Too many Beers led to a Berlin trip Bust!

I wish I could tell you lots of new interesting things about Berlin and it's history but in all honesty, it was a bit of a bust in the tourist aspect for us last weekend. After the boys game, I think we were all a bit too excited to go out together in a new city... which led to a bit too much alcohol consumption and a pretty hungover Monday for everyone. We got really eager when we found an American restaurant/bar showing some playoff football and saw those Long Island Ice Teas on the drink menu. The shots of the tequila later in the night wasn't helping anyone either! We still managed to get out the next morning (and I say morning lightly) to jump on a tour bus and see the main sights of the city. I'll let the photos we have do the rest of the explaining since I can't say my headache allowed me to listen much to the information on the bus.

Part of the Berlin wall to the right

The game the night before in Berlin was pretty wild! Berlin's arena was sold out and their fan's were pretty loud as they beat us 3-0. I took some video so you guys could get an idea of how loud it was! One is just during play and the other is after a Berlin goal.

We got a bit of big news while on the bus that also led to my distraction from the city. Kev and I are a proud uncle and aunt of a new baby boy. Cole Harry Schmidt came into the world around 6:30 a.m. on Monday. This is the first nephew for either one of us so it was pretty exciting stuff! Altough it makes us sad to miss big events like these, we appreciate how great everyone was with sending pictures of this beautiful little guy through e-mail and text messages!

Can't wait to meet you, Cole!

Since Monday, Kev has left for another weekend road trip. He left Thursday so Shannon had some wine with me yesterday to cheers to Kevin's and my 4-year anniversary. Never thought that saying yes to that date 4 years ago would lead to living in a new country with the guy I continue to fall more and more in love with. Couldn't be happier! We were hoping for a win to cheers to as well last night, but they lost a pretty tough one yesterday to Dusseldorf, 4-0. The team seems to be in a bit of a slump right now so hopefully that changes soon! Maybe Shannon and I can bring them some luck tomorrow when we travel to Ingolstadt to watch their game. It's about a 7 hour drive for us, but it works out perfectly because it is right on the way to Kitzbühel, Austria, where we will be spending the next week! It is February break for the boys and we are excited to have a fun week in the snow! Han's grandparents live there, so we will get to see and spend some time with them as well! They have been so welcoming and, with Bea and Oliver, have been such a help planning this trip. Time to go finish packing! Tschüss!

I know I know... I'm due for an update!

Sorry that I have been brutal with this blog this month! After the New Years hangover wore off, we just weren't up to a whole lot so I didn't want to bore you with lame updates! And then, I just got a bit out of the blogging habit after that. But I'm back! And now there is lots of time to recap. So I'll start from the beginning... of the new year.

The New Year's party was a complete wasted fest as suspected. The team had rented out the entire bottom half of a restaurant, which was really nice and we all just stayed there the whole night. I ended up taking zero pictures but Shannon has an entire camera full of some really embarassing ones. After having been in Hannover for New Year's last year, I knew a little of what to expect with the midnight fireworks, but it was even more insane by us this year. The air was so foggy with firework smoke and so loud with the bangs that it really did feel as if we were in a bit of a war zone! It's such a cool thing that they do that here. Dangerous! But cool.

Like I said before, after New Years, it was pretty boring around this place, we didn't get up to a whole lot. One of Kevin's best buddies and old teammate from Hannover, DJ Jelitto and his fiance came up for a day trip the week after New Years. It worked out perfect too that it just happened to fall on one of my days off. We go to show them a bit around downtown Hamburg and made them dinner before they were on the road again back to Hannover. A short trip, but a pretty awesome one... at least we thought so!

We do have a bit of big news to share. We are coming back to Hamburg next year! The Freezers have picked up the option to have Kevin back next year and we couldn't be happier! We've known this for a little while, but it was finally made public last week. Complete with a cheesy photo in the newspaper of Kev and I by the Alster. I will also continue working for the Scherenbergs next year which I am really excited about! 

Speaking of hockey, the team is currently in 5th place in the league. More importantly, what I know all of you are dying to hear about... it was "ladies' night" at the game this past Friday. The male strippers were not nearly as entertaining as the chicks from men's night, but it was still pretty funny to see. When the guys were in the stands during intermission, I actually felt a bit akward and embarrassed for them as they were walking aimlessly without shirts trying to find women to dance with. Still, the on ice lap dance was pretty great, especially when one of the dancers pulled his undies just low enough to show a little crack! I forgot my phone that game and my camera battery was dead so I don't have anything good of my own to show of that night. Everything below is from the Freeers facebook page!

Kev has a game in Berlin today and I actually have to get going because Shannon and I are leaving in about 15 minutes to go to it. We are headed to the game and then spending the night there with the guys to explore Berlin tomorrow for their day off. I'll have a lot to write about then! And my camera battery is charging now, so I'll finally be taking some pictures of my own again! Hopefully, when we come back, Kevin will be able to call himself an uncle. His brother Matt and his wife, Shannon, are due to have their baby any time now!Enjoy your Sunday! Tschüss!

My luck with rookie sport experiences

A couple summers ago I lived in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and was able to play my first ever round of golf on beautiful courses at the Sea Pines Resort. The view looked like this:

Kev got to play here too!

Well, in a couple weeks, we are taking a vacation to Austria, where I will ski for the second time ever. In Kitzbühel. Which is only one of Austria's most well known winter sport resort towns, home to the annual world cup ski races. With views and skiing that look a little something like this:

The ski resort at night

According to Wikipedia, we will have, "56 cableway and lift facilities and 168 kilometres of slopes available as well as 40 kilometres of groomed cross-country skiing tracks."  Needless to say, I am an extremely lucky girl to be able to have my first golf and skiing experiences at such amazing locations! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Tschüss!