Yesterday morning we got up early and drove to Gutach and the Schwarzwald FreilichtMuseum located in the Black Forest. The museum is basically a farm where many 17th century black forest farmhouses have been moved and preserved. The houses are huge since the entire farm was under one roof. It was interesting to see how they were built and the tools used to build them. Since these farms are in and depended on the forest, several of them has saw mills. One sawmill had been operated for 300 years. Another house had housed 19 generations of the same family.
After petting the animals and touring the houses we went down the road to Triburg to see the Biggest old Cuckoo Clock in the world. The Cuckoo was not that impressive but all the wooden gears that drive the clock were interesting to me.
We actually have a larger Cuckoo clock right outside our bedroom window but this one is not old.
When someone asks you what the best amusement park is for a 2 year old you would probably say something about the land of the mouse. I think Spieleland has all those parks beat. Where else can you drive a tractor, race firetrucks and dig holes with a powered excavator? Spieleland has all of that and much more that a 2 year old wants to do.
3rd M drove the tractors 4 times. We only went on the excavators once despite my pleading.
It was raining on and off all day so the crowds and lines were nonexistent.
The airplane was probably 3rd M’s 4th favorite attraction although he spent a lot of time in the pilots seat.
In the gift shop 3rd M found the trainset to play with. That gave us a lot of time to see what else was for sale. After exploring the puzzle section for a little bit I stumbled upon the biggest puzzle I have ever seen. It is 40,320 pieces. The box was taller than 3rd M and bigger than our suitcase. The box should have had wheels on it just to get it out of the store. I think we should have a family reunion just to do this puzzle.
On Sunday morning we got moving early to go to the island of Mainau. We took the ferry across lake Bodensee to Konstanz where we caught the bus to the entrance of the island. It was a beautiful day and we purposefully left early to beat the crowds. We headed straight to the butterfly garden.
After all the butterflys we ran around several old redwood trees MANY times. I just wish 3rd M would follow the trail with the same enthusiasm.
We then spent several hours exploring the island and having lunch before getting to the best part, the playground and the petting zoo.
I was having such a good time I forgot to take more pictures.
On the way back we took the bus into Konstanz, a gorgeous old city on the shores of the Bodensee and divided by the Rhine River.
Usually the best part of a museum has nothing to do with what you came to see. In this case we came to see a reconstructed bronze age settlement built over the water. I would say it was a toss up this time. The tractor out front was great but when the nice lady handed 3rd M the bronze sword the whole audience laughed because of his ear to ear grin.
After all the moving around we have been doing a day at the beach is exactly what we needed. The town beach has all the essentials, sand, water and plenty of space to play.
Step one: Sunscreen
Step two: Find additional construction trucks to play with in the sand
Step three: Go swimming
Final step: Take off wet bathing suit and run around naked
At least that is what 3rd M wanted to do. We came up with other options besides naked.
On our 3rd morning we work up at a normal time, hopped into the car and drove 2 tows over where we bought train tickets to go one more town down the line. We ran into a problem because the ticket machines are only in German. I think we bought tickets for the whole town but we will never know.
At our final stop we got onto the barefoot trail where we walked back to the car barefooted.
We met several farm animals along the way including 5 black kittens who had just opened there eyes. I think the train was 3rd M’s favorite part.
On our second morning in Europe we got up late. And by late I mean 11 AM after 14 hours of sleep. We all needed it and after a day of hiking we need it again.
We started the day by walking across the street to the tram and riding to the top of the mountain. Or should I say to the top of one of the mountains surrounding us. At the top we watched paragliders taking off and listened to the not so distant cow bells. The mountains are all used as pasture lands in the summer so you find cows and sheep everywhere.
The hike back down to the base was spectacular with caves, dropoffs and restaurants hanging on the edge of cliffs. There was also a sign recommending keeping your children roped in at all times. I was expecting the worst but all the trails are well maintained with handrails in the steepest sections. We kept 3rd M close at all times but luckily he is as sure-footed as his dad.
At the bottom of the steepest section of the trail was a high alpine lake with 2 guest houses where we had a late lunch. Then another hike down a steep road back to our hotel where we watched the paragliders land.
For dinner we headed down the road a short distance to Appenzell Town. Our dinner consisted mostly of the local cheese Appenzeller and 1st M sampled the local beer.
