Grandma Kathy's in Town!

Today (I first wrote this on October 2nd) is the day Grandma Kathy has come for a visit. Kids are delighted! Scott is relieved to see his Mom, who has accomplished a long flight across the ocean, safely on German ground. I am excited for Kathy to meet the twins. I am also enjoying cuddling with just one baby at a time.

The boys did not seem to have any problem accepting her as their own. As Levi explored Grandma's room, he plopped on our hardwood floors and bonked his head which made him cry, naturally. With nobody but Grandma witnessing the drama, he submitted to her comfort, which helped them bond quite quickly.

As soon as Grandma was available, Nadia has kidnapped her so they could play together. Nadia told Grandma stories about her school and friends, books and animals... She has a lot to share with Grandma, so Kathy better be patient to catch up on Nadia's stuff. She won't let Grandma be bored.

David did not feel like taking out the garbage this morning, or eating, or going out with us. But still he came along in hopes to earn a chance to get some ice-cream (since he officially blew it off by not partaking the perfectly delicious home-made lunch.) He ceased the moment at the first bakery in town, where he made us a proposal of eating the whole pretzel in return for ice-cream. I know exactly where he gets his negotiating skills from. So, Dad gives him a euro, I drill him what to say and after "Eine Bretze, bitte!" he gets his "lunch".

Scott is happy to finally be able to take us all out on a walk on such a beautiful day. This is also a long day for him. He woke up at 4 am. He went running (or biking), then took our friends to the airport in Austria, then drove all the way back to Munich to pick up his Mom. And it's not that he wakes up this early just occasionally. He does his PT (Physical Training) at 4:30 in the morning EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Sundays)! No wonder he is now feeling sick with cold, laying in bed, tired and exhausted, as I'm typing this. Anyway, he was happy at some point today.

Our impromptu tour of Garmisch started at the Kurpark. Germans are flower gurus. I bet they have a mandatory gardening class at schools here. This is not a botanical garden type of park. It's a regular park where people walk dogs and kids play ball, but to our unsophisticated eyes it's beautiful and glorious! My new camera took lots and lots of shots. Here are a few to take a peek.

Check out the flower clock behind Nadia

As we were walking at the park we heard an oompa-band playing somewhere behind the greens. We followed the sounds of cheerful music and found ourselves at the mini-version of October Fest set up at the Marienplatz. The real October Fest has been going on in Munich since mid-September. The first week of October is the final week for German beer-lovers. To think that the only fall we live so close to such a grand event and do not even try to go there, is almost scandalous! But we have serious excuses. First of all, the weather has been bad, in fact this is the first nice, warm, and rainless day in the past three weeks. Second, what we learned from those who went there, is that it's all happening in the midst of a tremendous crowd. We were sure that, at least, one of our kids might get lost. Kids loosing tempers we were not afraid of, but it would not have contributed to the overall pleasant experience either. And since it's HARD to travel with kids either way, we try to make it as easy and pleasant as possible. So, no October Fest this year.

Or, maybe, yes! Men in lederhosen and women in dirndls drinking beer at the long picnic tables, German live musicians, bratwurst stands, a couple tents with games for the kids... It looked a lot like October Fest to me, only no big crowds. Here are the glimpses of October Fest Garmisch style.

While his twin brother is napping Ethan is having his first bratwurst

They say you can call a place home if you have lived there all four seasons. Living in Garmisch through this fall makes us eligible to call it our home town. We love it here! The nature here reminds us of Utah, but the buildings are so authentic, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this anywhere else.

 

Isn't it a sacrilege to interrupt such fine architecture with McDonald's?!  

The top of all Germany - Zugspitze - is in our little town of Garmisch

The crowning experience of our promenade became grocery shopping, as usual. We love eating German foods. Among our grocery list items there are gouda cheese (or any new and good-looking cheese), sandwich meat (it actually tastes like meat and costs less), milk (organic, Alpine, cheaper), bread (most definetely and wholeheartedly we are in love with it!), yogurt (just the variety beats the only yoplait we knew before), sweets, chocolates, lebkuchen cookies, ice-cream (which are not encouraged but still purchased and devoured on a regular basis), produce (naturally fresher and cheaper than any artichoke from California), juices (especially black currant stuff that's nowhere to be found in the States but brings up my childhood memories). We are lucky that with all the German abundance we can still shop at the American Commissary on Post to buy steaks, meats for roasts, whole turkeys, peanut butter, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese (which is an expensive delicacy in Europe), salsa, corn chips, and chocolae chips, all just vaguely known to our German neighbors. This was a lengthy introduction into our life gastronomique.

Obviously, Grandma Kathy has not yet learned all we know about German groceries, but she was considering buying this bottle of beer as a souvenir. Scott talked her out of it.

Our precious grocery cart on the way to the car.