Our First Trip as a Family of Four (or, The Garmisch Curse?)

Wanting to get back in the travel saddle again following a months-long hiatus after Livi was born, we took the Thanksgiving break and went down to Garmisch. Earlier in the year we had spent a long weekend there when I was in the very beginning stages of pregnancy with Livi and don't remember it being one of our better trips so we thought we'd give it another shot. Garmisch is only a few hours away and seemed like a good place to ease back into traveling now that we're a family of four, but maybe the powers that be are telling us something, because I have a feeling Garmisch doesn't like us very much. To be fair, the days were great... the nights, notsomuch.

The drive down was uneventful -- Livi slept the entire way while Ellie read books and watched a movie. We made it easy on ourselves and booked a family suite at one of the hotels in Garmisch with two separate bedrooms with a living area dividing the two. It included a great breakfast spread each morning. It was also close to the middle of town which made getting out with the kids much easier. There's just something about all the painted buildings in Bavaria that makes me feel like I'm in a fairy tale.

We also visited Ettal Abbey, a nearly seven-century-old Benedictine monastery. It was so foggy out but you can sort of see Ellie on the steps.

The interior was gorgeous.

Walking around Garmisch was lovely and there were already signs of the Christmas spirit around the town!

Like I said, the days were great. Livi was content to sleep in the Ergo while we were out and Ellie, as usual, was happy to walk around and window shop. However, our nights were rough. Livi slept horribly the first night after teasing us with a stellar few nights at home. In the middle of the second night Ellie ended up sick to her stomach. Luckily it was only a one-time things and Ellie's room had two twin beds but having a sick kiddo is never fun, especially being out of town.

Honestly, I was more than ready to hit the road on Sunday morning. After a pit stop to feed Livi, we headed home. She's a little stingy with the smiles, but gave us a little treat in the car!

It was incredibly foggy on the way home and we noticed the trees were coated in a layer of frozen rain!

There were lots of downed tree branches, but we made it home safely with only one stop! And with that, our first trip as a family of four is in the books. We keep telling ourselves it will never be this hard and can only get easier!