German Winter....so freaking cold!

So, it's winter (duh!) and here in Germany, it is freaking cold! However, the past couple of days have been really gorgeous, despite the cold. Markus and I went out yesterday on a "Winterspaziergang" (a winter walk...but it just sounds fancier in German) and I brought along the trusty ol' Nikon. The picture below was from a frozen creek that leads into an almost frozen river. These were some pretty ice flake formations and they were all over this one part of the creek. I just had to get a picture!
The second picture is of Charlie's favorite creek (a different one than the one above). This is where, in Summer, every time we walk past this creek, he just has to jump in over and over and over and....well, you get the picture.

Charlie is showing off his mad frisbee skillz with his birthday present...the red frisbee. It is now his favorite toy.

The ducks walking on ice/swiming in the part of the river that isn't frozen.

This is the Naab. It flows near our house and we always go with Charlie there. This photo was taken on Jan. 10, 2009, but today, on the 11th, it was close to being completely frozen over in parts! How cool is that!

Charlie on Ice

For the past week it is not gone above freezing, so all of the lakes are completely frozen. So, on this lovely first day of the new year, we decided to take our four-legged-fuzzy son "ice-skating". He's been on ice before, but on just frozen puddles and the like. This was a whole lake! Charlie was totally excited. It took him a while to figure out he couldn't run and go crazy like he's used to on real earth. By the end of the 40 minutes we were there, he figured out that he had to start slow and when he wanted to stop, he had to slide a few feet before he could fully stop. I got many great shots, but here are a few of our favs.

"Hey, why is this stuff so cold...I can lick it and it tastes like lake water...but it's so cold and hard...I just don't get it..."

"Look! I can bring sticks onto this big cold area! Fun! Now, I just have to figure out how not to keep slipping!"

"Ok...I have to slow it down otherwise I'll slip...sometimes when I run, I slip, but I'm getting better..."

"This is fun with dad! We run, then all of a sudden he stops and we both slide. WOOHOO!!! Fun!!!"

"Ok. I've got the hang of this whole 'walking on cold, slippery earth' thing..."

Charlie in the Snow...

So, here is the best shot of Charlie in the snow. How freaking adorable is he? Markus took this shot, but I was holding the snowball on top of the camera...teamwork. I love the bit of snow on his nose! He is an absolute snow dog. Whenever it snows, he cannot wait to get outside!

Here is a more regal shot of Charlie. He just looks like he is such a good boy, and he is, don't get me wrong. However, shortly (about 2 seconds) after this picture was taken, his best friend came around the corner and the attention went to her.The snow was perfect for packing. In Texas, I was never able to make a snowman bigger than a foot, but here, we were able to make these roll things that were about 3 feet high! It was pretty fun, and Charlie had fun trying to destroy the balls as Markus rolled them.

Here is Charlie sitting on top of the large snow rolls. Later, we had about 7 of these things and he had to jump from one to the other. He had a blast!

Jumping off the rolls...

How adorable can one pup be???

So, this was our weekend. Playing in the snow, but also practicing what we learned at puppy school. Charlie still has a lot to learn, but he's already improving, and that is important.

Hundeschule Take 2

So it was Charlie's second day at dog school. It seriously gives me hope since he isn't the worst dog there...he just maybe has the shortest attention span. But we learned a lot today and a few hours later we went to a big field to play and works some more on his "homework".

That was loads of fun since there was about 5 inches of snow. Charlie loves the snow. I'll have some pictures up tomorrow seeing as we forgot the camera today...So, this will just continue tomorrow...

Here's a few pictures of Charlie in his first snow. It was back in March and he was only three months old! How cute is here. In the pictures where you can still see the grass, he just learned the "sit" command. Then he was too excited and didn't want to sit, hence the crazy picture. Then, later in the day, it had snowed more...he went nuts he was so excited! He's loving the snow even more since he's bigger and has more friends...