NO THROWING COLORED SNOWBALLS!

One thing we always like to do when we go to Garmisch is hike around Lake Eibsee.  It is a majestic lake in my opinion, nestled between mountains pure and natural.  It is quite a hike too, it took us 3 hours the first time we hiked it. Love this picture of Avery and Daddy in the summer of 2011.

This time around, we didn't hike around the whole lake, the intent was just to hike in a little and get some nice pictures of the lakes winter scene......

I guess anyone with kids knows when there is snow, it is inevitable that someone will reach down, pack a snowball and start a ridiculously crazy, intense, snowball fight that can last an hour or more....

See how Avery participates....That's the biggest snowball I have ever seen!

This is typically how this plays out in my family....

Nice little snowball playfully pitched, ha ha, so much fun! We love each other!

Mom smiles and drifts off marveling at her lovely family tossing snowballs around at each other, never intending on hurting one another! It is all in good fun! 

Just then, a snowball flies past my face at what seems like sonic speed...aimed at target Brown brother or sister, and a yelp can be heard for miles.

IT IS ON.....

I point out that in this picture Zachary has about four snowballs stashed in his hands and obviously he is thinking sinister thoughts!

I, the innocent picture taker/mediator, start to notice the snowballs being packed a little bit tighter, more into balls of ice, and whipped with war like retaliation.

I think this may typically occur in families with more than two males.

I then notice Eric walking towards the camera, sweating what I think is testosterone, sticking out his tongue, shaking his head, mumbling words of war and and I realize this is not going to go down good.

As we get closer to the beach area and snowball fight number 8 (possibly 9) intensifies, Avery uses her spidey female senses and realizes she should step out of the battle, NOW.  She comes to the safety of the camera crew, a known off limits to snowball warriors. 

However, notice how Nicky is coming up pretty close behind her....pretty sneaky.

At this point, all three boys (yes, Eric is considered a boy at this point) are all now sweating, out of breath, pelted crazed maniacs. 

They only stop long enough to let the German hikers pass by, each of them acting completely normal, looking at the scenery, ladedah, until they have safely passed and they can engage in this war again.

After Nicky gets pelted approximately fifty times with ice balls from Zachary...he is done. He is not happy...Eric and Zachary seem to be worn out and over their little winter war zone episode, no major injuries, yeah!

This is where my story gets somewhat embarrassing, but hey, this is our life! I want to remember it for what it is.....

I won't go into super duper details, but lets just say Zachary made the mistake of pummeling Eric with a few hard snowballs on the back while Eric was taking a whiz...... and in retaliation, Eric nails Zachary with  a pretty "colored" snow ball on his back.

NO THROWING COLORED SNOWBALLS ....echos over the lake for all the Germans to hear.

I will stop my story there, but hiking out of the lake included Zachary destroying Eric with snowballs, head diving into snowbanks, handfuls of snow shoved down coats and possibly a few choice words.  Nicky gets back into the battle because he thinks his Dad is the coolest Dad ever and he is back in the game on Daddy's side.

Avery and I just shake our heads in disbelief and hike ahead of them.

Yep, that's my family.

Who am I kidding, they will stop at nothing to achieve the Brown Snowball Warrior  title.

Don't they look like a nice family, would you ever even know it?