Sensapolis=AWESOME!!

We discovered an awesome indoor adventure!!  On Veteran's Day the girls were out of school and R was off work, so we had planned a trip to Heidelberg to see some castles.  But the weather was cold and yucky, so we opted for indoor entertainment.  We saw this place not long after we got to Germany, and I looked it up online, and it seemed amazing...so we decided to check it out!

It did not disappoint!!  I have never seen anything like it!  It is HUGE, and has TONS of stuff to do!  Since it was an American holiday, all the German kids were in school.  So it wasn't crowded at all, and the kids that were there were American kids...so we heard a lot of English...woohoo!!

All 3 of the kids (and Daddy) had a blast!  I didn't participate in any of the craziness, but I enjoyed watching all of them!

I think we will definitely be going back here during the long winter!!

Waiting on lunch...they have a cafe, and an espresso bar!!

Still waiting, but happy!!

If you look way up in the rafters...there was a ropes course WAY up there!  None of the Willis clan went up there..it was scaring us to see OTHER people up there!

They have a huge castle...with lots of different rooms and activities inside.

They had some CRAZY fast, high, steep slides!!

This is T going down the super steep, super fast slide!

Daddy and R on one of the slides...they loved this one!

R coming out of one of the long, fast, tube slides...completely dark until the end!  He was feeling queasy after this!!

T coming out of the dark slide...she did it again!!

Part of the place is like a little science museum.  They had all kinds of neat little experiments and optical illusions.  This was a little maze with different types of terrain...shows how hard it is to get around in a wheelchair on all different types of surfaces.

A really had to think in order to make the turns!

T kept crashing into walls!

This was a cool room!!  Probably the only time in their lives the kids will ever be even close to as tall as Daddy!  And look at little R, all tall and handsome! : ) 

They have a HUGE pirate ship!!  Little R is all about pirates and therefore pirate ships...but he thought this one was a little overwhelming...

They had lots of amazing slides!  Our kids didn't venture down this one...

This one went to the roof...T tried to do this one...but chickened out about halfway up!  You had to climb a ladder inside the tree trunk to get to the top of this one.

A the rock climber!!

And we topped off the fun with a big, blue slushie!!!

And for the more mature set...hot chocolate! : )

Helping Daddy

Little R loves to "help"!!  Whether it's laundry, cooking, or watering plants...he just wants to help!  I was told long ago by someone wise to let your little ones help...these are teaching moments for them...even if it makes your task take twice as long!!  So I always try to let them help when they want to, and I am pretty much used to things taking MUCH longer than they need to!

But Daddy, on the other hand, has a hard time being patient during these "teaching moments".  But he is trying!!  This day he did a great job of letting little R water the bushes, even though half the water wasn't even pointed at the bushes...and therefore the job took twice as long as it should have!

You can tell by the look on his face that R is struggling to be patient!!

But look how happy Little R is!!  Worth every extra minute!!

Hohenschwangau & Neuschwanstein Castles

Last weekend we loaded up and took our first overnight trip since coming to Germany.  We drove a couple of hours to see Neuschwanstein Castle (this is the castle that Walt Disney designed Cinderella's castle after).  We also had two more castles on our itinerary for the weekend trip.  Each castle trip is definitely a history lesson!  We learned A LOT about King Ludwig II on this trip...very interesting!

The first day we started out at Hohenschwangau Castle and then on to Neuschwanstein Castle.  We were the last tour of the evening at Neuschwanstein, and the bus and carriage rides had stopped running...so we had to walk the entire way down to the little town (and our van)!!  We were tuckered out and ready to go explore our hotel!  We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel...it was very nice!

The next day we had planned to drive a little ways to another castle...but we were "castled" out, and instead decided to drive out to a church that was described as "one of the most beautiful churches in Germany."  It did NOT disappoint!!  Very beautiful!

Then we took a long route home to stop at the Augsburg Christmas Market....our first visit to a Christmas Market!  It was amazing!!  But also VERY crowded!!  And Germans are not known for being polite in crowds!  After about an hour, we had all had our fill of crowds...and we gladly headed home...with a few German goodies in hand!

All in all, it was a fun weekend!!  The castles were amazing, the church was beautiful, and the Christmas market was more than I imagined.  But, it was a LOT of work, too!!  Little R is still a stroller rider most of the time, especially in crowds where he gets intimidated.  But the stroller wasn't feasible for most of this trip...so R and I carried him pretty much the whole time.  He weighs 38 pounds, and that is over my limit after about 5 minutes!!  So poor R took the majority of the load, and he was exhausted!!  And little R just isn't impressed with the castles!  He thinks they are spooky, and wants to leave as soon as we get inside the rooms!  So most of this trip wasn't very exciting for him.  Hopefully as he gets a little older he will enjoy all these amazing sights we are seeing over here...

