The Bavarian Alps

Last Friday Peter came home with the news that he had been assigned to attend a conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany for the next week.  We have been to Garmisch before and remembered just how picturesque and charming it is, so, of course, we conspired a plan for Susannah and me to tag along.   After clearing it with Susannah's new school (we had to push her first day back a week), we headed toward the Alps on Monday afternoon.   We stayed in the beautiful military Edelweiss Resort.   It was a great week.   Here are some photos.....

The lobby is beautiful and cozy with a two story fireplace and tons of rocking chairs.....even little ones.

The AMAZING view from our room.

Peter was pretty busy all week, so Susannah and I had lots of fun mommy-daughter time.

We had breakfast every morning, then hit the gym, then the indoor pool and outdoor hot-tub.   It was pretty relaxing.

 

Peter had to escort the keynote speaker to dinner every night, so Susannah and I had mommy-daughter happy hour at the resort sport's bar, Zuggy's Base Camp.   :)

Peter stole away whenever he could manage, and we took advantage of every family minute.   Here is Susannah with her wiener schnitzel lunch.

After lunch we hiked around and checked out the views of Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitz.

It was so beautiful here, we are definitely planning another trip when the weather is warmer.

Having fun with Daddy.

We didn't get snow in the valley until the day we left, but the mountains were already snow-capped.

Rocking by the fireplace.

Trying to snag a Christmas card photo was pretty unsuccessful all week, despite our tireless efforts. 

Susannah's first taste of hot apple cider.  

She liked it at first, but then changed her mind and declared that she didn't like it after all.  

It was cold, so we got to try out all of our winter weather gear.

It was a great week, and super relaxing for Susannah and me.  Not as relaxing for Peter.  ;)

The town already had all their winter twinkle lights glowing.

Christmas card picture attempt #47.  

Good-bye Garmisch.   Hope to see you again this Summer!

Now we are home and ready to start Kindergarten and cook some Turkey.   Aunt Nancy arrives Thursday morning and we are so excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with her.   Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!

Weekly highlights

This week has been a good one.   Last weekend Peter had a four day weekend and we enjoyed every single restful minute of it.    And this weekend has already been fun-filled with date night for Peter and me last night and a family trip to the zoo today.   Here are some
photos of the week....

The sunrise outside our kitchen window was so beautiful one morning this week, I had to snap a photo.   The white building behind the trees is Susannah's new kindergarten.   That means this crazy mama will have a hawk's eye view of all playground activities.   ;)

Last weekend we climbed the hill south of our neighborhood to check out the view of the city and try out the playground over there.   Susannah and I enjoyed the merry-go-round.

Fun, fun.

And a mini-workout for mommy.

The view was so beautiful.    We will definitely be returning in the spring when the biergarten up there re-opens.

There is a small vineyard up here too and it was such a beautiful fall color.

The picture doesn't do it justice......these leaves were such a vibrant mix of orange, yellow, and pink.

This face is a pretty accurate description of our behavior pattern last week.    We felt so lucky to never really experience much "terrible two" behavior, but if this week is any indication, three may not be quite so easy.    More than a couple of times this week I have asked Peter, "What happened to our sweet Susannah?"  

Which leads me to this picture......a much needed  Date night!    And our first "gluhwein" of the season.   

While the official Christmas markets won't open until after Thanksgiving, this is a little pre-Christmas market, complete with the signiture hot spiced wine, twinkle lights, and an ice skating rink.

This morning we decided to try the Stuttgart zoo, so my little navigators took out the public transport map to figure out the best way to get there.

All bundled up and ready to go see the animals.

I was expecting to be pretty disappointed with this zoo experience after coming from San Diego, but we were all pleasantly surprised.   It has lots of great animals and tons of beautiful green space.   Aren't those yellow trees so beautiful?

After checking out the penguins, we headed over to the seals where we were thoroughly entertained by these adorable characters. 

Laughing at the barking seal.

We also checked out the aquarium and saw all kinds of fish, turtles, and snakes.

Susannah's favorite part was the ape house where we watched the two baby apes play.   They were so funny.   Susannah loved that they had a blankie like hers.

Of course we had to make a pit-stop at the playground.

The polar bears were awake and moving and so HUGE.

