditional German folk dance in Bavaria called Shuhplattler where the boys slap their thighs and shoes in rhythm with the music.  See video below.

One of the mornings I was able to get away on my own to go shopping in Oberarmagau.  I have always regretted not buying a nativity scene from there the last time we lived here and visited this area.  This town is known for it's Passion Play that it puts on every ten years and also for their wood carving shops.  They have nativity scenes and all kinds of statues of religious saints and such as well as all kinds of other "German life" statues.  I bought a very small set because they are pretty pricey.  Plus, Brian and I hope to come back to see the Passion Play in a couple years and maybe we could add to our basic nativity scene then.

I chose this one because I love that Baby Jesus can be in the crib or in Mary's arms.  I chose the "wrong" angel to go with her because I just really fell in love with this particular angel.  Technically, this is the Angel Gabriel from the Annunciation.  You can tell because he holds lilies which symbolize his connection to Mary.  The angel that went with this set was supposed to be mounted up high as if he was in the sky and was just not as pretty.