Easter Outing

What's Easter without an Easter outing. We met up with Julie, Alexander and most and foremost Charlotte. Perfect spring day down by the river.

The water was clear and crisp and perfect to start the season.

Henri asked Charlotte, if she wants to be his girlfriend. She was kinda cool about it - well, ain't I already? They did hit it off pretty nicely. And later there was Schnitzel and ice cream and chocolate eggs for desert. And of course - few things beat the lure of the screen. But it's oh so nice and peaceful at restaurants, when there's digital bunnies to rescue (and in the case of Karl evil alien empires to topple with well aimed laser blaster volleys).

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Yes, indeed, the easter bunny was here. Henri heard him hopping. And he left behind a little nest of sweets and a few goodies, like a super nifty ballpoint pen that can be erased....

...Karl was torn, if that clopping sound was actually the easter bunny or some mean parental trick to create the illusion of holiday magic. Anyway, there was LEGO! So it doesn't really matter who left that in the little hiding places. Actually it has been known that one easter bunny would be too burdened with all that stuff and that there were some reinforcements sent in from Bensheim who brought two little sets of figurines from "The Lego Movie", which we went so see on Thursday. Supposedly I turned my kids into communists now. Fox News had a piece on it - it is pure anti-capitalist propaganda hiding behind that 90 minute commercial for stuff.

Yesterday it was all about hanging out with buddies. Karl went over to Niels'place. Henri met up with Jasper in our old stomping grounds. Where the mood was... well, it did match the above mentioned spirit of Easter.

Henri Flowerchild

Looks like Henri's got the green thumb - all the flowers he planted last fall actually came to bloom this week. And proud he was.

So with his new self-confidence he took the skatpark head-on.

Lot to learn this weekend. Both Henri and Karl tried out some stunts.

Afterwards they indulged in some free climbing (it does get your hopes up that you got two of those wild and rowdy kids on your hand, who spend their weekends getting bruised up and health doing one or the other kind of sport. Not pictured here though - the incredible lure of the glowing screen....).

Did you know that flowers go to sleep at night? They do. Just look.

Adventureland Bavaria

It was time for a first spring vacation, so we headed to the Bayerische Wald (Bavarian Forest), the northeastern backwoods of Bavaria towards the Czech border. Where quite a few adventures were to be had. Like visiting the "Pfahl", a rock formation older than the oldest dinosaurs. At our destination 237 million years to be exact.

It was quite a hike through the dense forest that gives that part of Germany it's name.

You gotta admit though that lunch in the company of so much planet history is quite something.

Most other adventures were more of a sporty nature. We went to this place where they not only had a summer bobsled track (not pictures), but also one of those bungee trampoline things that catapult you way up into the air. Which as you can see is quite a kicker.

There was a climbing station....

...a tubing slide....

...and a bumper boat ride that you can spin around until your dad gets dizzy.

The real thrill was the climbing forrest though. It is quite a scary affair with tricky parcours to climb way up in the trees. Well, you do get rather professional gear. First Karl was not too sure if it was so smart to talk us into going there.

While Henri chose to be really smart and go hiking with mom.

Karl loves gear though, so as soon as we were geared up, he was psyched.

So up he went.

Henri played it cool....

....while watching his brother do his stunts 5 to 10 meters up in the air.

I have to admit I had my first X Games moment. Damn, I thought this comes much later, when the boys are 14 or 15. Basically this is tightrope walking with handicaps. You do have safety ropes tied to you, but you are walking steel ropes and slack lines up there, with sometimes very little to hold on to and some obstacles to maneuver around. Well, I had to save face and play along.

While Karl was fearless he was also still too short to fasten the karabiners into the safety lines, so I had to spot him all the way through. As you can see, even mom was impressed. Even thought that is definitely the side where his fearlessness comes from.

Got the picture?

Well, there's lots of fun to be had in the outermost region of our home state.

And finally lots to talk about on the hike to the nearest place that serves pancake. We'll definitely be back