So why are the Swiss Alps a mountain junkies delight? Hopefully some of those reasons are apparent above but the access to the peaks is nothing like anywhere I have been before. The mountains are very rugged but the trails are well marked, maintained and used. There seems to be no limit to activities and the people are very friendly. I would love to come back in the winter to ski. We have not met very many people that speak English and I am not sure if that is a positive or negative thing. We have not had too many problems getting around so in my book it is not a bad thing.
2 days and 3 country’s. On Saturday we landed in Frankfurt after the red-eye from Denver.
Shortly after landing we hopped on the fast train to Basel where we transferred to the slower train to Uberlingen where Uncle G picked is up. 3rd M was over the moon for the train ride but ended up sleeping through a bunch of it. None of us slept that great on the plane so a long train ride put us right to sleep.
We only had a short time to see Uncle G and his place in Uberlingen before going to bed. In the morning we got up early and dropped Uncle G off at the Zurich airport. We spent a few hours in Zurich before it started to rain and we all piled back into the car.
After a short drive we stopped for lunch in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. If you think Switzerland is expensive, Liechtenstein was a shock.
3rd M has also decided he does not want to show his face in pictures any more. There is not much we can do about that.
After the bank busting lunch we drove to our hotel next to the train tracks and the tram in Wasserauen Switzerland. It is GORGEOUS here and a mountain junkies delight but more on that in our next post.
Miss A and the 3rd M have been having Play Dates for a while now. They have a standing weekly date at the Children’s Museum. Here are some fun pictures of their explorations.
Gotta drive the Fire Truck!
Play on the jungle gym…
Make Art…
And now off to the Vet. Better make sure you’ve handle those animals with care.
The 3rd M barely slept on his final night in the hotel. A little grumpy, he entered the park. And then saw these two critters playing around….
Faster than you could say “M-O-U-S-E”, the third M ran over to say ‘hi’. After a few hugs and kisses from Chip (or Dale?), I caught this shot, which shows his mad grin from ear to ear.
I slipped in a selfie with Mr. Duck and Gra’Ma and then back to see what the 3rd M was doing.
That’s when both Chip and Dale decided the 3rd M was their man and walked him all around the main square on Main Street. They giggled and jumped and hugged and kissed him for about 20 min. Unfortunately, I thought I caught it all on video. But I didn’t. Boo! I did get this priceless picture, though.
I want to point out that they pretty much ignored all the other people who wanted to see them. But boy, was the third M super happy after that! All grumpiness forgotten!
We spent the next few hours exploring the park and then having lunch. With no nap, the 3rd M ran from New Orleans Square to Tomorrowland, up and down a bunch of ramps (because Tomorrowland has a slew of them) and then, after riding the monorail, he ran from Downtown Disneyland back to the hotel! That was probably a good two miles.
Then we head off to the airport, which may have been the second best part of the day because we watched airplanes of all sizes taking off and landing. The 3rd M labeled each plane a plane for him, Gra’Ma, Gra’Pa, Mommie or Daddy.
Still hoping for a nap (and shocked there wasn’t one), the 2nd M, gave him a binkie and spoke to him softly. Somehow, on the hour and a half plane ride home, he was still awake. The 1st M and Gra’Pa picked us up and he still stayed awoke, chatting furiously. But when he got back home, and put his head on the pillow. He was out dreaming of 7 foot tall Chipmunks in no time.
The night of the first day, “Gra’Ma” showed up just before bed. The 3nd M was over the moon! He kept saying “Hi, Gra’Ma…Hi Gra’Ma….Hi Gra’Ma” and hugged and kissed her repeatedly. Gra’Ma and I translated this to mean, “Oh Grandmom, I’m so happy to see you. While I’ve had a wonderful time riding on trains, planes and automobiles, I still have some anxiety about being away from home and my dad. Disneyland is amazingly wonderful, but also bewildering, so it’s really nice to see a friendly face. I really love you and I’m just glad you’re here. It makes me feel more at home.”
The 2nd M (that’s me) was happy to see Gra’Ma as well, because she got the 3rd M ready and they both walked to the park Sat. morning, while the 2nd M got to do big kid stuff (Space Mountain, the Matterhorn and Star Tours.)
Then it was all smiles on the Mad Hatter Tea Cups…
..the Carousel…
….and Toon Town…
Of course, with the 3rd M being a Princess Connoisseur, we had to explore Sleeping Beauty’s castle repeatedly. No stone was left unturned. (Sleeping Beauty is his favorite, followed by Snow White and then, finally, Cinderella.)
