Lochmühle Amusement Park

I blogged last year about taking Emilie and Rebecca to this local amusement park where many rides are parent-powered and the vast majority are unmonitored. The kids had another day off school today and though the majority of activities at this park are for little kids, I thought there would be enough there to keep big kids Micaela and James amused.

The Double Butterfly tic-toc ride. It was the first ride of the day for us and Becca screamed bloody hell until the little car finally came to a stop.

Emilie, on the other hand, enjoyed it.

Becca got a hold of herself and handled the rest of the rides with no problem. Here they all are on the Squirrel Minicoaster.

Em enjoyed that ride, too. In this photo, they just passed a sign for the coaster reminding people that their dogs are not allowed on this particular ride.

Pedal helicopters

Sailing over the park

The "Shoot the Chutes" ride.  You climb into the boat and click the safety bar in place; the next person waiting in line pulls the gate shut and pushes the "Ready" button; you tug on the rope to start.

A cable pulls you to the top of a high incline and then....

...WHOOSH! You fly down the incline and over a ramp, fly through the air and land in the water with a big splash.

James and a mysterious looking hand

A pretty cool ride that has been around since 1884.

Bex on the parent-powered ferris wheel -- someone needs to be pedaling an attached stationary bike to make it go around.

 James and Bex

While the kids waited in line for this spinning tulip ride, 8 little girls cut in front of them.  When I said to them, "My children were here first," one the girls replied, "My friend was holding a place for us." 

Ahh, the old one person holding a place for all of their friends/family thing.  This happened so often to us at Disneyworld a few years ago, I was ready to file an official complaint.  Do you know how disheartening it is to stand in line for 45 minutes, trying to judge how many more runs of a ride it will take until you can get on, only to have 15 people cut in front of you, all with a smug expression on their faces, because one person from their group was in line?  I know these people think they're simply being smart, but I can think of plenty of other names for it:  bad-mannered, inconsiderate, discourteous, selfish, obnoxious, mean-spirited, repulsive, loathsome, contemptuous, and just plain rude.

We went back and forth a few times with the group of little girls, and I realized that I would get nowhere with my poor German.  In the end I declared them "Not nice!"  and dropped it.  I vowed to myself, before our next trip to Disney, that I would send an inquiry to the the power that be on what our rights are when we are standing in line and a group of 15 people cuts in front of us.  Maybe they actually have a rule where one person can only hold a place for 2 or 3 people and we could notify an attendant.  But these people get away with it because no one is willing to say anything. 

Rise up, nice people who don't cut and stand in line in a fair manner! Rise up, I say! If twenty other people who have been waiting patiently would shame such other people, make the rest of the wait miserable for them, it may make them think twice about cutting again. Or it might cause a fist fight. I would probably be passive-aggressive and say to my family in a loud voice, "We would never cut in front of other people who have been waiting such a long time, would we? It is so rude and disrespectful to everyone else. People who do that should be ashamed of themselves!" It won't make any difference though. They'll just laugh all the way to the front of the line. On second thought, we'd be better off flying back to Europe and going to Park Astérix or Legoland where we never stood in line for more than 10 minutes.

In any case, stay silent no longer, for the common good! Say something!

The simple rides, like this big slide, are always a big hit.

Another big slide

I lost count of how many different playgrounds this place had.

Jumpy thingy

The Luna-Loop:  strap yourself in and get flipped upside down over and over again as the capsule makes its way down the track.

Can you see the hair?  Micaela and Emilie were upside down at this point.

Spinning disk

Another tilted spinning disk.  Once Becca sat down on it, it started spinning faster and faster and she freaked out.

On a rotating see-saw thingy with a German girl

At the trampoline complex

Crêpes for lunch

Micaela getting a workout powering the little merry-go-round

Huge jumpy thing

The last time we were here, every child that tried this wooden wheel fell and hurt themselves, including my own.

Giving it a try....

...and wiping out.

Digging in some dirt

Donkey ride

James trying his hand at milking a fake cow

There were lots of structures to play in, like this windmill.

At the petting zoo area

Very patient donkey

We all fell in love with the rabbits and have to research keeping bunnies.

Pull on the rope to make your swing work

While we were waiting for our turn on the swings, two boys came out of nowhere and tried to jump to the front of the line. A German mother said sternly, "Das geht nicht!" ("That's not OK.") and the boys backed off. Way to go, Mutti!

James and Micaela making the swings go 'round

I told Becca, "It's time to go home," at which point she cried, "But I don't want to go home!" and then ran into this little house and hid.  Micaela and James had to pull her out by her ankles.

Tearfully making her way to the exit via these climbing rocks

One last stop in the baby animal house

The sweetest little baby bunnies

The kids during our first month here -- September 2007.

The kids during our last month here -- June 2010.

Frustration at the Kino

Today is a national holiday in Germany -- the religious feast day Corpus Christi. Stores are closed and there is no school. One thing you can do today, however, is go to the movie theater. Today is a perfect day to see a movie because stores at the mall where our local movie theater is located are closed. That means we can find a parking spot!

Parking at our mall is a big issue. I discovered our first year here that if I arrived at the mall at 9:15 (stores open at 9:30), I would have my choice of parking spots. When I would leave the store less than an hour later, people would be following me in their cars to take my parking spot. It seems that most shoppers will arrive right at or soon after 9:30 (Germans are known for their punctuality) and do a good job at filling up all the parking lots. If the kids need something at the mall on a Saturday ( the worst day of the week to go shopping), and it's already past 10:00, David will take them because I get too frustrated driving around trying to find a spot. On some weekends and during Christmastime, people end up parking all down the ramps and on the highway. 

