Legoland Deutchland

When you have little boys, Lego's are introduced pretty early. You progress from the really large blocks to smaller and smaller ones. At three and a half, Griffin is only part of the way there. I don't think he really understood the types of things that Lego's can be built into. He was in for a surprise and in the end, we all were.

We were very excited to learn that we were living only about an hour away from Legoland Deutchland. This was Griff's first official amusement park visit and his excitement was contagious. He didn't stop talking the entire hour plus drive to get there.

Once inside the park, we narrowed down the rides and games that he was big enough for.  It was actually kind of limiting, but he was none the wiser. He drove a boat, a canoe, an airplane, a small car. He even drove his own jeep through a Lego Safari. Very cool.  He also rode on a topsy-turvy pirate ship. We attempted to get onto the tea-cups but he was pulled off because he didn't make the height requirement. Initially it was a bummer but the nice young girl who was working the ride gave Griff a little Legoman and that was even more valuable to him than the ride itself.

Poor Brogan spent most of the day in the stroller, with the exception of the Lego Train that we all took around the park.

At the center of the park is a large area that has Lego models of European cities, like Venice, Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, etc and famous German monuments and structures, like the Munich soccer stadium and the Frankfurt airport. It was incredible!

We lucked out with extraordinary weather. All in all, it was a wonderful day, like so many of our days have been while living here.

Sensopolis

One weekend in May our dear friends from the UK came for another visit.  I thought this would be a great time for our first trip to Sensopolis in Boblingen.

Sensopolis is a huge indoor playground/ interactive science museum.  It has a multi-level ball and netted climbing area, a big castle with interactive rooms, a pirate ship, a large water table, fun slides and a humongous spaceship that the kids run throughout. There is also a climbing wall and a ropes-like course for big kids.

Sensopolis is perfect for those many cold and/or rainy Stuttgart days.

 By days ends, the kids were worn out. And when you are headed home for dinner and bed, that's a very good thing.

German Playgrounds

We spent quite a bit of time outside of our hotel room during those weeks that we were living in the Marriott. If G wasn't napping, we were exploring the area. We were thrilled to find really cool playgrounds around every corner. These weren't the type of playgrounds we were used to seeing. It was clear that safety precautions were a little more lax in this country.

We were 'warned' before moving here that Germans preferred dogs over children but fortunately, we haven't experienced that. While dogs are certainly valued and treated pretty favorably (allowed to sit in restaurants while their owners dine), we have found that rarely is there a look of terror on restaurant owners faces when we arrive and ask to be seated with our two year old.