Garmisch Church Retreat

So this Labor day weekend, our church had a retreat in Garmisch.  This was the first time that we actually stayed at Edelweiss hotel.  Normally we get an apartment to stay there, but we hung with the rest of the church this time.  I took AJ out of school on Friday (originally it was supposed to be a furlough day but they changed it and there are no furlough days) so we could leave early in the morning.  We were traveling with Porchea, Victor and their kids and wanted to stop by the Neuschwanstein castle on the way there.  We have been there once, but it was really, really cold at the end of November.  This time it was really warm and quite pleasant to walk around.  We decided to not do the tour because it is not worth the money, they really don't take you around much of the castle from what we have heard.

 

Here is Michael at the fountain at the bottom of the hill - anything water attracts him  ;-)

 

Three of the boys, Andre, Michael and Alex, waiting for the bus.  AJ was upset at me for most of the time at the castle because I took away his yo-yo and he didn't want to be in the pictures.  We decided it would be good to take a bus up and walk down since we had five children and thought everybody would be much happier!!!

 

The girls heading up the hill on the bus.  I do have to say we were really outnumbered on this trip.  There were two dads and four sons to us three, but we can hold our own!  :-)

 

Us with the castle behind us - It truly is a beautiful area.

 

I can see why King Ludwig II picked this place to build the castle.  I won't bore you with the history lesson again this time  :-)

 

Michael and AJ always seem to take the road less traveled.  I am not sure if they used the path hardly at all during our visit to the castle, they were up, they were down, they were jumping and running.  I think they walked twice as far as the rest of us.  Of course on the way down they were complaining they were tired and wanted to ride the horse carriage down.  :-)

 

We saw some para-sailors out - both David and I would love to do that sometime.  They had some really great air currents because they were up there for a long time!!!

 

Porchea and I - :-)  We both said we could live in a castle like this.

 

The kids- AJ, Andre, Michael, Gracie, and Alex.  They set themselves up like this, we didn't plan this picture at all, but it is one of my favorites from the weekend!

 

Michael wanted a picture with him sitting on the wall with the beautiful mountains behind him!

 

Group hug - AJ was still in a grumpy mood and didn't want to, but the other boys wouldn't let him say no  ;-)

 

Gorgeous - what more can I say?  I could wake up to that view everyday!

 

I just love these kids!!!  They are so cute!!!

 

Michael and Andre - all the kids really love each other and have such a great time hanging out, as do the parents!!  It makes for great vacations!!

 

Michael by a waterfall on our way down the mountain.  After seeing the castle we headed to the retreat.  We decided with the time we were just going to pick up some pizza at Pizza Hut for dinner and then head to our first session.

 

 

The gang getting ready to head out to our first session.

 

AJ is finally out of his mood and having a great time!!  He is getting way too big for me to give him a piggy back ride - so he has to have one from David.  I have told him he can't be taller than me by the time he is in third grade.  :-)

 

AJ decided to reciprocate the piggy back ride and gave Michael one part of the way there!

 

Then it was Andre's turn....

 

And Alex - Gracie was with her mom and was the only reason she didn't get one that night.  :-)

 

There was a little time before the session started so we decided to run the kids and get out some energy after a five hour drive.  So I told them to race to the bleachers and back and David started running with him!  The kids were laughing and having a great time!  After this more kids came and it was on!

 

It was never clear blue sky over the weekend but here, even with the clouds, the mountains are so beautiful and majestic.  This is taken from the lawn of the Chapel in Garmisch.  I could get used to this view every morning also.  AJ did ask if we could go skiing while we were there, but I told him we needed snow first.  We had a great first session at the retreat and learned more about worry and how to deal with it.  Chaplain Hall did a wonderful job of teaching, she always explains things in terms that everybody can understand.  After that we headed back to the hotel room for some dessert and movies and the husbands headed out with a few friends to have some guy time.  It was a wonderful first day!