Last trip to the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch

The kids were pretty excited about our LAST trip to Edelweiss.  Well, not excited that it was our last trip but excited for one more trip.   It was a short 48 hour trip since we wanted to be back for church on Sunday. We left Thursday after work and school and got to the hotel just before 8:00. We settled into our two adjoining hotel rooms and made piles of ski clothes for each person to be ready for the next morning. Then we went to bed exhausted from all the work that had to be done just to GET to the resort --- or maybe that was just me.   I have to say, this trip was ‘heavy’ on the preparation side. Buying, borrowing and packing layers and layers of ski clothes and sledding accessories took a fair amount of time.

Friday morning we woke up early, headed to the breakfast buffet at the hotel…

and then headed straight over to the ski lodge. Ryan, Katie, Emily, Megan, and Luke were signed up for ski school. Chris hoped to ski but after the long process of getting everyone ‘boot and ski fitted’ and looking at the clock, he figured he didn’t have enough time to really make it worth it and hoped he might ski the next day. Plus, he enjoyed hanging out with the kids as they were learning and seeing their progress.  Next time he’ll be able to take them and continue the training himself.

This was ski day #1 if you can believe it. Our kids have never skied. Ryan snowboarded last year with the scouts but, without any training, he spent most of the day sitting on his snowboard and riding it down the hill like a sled.

So with no experience, 5 VERY excited kids headed out to the bunny hill ski school area.  Megan and Luke were in the 5-7 year old class.  Here they are learning to clip their boots in.  It was 20 degrees outside and snowing the whole day.  The kids were plenty warm though. Luke is on the very left and Megan on the very right.

Ski School for Megan and Luke

Going around in circles with one ski on…

A little later in the afternoon they practiced their ‘pizza’s’ trying to slow down on a slope.  Luke was actually pretty good at it.

Ski School – Ryan, Katie and Emily

Emily did great on her first day of skiing and really enjoyed herself.  It was fun to watch her.  Ryan did too…. but the star of the day goes to Katie who out performed almost everyone there.  She especially loved having to weave around the cones down the hill and was the first one to do it successfully.  Ryan and Emily tried, but I think they were more into the speed of going straight down.  They all had a great day!

Watching ski school – Matthew

Matthew hung out in the lodge with Chris and I – mostly playing Dad’s iPad but occasionally venturing out into the 20 degree weather to see what the kids were up to.  There was a curly slide from the deck out into the snow that he did over and over again.   Then he’d happily come inside again.

The kids were done at 3:00 but they were welcome to stay on the bunny hill until 4:30 if they wanted to… and they did.  Without any line on the tow rope they went up over and over.  Chris tried to give Megan some more instruction and even she got a little better on the slope.  Luke was happy to have his day to ski but was done and looking forward to the swimming pool – as his kept mentioning to his ski instructor.

After the boots and skies were off we decided to extend our marathon snow day and hit the sledding hill on our way back to the resort.

After stripping a couple of layers back at the room, we headed to the buffet for dinner and then, as much as I would have liked to just relax on the bed, we headed to the swimming pool.  It just wouldn’t be an Edelweiss trip without a trip to the pool.  Chris was a good sport and got in the main pool with the kids.  I headed straight outside under the chilly night sky and got into the hot tub and then into the sauna after that.  After we were all showered and changed we watched an episode of ONCE UPON A TIME.

We slept in on Saturday, got dressed and headed to the buffet again for breakfast.  When we tried to figure out a plan for the day the kids voted for an extra hour at the resort so they could play ‘spies’ in pairs.  Chris and I hung out in the main lobby after checking out while the kids ‘spied’ all around us.

Then he headed back up to the sledding hill for a little while before heading home.

The kids were laying it on thick with their ‘boo-hooing’ as we drove out of Garmisch.  We’ve had some fun vacations here.  We’ll miss you, Edelweiss!  Auf Wiedersehen!