We attempted three times to see the Princesses in the Royal Hall, but each time, the 3rd M couldn’t get past his abnormally shy demeanor to grab a photo op. Cinderella said they could be “Friends at a Distance” and Snow White said he was just like one of her dwarves –bashful.
But, we found out that the woman he pined for, Sleeping Beauty, was going to be at the Wishing Well! So we quickly scampered over and got in line. Her handler, deft at handling two year olds, ‘traded’ his clicker for the camera, currently held by the 3rd M, who, moments before, took the shot below of said Handler.
After a few tries, we caught this shot. And the 3rd M finally forgot his bashfulness and told Sleeping Beauty all about his adventures in Disneyland.
The 3rd M was good at finding the little design features throughout the park, including this egg partially hidden in the landscaping.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Hotel California for lunch and ran into the Chipmunks! Their hug and kiss occurred faster than I could pull a camera out. Sorry, folks!
After our nap, we returned for the afternoon parade. We got great seats overlooking everything!
Then to Downtown Disney for dinner and some Lego car racing!
“Oh man, those cars go fast!”“This is me pretending to be asleep”“Nope! I’m awake. Just kidding!”
Of course, there was a little bit of this at the end of the night…
All and all it was a very very good day. With one more day left, we all went back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep….
Getting up super early , getting dressed and walking to Disneyland was a breeze! Standing in line with a two-year old, not so much.
Luckily, that was the only bit of the above we saw that morning.
Then it was off to the a quick succession of rides! Twelve within the first few hours, folks. The 3rd M was a TROOPER! Of course, we really didn’t stand in any lines.
The first ride, Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure, was surprisingly scary, but the 3rd M afterward said, “No, I’m not scared. I’m happy!” So off to Dumbo….as you can see, he wasn’t so sure about that one.
But he started to warm up and gave half a smile for the next shot.
Since the Disneyland Railroad was closed for the making of the new Starwars Land, we road Casey the Circus Train a few times. This was by far, the 2nd M’s favorite ride. In fact, two days later, when asked what his favorite ride was, he’ll still say “The Choo Choo Train.”
On the second ride, I put him in the cage marked “Wild Animals.”
Some how I extracted him from the Choo Choo Train. (To this day, I can’t figure out how I pulled it off. I think he was still in shock from being zoomed in and off so many rides.) I figured it was a good time to ride “It’s a Small World.” And I was right. It was a happy, non-scary, bright and cheery ride, which he really liked. I would say it was his second favorite as he was singing the song later that day.
In retrospect, there are a lot of dark, kind of scary, noisy, fast paced rides in Fantasy land and I must say my little dude handled them all with Aplomb. Even the roller coaster in Toon Town!
2nd M asking 1st M after the mini Toon Town roller coaster, “Are you scared?”
3rd M, “No.”
2nd M, “Do you want to do it again?”
3rd M, “No.”
So we hung out in Toon town for a bit more.
By finding Nemo (we’re in the submarine below), we were all smiles, trepidation gone and having a blast! (The little oranges I fed him helped.)
While we had lunch in Tomorrowland, we watched the Jedi Training Camp. Pretty soon, our own little Jedi will be ready for training….
Then it was time to ride the Monorail and head back to the hotel for yet another marathon nap….
After a few days in LA visiting A&K and 2nd M’s friends, we headed south for Disneyland. We arrived in the late afternoon and enjoyed watching plans land at the nearby Santa Ana Airport. We leisurely headed to our Disneyland hotel.
Once checked in, it was time for the Reconnaissance mission. We walked to the main entrance, timing our walk (20 min.) and exploring what the best approach and the most efficient path was to the park
. Then onto the equipment check. Had to make sure the camera was fully operational.
Mission complete, we decided to have dinner and reward ourselves with some ice cream.
Of course, we dined right near the Monorail and the Parking Lot Tram, so we decided to take a round trip ride on the Parking Tram. This was so exciting, I was wondering why I spent money on the tickets to the Land of the Mouse, but then realized, the 2nd M was free. (This trip was really just as much for me.)
The 3rd M has Spring Break this week, so the 2nd M thought “Why stay home?” And so ensued a plan to escape to the Land of the Mouse. First stop: Hollywood to visit the Sisters…A & K.
