A couple weekends ago, Jason and I loaded Sebi into the back of the Golf and drove to nearby Grapevine Lake.  There are several parks with open fields that surround the lake, and we stopped at Oak Grove Park.  He wasn’t too sure about the water at first, but eventually decided it would be okay to jump around the edge and get his feet wet.  It was then that he spotted a stick poking out of the water a few feet away.  He loves sticks and didn’t think twice before bounding over to it, until the water rose over his head, that is.  He was stunned to say the least, but successfully swam back to dry land where he stood looking pitiful (see photo below).  We thought he’d be quite finished with the water after that, but he actually took a second swim a few minutes later!

I took the following two shots last Sunday as we were hanging out in the front yard.  I had to document those crazy-big ears, which now stand up straight, and his huge tongue, which is usually hanging out to the front or side.

Well I am FINALLY posting the last bit or our Garmisch photos.  If you need a refresher click here for the Neuschwanstein photos and here for the first set of photos from Garmisch.
After an adventurous time at the peak of the Zugspitz, we took the cable car down to the Eibsee.  We still needed to take a short train ride in order to get back to Garmisch, but decided to spend a little time on the lake first.  The water of this little mountain lake is so clear and the setting is just gorgeous.  We saw some paddle boats and were just about to rent one, but then I spotted the rowboats.  I knew that one of those would be way more fun, and more photogenic of course ;-).  So off we went.  Jason did most (read “all”) of the rowing as he enjoyed it so much and I was completely content with sitting back and taking pictures.  I did just enough rowing so that he could take a photo of me.

That evening we went into town for a lovely German meal and then walked around a bit afterward.

On Sunday we drove to the mountains near the town of Berchtesgaden for a hike up to the Kehlsteinhaus, or Eagle’s Nest.  The Kehsteinhaus is a small retreat built as a 50th birthday present for Hitler–a place where he could go to entertain guests.  Hitler visited the retreat less than a dozen times, which may be one of the reasons why it was not demolished at the end of the war.  The Eagle’s nest is partly famous for its Brass Elevator that carries visitors 124 meters straight through the mountain it stands on.  There is a road, open only to buses, that leads to the Kehlsteinhaus, but Jason and I decided to hike the trail instead.  It wound relentlessly upward and we were exhausted when we finally reached the top.  We thought that the Eagle’s Nest would be set up as a sort of informational center, with photos and some history, but we were surprised to see that it serves solely as a restaurant now.

And finally, here is one last photo of the beautiful countryside near Garmisch.

Summer in Germany = awesome festivals almost every weekend.
A festival in Germany is maybe a little bit like the county or state fairs we’ve all been to, but that’s really an understatement. Each fest is packed with rides, music, artwork, and a delicious assortment of food and goodies–our favorites are the gebrannte Mandeln (sugar roasted almonds), the traditional Bratwurst, and a good Weißbier (wheat beer). So far this summer we’ve gone to the Wilhelmstrassenfest and the Johannisfest. The first set of shots below were taken with our point and shoot camera at the Wilhelmstrassenfest a couple weekends ago. This fest takes place on the Wilhelmstrasse (Wilhelm Street) in downtown Wiesbaden. The last three photos were actually taken right before we headed over to the festival, but I knew you all would love to see our beautiful faces, so I included them too ;).
Also, we just got back from our trip to Italy a few days ago. I’ll be posting some photos soon, but wanted to put these up first!

Mom’s are the best!!!  Happy mother’s day to all the moms out there–especially two in particular…  ;-)

This little time-lapse was taken with our G9 camera hooked to Jason’s bike by our gorillapod.  The camera has a function to take one photo each second, so we thought we’d try it out to show you guys our bike ride home from work.  After we uploaded the video, the quality was decreased quite a bit–bummer :-/ (if you hit the “hq” button at the bottom right of the video it gets a little better).  We still wanted to share it, just to give you another glimpse into the area we live in, and because we LOVE riding our bikes all the time.  Enjoy, and beware–it might make you dizzy