Hammerschlagen 2013

I survived Flachtoberfest, 2013!  We had a wonderful time at niece Wendy's house. Even though it was rainy and drizzly most of the day, we still held the outdoor games. Like Hammerschlagen.  If you don't know what that is, look here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHW5rYQ3PyU.  

This is us playing Hammerschlagen at Flachtoberfest and, as usual, I didn't win anything. I had either had too much beer before playing or not enough beer. It's a delicate balance.  We play the women's division, men's division and this year, we added the kids division. You can see, the kids are intensely studying the women's technique and style so they can do better than us when it's their turn--doesn't take much to do better than us!--and they were better when they played the game.

I'm wearing my 2010 Flachtoberfest T-shirt which designates me as the "Mudderflacher"  and I'm so proud of that title (not!)

Nephew George brought a couple of Grandpa Flach's guns which he had restored and later in the day, a group went into Wendy's woods to do some target shooting.  Daughter Tessa had tried making rye bread and the loaves never rose so she brought them with to use a targets.  As they were leaving the house to walk into the woods, my husband commented that at his family reunions, we play softball but at my family reunions, we go shooting!  Well, the loaves of rye bread survived the target shooting and ended up being gobbled up by the 3 large dogs who also attended the party. And no one got hurt in the shooting except for a few bruised shoulders (and egos) when the shotgun kicked too hard and knocked shooter onto her butt!

All in all, I had a wonderful time!  Family members that I've not seen for years showed up and friends of family were there as honorary Flachs and some of them were just amazed and flabbergasted at the goings on. Lots of laughter and camaraderie, amazing food, and of course, great beer.