One day  I thought I'd take the kids to see a movie on a Sunday, thinking we would have no problems as the mall is closed on Sundays. Except for a few Sundays a year when it is open due to a national holiday closure earlier in the week.  It was one of those Sundays.  I circled the mall 3 times and just gave up and returned home.

And so, we take advantage of Sundays and holidays. I've wanted for a while now to see How to Train Your Dragon and was looking forward to seeing it in 3D today -- even if it was going to be auf Deutsch. At the ticket counter, I asked for 1 adult ticket and 4 children's tickets. The cashier asked the ages of the kids and I told her, thinking the younger ones might get a discount. Was I wrong!

The cashier shook her head and said, "This movie is only for kids 6 and older. Your youngest child is too little for the movie." My heart sank and I remembered hearing about this exact situation from other people. Our friend Dina just reminded me on Facebook about how she took her kids to see one of the new Star Wars films several years ago. It was rated for kids 12 years and older, so her then 10- and 11-year olds were not allowed in. Can you imagine? An 11-year old not being allowed in to see a Star Wars film?  The guidelines changed and today, a child older than 6 can see moves with that rating if they are accompanied by a grownup.

I knew it was hopeless, but tried with a "But I'm the mother and can I not make these decisions for my child?" And then I even gave the cashier a sly smile and said, "Wait, I was mistaken. My youngest is 6." She wasn't buying it. Then I asked what other movies were playing and none that Becca could see interested the others.  It was the Dragon, or nothing.

In the end, I bought tickets for the Micaela, James and Emilie to see How to Train Your Dragon and Becca and me tickets for The Frog and the Princess. As I got Becca settled in her seat -- right next to the only two other people in the entire theater because you get an assigned seat and they squish the audience together-- I fumed silently, "Great. I'm paying to watch a movie that we already have at home on DVD!"

The older kids loved How to Train Your Dragon and David has gone on record, via Facebook, as saying that once we're all back in Atlanta, he'll take me to see it.  In English.

Moving Home: Souvenirs

It's hard to believe that we'll be moving back to the U.S. in six weeks. We'll be moving back to the Atlanta area, though south of the city instead of north of the city where we used to live. David's new job will be at the airport and if we moved back north of the city, it could easily take him over 2½ hours to get to work every day.

We're looking at moving to Peachtree City, a town known for being home to airline employees (over 20% of the adult population works in the industry)and its golf carts. The town was planned out in the 1950s in such a way that there are 90 miles of paths criss crossing the city. People walk, bike and drive their golf carts on these paths to school, stores, church, etc. Over 9000 households own a golf cart, more than any other city in the world. And kids as young as 12 can drive one with an adult sitting up front with them. In July 2009, Money magazine ranked Peachtree City eighth on its list of the 100 Best Places to Live in the United States.

Things are starting to move along for us. David left Germany on Sunday and is beginning his new job with Lufthansa today. The kids and I will remain here in Germany to finish out the school year. In the meantime, David will be checking out homes for sale that we have been keeping track of on-line. There's no guarantee that we will end up in Peachtree City, but it's our focus city for now.

With less than two months to go, we have all begun reflecting on our time here in Germany. People have begun asking us what we will miss and what we have missed from the U.S. I am already planning blog entries about that.

For the moment, I have begun a new series: Moving Back to the U.S. Any time I think, "Oh, I should blog about that before we move home," I'm going to unceremoniously blog about it. Nothing fancy and undoubtedly random.

And here's my first entry. My bag collection.

My good friend Kathy had the right idea before she moved here. She told each of her children to pick out something they would like to collect on their travels here in Europe. Her daughter chose city landmark figurines, her son chose magnets. They have traveled extensively and at each stop, the kids have found a souvenir.

I wasn't that forward thinking. During our first year here, I noticed tote bags with city names on them from all over the world. They were especially popular at the kids' school, where people come from everywhere. I've seen these Robin Ruth bags from New York, Jamaica, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Sarajevo, Seoul, etc. Only after a year did it occur to me to begin my own collection, and Micaela has collected some as well. If you find one on your travels, just be sure not to take off the rubber Robin Ruth tag. It's like cutting a tag of your beanie baby!

Emilie's Birthday

Our busy birthday season begins on May 20th with Micaela's birthday and then just 4 short days later, it's Emilie's birthday. Then, Rebecca's is June 21st. Three birthdays in a month. Yikes! We get a two month break until James' birthday arrives on August 30th.

Emilie's first gifts of the day were a day off school, a trip to Burg Eltz and a wooden sword.

Micaela didn't want us to take pictures on her birthday, but Emilie thought it would be OK on hers. Becca doesn't look happy that all these presents are for her big sister.

Opening the big one

Just what she wanted -- the Playmobil Egyptian Pyramid. Em has been studying Egypt at school and found it all fascinating.

Get ready, Micaela. You and James are going to have to put this together.

Playmobil makes great toys, but they can be pricey in the U.S. Here in Germany, Playmobil sets costs significantly less. That gets a thumbs-up from me.

Micaela and James getting down to work

Here's Em's cake -- a heart-shaped one baked in a pottery bowl I bought in Poland.

Emilie requested Moosetracks ice cream for her birthday, which we cannot find in Germany. A few times, we've made our own with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and diced Reese's Peanut Butter cups (although the Reese's froze and were hard to bite). When I went shopping, however, they were all out of Reese's at the story which is not surprising since they only have 4 or 5 packs on the American shelves. I had to improvise. On-line I found a recipe for peanut butter sauce for ice cream. No one complained about the lack of Reese's when they tasted the warm peanutty sauce.

The pyramid comes with gold treasure, pharaohs, scorpions, mummies and grave robbers.