O Christmas Tree!

It is already Christmas market time here in Germany. In Bamberg there is a pre-Christmas market Christmas market (the real one opens on Thanksgiving day--this one runs the week and a half before). We loaded everyone up and walked over this weekend. It coincided with the first snowfall. It was a small market but we were still able to drink some gluhwein and look at all of the booths. Below is us at the Christmas market.

The big Christmas tree that was decorated for the market.

Gus checking out the snow. He didn't really know what to think of it at first, but he really liked the fires they had going in little braziers.

We also went ahead and decorated our Christmas tree. Since we are having lots of guests for Thanksgiving and Christmas we decided we would have it ready to show everyone. Unfortunately, we bought an artificial tree this year. I just couldn't see us hauling a real one into and out of this little apartment. Below you can see Gus helping Pat out with the boxes of decorations.

Gus is the one to do the tree-topper now (with a little help from Pat, of course).

The decorated tree.

Gus had a blast going through the boxes and playing with the lights.

Gus was more into taking the ornaments off of the tree than putting them on.

Go, Gus, Go

Gus' walking skills are vastly improving (so are his climbing skills--I turn my back for one second and he is up in the chair). In this video he is walking toward Max and you can hear Gus saying "og", his form of dog. It is funny when we take Max to the park and he sees other dogs and starts babbling "og, gog, og, gog".

More of Gus walking.

A few random pictures

Here are some pictures of Gus over the past week. He loves climbing into and sitting in his bathtub so I just brought it out to the living room and let him have at it.

He is everywhere and in everything.

He enjoys looking at books and not just eating them anymore, however, he still can't sit still long enough for a story.

Welde Bierathalon 2008

Pat always manages to find the unique stuff to do and the Welde Bierathalon is definately one of those things. This past weekend Pat and Dan ran in the Welde Bierathalon. So we packed up the entire BFC to go to Viernheim, Germany, and watch. It is an annual event sanctioned by Welde bier (a brewery in Schwetzingen, Germany) in which each team (2 people) run 6k and drink 12 beers. You run and drink the beer following the rules, course, since it is a German event. There was one designated drinking area where there were judges to make sure you weren't spilling, breaking your bottles or throwing up (5 minute penalty). So the runners can decide if they want to drink all 12 and then run, run and drink, or run the 6k and then drink. While you are running you and your partner must carry your rack of beer with the 12 bottles. Pat and Dan's strategy was drink one then run 1k.



This sounds funny, but the people particpating took it seriously--real runners involved. The winners finished in 32 minutes and Pat and Dan finished in a respectable 55 minutes. The event was a lot of fun since some of the runners dressed up in costumes (there were a couple of Borats, some bumblebees and guys in only their underwear). Pat had t-shirts made for their team that were pretty tame compared to others, but everyone loved the back of the t-shirts (Pat's said "Run, Pat, Run" and Dan's was "Drink, Dan, Drink"). There was a DJ playing music the entire time (loved hearing "Chariots of Fire" and the Rocky theme near the end). At the end there was a big after party. Gus, Max and I had a great time watching. There are some pictures in a slide show below.

Look who's walking

Gus has now entered the world of walking people. He started a couple of weeks ago by taking a step or two on his own. Now he can go 8 to 10 steps on his own, so I am sure he will be running very soon.