January Blues, Birthday, and MLK

So, I've got the January Blues, real bad.  

I have this memory of sitting with my friends around our jr. high lockers on a cold, dark January morning.  Back in our day we had to catch the bus super early so it could make the rounds to pick up the elementary school kids after us… we'd get to school 30-40 minutes early.  

My friends were complaining what a horrible month January was, in fact, the WORST month.  Naturally, I was offended because I was born in January, and as a lone voice in the wilderness, I fiercely came to its defense…

Well, over twenty years later, I'm here to consent defeat… January is THE worst month.  Even though it's my birth month.  So sad, but true.  It's harder here because the sun never shines.  Like, NEVER.  Ok, maybe a handful of times a month, but really, 90% of the days this winter have been overcast and dreary and WET…   After two years of living here I'm still not used to it.

How do you combat the January blues?  Yesterday I changed into my pjs at 5 pm, closed my door, and curled up in bed with a book.  Probably not the best decision as things with the kids quickly deteriorated outside my bedroom door. Also, I've been daydreaming A LOT about Tuscany.  My mom is coming in April and we are headed to Italy!  It's hard to not wish the time away…. so instead I blog, and reflect upon all I've been blessed with, even in the month of January.

Over the New Year's holiday Ben and I went to ski in the Black Forest.  The skiing was horrible… sleet and ice, but we got to see the beautiful Lake Titisee. I find the Black Forest so enchanting 

I turned 35 this year.  Holy Hannah, I can't believe I'm in my mid-thirties.  The girls were soooo excited for my birthday and it made for a very looooong day waiting for Ben to come home from work.  C couldn't BELIEVE that he had to work on my birthday.  

Can you sense the excitement?

Naturally, dressing in Elsa costumes is the best way to celebrate any birthday. 

Sadly, this is the best pic I have of me on my birthday.  By the end of the day I was like, "Let's get this party over with!!!"  

BUT he did make an amazing cake.  I think he thrived on the challenge… 

And just a random picture.  Sometimes you just have to laugh instead of cry. 

One nice thing about the military is that every federal holiday is a four day weekend.  Ben had Friday and Monday off of MLK weekend, so we went on a snow trip to Austria!  Notice the blue sky??  You have to leave Stuttgart to find it!

A ski trip is a bit ambitious with three little ones… Ben and I switched off… I got to ski for a whopping  two hours one afternoon… it was so much fun though!  So fun to do something that's physically challenging, thrilling, and has nothing to do with the responsibilities of being a wife or mother… freedom!  An outlet just for me.  It was worth the trip just to have those two hours.  Oh, and what also made the trip was our hotel… they do this thing called "half board" where they serve you breakfast AND dinner… this place had a fantastic restaurant and it was so nice to have someone else plan the meals, cook, and do the dishes.  Now that is a vacation!  

We did the Ravensburger's Frozen puzzle like 15 times

Sledding

Now, this was the most memorable part of our trip:

We went on a toboggan run.  

I've never seen such a thing in the States.   Basically, you take a SKI LIFT to the top of a mountain and toboggan down a designated trail… we've heard about these runs in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. 

Ben and Em were the first ones to give it a go.  C, J, and I waited in the van at the bottom of the run. We waited a LONG time.  Like 45 minutes.  Could it really take that long to come down the mountain?  Finally I saw them cruise on down… and I thought I heard Em squealing in delight, but I heard wrong.  She was crying in misery.  She walked over tear stained, soaking wet, and absolutely miserable.  Ben didn't give much detail except for, "Yeah, she didn't like it."  

"Well, if she didn't like it there's no way Caroline is going to like it."  

"No, you should still take her.  It's good for her to experience. These kids need to toughen up." 

That was all the convincing we needed.  We hopped on the lift.

The fresh snow from the day before made it so beautiful!

We went up and up and up… I didn't realize it would take us to the very TOP of the mountain... can you tell how high we are?  Those tiny houses down there are how far we have to sled down… and yes, that is someone on SKIS.  

Poor thing, totally unsuspecting

Well, as you can imagine, it did NOT go very well with C.  It took us a total of 30 minutes to get down… you're basically going down switchbacks, some parts are slow and some parts are way too fast.  And it's hard to maneuver a toboggan with a screaming child on your lap, no steering, no brakes.  I took this pic about half way down, because, like I said before, sometimes you just have to laugh instead of cry. 

We didn't ever crash, but there was so much snow kicked up in our faces… I knew we weren't equipped right when I noticed everyone going down the hill had helmets and goggles.  This was serious business. 

After dropping miserable C back in the van, I asked Ben if I could just go on my own, I had to figure this thing out.  Obviously we were doing something wrong if our kids were hating it so much. The girls were mysteriously cured of their trauma with Frozen playing in the van and I jumped on the lift again. Back at the top I found kids running and laughing in delight as they started down the hill:  

So I went on my own, and it was pretty fun.  It's definitely easier to maneuver without a screaming child.  I guess next time they'll need to take their own toboggan down.  But I could see how older children and teenagers would just LOVE this. My sister Beck's boys, for instance.  It would be perfect for the Griffins.  

It was just funny to me how nonchalant the Austrians were about the whole thing… I mean I asked our hotel receptionist where we could do some family sledding and this is where she recommended.  I asked if we could take our ONE year old down and she said sure, it would be just fine.  I asked the lady selling the lift tickets if it was safe for our ONE year old, and she said, yes, just hold him on your lap.  Luckily James was spared the torture, I can't even imagine trying to take him on this.  But there's something to be said for the Germans' grit and fearlessness… I sense that their kids are a lot tougher than mine!

And there you have it… that was definitely our January highlight.  See, it's not all that bad.