Spring Break!

It is officially Spring Break here. Since this is really Joshua's first one, he has been a bit confused about not going to school or church. I guess he thinks on the days you don't go to school, you go to church! This morning, after being told we weren't going to school because it is Spring Break, and we aren't going to church because it is Thursday, he said, "Well, then we need to watch a movie." I am sure there is some 4 year old logic in there some where. I just haven't quite figured out how to connect the dots!

My good friend Mandy organized some great outings for the week to help keep all our little kiddos occupied and out of the house. On Monday we went to a town called Speyer and visited the aquarium there, Sealife. It was probably the perfect size for toddlers. Not so huge as to be overwhelming, but with plenty to see ending with a ball pit play area. It probably took an hour to get through the exhibits, and with lunch and ball pit playing we spent about 2 1/2 hours there. We are pretty excited about discovering Speyer. It is about an hours drive, and there seem to be a lot of kid friendly things to do there. The most exciting for Joshua and Jacob was the Technik Museum which had huge planes, trains, and engines displayed outside. There was even a two story slide coming down from one of the planes. Safe to say the boys really want to go back!

Tuesday we headed to Kinderspiel. Kinderspiel ("children play" in German) is a huge indoor play area with anything you can imagine. There is a train, a race track, ball pit, trampolines, several playscapes, huge lego blocks, play houses, play castles, a spidery thing you climb up then you slide down a slide, little cars, a snack area, and much more. It is really huge, nicely kept, and bright. Because it was a bit of a dreary day, we didn't even make it outside but apparently there is a mini golf course, more play equipment, ping pong tables, volleyball and who knows what else! There is also plenty of tables around for you to have a birthday party or any sort of gathering really. We enjoyed it a lot. The boys were especially excited about the train. It ran on a quarter past each hour beginning at 3:15, so they were able to ride it a few times while we were there. Before the train began, though, Jacob would just peer over the fence forlornly. He wanted so badly to ride it! You can probably tell by the pics!

The best part of our daily adventures for Joshua has been spending time with his friend Emma. She is a playmate from school, and he just loves her. She is five and cute as can be, vivacious and tons o fun. Joshua is thrilled being able to spend time with her. I can always motivate him to get dressed or get in the car, or eat breakfast, or whatever, if I tell him we are going to see Emma!

Wednesday we were at Yabadoo. This is another indoor play space, and where we had Joshua's birthday party. The best thing about Yabadoo for mommies is that you can be in one central location and pretty much see everything going on. Even if the boys take off in two different directions, you can pretty much keep an eye on them. There is really only one corner that isn't visible because it is behind the two story tent tower the kids climb that is in the middle of the back half of the place. This is pretty much the favorite place to be for most of the kiddos. Joshua hasn't quite figured out how to get to the top just yet. He definitely can, but by the time he has climbed all but the last 4 feet or so, he stops to look around and say, "I can't do it." Thus losing his momentum and focus and he slides all the way back down. I am pretty sure he will get it the next time we go, though, because he is figuring it out. His favorite thing is a dragon moonwalk that inflates and deflates a mouth the kids climb into and it seems like the dragon is eating all the kids. He LOVES that! Jacob spends most of his time on the trampoline and begging people to jump with him. I have made it clear that I am not jumping on any more trampolines until AFTER this baby is born!

Today we were headed to bowling on Vogelweh, but with the boys being extremely tired and me having a ton of work to do around the house, I called it off. That, and being told, "Bad mommy" for the umpteenth time was enough for me to decide no bowling. Joshua is not very happy about the result, but I think the respect message just may be getting through to him. Being a consistent disciplinarian is not as easy as some people make it look. I certainly have more appreciation for my parents nowadays!

All in all we are doing great! We ordered a bunk bed for the boys' room, but I still have ambition about redoing a captain's bed set we bought on Ramstein Yard Sales. I am hoping to get that started today so that Joshua can begin sleeping in a big boy bed, in his room, as of Sunday night. It just needs to be painted and then put back together. I have the paint already. I just need to get to it! We also bought a matching dresser that I am painting, and we plan to keep that in the room after the new bunkbeds get here. Not sure what we will do with the Captain's bed, maybe sell it or give it away or keep it depending on space issues. We have wanted a nice twin over full bunkbed for awhile, but couldn't find exactly what we were hoping for. Luckily, friends of friends are PCSing here and has movers coming to their home in May. They agreed to allow us to have the bed delivered to them and they will be bringing it over when they move. We won't see it until around July or August, but it is really happening!