Lee, during the 'facts of life' talk

That's impossible!  Wouldn't you have to be in, like a DEATHLY embrace?

Reason to love fall

Garmisch-Partinkirchen

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Fall colors on the Linderhof grounds

Riding the tram to the top of the Zugspittze

in the Linderhof grounds

 Grandma and Grandpa came to spend a week with us.  After warning them that the weather this time of year is usually cool, windy and rainy we ended up with a week full of sunshine and the prettiest Autumn weather we've seen.  Even the gas station guy in Garmisch told them we were in Garmisch for the best 3 days of the entire summer.  We visited Rothenburg, took the cogwheel train to the top of Germany (the Zugspittze), tried leber knodel, and wandered the grounds of the Linderhof.  We intended to drive the romantic road out of Garmisch, but the fog came down to the valley and stayed there all day.  Bavaria is a truly lovely place to visit, and I'm very grateful we've been able to spend so much time there.  I love seeing the fields of grazing cows, sheep and goats while hearing their bells.  And, while the kids would rather spend all their time in the hotel pool, I have hopes that they will remember some of the other parts of their trips here. 

Lovely valley colors

Speaking of which. . .

Never in a million years

Our last morning in Garmisch Mom, Dad, and I parked at the Olympic stadium and took a walk along the river.  We were all shocked by the ski jump--it's height, and steepness simply do not transfer to the television screen.  Most of the morning the top of the jump was obscured by clouds, and this shot was taken from some distance away so the scale is all off.  Even the landing zone is practically vertical.  Seriously, ski jumpers have to be some sort of insane to even attempt that jump. 

Mom:  It DOES NOT look that steep on TV

The closest any of us will get to trying ski jumping

Mom and Dad's week in Germany turned out the be the nicest weather we've had in months.  Mom would turn to me and tell me (sarcastically) how much the rain was getting her down.  We had sunshine for the ENTIRE week, until their last morning when we had fog and frost on the fields.  Since they left to go back to sunny CA we've had clouds and rain, which is much more typical for this time of year.  We're so glad we got to have a fun visit with the gross mutter and gross vater!

Vier Frauen

Uploading this picture of us girls in our dirndls kind of startled me.  Look how tall D is! 

The agony of defeat

Me first!

I live my life in a state of constant competition.  Or, so it seems were you to listen in to the near-constant chatter from my 3-year-old.   Cries of:  "I win!", "I beat ya", or "I run a fifty miles!" provide the background noise I am accustomed to tuning out.  All my boys are relatively competitive, but No seems to take this to it's ridiculous extreme; it matters not if we are strolling along the bike path or getting a drink from the faucet, he is always the fastest, first and the winner.   It is amusing because he is so young, and so clearly deluded, but hopefully as we teach him to value being kind and compassionate over being first he will grow out (or learn to pretend he has grown out of) his first instinct to declare his supremacy over all. 

At least that's what I keep telling myself.