Our Christmas Weekend

Stephen and I had a LOVELY Christmas weekend!

Again, we celebrated this big holiday as a "Just Us" event. So to make it extra special for us (as this may be the first and last "Just Us" Christmas) we booked a hotel in the German Alps.

We left after opening gifts on Christmas morning - which I must say was a blast and we didn't deserve nearly all that we got! We drove for a couple hours and made a stop in Stuttgart where my uncle lives. We stopped for cookies and tea (and a potty break) and then were back on the road again.

About two hours later we began approaching the city of Garmisch-Partenkirschen. Now, up until this point, I was getting quite concerned. All the snow that all of Germany had gotten has suddenly melted or been washed away and the pastures were green again. We decided to head south-east to the mountains for a White Christmas!

Well, as the sun went down and we climbed in altitude, the sputtering rain that seemed to accompany us all day long began to turn into flakes. Soon, we found ourselves thankful for the guy in front of us, because we were now off the main autobahn and on some smaller mountain highways. The snow was now coming down in full force! It fell in clumps the size of my fist! It was BEAUTIFUL! Our White Christmas had arriveds, just in time.

The city is actually located in a valley, so as soon as we started decending, again, the snow turned to rain - but now we knew, there was snow in them-there mountains.

We arrived at our hotel a little before 6pm. We checked into a very comfortable and spacious room, got freshened up and then had dinner in the hotel restaurant. The food was OK. We probably would have found a better experience elsewhere, but we'd had enough adventure for the day.

After dinner, we went back to the room, donned our swimsuits and went to the pool & spa where we were the only two people in the entire place. It was excellent!! The pool was very warm so I grabed a pool-noodle and floated on the serface for about an hour while stephen paddled around and relaxed as well.

The next morning (or more like later that night), I was awake at 4am. Sadly, this is more common now than I'd like it to be. So in an effort not to wake Stephen, I grabbed my book, my computer and my cross-stitch and headed down to the main hall of the hotel. There I grabbed a chair and settled in for the next 3 hours enjoying the quiet. I could tell that I was making the front-desk guy nervous. He kept checking on me (by "casually" walking by the entrance) and ocasionally asked if I needed anything and if anything was wrong. It was very nice of him to be concerned - customer service like this doen't occur frequently in Germany.

Finally, 7am rolled around, and by now most of the hotel day staff were arriving. I, from that moment on, gained a reputation as the insomniac pregnant lady and all the staff treated me with kid-gloves looking for ways to help. Again, super nice and kind, but a little embarassing.

I gently woke Stephen, because now i was bored out of my mind and famished, and we got dressed and ready for our day of mountain adventure. We enjoyed a beautiful spread of breakfast (a bit better than dinner the night before) and then we were off! As we were visiting with my uncle and his wife, they described their favorite way to make it to the Piste of "Zugspitz" (the hightest point in Germany and our host mountain for the day). So, on his advices, we drove to the "Eibsee" lake and took a cable car from the lake to the summet.

Let me also explain that Dec. 26 is the official start of the high-season for Alps skiing. IT WAS PACKED! And not just with people - equipment and cranky children in snowsuits too. And not just skiiers. Snowboarders and sledders were out in force too. We arrived at the cable-car station at about 10am. After a long line, and a 10 or so minute ride, we arrived at the observation station just before noon. Just in time to catch lunch.

After lunch, we spent some time battling the cold and the wind to capture some georgous photos. All of which can be seen on our flicker page here. It simply was breath taking - now I'm certain it was because of the majestic beauty of the place, but did I mention that it was also cold and windy?

Finally, when my lungs were crystalized and our camera had about 3 trillion shots of the mountains from both the German and Austrian sides, I convinced Stephen (with little effort) that it was time to head back to the hotel to warm up.

We caught another cable car back to the orginating station, jumped in the car, turned everythign on high (including the bun warmers) and went back to the hotel. We arrived just in time for the start of "Tea Hour". Now, I've never been to a hotel (Germany or otherwise) that had a tea time, but we did notice that a great number of guests were from the UK. It was quite enjoyable, hot tea, cookies & torts and some more quite snuggle time w/ our books on a leather couch.

Once we were sufficiently tea-ed, we decided it was time to better explore the pool & spa. We started in the pool, floating, relaxing, warming. Then I was curious about the rest of the spa. We were, again, the only people in the spa! So we took a few minutes to check out the resting room, the steam room and the sauna. Never staying very long in any of them as I am unable to do those things right now. Still, we stayed long enough to throughly thaw ourselves and satisfy our curiosity.