We stayed and watched this guy for a long while.

Now we are back in our warm, cozy apartment where we will probably stay until time for church tomorrow.   Hope all of you are well.   We miss and love you all!

Brothers gotta hug

I'm recently back from my 10 year reunion weekend at The Citadel.  It was a great time to see my brother (who lives in Charleston) and see my Echo Company brothers and the rest of my classmates from the Class of 2003.  Flying to and from Germany put a little more than two travels day onto the weekend, which gave me two full days to enjoy Charleston and see all my buddies. 

First full day, Friday.  First event of the day was load up on some coffee, couple of chicken biscuits and head over the Cooper River Bridge into downtown Charleston. 

The Low Country.  I forgot how beautiful Charleston is.

After grabbing Herr Bret Lyons, my knob year roommate from New York, we linked up with the other Echo boys and dropped in on the afternoon Corps of Cadets review parade. 

A look up at PT Barracks.  The first view I had when I showed up at The Citadel in 1999.  I felt a little less nervous when I took this picture last weekend

 

A view across the parade deck before the review Parade.  It's used for parades, physical fitness and my most memorable time there: Summerall Guard training...I could write a book about, but some Conroy guy already did. 

 

 

 It was great to watch the Corps march and see that a lot of the standards are still very high.  The seniors looked happy, the sophomores and juniors looked mean and the knobs looked terrified...just the way we left it. 

 

Nice shot of a cadet company marching in parade.
 

 Friday night was finished up with a nice dinner amongst all the Echo guys and a social evening at a local bar owned by one of my classmates.  It was a great time to catch up with some guys I haven't seen since graduation. The Citadel class of 2003 is spread out across the country doing great stuff...bankers in North and South Carolina, lawyers in Columbia, a Marine One pilot for the President, salesman in Atlanta, government contractor in Washington D.C., "Government Agent", Port Manager, businessmen, and lots of guys still in the military.  It was amazing how fast each one of their first names came back so fast after 10 years.  


Saturday was the main event for the reunion weekend.  Saturday morning The Citadel opens the barracks to visitors and we were able to visit our old rooms. 

This is where I lived for three years.  It's not Echo Company anymore, but everything looked the same.  There was even the smell of vomit in the stairwell,  as if one of the cadets was too inebriated from the Friday night before.  So, I guess it looked and smelled the same as it did 10 years ago.

 

Hey, who are these guys?

Echo Company today.  Each year knobs take bed sheets and make banners (black banner in the photo) to welcome Parents, Alumni and visitors.  From my memory if the banners aren't up to snuf, the upperclassmen burn them on the quad the night before the open barracks.  Gotta love that motivation.

Heres the "quad" from 2nd Battalion.  Cadets have multiple formations here during the day.  Only Senior, Juniors and second semester sophomores can walk on the quad outside of an official formation times

 

The Quad is also the place for those cadets who stray from the rules. It's here they walk "tours" with M-14 rifles for hours on end during the weekend.  I love this place.

 

 

 Saturday afternoon we had a great tailgate party for the whole class.  The class President did a great job of organizing all of us.  We had drinks, BBQ, matching shirts and sunglasses.  Very fun.  Prior to the football game all the reunion classes (10 yr, 20, yr, 50 yr, etc.) formed up and marched onto the football field with the Corps of Cadets.

 

Class of 2003 formation.  A little out of ranks, but hey it was social hour...

Here they are...my brothers from Echo Company 2003. Not everyone is there unfortunately, but for those of us who made it was awesome.  These guys are the best.  We went through four years of The Citadel side by side and it's kept all of us close since then.  My brother, Hollis, also jumped in the picture with his Schwarzenegger pose.

 The day ended with dinner together and Jon West went to the ER because of an allergic reaction.  Thankfully his wife was there since his anaphylactic shock took all of us revelers by surprise.

 

Jamie and Jon launching sarcastic comments, I'm sure.

My brother.  It made the weekend even better that we got to spend so much time together.  He's a true renaissance man.  An English professor, wrestling coach, professional mover and dabbles in universe expansion theory...not kidding.

 I flew back to Stuttgart on Sunday morning early.  I got home on Monday around noon.  It was great to see Whitney and Susannah.  I slept for 12 hours and then it was full speed ahead again....