A View from Rohr

Here is the view from our town. With all the leaves still in bloom, we have a perfect view of the Stuttgart valley. This park is just 5 houses down the street - a favorite place to play and ride bikes!

Good 'Ol Rufus

Well as many of you know, Jack's favorite "buddy" is his dog Rufus. Rufus has traveled many miles with us and survived 3 PCSs. After much love and many washings we had to finally gut him and restuff him. Jack was a bit worried that he would never look the same. Here are a few photos of his surgery. The only problem....we forgot to stuff his heart back inside. The kids just say that he won't be prone to a heart attack now!


Never fear, he is now "plumper" than ever before!

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

This past week we celebrated a much needed break from schooling! The kids and I decided to take the train from Stuttgart to Garmisch to meet up with Brad while he was attending a conference.

Our adventure began early Wednesday morning by taking the local train from our town to the Hauptbahnhaof (main train station) in Stuttgart. We boarded the ICE train and headed East to Munich, where we transferred to a regional train heading south to Garmisch, on the edge of the Alps!


After our three hour trip we immediately headed to the 1936 Olympic stadium/ski jump.

Upon our approach to the mountain the kids noticed this shiny track built into the hillside - a toboggan run! So of course we headed straight up the mountain! The kids had a blast, well, Brad and I did too! At first we were a bit leary (okay, just me) to send the kids up by themselves, but by the end they had graduated driving safety class! Let me clarify that...Madeline had proven herself safe! We were a bit concerned that Jack only had the "need for speed"!


After 6 successful runs it was off to the trampoline. Madeline was buckled in and off she went bouncing to her hearts content. She successfully mastered flipping both forwards and backwards; although, she was hurting the next day from her 20 minutes of acrobatics!

Jack also masters jumping to new heights. Limber he isn't but he was able to jump the highest hands down.



Later that night we attended a local missionary church where friends of ours are serving while awaiting to enter the field in Austria. What a blessing it was to see a missionary up close and personal - the kids really loved it!

The city of Garmisch is so picturesque. Everywhere you turn there are gorgeous views of the alps and beautifully painted Bavarian buildings. Thursday we spent the day exploring the town, shopping and of course eating ice cream and sipping cappuccino!


On Madeline's wish list was a dirndl. This is the traditional dress of Bavaria. You can see is wearing it with such excitement! We somehow couldn't convince Jack to buy a pair of lederhosen!


The view from our room was beautiful. To see the sunrise over the mountains is just amazing.


Yes, we did see the sunrise both mornings as once the first person is up, everyone is awake! We stayed at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort on the edge of town.



Just before we headed home, we hiked the mountain ridge across from the Zugspitz. After about 1.5 hours of climbing up...we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the mountains and some yummy apflestrudl with vanilla sauce and fresh cream! The decent was no problem, a breeze compared to the pain up getting to the top!

Happy Easter - Resurrection Sunday

What a wonderful Sunday we had! First and foremost the celebration of our risen Saviour, Jesus Christ and Madeline and Jack's baptism. Here are a few photos from our day!












Here's a photo of our church "under construction". We love our little piece of heaven here!























The kids sang for the main church service.














Here are a few photos of the baptism. (Notice our preacher, he's a veteran who served in the Army and lost him arm - something our kids will never forget!)