Monday, September 10, 2012

Soccer Season 2012

The soccer season has started! Gabe is an assistant coach for Dylan's team this year. It's Ryan's first year playing and he is FIRED UP!


Gabe warms up with the boys before their games start.



Dylan had 1 assist...we were very proud. It's really fun to watch him play the whole field this year.


Ryan scored 4 goals in his first game. He said, "I like scoring goals." Cracks me up! Glad he enjoys that part of the game ;-)




It's going to be a fun season!

Garmisch ~ Never Gets Old

We decided to go to Garmisch for Labor Day Weekend again this year. This time the trip was a quick couple of days because we weren't able to leave until Saturday morning (Gabe was in Africa for work until Friday). The drive to Garmisch is always an interesting one to say the least. You can flip a coin to decide if you should take the Austria route or the Munich route. Now according to one's GPS the Austria route is technically quicker by about an hour maybe hour and a half BUT depending on traffic and construction or Austria's decision to just close the road for an indiscriminate amount of time sometimes taking the Munich route pays off. The coin toss resulted in taking the Austria route but due to staus and updates by our GPS (Navigon) we ended up turning off and went through Munich. We made it to our destination in 6 hours...better than 14 hours like last December.
We met up with our friends, The Townsends (Tara, John, Brenley, Madison and Brooke), The Severts (Jamie, Drew, Morgan and Brenna) and The Shraders (Rob, Heather and JD). There were college football games going on so we just went down to Zuggy's Sports Bar inside Edelweiss Lodge and Resort so the guys could watch the game and while everyone ate dinner. The Schraders (Heather, Rob and John) joined us and we were able to sit there for over 2 hours. The kids were awesome...sitting there (on the other side of the restaurant) eating and hanging out. The waiter was so helpful, keeping us happy and the kids happy.

That night Jamie and I sang karaoke and sadly have no pictures to share of our performances. The highlight was rapping Young MC's "Bust A Move"...Jamie can rap, who knew?? (She also has a blog: Delightfully Coconuts and takes professional photos which is helpful when wanting to get a photo for your Christmas card...lol!)


The next day we all got together to hike Partnach Gorge. We took the same route as last time...taking the Eckbauerbahn up to the top of the hill and hiking down through the gorge. We stopped half way and got some lunch and a few beverages. The kids were troopers. Not one of them complained and all of them made it without having to be carried.

Ryan and I in the cable car
Gabe and Big D
Great view and mountains too ;-)
This photo had more "likes' on Facebook than any other...lol!
Family Photo at the top!






The gorge was nice and cool and is always a great way to end the hike. The kids love the water and all had their hiking sticks to help them navigate their way.





The "Old Married Couple"
We found these little gems at the gift shop

That night we went to a German (Bavarian) restaurant. The food was pretty good, although I've had better in Garmisch but the atmosphere made up for it. There was some polka music, little Bavarian dancers to entertain us and again, great waitstaff to keep the kids happy. I can't say enough what a great group of kids (and adults) we had for this trip. Even at the end of this long day the kids hung in there :D
The whole crew
Dylan got his favorite: Jagerschnitzel and mushroom sauce. I got my favorite: A turkey salad and a beer!


The next day we drove home. Even though it was a quick weekend it was so much fun!  We had gorgeous weather, lots of laughs and memories were made that we'll ever forget.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012