Family Hike!

Stefanie, Rachel, AJ, Dominic, Missy & Steve

We mandated today "family day" so we could spend part of the day with the kids without idevices, movies and friends; even though we too love all those things. Since the weather has been so mild here in Germany there is not much snow in the mountains. This means many of the hiking trails are still easy to hike.

We headed to Herzogstand where Steve and I have been before. To keep our people happy we rode the cable car up the mountain. Four minutes for 700m, not bad. Then we hiked to the top of Herzogstand. It was an easy switchback trail with just a small slippery part at the beginning where the ice hadn't melted - the rest of the mountain was completely snow free!

The trail to the summit.

The views were incredible and it was a beautiful day to be outside enjoying the mountains. Plus one of the best parts of hiking in Germany is the Hutte where you stop to eat. Delicious Bavarian foods and of course bier, gluhwein and hot chocolate with rum!

Rachel & Stefanie on the way up.

Cross at the summit

Stefanie

AJ

Boys headed back down

Lunchtime - Dominic, Rachel, AJ, Stefanie & Steve

47!

Birthday Cake in our Christmas PJs

I've had a terrific birthday! Steve and the kids work hard to make it special since I share it with Christmas Eve. In fact we started celebrating on the 23rd!

Dominic, Stefanie, St Nick, Rachel & AJ

Yesterday we headed into Munich to enjoy some Christmas markets and Christmas shopping. We even ran into Saint Nicholas along the way! Then it was time for STAR WARS! We were all excited to see the next installment and we were not disappointed.  Thumbs up from all the DelRossos!

Next it was dinner at Grill and Grace. This is a steak restaurant that Steve and I found where you grill your own steaks. It's fun and different, plus it reminds us just a little of Phillip's Foote in Sydney. The big difference is the grills are outside in Sydney but inside in Munich!

Cooking our steaks!

Then today on my actual birthday the fun continued. Lots more wonderful presents, breakfast by the kids, lunch in Starnberg and a short walk by the lake. The girls even arranged a birthday dessert surprise at the restaurant!

Late afternoon we switched into Christmas Eve mode. We started with the children's mass at our local church, there was a sweet nativity play complete with a star that moved from the back of the church to the front with three adorable wise men following it. We ended our evening with our traditional Christmas Eve meal and It's a Wonderful Life.

Dominic's Home Too!

AJ, Rachel, Dominic & Stefanie

WOOHOOO!!!!

Dominic landed today and we are once again complete! We will make the most of our 13 days together!

AJ went to the airport with me this morning since the girls had school - seriously, they had school and Steve had to work! I'm hopeless using my phone as a camera but here the boys are with the excellent sign AJ made! And then, of course, McDonalds for my two favorite sons!

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AJ's Home!!!

Rachel, AJ & Stefanie

Woohoooooo!!!

After a flight change due to high winds in NYC and delays for repairs and snow in Chicago, AJ made it to us in Munich. We were all so excited to see him. The girls are still teary in this picture with him at the airport!

We went straight to Rachel's basketball game where having AJ in the stands proved to be good luck. She had her best game ever and her team won their first game of the season!

Murnau Weihnachtsmarkt

Steve and I decided to spend our Sunday afternoon German style - outside at a Christmas market. My friend Terry had recommended this market and we were not disappointed.

Beautiful Bavarian Sign - so much detail

The street was filled with unique vendors selling their wares and of course we had a gluhwein while we strolled along. One of the best things on a cold day while you're outside is hot drink of mulled wine. There was even a sweet live nativity performed by local children. German children also learn to play the recorder, it was so cute.

Madonna AND London!

Missy, Jasmin & Lana

We will start with this: I am a very lucky girl. Very, very lucky. For the past five days I escaped all grown-up responsibilities for a long weekend with some girlfriends in London. The catalyst for this weekend was the Madonna concert.

Dinner on Carnaby Street before the concert

Missy, Lana & Jasmin

Most of you know I am a huge Madonna fan and was really disappointed when I missed her last tour because we had just moved to Germany. This year my friend Lana was moving to London and we decided the Madonna concert was a great "excuse" for a visit. My friend Jasmin and I headed to London for her Rebel Heart tour stop and I'm so glad that we did. We had such a fabulous night and of course Madonna didn't disappoint. Well, I shouldn't say "of course", I was disappointed with one of the eight tours I have seen but the other seven have been spectacular! I'm so glad we made this trip! Madonna is still an amazing performer with an incredibly entertaining show.

