Playmobil Fun Park

Monday, another military training holiday, we caravanned with the Jones Family from our new ward to the Playmobil Fun Park.  It's about two hours east of us near a city called Nurnberg.  I was excited to go because I played with Playmobil as a kid and love it.  The fun park was divided into life size playmobil activity centers... a construction site, a castle with knights, a pirate ship with pirates, a farm, a house, a western town.  It was ADORABLE and we had so much fun!  Totally going back here.

      

The castle section was one of my favorites... actually, I don't think I can pick a favorite.  The castle was set at the highest part of the park so from the top of the castle you could see everything.  There were drawbridges and slides, and dungeons, and stalks, and Kings and Queens and knights.  It was great fun.

    

They had a little water section to play in so we came prepared with bathing suits.

I added this picture just to show you the stark contrast between my fully swim outfitted toddler and lots of other little girl and boy toddlers… and kids.   Either this or they were wearing speedos that didn’t quite fit them anymore.

 

 

I think the kids favorite part was the pirate ship area.

 

And while we’re here let me just point out the LACK of a few safety features… The plank to get on the ship had no railings.  So funny.  Chris wanted to see if little Matthew could walk the plank… and grabbed him quickly before he got wobbly and fell into the two feet of water below.  While our attention was focused elsewhere Luke managed to climb to the top of the mast using mostly the rope sides. He could get up, but getting down was a bit trickier and Ryan had to rescue him.  All over the lake were rafts that the kids could push around, or ferries where the kids could pull themselves across.  Very fun little play area.

  

After great German sandwiches (we have loved every German sandwich we’ve tried) and lunch we headed in to the big Playmobil toy area.  Every Playmobil Castle toy in the castle, tons of playmobil houses and people and furniture and cars and campers and everything you could think of inside the house, the Viking toys by a Viking ship.  Really, the whole thing was pretty cool.  Katie and friends settled in the top floor of the house with the pool/beach collection.  Emily and Megan settled in the pink princess castle to play there.  Ryan and Luke settled in on the floor by the Viking ship to play with the Safari collection.  Matthew toddled around picking up pieces and taking them to other locations.  I saw later that they had workers who’s entire job was picking up pieces and taking them back to the right collection.  (Sounds a lot like my job at home.)

     

Ryan loved the life-size soccer playmobil... a special exhibit because of the world cup going on right now.  The toy playmobil soccer game set up was amazing.  Ryan and I thought that setting up Playmobil sets would be an awesome job.

This display was right by the Playmobil store which of course had every Playmobil imaginable... and which you had to exit through in order to get out of the park.  Nice thinking Playmobil Fun Park.  We escaped without a purchase this time... but not because my kids didn't ask for one of everything.   I fear my defenses are weakening... if we go back, we're toast.

Tripsdrill

 

Saturday we followed the Dawsons through gorgeous German countryside to Tripsdrill, an amusement park about an hour away.  I think we're used to amusement parks being generally by a big freeway or major road.  Not this one... we wandered our way through the main cobblestone streets of maybe 7 quaint towns along the way.  We passed vineyards and rolling hills with churches in the distance.  I know someday we will get used to seeing this everywhere we drive... but right now it's still very surreal... and makes driving anywhere a pleasure. The Dawsons are our 'two week' friends.  Unfortunately, we moved in to the ward two weeks before they moved out.  We were in-processing and they were out-processing... and for most of the two weeks we were in the guest house together  -- with a whole lot of free time.  The boys golfed, the girls shopped, the kids played at the park,  (we enjoyed the 4th together) ... and when they invited us to Tripsdrill for the day and we were game.

The park was gorgeous. When they picked 'quaint German' for their amusement park theme they nailed it.  Everything was beautifully decorated with flowers everywhere.  They even had authentic German speaking workers and not a stitch of English anywhere.   Here's Megan checking out our park map (in German).

We spent the morning doing the kids rides... and they loved them.

 

Matthew being his delightful self, even in this 'out of the ordinary' 100 degree weather.

The animal rides above were a hit for the kids.  There was practically no line so the kids used up almost an hour just riding them over and over again.  Amazing how an animal ride through the gardens could be so exciting.  Luke was in heaven. In a nearby section they had an open area for you to ride bikes... only these bikes were a bit unusual.  If you look closely at the wheels you can see that the center isn't quite in the center, and this makes riding a round a little bit difficult and a lot bumpy. It was pretty funny to watch. Below Katie has climbed a ladder to watch the German man pop out from the window and speak to her.  What?  Ladders that you are supposed to climb?    Amusement parks (and parks in general)  have one major difference from those in the States.  SAFETY is NOT a concern here... One person was working each ride.  It was your job to make sure your bar was down, or that your kid was tall enough for the ride.  Only at the biggest roller coaster did they have another employee.  It made us laugh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For lunch we got curry bratwurst which (Chris and Emily liked) and bread and pomme frites (French fries) which the rest of us liked.  And of course Fanta orange without ice since they just don't do ice here. The Germans are big into Recycling.  I thought this Cup Recycle center was quite extensive.  Just put your used cup into the appropriate slot.

 

After lunch we walked over to the bigger rides.  The kids walked over a large suspension bridge while I took the stroller on a covered bridge.  The bridge, like several other places around the park, was decorated with hanging socks.  It was actually quite adorable.  Splash Castle is off in the distance. This Splash Castle ride was hysterical.  It was like Splash Mountain but instead of the 'briar rabbit' part they had a European bathhouse with naked women mannequins.   Nice young topless mannequins and big fat sagging older women mannequins.   The kids said 'ewwww!' and closed their eyes.  We could not stop laughing.  What kind of ride is this? The brand new big roller coaster was fabulous too.  We had a great day.

     The splash was very refreshing on a day like this.

 

We're melting...

It is 5:30 in the evening and it's 92 degrees outside and probably hotter than that inside since WE DON'T have air conditioning.  As my friend put it, we are stewing in our 'crock pot of a room' marinating in our own juices.  Ya, it is not pleasant.  It reminds me of when we lived in Washington.  "Oh, you don't need air conditioning here... you'd hardly use it."  But on those few blazing hot weeks of summer we sure wish we had it.  And we are wishing the guest house had it too.

We've made a couple trips to our house after signing the lease yesterday morning... and with the fancy German shutters and the lights off it's managed to remain pretty cool.  That's good.  And if it comes down to it, we can always have them put our temporary military beds down in the basement where it's nice and cool.

Move in day is Tues, July 6th.  Our first 1200 pounds (bedding, towels, high chairs, lamps, kitchen stuff, and toys) will be delivered on Tuesday but we have no idea when the rest of our stuff will come.  Hopefully soon.  In the meantime though, the military will deliver one bed per person, one night table per person, one dresser per person, one wardrobe per person (because of the no closets), a couch, coffee table, a dining room table and 8 chairs.  Seems like a while before we'll really be settled, but at least it's a step.  Can't wait to unpack my stuff!!