We made it!

This morning I went with the boys to get some pretzels for breakfast and on the way I saw Riki. We chatted for a little bit and then she said that they were going for a bike ride so we decided to go with them. We were planning to do one anyways, so this just made it more fun. We haven’t yet been biking with them but I feel kind of bad because they would have to slow way down for me.

We got all of our stuff together, packed the boys up and set off. I wore my heart rate monitor because I wanted this bike ride to “count”. It turns out that it was a good idea because I found out that I burned 800 calories on the bike ride alone! It took about 55 minutes to get to the beer garden and then 40 minutes to come back. We rode 20 km, but it felt way longer than that. It was the longest I’ve ever ridden. Mostly because I didn’t have a baby on the bike. We attached the trailer to Michael’s bike and he carted all of our stuff and both boys. I could pretty much keep up with everyone except for this big hill. It was killer. About 1/2 way up I said forget it and walked it. Even walking it was no fun.

This is probably one of the last times we will eat at a beer garden, so we bought beer garden food. Riki and Arne of course were organized enough that they brought their own food. I really love the chicken that they have and can’t pass that opportunity up. I got sausages for Michael and the boys and normally I would get 2 orders but the last time the boys spit most of it out. So I got 1.5 orders (6 little sausages). Turns out the boys were in the mood for sausages so they ate almost all of it. Michael got one small piece and a little bit of my chicken. Poor guy! We played at the playground until they were overtired (oops!) and they both cried and cried for a few minutes but then fell asleep to the rhythmic humm of the bike tires and the gentle bouncing of the trailer.

After that, since it was such a nice day, we decided to take our christmas pictures today in Garmisch. We got our traditional bavarian clothing on and set out. We were hoping that the boys would fall asleep in the car since they haven’t had their nap yet (except for the short one on the bike ride). But sadly, they didn’t. They were a little grouchy when we got there, but not too bad. We went up the Wank on a ski lift. The boys liked it a lot and Rowan sat in his chair very seriously. It was so cute, especially in his lederhosen. We got out, walked a little bit and set up shop. Getting the boys together and not fuss and look at the camera was extremely hard. We didn’t have anyone taking our picture - I had a tripod. The boys were pretty fussy by this point and luckily when we bought our tickets to the ski lift, they gave us 2 little packages of gummi bears. What a life saver that was! Michael would give each of them one and they would sit happily for a minute or so chomping on their bear. Sometimes they would look at the camera, sometimes not. Mostly no smiles. But that’s the best we could do. They are still cute though! You’ll see!

We saw the movie “An Inconvenient Truth” with Al Gore. It was amazing. I am a super huge fan of Al Gore now, I have so much respect for him. I can’t imagine how much better our world would’ve been had he been elected. The movie was mostly about him presenting the scientific data about how global warming is affecting our earth, but there were a few personal stories intertwined in. If you have a chance to go see it, please do.