1989 - I've been a fan for a looong time!

Jasmin the jetsetter had to head out the next day for a birthday party but as she left our friend Wendy joined us and the three of us spent the rest of the weekend in London. Before Wendy arrived Lana and I did a Blitz tour with London Walks. This was an interesting and informative tour and Lana and I both learned lots. We also explored a little of St Paul's Cathedral since the tour was near there. It is a beautiful cathedral but we were too late to climb the dome, next time!

St Paul's Cathedral

Original London City Wall

We of course spent a fair amount of time shopping, drinking coffee and tea, having lunch and walking Lana's dog Blue. Lana lives near Hyde Park so we enjoyed long walks exploring the park every day!

Lana, Wendy & Missy

We also went to The Book of Mormon. It was absolutely hilarious although it pummels the Mormon religion and there is an argument that it is targeting religion as a whole. However, it is wildly entertaining and very well written. If things that make fun of religion offend you, don't see it, but if you can view it with an open mind by all means check it out.

La Bodega Negro - Hans, Wendy, Missy, Lana & Marc

We spent our last evening in Soho which is just an entertaining maze of streets. We had terrific Mexican food at La Bodega Negro with amazing margaritas. Our friend Hans is also spending most of his time working in London so he and Lana's husband Marc joined us and took us a to a hole-in-the-wall jazz bar - Blues Bar -  that was just so cool and the band playing was awesome.

On our was to the Blues Bar

Fun, FUN weekend for me. I told you I was lucky! And I'm ever so grateful to my great hosts! Lana & Marc!

SOLD!!!

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This summer Steve and I made the difficult decision to sell our house. It was a wonderful place to live while our kids were growing up. We will miss our neighborhood and friends but look forward to where the future takes us!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Steve had a relaxing birthday today! He took the day off from work since we had our big Thanksgiving Feast yesterday. That was a great idea! The girls treated him to breakfast in bed which he of course loved. He got to spend day with his best girl (me) and ended with a steak dinner at a fabulous restaurant in a neighboring village. Oh and of course Apple Pie for birthday cake!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gertrude the Gratitude Turkey

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with a HUGE group of friends. 35 of us gathered at our house for a Thanksgiving feast! It was truly a collaborative effort - everyone contributed to the "fixings" and three of us cooked turkeys. Our us was Steve - he impressed all our friends with his turkey fryer! No one had ever had a fried turkey but they all thought it was incredible!

Seating for 35

We moved the furniture in our house and added two biergarten tables so we had seating for everyone. And even though my family was a bit skeptical it could work, it was perfect.

Cornucopia Favors

The Fixings

The make-up of our group was - German, Swedish, Danish, Canadian, Mexican and of course American.

All the kids

And the adults

Stef's the Real MVP

Stefanie & Joe

Tonight was the fall sports awards ceremony at MIS. This year Stefanie was captain of the varsity girls volleyball team and Rachel was the only ninth grade member of the girls varsity soccer team. At the awards ceremony only two awards are given per team - Coach's Award and Most Valuable Player. Stefanie was psyched to win MVP for her team this year! We of course think it was well deserved! For a little added fun her boyfriend Joe won Coach's Award for the boys varsity volleyball team.

Herzogstand Hike

Although it is November the weather is  unusually warm. Steve and I wanted to take advantage of it so we drove down to Herzogstand.  This the same mountain I took our parents to in May but instead of riding the cable car we hiked. It was a good two hour hike, not impossible but a steady climb. It was a beautiful day and the bonus was we felt like we had really earned our lunch when we got to the top.

We did take the cable car back down and when we got to the bottom we were shocked by the number of people. It turns out everyone wanted to enjoy this beautiful day.  The parking lots were full, the line for the cable car was enormous and cars were parked haphazardly all along the side of the road.  We were grateful we had headed out early before the crowds.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is a little different these days. The girls still are excited that it is happening and they definitely wanted to carve pumpkins. BUT, it is not like when everyone was little with the build-up of excitement, the planning of costumes and the energy and nuttiness that filled trick or treat day.

Stef’s boyfriend Joe joined the girls for pumpkin carving. The girls were a little disturbed that he did a better job then they did.

Stefanie and Joe went to a party dressed as Bonnie and Clyde.

Rachel hung out with some friends at our house watching scary movies – she said she was a shadow or she was just dressed all in black.

This was the best year ever for trick or treaters here in Germany. We think we had about 30 kids!

