We're Back!!! (or I Survived!!!)

Yup, I changed the look of the blog. Thought I might spice things up for a while. Don't know how long I'll like it or this look will last, but let's try something different, shall we? Ok, Ok, I know, you're dying to know how the last 6 days went. NOT FAST ENOUGH!! Just kidding, the trip (can't call it a vacation cuz I worked harder this past week than I have in a LONG time) was good. I really think the kids had a great time. There were 8 families and 35 kids staying at the Hinterbrand Lodge in Berchtesgaden (I think I finally learned how to spell it) and my children really had a great time hanging out and playing with these other awesome kids. So, how was the Lodge? Well, it is pretty old and rustic. If rustic congures up images of quaintness and cuteness, I better find another word. It is pretty big, with a huge kitchen on the bottom level, two big dining rooms and a small tv room on the main level, and then bedrooms on the second and third levels. The Lodge is built into a little valley, so you park on top of the hill and hike down a ton of stairs to get to the lodge. There are four huts (cabins) along the rim near the parking lot. The first night we stayed in the lodge. But guess what? Sound travels really well up in the mountains and my kids could hear everything and everyone else around them in the lodge,so it took FOREVER for everyone to get to sleep. Plus it was super hot in there, so we asked if we could move to one of the huts instead where it was a little farther away from the masses and a bit quieter. The lodge manager agreed so the second morning, after 2 hours of quality sleep, I hauled all our things up the million stairs from the lodge to the hut. The hut slept 12, think basic Army training facilities with bunkbeds, spider webs and a long sink where three people can brush their teeth at the same time (and I sure hope brushing teeth was all that was going on in that sink in the past!) Bathroom? Naw, there were two toilets and two more shower/bathrooms, all inside the lodge. If you have to pee in the middle of the night, better grab that headlight and start counting those stairs to make sure you don't miss one on the way down. So, it was a tad inconvenient to be sleeping out in the hut, making breakfast in the basement, eating on the main level, and showering on the second. I didn't think I was gonna be able to exercise this week, but after all the stair climbing I did, most of it carrying Mason, I think I would make any personal fitness trainer happy. So, we left bright and early Monday morning. The GPS said it would take us 5 1/2 hours. The GPS doesn't account for little kids who actually have to pee and eat, and for German staus (traffic jams). Thank goodness there were cows to look at during the stau (oh, and don't forget the movie player :) We made it to the lodge in 8 hours. I can't believe I was able to drive that long. I haven't driven that long since we moved to Phoenix from Utah. Sean is the driver, I am the snack passer-outer. We survived the drive and the kids had a great evening playing with all the other kids. On Tuesday, all 8 families were scheduled for a trip to the Salt Mines to learn about how salt is mined from the mountain. Do you think we really learned that much? Not really, but we learned that the kids LOVED going down the two great big slides in the mine, and taking the train through the dark mine at fast speeds while singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off To Work We Go" is really fun. The best part of the trip for me (besides the slides) was dressing up in miners' attire so we could pretend to be authentic miners, or at least the 8th drawf: Dreary. Here are some great pictures of us dressed up and ready to hit the mines.


Yup, blankie came pretty much everywhere with us. It was a little nerve wracking trying to make sure we had everything we needed with us at all times. Diapers? Check! WIpes? Check! Snacks? Check! Camera? Check! Wallet? Check! Blankie? Check! Kids? Uh,,,, kids? Oh no! Where are the kids!!??? I could keep track of our stuff but it was hard to keep track of the little ones when there were 35 of them right around to play with.




The other great thing about these form fitting and flattering outfits was the ability to grab a handful from the back and swing the little kids around. Bro. Price grabbed Mason and swung him a few times, then Mason wanted more, so Jaxon stepped in to be the twirler.


After the mines, we went to Lake Konigssee for a swim. The lake is beautiful and we walked around a little edge of it to find a good spot to go in. Have I mentioned how HOT it was? I thought we were getting a break from the heat by going to Berchtesgaden, but it was in the low 90's. Carrying Mason in the backpack added 35 pounds and at least 10 degrees, so we were toasty most of the time. The lake water was cool and refreshing.


Mason is normally a pretty shy kid, but this trip helped him realize not all kids are out to steal his mommy or his blankie and can be fun. He had a great time playing in the water with some of the kids, until he realized he needed his mom again, and some Pringles.



