My family should really come with a warning label… “Engage in activities with these people at your own risk”… And the funny thing is, my mom did warn the Garrison Pastor’s wife that her niece was, of course, more than welcomed to join us for a fun day of skiing adventures in Germany’s famous Black Forest, but we were known for some rather unorthodox “Bird debacles”… Little did she know we weren’t kidding!
It would be an understatement to say that my crazy military family has had some wild travel adventures (the best of which always seem to occur in the back of a minivan on one of our classic “Beverley Hillbilly” trips across country… Ha!) I could tell stories of engines smoking on empty country highways, my little sister puking on our dog (which then led to my mother vacuuming the poor Jenny off at a roadside carwash), and the trail of underwear (from suitcases on a trailer) we left flying behind us while traveling down a highway somewhere in eastern Texas… Yet we’ve always been somewhat confident, that despite the many debacles of the “Bird Crew”… We had never actually landed either ourselves or our pets in a hospital. Until the day we met Melissa.
The day started like the beginning of any other Bird adventure… With an early start, frantic picnic-lunch packing, and 5 very excited kids (myself, Drayton, Carolyn, Jet, and our new frien
d Melissa), one very funny German-translating, opera-singing cousin (Robert), and of course, our ever-so-wonderful “up for anything” mother… We were off for a day of skiing in the Black Forest!!… We arrived in the mountains to find ourselves overrun by little European kids that whooped our butts on the slopes, but we all had a fant
astic time! Poor Jet took a few good face plants (Her first time skiing turned out to be more falling than actually skiing… Haha But she was a great sport about it all!), but Drayton, Carolyn, and I picked it back up pretty quickly (considering we hadn’t been skiiing in several years!). 
View of the Black Forest from the top of the ski—lifts… Gorgeous! <3
Jetta at the top!
Ready to take the plunge!! So much for a “bunny hill”… Haha
On Feldberg Mountain at sunset! <3
By about 5pm that night we were all happily exhausted and had had an amazing day… So we loaded up for what should have been an uneventful car-ride home… Except that a “Bird Family” adventure is never uneventful… :) About 30 minutes into the 2 hour drive home 
we were absolutely parched, so we coaxed Carolyn to dig around in the back of the pitch-dark van to find a bottle of water. She finally produced a large gallon bottle… We eagerly produced plastic cups and divided it up, when Carolyn suddenly realized (and declared to the car) that the bottle was oddly greasy… BUT not before poor Melissa took a giant gulp…. of WINDSHIELD WIPER FLUID!
To make a long story short… Poor Melissa ended up in the ER with blood tests (which turned out to all be fine), and we ended up with a new page in the “Bird Adventure Book”… Haha There was no harm done in the end… But if you can just imagine the hilarity and slight panic in the car when my poor mother realized that one of her children had accidently poisoned the preacher’s niece…. There were calls to the German Poison control (thank goodness for having a fluent German speaker in the car!!!), Melissa’s family, military doctors… And, of course, my Dad… Haha It was, needless to say, a memorable end to an already thrilling day… :)
Apparently we didn’t scare poor Melissa off too much, though, because she’s joining us again tomorrow… This time for a trip to Hohenzollen Castle in southern Germany… YAY! :) More to come soon on the always exciting “Bird Adventures”…
With Love from Germany… –Mary Elizabeth <3
Wouldn’t you know the girls found the chocolatier… ;) 