We then, at the recommendation of the hotel, made a dinner reservation at a bavarian restaurant/guesthouse. The food was good, the service was OK but it was BUSY and I don't think one customer in there spoke German (mostly Americans) - that is until we were just about through with our meal and our 6 person table seemed more appropriate for 7 people (the 5 Germans that just walked in the door, and me & Stephen). This, too, is quite common for Germans. If seats are open, and your butt needs one, there's no beef in sharing a table w/ strangers.

This did make Stephen a bit uncomfortable, but we didn't have to bare it very long as we were now finished with our meal. We paid our bill, and then went for a stroll in the chilly night air. I had every intention of making it to the end of the street we were visiting (a pedestrian zone with small boutiques selling things like porceline, tea/coffee and other delightfull small things) but as we approched the parking garage where we were parked, I decided that I had again, had enough cold air and that I was ready to head back to the hotel.

The next morning, we had breakfast agian, packed up the room and headed home. We again, met up with my uncle and his wife for lunch in Stuttgart and arrived home on Sunday at dinner time.

Stephen and I had a LOVELY Christmas weekend!

An Uneventful Check-Up & the Thanksgiving Update

We had our 28 week check up today...yup, 7 months! Can you believe it? 7 months have already gone by, just 3 more to go (God willing). Check back early next week for the 7 month baby bump photos.

We didn't get to see much today. It was partly because the ultrasound machine was acting fuzzy and also partly becaus Peanut was wiggly and shy! We were hoping to get a greater than 80% confirmation of his supposed gender, but NO, he just wouldn't show us. Also, we didn't get to see too many new details because he kept squirming around.

When we first started the ultrasound, his head was pointed at 11 o'clock (assuming that you are looking at me standing). Less than 2 minutes in, he has scooted around so his head was at 5 o'clock. And again, just a few min. later (and when the doc finally gave up trying to get him to cooperate) his head was at 3 o'clock.

With all the movement, the doctor had me laying in a couple of positions and kept saying "unbelievable". So, it seems that she was suprised by what a squirmer we have...I'm not quite as suprised. I have the joy of feeling him day in and day out and knew that he was a wiggler...I just didn't know it was so "unbelivable."

We did get some new ultrasound photos to take home, but they're fuzzy and grainy. They don't show much at all. So I'll spare you the task of having to look at them. They'd just be more confusing anyhow. He is now weighing in at over 2 lbs!

We did get a chance to see some clear pictures of his heart and it's beautiful and strong. In an effort to get him to cooperate w/ the scan, the doctor would turn on the doppler (the tool that lets you heat the baby's heart beat). That was excellent to be able to hear so much of his heart beat this time. Our doc doesn't much like to use the doppler because the waves are so strong and can agitate the baby (or the baby's heart rhythm when the fetus is very young). But that was what she was going for today! We got some agitiation all right...just no cooperation to go along with it.

On an unrelated note, Stephen and I enjoyed a very chill Thanksgiving. This year, we didn't go anywhere and we didn't have any guests to entertain. It was just the 2 of us. So instead of going through all the work of preparing the TG meal, we decided to dine at the DFAC (that's army speak for "Dining Facility" otherwise known as the cafeteria).

It was AWESOME!! They served 5 different types of meat and all the sides plus some! No cooking, no cleaning and all for just $7. It was an excellent meal and I'm very glad we decided to do it that way. Stephen's sad that there weren't any leftovers, but it seems like he got over that quickly. Most years, I throw away more leftovers than we eat.

The only thing we would have changed is to have done it with a couple of friends. Since it was just the two of us, conversation was a little slow. Thankfully, for Stephen, CNN was playing just behind me so at least he could catch up on the news. :)

The Christmas tree is up, the house is decorated and we are well on our way to Christmas (notice the fire burning in the "fireplace" aka TV). Almost all the shopping is complete and we've made some plans for our actual Christmas Day festivities. We've decided to go to the mountains!!

For more photos of tree decorating, go here.

We booked a hotel in the German Alps and are hoping for a little snow to go along w/ our storybook hotel. The excellent part is that this hotel is a spa hotel and all their spa services are included in your stay! Sadly, they don't offer massage - which was a total focal point for me as I am unable to use saunas, hot tubs or steam rooms right now. Well watch out indoor pool! Cuz I'm coming for ya!