This was our drive to the castles...

A little more of the drive...

We found the mountains!!

Most towns in Germany look the same...you can't really tell one from another...

This was the drive up to the village where the castles are...can you say BRRRRRR???

Hohenschwangau Castle...where Ludwig II spent summers as a child

Neuschwanstein Castle up on the hill.  It didn't look too glamorous...they were doing some work on it, and there was scaffolding everywhere!!

Walking the short trip up to Hohenschwangau Castle.  Little R was fresh out of the van and having fun at this point!

Neuschwanstein Castle....don't tell Ludwig II, but I think Walt Disney's version is better!

The view from Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein again..

The bridge!  I made a command decision, and no Willises ventured near the bridge!

The sunset over the mountains as we were walking down from Neuschwanstein

Our hotel room!!

With a private bath!!

This is Wieskirche.  It is literally out in the middle of nowhere!

The inside was AMAZING!!  There was so much to see, you didn't know where to look first!

The pipe organ...

The pearly gates??

The woodwork was amazing too!  This is for you PaPa...thought this would impress you!

More of the paintings on the ceilings...

The Christmas Market in Augsburg...can you say CROWDED????

Enjoying the Christmas Market...but it was cold!

This is what little R thought of the Christmas market!! : )  He fell asleep holding the tractor we bought for him.

This was the most "blinged out" carousel I had ever seen!!  And it went FAST!!  It was too much for little R...he decided to forego the carousel ride this time...

Laundry Room & Office...DONE!!

Two more rooms complete!  These aren't the prettiest, most decorative rooms of the house, but I sure do spend a lot of time in BOTH! : )

I don't have any pics of the office nook before...but here is the after!

The opening to the right is a cutout into the living room.  Just to the left is our downstairs bathroom.

This is our "coat closet".  There was no space for it near the front door, so it ended up here.  We bought this wardrobe originally for broom/mop storage...but it was then needed more for coats/gloves, etc.  So, guess where my broom/mop storage was moved to?  The laundry room!!  In the BASEMENT!!  So I get plenty of exercise around this house!!

Next is the laundry room!  It's not a very pretty room, but it is very functional!! I spend LOTS of time down here!!  More than I would like...

This is the laundry room before...

And this is the laundry room after!! We had a sink installed, which makes it MUCH easier!!  We have a German washer and dryer, and you have to empy water from a German dryer after every load.  So before the sink, I would have to walk upstairs and empty the water in the kitchen after every load of laundry....now I can just empty it in the sink down here!

The washer and dryer have to be across the room from each other...that's great design, right?  I am convinced that men are the ones who decide to put laundry rooms in basements AND put the washer & dryer across the room from each other!!

The washer is VERY small!!  Which is why I spend so much time down here...I have to do some laundry pretty much everyday or it gets way out of hand!  I have to separate our king size sheets into two loads...the two sheets and two pillowcases won't fit in one load!  The comforter in the laundry basket has been waiting for weeks for me to take it on post to the laundromat...there is no way I can wash it in my machine! : )

I had R set up this table...I fold all the laundry down here, and a couple of times a week everyone comes in and takes their pile to their own rooms...and THEY put it away themselves!!  Works great for me!  And the drying rack is a lifesaver also...it takes jeans forever to dry in our little German dryer...so I can hang them up to dry.

Another lifesaver...this hamper that sits at the landing that leads to 3 of our bedrooms...we all put our clothes in there, sorted by color, and when they are getting close to full...I know it is time to take them down to the laundry room!  T has her own in her bedroom, which is right next to the laundry room...so I can just go in and grab hers, and it's already sorted and ready to go!  Best 20 euros we ever spent!!  Gotta love IKEA!!



More House Pictures...still workin' on it!

This is our room before...

Our room is finally done!  We were debating where to put the mantle...really wanted it downstairs, but there was no space in the living room...we only have one true wall...the rest is windows, doors, and a cutout to the office nook!  So we decided to hang it in our room...but it couldn't go over the bed this time!

Anyway, here is our room...still a little bare, but complete for now!

Doorway to our room...there is a landing right outside our door...with A's room, R's room, and our room leading off of it.

The view of our room from our door.

Our "closet"!  It is crammed full...we really need a bigger one!!  But, it took up so much room, we don't have room for any of our dressers!!

It's not "home" until the mantle is hung!

These are our balcony doors that lead to nowhere...