Bavarian Forest

With all of the excitement of school beginning last week, I hadn't had a chance to write about our last big hurrah before school started. As soon as our family got back from the Bodensee, the kids and I turned around and went to the Bavarian Forest for 5 days to help celebrate my friends' 40th birthday. Bryan wasn't able to take off from work, and so instead he had a little vacation in his own way - without any responsibilities on the homefront :-). We had such a neat time though. My friends family rented a huge house, where all of us met each afternoon/evening for dinner. All of her friends are great cooks, so it took a lot of man power to chop, cut, sautee etc. I was a little embarrassed because I could not contribute too much unless specifically directed (I'm not the best cook), but I did learn ALOT, and was quite impressed!!! We all stayed in individual cabin-type houses, so we could kind of do our own thing each morning and had our own space. The little houses were old bavarian cottages, and the character in each house was adorable. The kids all had friends to hang out with, which was very nice, and we enjoyed; hiking, swimming, we went to a Silver Mine, and to a glass blowing shop (which the region is quite famous for), and a forest playground. It was a great celebration for my friend, and a very nice end to summer as well.