Ireland

The girls’ fall break found us in Ireland this year. We are so glad we chose this destination, we all really enjoyed exploring a little of the Emerald Isle.

We started in Dublin doing the usual city things. We walked through the Temple Bar area.  When I first heard of Temple Bar I assumed it was a bar. But no, it’s the walking district in Dublin filled with restaurants and shops. Then we walked over to the shopping area known as Grafton Street, similar to many big cities and always fun to explore.

We used the Hop On Hop Off bus to seem the wide expanse of the city which was a good way to see many of the sites. We also toured the Kilmainham Gaol. The tour was quite informative and definitely peaked our interested to learn more about Irish history and independence.

Last on our top things to do in Dublin was visiting the Guiness Storehouse, this is a museum dedicated to all things Guinness. Steve especially enjoyed this stop.  Steve and I took a short class to learn how to pour the perfect Guinness - perfect on the first try! We had a great lunch at Gilroy’s and then all enjoyed a bit of Guinness in the Gravity Bar at the top. The 360 view of Dublin was really amazing and a nice place to have a drink.

Apparently the most famous gate in Ireland

Steve perfecting the "perfect pour"

Missy & Steve

Rachel & Stefanie in the Gravity Bar

Steve and I managed to squeeze a whiskey in at the Brazenhead too.  It is the oldest pub in Dublin. It is a crowded maze of rooms one leading into another. There were dollar bills with comments on them all over the walls. Of course the first one I saw was a “Go Blue”! Seriously, in Dublin, but have no fear, I quickly spotted a Go Bucks one over Steve’s head!

O-H-I-O!

Whatever

After two days we were ready to explore the countryside. Steve was brave and was our left hand side of the road driver.   We drove to Kilkenney for the medieval St Canis Cathedral and Smithwicks brewery. 

Kilkenney - why is it so quiet? Turns out it was a bank holiday!

 St Canis was a different sort of church for us but the sheer age of everything was fascinating.

St Canis

St Canis

The tour at Smithwicks was a good one that we all enjoyed. Afterwards we had lunch at a fabulous Italian restaurant, - Restaurant Rinucci - possibly the best spaghetti we have ever had.

Smithwicks Brewery

Next was a drive to the Rock of Cashel. Every guidebook, website, Ireland travel information source recommended visiting these ruins. They are quite impressive situated high atop a hill. It is supposedly the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick.  The weather had been horrible all day but thankfully it stopped raining just long enough for us to explore.

The girls were super excited by the informational video!

Next was Cobh for the evening, I had picked this town to stay in specifically for a picture I wanted Steve to take but it turned out to be a great place to stop. And we got this amazing photo, and I’m not wrong to say it was totally worth it.

Not to be missed

 We also went on a ghost tour since that was something Rachel really wanted to do.  And while the guide shared plenty of spooky stories we also learned a bit about the history of the town too. Including it is the second largest natural harbor (Sydney is the first), this was the last stop of the Titanic (of course it has a museum), the Luisitania sunk near here and the first person registered at Ellis Island – Annie Moore was from Cobh.

Annie Moore

Steve & Rachel

Next on our list was Jameson Distillery. This was the best of the three brewery/distillery places we visited. It was a fantastic and super informative tour. Our guide was very enthusiastic and you really get to see a lot of what was actually used to make the whiskey. Plus now I have a new favorite cocktail – Jameson’s and Ginger!

Rachel & Stefanie

Afterwards we drove to Dingle Pennisula. As we drove the scenery just continued to get more and more beautiful. When we came around a corner and were greeted by crashing waves we knew we had to stop for a photo. 

Rachel & Stefanie

Steve wanted us to go put our feet in the water but we were too cold that night! Driving around the Pennisula the next day was breathtaking. We stopped to explore quite a bit including coastlines, medieval forts and even found ourselves climbing a rocky area – this was actually our favorite part, we really enjoyed the climb and the views!  We could have spent much more time driving around and stopping to see things, I see now why the guidebooks allow so many days for exploring Ireland!

Stefanie Irish dancing at the beach

Rachel

Rachel

Stefanie

The photographer at work

We ended our stay at with a fun splurge Drumoland Castle, a spa hotel in of course a castle.  It was a beautiful place and while the girls had facials and manicures there was even clay pigeon shooting for Steve.  

While here we also visited the famous Cliffs of Moher. It was a little foggy but the sheerness of the cliffs is absolutely breathtaking AND scary! People were making us a little nervous getting too close to the edge!

Rachel & Stefanie

Steve & Missy