Garmisch, Germany

We spent Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in the German Alps with our friends Melanie and Adam, and Mandy, Greg, Sam and Jack. We stayed in the American resort, Edelweiss, in Garmisch, Germany. It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend! We ate American food, watched TV, swam, and of course hung out with friends! To top it off, we had an amazing view from our room of snow-capped mountains.

On Saturday,we drove toLake Eibsee and were able to walk on it because it was thoroughly frozen. Being on the lake we had a beautiful panoramic view of the mountains surrounding the late. In the evening, we went on a torch-lit tour of the Partnach gorge. All of the waterfalls in the gorge were frozen and we were able to see some amazing formations. Unfortunately, there was no other light except from our torches, so we didn't get very many pictures. We thought about going back the following day, but it was dreary and cold and we decided to just relax instead! After the tour we warmed up with coffee and hot chocolate. Also, Melanie, Adam, and Carrie split the biggest cream puff you can imagine, while Kurt enjoyed warm apple strudel! As we were finishing dessert, the entire restaurant was serenaded by a yodeler.

Here are some of our pictures from the trip:

Garmisch

Thanks for an awesome birthday trip Kurt!

Exciting News!

For those of you who don't know, 2009 is going to be an exciting year for us! We're looking forward to the birth of our first baby around Memorial Day. We recently found out that the baby is a girl and couldn't be happier!

Here she is at about 20 weeks:

And here is Carrie the same day:

Happy New Year!

We had a nice, quiet New Year's Eve. After a delicious dinner with Melanie and Adam, we played a few games of Settlers while we waited to ring in the 2009. A little bit before midnight, Kurt and Adam had fun setting off firecrackers in the back yard...perhaps a bit too much fun from Melanie and Carrie's perspective ;)

At midnight, we all got bundled up and went out to the front of our house and the guys set off some fireworks and then we all watched our neighbors set off fireworks. New Year's Eve here is crazier than 4th of July in the States, EVERYONE has fireworks! We were even able to see some of the fireworks being set off in downtown Mainz!

In the early morning (7am!) Kurt and I went to pick up Maureen who decided to make a spontaneous trip out to visit! When we got back to our house, we had Melanie's egg casserole for breakfast and relaxed a bit while the boys played video games. In the afternoon, we had a pork dinner followed by the first games of Settlers of the 2009 (which Maureen won!)!

Since Maureen was only here for a few days, took her to some of our favorite places. We went to Heidelberg and Rüdesheim on Friday and then went to Strasbourg on Saturday. Although it was bitter cold, we had a great time! It was fantastic hanging out and being able to catch up in person for the first time in about 2 years!

So far 2009 has been wonderful and we're looking forward to the rest of it!