Black Forest Excursion

Before I blog about anything else... I have to post this pic of our little guy.  That's right, in case you hadn't heard, it's a GUY!  

The first visit to the ob went well... I was a little nervous seeing a German doctor and dealing with their healthcare system and all.  But, the doc was great... nice guy who speaks great English, was very friendly and laughed a lot.  Not that those are the most vital qualities in an ob, but at least he put me at ease.  And it was fun to find out the sex of the baby.  Ben and the girls were there and the doc asked Em if she wanted a little sister or a little brother.  She replied enthusiastically,  "A little brother!" and he said, "Well, you're in luck!"

So, onto the next topic.   I'm happy to report that our first excursion here in Germany was a success!  We ventured out to the Black Forest over President's Day Weekend and met up with our dear friends from Monterey, CA who are now in Belgium.   I was a little nervous because we have no idea what we're doing.  Everything is harder in a different country, including travel planning.  But, everything went off without a hitch.  The only problem was that I came down with some nasty sickness right before we left, so Ben and the girls went down without me Friday morning, and he came back Saturday night to get me when I was feeling better.  He's just that kind of guy.  

I was more than happy to get out and do something since our first month here has not exactly been fun (gross understatement).  The two hour drive itself was just beautiful.  I'm quickly learning what an ideal location we are in in Germany... nestled in between the Black Forest and Bavaria.  

  The girls were ecstatic to see each other.  Elsa was their very good friend in Monterey.

She's quite the character, if you can't tell

Todtmoos, the little village we stayed in was BEAUTIFUL.  This was the view from our window

I was just happy to see some blue sky, since every day has been overcast in Stuttgart.  Ugh!

The girls had fun out in the snow

We took them sledding, and they had a blast.  

C was all smiles, unlike her first time sledding

After a few runs, C had had enough, so she chilled with me in the snow, no pun intended (hehe)!

While Daddy and Em did a few more adventurous runs... I wish I had an action shot, but this was right after they biffed it on the sled.  Em threw in the towel after that. 

And just before left on Monday I got to squeeze in a little cross country skiing.  Ben got to do some snowboarding on Saturday, but I don't have any pics of that.  

I was pretty rusty on skis, since it's been over ten years, but I was just happy for the time to myself in the great outdoors.