Our new house, the McDaniels visit, the Smiths, and Italy!

Wow! Lots has been going on this past month, so sorry for no updates until now. First off, we moved! After 6 months of temporary housing and hotels, we finally have a house!


We live less than a mile from the downtown/pedestrian part of Garmisch/Partenkirchen in a huge typical Bavarian style house with balconies and wooden shutters. The best part about the house are the views! We can see the Zugspitz (tallest mountain in Germany) and every other mountain surrounding the city. I still need to take pictures of all the rooms, but right now they are a mess and we haven't hung pictures, so those will have to wait.

On top of moving, Frank started his new job and its going great! He works with really nice people and has one of the best offices I've ever seen. Check it out, our second floor den :) Looks like he will be a world traveller with this new job too, starting in Norway in May.


On the 26th, Julie and Shannon and Aidan and Ashley arrived by train! They have been keeping busy, visiting castles around here skiing some when there was still snow on the ground. Then they went to the lakes in Italy, finding the beautiful villas where they filmed James Bond and Star Wars. They went to Milan and Lake Como and then met up with us in Riva Del Garda, Italy (where the car chase scene in the beginning of "Quantum of Solace" takes place). There, we all went climbing, enjoyed the warm weather, saw the sights and ate delicious food and tiramisu! Yum. They leave in just 2 days though and it feels like their time here has flown by. We are going to miss them!





On the 30th of March my parents arrived and met Cooper for the very first time. Mom has been eating Cooper up and they are in bed sleeping together right now. Cooper has had a hard time with all the changes (moving, travelling etc) so we have had some stressful evenings. He is happy to be back at home and back to getting his regular naps again. He is so big now. He has outgrown his clothes so fast and is wearing 6 month clothes now. He weighs around 14 pounds now at 8 weeks and we practiced rolling over this morning and smiling and cooing. He can now grab at stuff and follows objects well with his eyes. No giggles out loud yet, but we're getting closer. He nearly did one this morning with Dad.




The whole group of us went to Riva Del Garda over the weekend leaving sunny Garmisch for clouds actually. Not what I was expecting. But, we did manage to get some sun and all went climbing in Arco. The Agriturismo we stayed at was great, with a big play area for kids, and the dogs, and a great restaurant that served their wine. It was from the 1600s and they produce their own wine and olive oil right there. My mom and dad might be going back down to Lake Garda to explore some more this week since it is so beautiful and cool down there, and not that far.






Unfortunately, I have to return to work in a week! I am not ready to leave Cooper! Ugh. But, my mom will be watching him for a little while longer. We still have to get his birth certificate and immunizations done, and have him all signed up for day care. So much to do all the time I feel like.

Well, that very, very breifly sums up the last few weeks. Hope everyone has been doing well. Love you all.

F&M