To get there the 2Ms needed to take a variety of conveyance…a taxi, a bus, a train, a plane and a car.
The 3rd M was smart and pulled an RTD map from the stand to verify that we were getting on the right bus.
We got in the right bus and we watched a slew of trains and Beep Beeps (construction trucks). Contrary to the humble expression in the photo, this was great fun and a running commentary ensued for most of the trip. “oh wow! A Train…oh wow! a Beep Beep!…”
Gotta call home to tell dad we got to the airport safe.
Who needs a stroller? (hold on kid!)
The 3rd M quickly trained the 2nd M that if she doesn’t carry him, he’ll play dead on the airport floor. Guess who won that battle?
A nice leisurely lunch at Root Down at the airport.
And now we’re on the plane, binkie at the ready! We had some quick, but serious turbulence, which resulted in quite a few screams and babies crying. The 3rd M asked to go back home a few times, but later said he wasn’t scared.
After the initial take off, he shut the window and decided he wanted to chat with his fellow passengers, including the cute blonde six year old a few seats over and the little (and by little, I mean 10 months) brunette across the aisle. After some socializing, he took a nap. (And the 2nd M really thanked herself once again that she still nurses. No ear issues here!)
We soldiered on, getting the car and driving to the restaurant where we would meet A & K.
After FIVE (count ’em…five) pizza slices (seriously folks, I want to point out that was nearly a whole pizza and it’s not like we didn’t have a big lunch and snacks), we decided to burn off some energy in a nearby fountain.
Excellent restaurant location choice, A!
Then it was time to say goodbye and head to the hotel. As the 2nd M told him that we were headed to our hotel, a little high pitched voice from the back of the car said, “No, Back Home.”
I learned to ski when I was 4 and 3rd M now has me beat by 2 years. Last weekend we went up skiing with some friends and while I was on the mountain 2nd M rented 3rd M everything he needed to get on the snow. He loved it from the first turn.
When he got to the bottom after the first run he said more. I then took him up on the magic carpet and we came down with a little more speed.
At the bottom he said FASTER. After lunch he ran up to his skis and tried to put them on all by himself.
The first day was just about having lots of fun. Mission accomplished.
3rd M and his best friend are always trading hugs and kisses. Usually it is to cheers the other one up if they are having a bad day. I finally caught it on the camera and a friend touched the pictures up.
Grandmom, aka “GraGra”, always has some great location suggestions up her sleeve. Last weekend was no different. The 2nd and 3rd M accompanied the Grands to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo near Colorado Springs. The 3rdM really enjoyed it.
Here are some highlights!
Mmm, the alligator heuvos taste good.
I’m not afraid of an alligator!
I got this mom.
Great view atop the chairlift.
Look at that tongue!
The 2nd M got a face full of giraffe slobber. Yuck!
Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and the 3rd M wanted to spend it with his Russian Girlfriend, Miss A. He invited her over for a Valentine’s Day Date and was particularly excited to show her his new strider bicycle. He even greeted her at the front door on it and was hoping to whisk her off for a day of fun an adventure. (Think knight on a horse.)
Miss A is older, an inch taller, and an independent woman, so she had other things in mind and chose another bike. So off they went, the two of them, to the park.
“It’s much more fun if you close your eyes, Miss A”“Want to come back to my place after this to play in the ball box?”
The 3rd M felt he needed to do something to stand out from the rest of his classmates to win Miss A’s favor, so he decided to jump from the 6′ tall top of a playground jungle gym. Somehow only minor tears ensued.
Back home, the 3rd M and Miss A decided to play Hide and Seek before lunch.
“Can you find me? I’m hiding!”
Then it was time for lunch, so the 3rd M showed off his culinary skills and made pancakes for everyone. Miss A, a crack chef herself, helped out. They made savory pancakes (chicken, scallions, peppers and mushrooms) with a yogurt dipping sauce and sweet ones with cut bananas and berries. Miss A brought over a very lovely marmalade with berries only available in Siberia. It was the perfect complement to the fruit pancakes. (Seriously, it was perfect!) Additionally, 1st M, 2nd M and A’s mom had chocolate/coconut pancakes.
Overall, it was a wonderful Valentine’s day!
“Smile!”
“Serious face” (3rd M thought ‘Serious Face’ means laugh.)”“oooh…the blender…”
