August 2014

 We returned from Alaska and had just about a month before Elly was to start Kindergarten.  I've enjoyed the freedom of her not being in school and it's definitely something we have to adjust to.  Now we won't be able to just take off on a trip any time we want.  We're going to have to consider her school schedule.  So, knowing we only had a month before she would be in school full time we made the most of our last month of summer.  

Returning back to Germany after being in Alaska for so long is always a bit of an adjustment for me.  Between being gone so long, the long flights, missing a night's sleep, the 10 hour time difference and just getting used to my house and husband again I always feel a little off kilter for the first week or so that we're home.  It doesn't help that Elly and I are usually waking up around 2:00am not able to sleep for the first several days.  Elly misses Sam a lot when we're gone, so the first morning we were back she was ready to take off with Daddy and go somewhere. I think he just had some errands to run, but she was ready to go hang out with Daddy for awhile.  She has no idea how lucky she is to have a Daddy that loves spending time with her and does every chance he gets.  He's really a great Daddy.

Our plum tree in the backyard was loaded with fruit this year.  Elly and I picked a bunch of them and I gave some to a friend.  Unfortunately, my friend found that most of them were full of worms.  Yuck!  I have no idea how to stop that from happening.  I guess I need to talk to the local green house and see what we can do about it.  I was impressed with all the fruit it produced though.

One day we decided to check out a town not too far from us.  It's called Rottweil and I'm pretty sure it's where Rottweiler dogs come from because there were statues of them all over.  Something that's interesting though is that Germans don't dock the tails so over here you see the long tails on the Rottweilers.  Somehow, they don't look quite as fierce to me with the long tail.

Elly lost her first tooth on 12 August 2014.  She was scared to have it pulled out, but it got so loose from her wiggling it that it was pretty anti-climatic when it actually happened.  She was excited to put it under her pillow and she found a dollar in it's place the next morning.  ☺ 

Sam got this little bicycle for Elly for just a couple of dollars at a flea market on post and it has been great.  He's great about taking her out on rides.  I love to go too if I can get away.  She's doing really good at riding....with the training wheels.  One of these days we'll take them off.  

Elly loved how tiny this little snail was that she found on one of our plums.

One day, all on her own, Elly gathered some leaves from outside and I found her sitting in the living room making these rubbings of them.  She was entertained for quite some times with them. 

 

 Nabelhohle cave is about an hour from us.

We had a meet and greet with Elly's Kindergarten teacher toward the end of the month.  Here is was posing with the school's mascot, a bulldog.

At the end of August we took a trip to Garmisch.  It is one of our absolute favorite places to visit in Germany.  We always drive by Munich on our way there, but we've never stopped.  This time we decided to stop and check it out.  We had lunch at the famous Hofbrauhaus.  It is one of Munich's oldest beer halls.  Founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria.  Afterward we walked around town for awhile.  

Aaahh! Edelweiss!! We LOVE it here! We had a great couple of days here.  We took our own bikes with us this time and really enjoyed riding them.  We rode to the Partnach Gorge, parked the bikes then hiked through the gorge and to the top. I think we do this every time we go to Garmisch and we never get tired of it.  Sam often says he would love to get a job down there. ☺

There is a restaurant at the top where we usually get a little snack, but this time it was being renovated, so we took the cable car back down the hill.  

Ettal is a small village close to Garmisch where this monastery is.  It is called Ettal Abbey and is a Benedictine Monastery.  They also make beer here....something I still find strange. It's a beautiful building though and well worth the time to check it out.  

Our time at Edelweiss was near the time for Oktoberfest, so the hotel had some fun things set up for the kids.  Face painting, games and bouncy houses.  Elly had fun with that one evening.