To say that Ella is social, is to say that the Louvre is just a building with some paintings. She LOVES to play with other kids, so she was in heaven during this trip with all the little kids around.
Jaxon had fun swimming out as far as you were allowed to, and hanging out in the middle of the lake with some beautiful scenery. (I know you can barely see him, but he's out there.)


After the lake, we did the highlight of the trip for my kids: the slides!! There are some amazing long and fast metal tube slides that are kind of like the luge run in the Olympics. You sit on a little sled and hold on to a hand break. The farther you push it down, the faster you go, the more you pull up on it, the slower you go. I went down with Mason, and Ella found a sweet older girl to ride with her. Colton and Jaxon were old enough to ride by themselves. We felt the need for speed and went zooming off. I took it a little slow the first time with Mason. They clock your speed and we were at 18 kilometers per hour the first time. But Mason loved it, and wanted to go faster and faster. "Go again Mommy! Go AGAIN!" So, we sped up and soon we were zipping by at 26 kph. Now, Jaxon was a bit of a showoff and went up to 40 kph. Here are some pictures of us zooming around:













Everything was going great until we had only one last token for one last run. I gave it to Jaxon and he offered to go down with Colton. I should have known trouble was brewing. They wanted to break Jaxon's 40 kph record. So, they went as fast as they could, and flipped out of the car onto the edge of the slide. They each got a nice souvenier of the experience in the form of a bad cut. Jaxon has a big cut on his knee, and Colton's face looks like he went one-on-one with Mike Tyson. But both boys were secretly proud of their war wounds and quickly showed them off to whomever had a strong enough stomach to view such gruesomeness.

You can't really tell from the pictures, but they were pretty bad cuts.


On Wednesday we hung around the lodge most of the morning and let the kids play. Here's Mason playing hide and seek with a new friend:

I am not great with directions. Even with a GPS, I didn't feel very confident that I could find places on my own, so for this trip I decided I would be the official tag-along person and see what other families were doing, then just follow them. Everyone was so nice and willing to let me come with them where ever they were headed. On Wednesday, some moms went to the Eagle's Nest without kids. (Not a bird place; think Hitler's home). Some families were undecided and one awesome family, the Price's, were headed for a boat ride on Lake Koniggsee and to see St. Bartholomew's church on a little island in the middle of the lake. Sounded good to me, so we tagged along. Now, just to let you know, the Price's have 8 kids. So, when we went walking around the lake to buy boat tickets, we got quite a few stares. There was Brother Price, 12 kids, and two women. Ha Ha. Two German ladies sitting on a bench just pointed, stared, and shook their heads. Yup, we're from Utah!! We got some ice cream before embarking on the 35 minute boat ride to St. Bartholomew's.


Neither Ella nor Mason finished their ice creams, so I had to suck it up and finish theirs. Oh, the things I do for my children!!
Here they are on the boat:

Here they are looking at a cool waterfall:

The setting was beautiful. Made me want to bust out a song from the Sound of Music.

We walked around the lake for a minute and found a great spot under a tree for a picnic lunch. Here are Ella and Mason coming back from a little playground next to the church. They chose not to eat and rather played.

We had planned to go hiking first, then swimming, but the kids found a great place to go in the water, and soon all hopes of hiking were dashed as the kids had the best time just swimming and splashing and cooling off.

The cutest thing to see was Mason playing with the youngest Price girl, Allison. The two of them hit it off and played all afternoon in the water together.

Here they are being little dare devils and giving their moms heart attacks as they kept scaling this big piece of wood to play on it. They never fell or slid off. I think they were just trying to get away from all the half naked little German kids who were invading their space in the lake. In Germany, bathing suits for children are optional. For adults, they are required but Speedos are the preferred bathing attire for men. I think I am going to deputize myself and become the Speedo Sheriff so in the future when I see someone donning a speedo inappropriately, i.e. a 50 pound overweight beer belly hanging over an itty bitty speedo, I will be able to issue a fine right away and pass out a ticket for indecent exposure and subjecting our eyes to a sight no one should ever have to witness. There are some things that even therapy cannot erase from our memories!!




Ok, its 10:15 Sunday morning, the big boys are still asleep and Ella and Mason have been playing so nicely that I have been able to blog half our trip. I better get ready for Church and finish putting stuff away. I'll blog the last two days of our trip, our time in Salzberg, later (hopefully).