Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten!

We wish our friends worldwide

Merry Christmas - Frohe Weihnachten!

The Kaufer reindeers will hit the slopes in France and will hopefully start the new year there in beautiful conditions!

We wish you all a good start into 2011!

Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

A Winter Vacation Week in Germany

One week off in December - for us time for a nice roadtrip "Up North" with stops in

Leipzig (at the presidents),

Berlin (at the kids musical show of grandma Imme),

Island of Ruegen (wellness hotel at the Baltic Sea, walks/run along the coast and a steam train ride) and

Saxony (Erzgebirge, Seiffen - we stayed in a real castle while it snowed tons and we saw the traditional christmas parades and markets).

Marathon-Trip Athen

It was the historic date - 2500 years after the original run we got lucky enough to be there and experience it!

Our marathon weekend was also a reunion with Robin and her family - it felt like the good old times in Michigan (with just a "tiny" long run planned for Sunday ;-) )

The town Athens is stunning - a lot of historic sites, cozy streets with a lot of restaurants and busy shops. We had a great view from our hotel room and terrace to the acropolis - day and night - with a glass of wine or in the early morning still looking sleepy before the race! The endless city and the surrounding hills made us realize that we booked a real adventure - 20km of the marathon course are uphill...

So some of the 12.500 runners took it serious and dressed themselves up like Greek warriors (a few ran with leather sandals!). After a very very hilly and warm run - we could shout the famous phrase: we have won - and celebrate a unforgotten historic adventure!

Winter Hiking Weekend in the alps

We had a reason to celebrate - our friend Sharleen from the US flew in - so 18 of us (plus 3 kids) rented out a nice hut in the alps to go hiking - we had fun and even the early snow could not stop our activities: a gigantic snow man, a trip to the enormous ski flying hill, full moon watching, cooking huge pots of soup, playing party games - special thanks to the organizers - it was a blast!