March Fun at school and in Germany

I have been helping a lot at school as the class parent.  We made some robots and the kids had a great time painting.  I had fun being there with them.  It has been nice seeing them in school knowing that I won't be able to do that after we move to Seattle.  We have some special times with their teachers and friends.

And we went for a week away in Bavaria Germany to have a ski holiday.  We were in the Alps in Germany at Garmische Partenkirchen and it was 15 minutes away from Austria.  The first pictures are a little valley between skis slopes.  There are fields full of pastures and barns full of wood.  And amongst that there are trails for cross-country skiing and walking.  Great start to our holiday!

And some coffee, coloring, and great atmosphere.  When we walked out a pair of Americans stopped us who heard our accents.  They then told us about all the great things to do and where to spend our time.  

After braiding Sylvie's hair at bedtime, she woke up to some crazy hair and photos.

Our first day out we went over to Austria and went on the toboggan run.  They are old-fashioned toboggans without breaks!  You have to use your feet to brake and turn.  It was a 2.5km run down and lots of fun.  This is us going up the ski-lift.  The kids were screaming with delight and so happy.

And because it was the end of the season, the slopes were empty.  No lines or people to slide around.

Just amazing how beautiful it is.

Our cool boy!

Campbell had a great day on the slopes.  This is overlooking the valley with the walking and skiing paths.

Up the mountain enjoying a ski day.  Next year we plan to get the kids up on skis and me as well.

This was our first holiday where the kids could play and we could both sit and enjoy a beverage.  We found a great cafe in town and went there almost everyday.

Our favorite cafe with the play area in front and Alps in the back.

Another day of sledding!  I didn't fair so well since it was mostly an icy track.  So Campbell took the kids while I had to sit at the bottom.  Better to do that than me crying because I was stuck and didn't want to crash.

We have videos of Archie squealing with delight as he watches Sylvie and me come down the hill.  He LOVED the sledding and was telling us, "I wish I could go skiing and have my own skis."  Next year kiddo.

In Garmische there is a large playground on the kids of a hill.  Up the pathways there is a pretty white church.  The kids had a great time climbing to go down the world's largest metal slide.  It was a playground that we would never find in the US as it would be "to risky" with all the hills, tree routs, huge slide, long steps, and other things to potentially get hurt on.  The kids loved it and so did we as we could sit and look at the ski runs and mountains in the background.

Sitting by the church

Tucked away around the church was a covered walkway with all these memorial plaques.  They are from the First and Second World Wars.  It was amazing to see and also surreal.  It reminded us that even though the Germans were on the "bad/losing" side, they lost their sons, brothers, fathers, and friends.  They were most certainly in the Nazi army but they were still someone's family.

Out for a typical meal of snitzel.  It was fantastic and the FIRST meal that we have been out with the kids where we sat the entire time.  The owner ordered the kids food first and had it out quickly while we enjoyed our drinks.

More pictures from the sledding

We went for a drive one day in Austria to find some little villages to explore.  We stopped in Oberammeragau.  It was very quaint and scenic.  The buildings were ornately painted.  We were surprised how many international tourists were in this little dinky village in the middle of no-where.  There were also an oddly high number of stores with large wooden carved religious statues many of them Mary or Jesus.  Odd, we thought.

Well, when speaking to Campbell's parents about the trip they asked if we went there.  We were surprised they had heard of it until they told it is a place many people dream of going to....what?  Every 10 years the town performs "The Passion of Christ".  Apparently it is a HUGE deal.  We just happened upon the place and thought it was pretty.

There is Jesus and Mary in the window.

On the way out of town, we stopped by a little wood carving shop.  He had lots of neat things the kids enjoyed.  Here they are dancing with the windmills.  I can never get a photo of them looking in the right direction or when still.  This photo sums that up well.