Garmisch Trip

We slept in on Friday morning. Chris had a post call day and the kids didn’t have school.  Ryan had left the night before for a winter scout camp in Garmisch and we were heading in the same direction but we wanted to start our great weekend with a good ‘sleep in’.  Megan kept coming into our room saying “When are we going to Garmisch?”  We finished packing and were on the road by noon.  The kids were so excited.  The military owned Edelweiss Lodge in Bavaria has been one of our favorite vacation spots.  The area is just beautiful – and the lodge itself has a pool, outdoor hot tub, ‘free’ little kid rides, a huge open area with a big fireplace and a buffet.  Besides that the room we get has a loft. We booked this weekend back in November when we found a 25% off package with free buffet breakfasts. 

As soon as we got into our room we had our first family counsel and planned out what we would do. 

• Make a snowman
• Swim in the pool (2 times)
• Eat dinner at the buffet (2 times)
• Watch a movie in the lounge
• Play games in our room
• Eat breakfast at the buffet (2 times)
• Go sledding
• Have another family council

First on the list, make a snowman.  There was tons of snow outside and it was perfect for making a snowman.  We borrowed some snow pants from our friends, the Pattersons, and headed out into the 30 degree weather to get started.  It started getting dark as soon as we got out there.

The kids did lots of ‘angel making’…

 

 

There was a playground nearby and Matthew just wanted to go down the curly slide… over and over and over again.  He loved it.  It was tough to pull him back over to the snowman.

 

We brought our ‘portable snowman pieces’ to make our snowman but then had to leave our snowman faceless as we headed away.    We could see our snowman from our balcony windows.

   

By the time we were done it was totally dark.  We walked around front to the main entrance and went in to stand by the fire.  Matthew just loves the little rocking chairs – just his size.

 

After a great buffet dinner {check} we let the kids watch some of the movie in the lounge {check} while we checked out the gift shop and asked about places to go sledding.  Then we ran upstairs and got our swimming suits on (all except me –too much hassle for only a half hour of swimming)  We played with our new GoPro in the pool and the kids had a ball.  So much fun. 

It was 9:00 by the time we got out of the pool.  I took the little boys up for a bath and to get into jammies while Chris went and worked out.  The girls got showered in their own bathroom downstairs. (so nice to have two bathrooms).   When Chris got back the kids were all in bed.  He and I played Ticket to Ride online on his iPad all cozy in bed.  We’ve played it a lot lately and love it.  It was a fun day.

Saturday morning we headed straight to the buffet for breakfast.  We love the waffles and omelet station.  Then we got all bundled up and ready for sledding.  It was a perfect day.  We had woken up to a another layer of snow icing all the tree branches and making everything fresh white.  We wandered in the direction of a good sledding hill, parked and trekked up the hill. 

   

The kids had a great time.  The boys took turns riding with Dad on the ‘2 person’ sled and the girls rode down the hill on the circular twisty sleds.  Megan particularly liked riding on her stomach… no fear.   After a few hours of sledding, we headed back to the lodge.  We relaxed in our room for an hour,  the kids watched a movie and I took a little nap while Chris went down to meet Ryan, who was being dropped off from Scout camp. He had been worried about him because it got pretty cold during the night, but he said they had a great time and that he was warm enough.

Once Ryan was there we went swimming again.   The highlight was tiptoeing out into the FREEZING cold air and getting into the oversized hot tub with the whole family.  Boy that felt good.  Matthew was so relaxed he almost fell asleep in my arms.    Back up to the room for showers and clothes for the buffet dinner.  Delicious roast and potatoes and a RICH chocolate cake that was amazing.  I think our family ate an entire cake.  Matthew ate my whole first piece and half of my second.  Rascal kid.

We were back in our room right quite early and put on a movie for the little boys while the big four joined us for a family council.  We had the kids come up with a list of jobs that needed doing in order for our home and family to function… it was a long list.  Then we had the kids help us plan the responsibilities that each person would be in charge of in four main categories… MORNING, AFTER SCHOOL ZONES, HOMEWORK & PIANO, EVENING.  We agreed upon responsibilities and made our assignments and rewards.  Chris and I had previously read most of ‘The Entitlement Trap’ by Richard and Linda Eyre and used some of their words as a basis for our program.  I love to start a new program… especially in January, when we’re feeling ready to organize every part of our lives.  It feels nice to get this program finally ready to go.

After family council we played a big game of Ticket to Ride Europe.  Dad, Ryan, Katie, Emily, and I played and Megan was on my team.  It was really fun and EMILY won with a few strategy tips from Dad.  Megan and I lost but we decided to blame that loss on Dad because he took all the colors we wanted.  

Sunday we had one more free breakfast buffet, packed up, checked out at 11:00 and drove home.  Good weekend.

Chris put together a music video of our fun – but he’s having some trouble getting it loaded because of our music restrictions in Germany.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post it soon!