First Day of School

First Grade and Fourth Grade, here they come!

We found out the boy's teachers and class list on Friday.  Ethan was a little bummed out that his best friend was not in his class this year! Thankfully, once he arrived and got settled at school this morning, he was ready to start!!  

He came home super happy and said he was excited for tomorrow!

This little guy is so lucky.  His Kindergarten teacher from last year is now teaching a K-1 class and the majority of his classmates are continuing with her (including him).  He barely even acknowledged Nate and I while we were in his room or when we left!  He is an old pro at school now!

 We ate dinner out and ran a few errands after school.  Link woke up at 5:00 am super excited to get to school.  By 5:00 pm he was crashing!!!

Ethan came home super hungry.  He asked the guy at Chilis which was bigger:  the quesadilla or the burger!  Tomorrow, I am packing him a bigger lunch!  

Barefoot Park

We have been talking about going to the Barefoot Park all summer long!

We asked Mar weeks ago if we she wanted to go.  She was up for it!  

The first stop was a freezing cold mud bath.  I was thinking she might reconsider right at the beginning.  I know Ethan and Lincoln almost did!  

Since we were already a mess we forged on!

There were a lot of balance beams.

The soft grass was so nice, but these rocks were pretty painful!

Next stop was a running creek!

Poor Lincoln got wet all the way up to his waist!  

Ahhhh cork!

After we made it through the rocks and creeks, the buddies ran and played 

on the wood bridges and beams.

We ended on a suspension bridge!  

Thankfully, there was a yummy Biergarten at the end of path!  

Ludwig's Castles

We stopped in Schwangau before heading home to see the Ludwig castles.

 Memaw, Pappy, and the boys took a carriage ride up to Neuschwanstein.  

 Since we went in the winter to Neuschwanstein, Nate and 

I decided to head over to Hohenschwangau. 

 The views from the top were gorgeous.

Everyone had a good time. The day was gorgeous.  We had good time on this visit.  We were able to go back to a place and do different things!  We loved Bavaria!

Bavaria Day 2

 We had a BEAUTIFUL day for exploring!

 This winter, Erica, the boys, and I went to Linderhof Palace.  It was beautiful in the snow.  We really wanted to show Nate and see it in the summer.

 Last time we were here, the gardens were covered in snow.  They were so pretty today.

 Since the boys and I took the Palace tour last time, we sat in the garden and drew while Daddy, Memaw, and Pappy took the tour.

 Next stop was Oberammergau.  

As were we eating lunch, we saw some teenagers in Dirndls and Lederhosen.

 This village was your typical Bavarian city.

 We wanted to walk around Garmisch before dinner, but someone fell 

asleep in the car and then on Daddy's shoulder.

 He took a power nap and then was ready to go! 

 Milkshake!  I wish I was joking when I say that they sucked this thing down in 30 seconds.

Last meal in Garmisch.  We head to Fussen to see the castles tomorrow and then head home!  

It's been a fun few days!

The Never Ending Gorge Trip

 We went to the Partnacklamm Gorge today.  We had heard such good things about it.

 There was a tiny path through the gorge.

 It was warm, but we wore jackets to keep us dry.

 There was a 20 minute walk to the gorge and then then a 20 minute walk through the gorge.  

 We had heard that instead of walking back through the gorge you could walk over the gorge.  

The problem was there were no clearly marked signs.

 We had discussions about if we were going the right direction at the 30 minute mark, the 45 minute mark and again at the hour point (where there was finally a sign).  

At this point, I couldn't turn around.  We had to keep going.

 The hour walk was not what was killing us....it was the UPHILL hour walk!

 Nate got a little slap happy and did the Sound of Music dance!

 I acted like I was taking pictures for the blog....really I was just stopping to catch my breath!  

 At the THREE hour point (yes, THREE mostly uphill HOURS), we heard some sheep with bells.  

 We looked to our right and there was a restaurant!  HALLELUJAH!  

At the hour point we were out of water!  We were dying!  

 We all refreshed with food and beverages!  

 This was the view from the restaurant.  

I swear we were at the top of that mountain a few minutes prior!

 After lunch, we made our descent down...and by down I mean STRAIGHT down! 

 The funniest part was that we ended up having to go back through the gorge.  We could have just turned around, but then I guess we wouldn't have seen the other 

five hours of walking up hill both ways!!  

We ended up back at the car six hours later!  

Our legs are dying, but we saw some amazing views!