Ice Skating

This weekend was packed with stuff going on. On Friday night we went ice skating and . . . IT WAS A BLAST! We did have an adventure before ice skating, when one of our vans wouldn’t start and we made all of the guys push it up the hill so we could pop the clutch. It always amazes me the things that these guys hoot and holler about. They were screaming like they had won the Super Bowl when it finally turned over! The nice thing about ice skating is that it has a great way of evening the playing field . . .because no one can really skate and we all look really goofy.
Yesterday morning we had breakfast by 8:45 and were out the door by 9:30 on our way to the train station. We caught the 10:15 train to Frieburg and everyone had a great time shopping and walking around the city. I must admit that I was a little nervous that a few guys would miss the train home at 3:15, but all of them showed up and we had no problems. As for me I enjoyed a nice Starbucks coffee and a day of peaceful wandering through a great German Christmas Market (thanks to the Kim family for watching our kids).




Brandon is a dork

1st hairstyle ever!

The other day we finally realized we had enough hair on Addison for an attempt at a hairstyle. It's a little sporty, but as her father I think she looks amazing!
Then later that day we somehow convinced 10 guys to come and watch Miracle on 34th street in our apartment! It's been fun watching Christmas movies with the guys during the Holiday season!

Cute Kids

Titus and Addie made a Christmas ornament of fruit loops and yarn with Danielle and then promptly decided to start eating it. The best part was that they didn't take it off of the tree they just ate, right off the tree.

HBR Christmas Decorating

This week we have been decorating the dorm . . . okay the staff has been decorating the dorm! Trying to keep these guys focused is like trying to wrestle wild animals!

HBR goes to MickeyD's

Now that the days are getting shorter and colder we are finding that a lot of the guys are ready for Christmas break. On Tuesday night right at the end of study hours we surprised all of the guys and took them out for McDonalds. Everyone needed a break and it was good to just get out and have some different scenery. They were allowed to get a McFlurry or 2 items off of the euro menu, the guys really enjoyed it and as a staff we were excited to do something fun with them.

Christmas banquet

Saturday was a full day. We woke up late and had sausages, and pancakes with different fillings in them (banana, chocolate chip, and blueberry). I took some of the guys to go cut down the “HBR family Christmas tree!” I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I took about 6 guys to a Christmas tree farm and gave them saws and axes . . . luckily no one was hurt. It was really fun for the guys to get to be “manly” and then listen to them fight about which one was the perfect tree.
By the time we got back to the dorm it was almost time for the annual HBR pole soccer game before Christmas banquet! Every year before Christmas banquet and Junior/Senior banquet, the guys play soccer right up until 5:00 pm, and then they come in like a tornado and shower up and get ready. This is contrasted with girls dorms that start getting ready at 1:00 in the afternoon! It was a flurry of activity and I think I loaned out about 12 ties and tied about 14 all together (The double Windsor was the knot of choice). I even convinced two other guys (Marco and Erik) to wear bow ties with me. We got to the school by 6:00 and then froze waiting for the ladies to arrive fashionably late. The rest of the night was filled with dinner and performances from students and staff along with the traditional granting of “Christmas wishes” for some of the students. It was a great night and I must say . . . Danielle looked terrific!

Thanksgiving day I killed a Sequioa

On Thanksgiving day I committed a sin . . . . We went Christmas tree shopping and it's a little different here than in the States. In the States the trees are spaced nicely and they are quite full from top to bottom. In Germany you cut the tree about 6 feet up and then have your tree. When I finally found my tree, I must admit that I was a little hesitant because it looked a bit big (I am 6 feet tall and now that I look at me standing next to it, I realize how tall the tree was), but I thought it was maybe 10 feet higher than me and we have 9 foot ceilings. . . . then it fell over and I realized it still had about 18 feet on it! I am a jerk I sawed off what I needed and then went down and paid for my tree!
All in all this was a great thanksgiving thing for us to do, it got our minds off of family and we had fun and now our apartment feels really festive. The rest of the day we skyped family, decorated the tree, ate Thanksgiving dinner, and watched football. So it was pretty great!

Maybe the fact that it didn't have branches till about 8 feet up should have been a giveaway
This is the moment when I realize how big it is!


My little alpine family



Titus' ornament for this year

Thanksgiving cooked by our friends the Welbourns and Powers. We had to stay in for thanksgiving because the kids were still contagious with the swine flu!

Bonfire

The other night we took the guys up into the woods (a five minute walk into the woods behind the house) and had a bonfire. Here are some pics




The other night we

HBR Thanksgiving

The highlight for our week was Thanksgiving on Thursday night. We ended up having 48 total people eating dinner in the dining room and 4 sick guys eating upstairs. The guys ate and ate and ate, and then they still had room for one of the many pies (cherry, apple, lemon meringue, chocolate, and pumpkin). It was a joy to spend this holiday with our new family (this is my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I know many missionaries have probably faced numerous holidays away from friends and family, but this is a new concept to me). The most ironic part of the night was when we surprised all of the quarantined guys and told them that we had set up a special room for them and they would be allowed to eat together. I love these guys, but I have never seen a more sorry looking thanksgiving event. Picture 4 guys in a room; none of them have really had the energy to shower in a couple of days, they spend about 18 hours a day sleeping, their hair is a wreck and they all look too exhausted to eat! However, they all enjoyed it and it was a great example of the brotherhood of HBR.

Sick guys Thanksgiving

You thought your dishes were bad!