Viking Challenge

Viking challenge is a fundraiser for the Fisher House and this year Det 1 sponsored a team.  For 24 hours you must have at least 1 team member on the track, walking or running.  Ben, J, D and Zak all signed up and ran or walked for a total of 50 miles.  Go Cooks!  Zak made 19 of those miles by himself.  Pretty impressive for a 9 year old.  Even Noah ran.  I was support (Go Cooks!) and braved the elements to buy gatorade, snacks and even filled in as tally keeper once or twice.  My back hurts from all that sitting, but I suppose sacrifices must be made.

Leprachauns won the team spirit award.  Woo

We CAN do it!

At the beginning of the run everyone is full of spirit and fun and we enjoyed seeing all the fun costumes.  By the end people were much less cheerful and just wanted to be DONE.  Several folks ran marathons, one guy ran 50 miles and there were some who stayed on the track for the entire time.  Crazy.  One of the Det 1 guys took the 6-9am shift and ran by himself for 19 miles.  In a row.  We showed up at the end of his run so Ben could talk to him and keep his mind off of running for the last half hour.   My favorite team were the blue star families from Baumholder--they came as Rosie the Riveter.  So appropriate!

Stau and the Gartenschau

Do I take pictures of my favorite flowers?  Nope.  

Our out&about activity this week was to the Gartenschau in Kaiserslautern, otherwise known as the Dinosaur park (to No).  We were lucky and got a few hours of play at the playground before the skies opened up and dumped buckets of water at us.  Even though I asked the kids to bring rain gear, there were only 3 of us with umbrellas and/or rain coats.  I suppose I should feel sorry for them getting all wet, but. . . natural consequences!

Last week's drive home from the lodge was brutal.  I should have gotten out the camera and gotten out of the car, but I was really hoping the traffic would move any minute now.  (I was wrong, we were stuck for a looong time.)  So, evidence that everyone except us was out of the car, stretching, having a smoke break, even changing clothing.  There was even a group up on the median, taking pictures.

Smoke break on the A8, otherwise known as a stau

learning I am a bad mother

Our week at the Hinterbrand Lodge was a learning one for me.  First off, I have a terrible time counting up to 5--Jerran was at EFY so we only had 5 of our kids with us and my brain had a mini-panic every time we got into the car or headed off for a new destination.  For now I am blaming my age.  Old Joy can't handle changes, apparently.  Or perhaps it is cosmically destined that I have six children so I am wired to count to six?  Which one makes me less lame?

We had a family join us from Italy and the Italian sunshine has blissfully erased their memories of what German weather was like, so they forgot coats and wore shorts.  Because my husband over-prepares for EVERYTHING we had lots of extra coats, sweatshirts and warm clothes to loan to them.  More than once I had a case of mistaken identity when borrowed clothing was on a non-Cook child.  So, not only do I call my own children by the wrong name (proof # 5,645 that I am becoming my mother) but I can't even recognize other people's kids if they are wearing my kids' clothing.  

I also rubbed my kids' faces in the fact that I was faster than all of them on the sommeroldebahn.  Trying to cause another accident out of competitiveness, Joy?

Also, even though I organized this entire week and really, really love all the people who were up there with us, I was incredibly annoyed at my husband the first day when he was getting together a large group to tour the Kehlsteinhaus with us.  Mama needs her alone time, and I get cranky if I don't remember to put on my big girl pants and just ASK for some.  (Joy is working on using her words)  Luckily I got to sit on top of the mountain for a while and watch the birds and giggle at the lederhosen on the tourists and internal equilibrium was restored.  Also, I got a nap the next day so happy Joy made a reappearance.

And then, we hit 3 staus (traffic jams) on the way home.  I whined.  You'd think that someone who just had a wonderful vacation in the incredibly beautiful Bavarian Alps would be more grateful for her life.  You'd think so, wouldn't you?  What a great example for my kids!

Ah well, thank goodness tomorrow is another day.  

Königssee

Happy to ride the ferry

devil horns

Obersee

My mountain goats

Marmot fat?  Who knew?

So very, very green.   Can you see the happy cows?

Even in summer the glacial waters flow

The morning weather wasn't promising,
but we had sun all afternoon!

Our last day we took the ferry boat out to St Bartholomew's, which used to be a monastery, but is now a restaurant; and then we continued on to Salat, where we hiked in to the Obersee.  The lake is the most amazing green/aqua color which is hard to describe because I've never seen a lake look that color.  Partly it is so beautiful because only electric boats have been allowed since 1909 and the entire national park is beautifully maintained and protected.   We marveled at all the green and wondered how many people drink the fresh buttermilk offered at every stop.

Bavaria

Noah, hanging on for dear life

 Our first full day was full of sunshine--not too typical here in Deutschland.  You don't get all this green without a lot of rain, and we had rain the next day, but for this day we traveled up to the Kehlsteinhaus for a fabulous view, had lunch halfway up the mountain and then rode the sommeraldebahn until we had an injury and quit for the day.  So much fun!

riding the conveyor belt back up to the top

See the smiles?

Starting house

Emma and I had the record top speed for our group.  

The tunnel to the elevator

typical Lia

waiting for our group at the Kehlsteinhaus

Just a few of our group

Our home for the week

Long ago, in the rocklands of Germany

The devil came a' walkin' through.  He was tired and decided to have himself a little meal, so out the red rock he made himself a table and a chair.   The next morning he picked up his chair and traveled on, leaving the table  for future generations to wonder at.

And then someone built a playground under it.

teufelsticsh (devil's table)

the best part about living in Germany is the things we get to do which are 'too risky' in the states

Oot and Aboot

Can't see anything going wrong here

On Wednesdays we join other families from church and explore someplace fun.  The first was Gondwana, a dino theme park which has life-sized animatronic display of dinosaurs.  Sounds cheesy, but was really fun.  And a little scary.  We also visited our local castle and the devil's table.  So far even the rain hasn't stopped us!

The rainy recital

The kids all began piano lessons this year, and our recital was the week after school was done.  The only problem is that Misa (piano teacher) doesn't have room in her piano room for all of us.  So, they pushed the piano out to the entry way and we congregated outside to listen and applaud.  You want to guess what kind of weather we had?

She made me promise to only photograph her from the back

Leeleylou's Birthday

Look!  Proof of sibling love!

There's a story behind this one

This cake. . . oh, this cake

My smilin' girl

So, it is a family tradition to open up all the presents with everyone watching and cheering, etc.  I usually buy the presents which the kids can then 'purchase' from me with happy bucks they earned doing their chores, etc.  When we got together to give Lee her birthday gifts Noah came up with a shopping bag and proudly handed it to her.  He had retrieved a shirt off my bed, wrapped it up and presented one of Ben's old shirts to Lee as her birthday gift.  He was awfully proud of himself, we were all laughing our heads off.  Never underestimate the determination of a four year old!