adiós tejas, hallo deutschland!

December 2-9, 2009- Our trip to Germany was fantastic and sort of quasi-National Lampoon's European vacation style. The logistics of getting there were challenging with a cancelled flight and a newly renovated Frankfurt airport that has the rental car counters hidden in the depths of an underground abyss. But once we worked through it we were on our way to sausage and sauerkraut.

Here's some highlights from our trip:

Which one is the nutcracker? Pecos enjoyed serving as navigator...good thing we had a GPS.
We were packed like sardines. If our rental car had a luggage rack we would have used it, but instead this is how we loaded up. We had to stop shopping because we were out of room.

We managed to find just barely enough snow to build this tiny snowman. Look very closely and you can see it.

Pecos with Oma and Opa on the train ride to see Neuschwanstein Castle. Riding on a train has been a lifelong dream for Pecos.

A photo of all of us with the castle way in the background. Pecos was sleeping and wouldn't wake up for the photo.

We ran into St. Nicholas at the Christmas Market in Munich. Pecos took the cookies from his angels but wasn't too sure about ole' Saint Nick.

These two were the only cowboys in Germany...go figure!It only took them 20 minutes on our first day to find a cow. Pecos wanted to know if he could rope it.

Since we couldn't get ESPN in Germany to watch the National Finals Rodeo, my two cowboys decided to demonstrate it for the locals. First on a pig.Then on a lion.The national snack of Germany- a pretzel. With a pretzel in one hand and a doughnut in the other Pecos fit right in with the locals.Casey couldn't resist the chance to participate in a local Christmas tradition- Gluhwein, a warm red wine served in a boot mug. It was disgusting and after this photo he tossed it out.

This is how Pecos spent the 10 hour overnight flight to Germany.

And this is how he spent it on the way home...not an overnight flight.