Heaven on Earth - Part 2

The second day of our trip was spent at Lake Eibsee. The Zugspitze, Germany's tallest mountain point in the Alps, looks down upon this beautiful lake. We planned to take it easy by starting with a motor boat tour of the lake. To tour the entire perimeter of the lake in the motorboat took 25 minutes. Why do I tell you this detail? Because details matter on this particular day! By the way, I did not take this leading picture but it is the view of Eibsee from the top of the Zugspitze. That is an adventure for another day.

Detail #1: I do realize that I am crazy at times. I mean, look at me, I married a musician, I am a definite type A personality which should really just be called a disorder, AND I can't engage my filter so things spew forth at an alarming rate, and I'm addicted to a lame thing called Diet Coke. So when I tell you that half way through the motorboat tour I say, "Hey, there is a trail that goes around the lake! We should TOTALLY conquer that trail! What do you think?" Bailey's face was sheer horror because first, the lake is huge and second, once I get a crazy idea into my head she knows it is hard to change. Bailey stands her ground, she doesn't want any part in that. But with a lot of bribery (yes, I resort to that parenting tactic, remember? I'm crazy) she finally caves. Here is detail #1: The lake is about 4-5 miles long in diameter. Doesn't sound too bad right? Oh, wait a minute . . . we have a 4 year old that we didn't even consider, until about half way through when she looks up at us with sad puppy dog eyes and red cheeks and says, "I'm SO tired, how much longer" Dumb parents, she has to take about 2 steps for every one of ours. But look at what we got to experience!

Detail #2: We made it, it took us 2 hours and we did not kill our 4 year old. You should also know that once we took our first steps on the trail I did not hear ONE complaint from my sweet Bailey. And McKenna sang songs and told stories to get us through the last mile. Even I broke down at the end and said things like, "Wonder if this was a good idea, my feet hurt, how much longer, I'm dying, I hate sweat, I can't breath, do you think if I call ahead they will bring me a Diet Coke on ice? . . . " Detail #2 is this: Bailey continues to surprise me! She is stronger that she gives herself credit for and I am in love with her positive attitude and great sense of humor. She inherited the Frandsen laugh and it is intoxicating.


Here we are at the end of the trail sticking our piggies into the water. Feels ooohhhh soooo goood.


Detail #3: Right in the middle of celebrating Bailey's huge accomplishment we get a phone call as we are walking (in my case limping) to the car. It is great news: Mark is getting promoted this year to Technical Sargent!!! This is huge, and not because of the monetary increase. Although, let's be honest, I have plans for that increase, every single penny. It is huge because Mark took the promotion exam, (which is the ONLY thing the AF takes into consideration when promotion comes around, no points for performance, responsibility, accountability, or hotness) while dealing with a load of stuff. He took it during the one week he was home between deployment training and deployment, which meant no studying for 4 weeks prior, and while working daily on his dissertation AND being an outstanding husband and daddy. The dude rocks, that is all there is to it.

Detail #4: I think there is something wrong with my camera. For some reason it had a knee jerk reaction in a couple of spots on our vacation:

"But" (he, he) let's give this camera some credit, it is a nice shot, right?! Well, at least to me it is, it really shouldn't be to any other female reading this blog, or any male for that matter. Oh, and here is another one, as we were panning around this beautiful, peaceful lake . . . what the?!

This is a picture worth a thousand descriptive words on what European lifestyle is all about. Two sweethearts sharing a spot of land pretending to be Adam and Eve before the serpent ruined it all. Anyway, looks like I need to get my camera in for repair.