Rhine River Cruise

This weekend, my friend Heather is visiting from Stuttgart. We are trying to show her the most of the area in 3 days, and we figured a Rhine River Cruise was a great way to see Duesseldorf! On the way into the city we drove by my school and drove into Neuss to pick up Bethany.

We walked into the altstadt, had some ice cream on the Rhein Terrasse, and got tickets on a one hour cruise that goes up the river, shows the Media Harbor, and the down the river highlighting the historical buildings along the banks. I love that this boat is child and dog friendly, and it makes for a nice hour trip with many things to see. To top it off, there were boaters and jet skiers out on the water, along with the normal barge traffic. The kids were having a blast watching all the boats.


I also have to mention that Keira was wearing a lovely new dress from H&M, and wanted to pose like a model to show it off.

It was gorgeous day, with hundreds of people milling about along the Rhine. We had a wonderful time and we're so glad some friend could enjoy it with us!

Tomorrow, we're going to Koln, so I'll hopefully update after that with some more pics.

Brady's Birthday

Sorry I didn't post last week, it was Brady's birthday and we were having a party. Julia, Dirk, Stuart and Gabrielle came over to celebrate with us on the 10th, and then we had a school friends party on Monday at an indoor play area.For Sunday, we had Chicken Parmesean with angel hair and broccoli, followed by a chocolate cake with cream cheese icing. I got to use the Brady candles I bought in the U.S. last year. Brady got some playmobil stuff (motorcycle cop and crocodile hunter set), an addition to his geotrax, a train for his megablocks set, two movies and an electric drum set.

Brady helped me clean up after icing the cake.






On Monday after school, Brady's friends Noah, Anna and Niko came from his school, while Ruby and Max and Joshua came from my school, we met at the indoor playground OKI-DOKI. It is a fantastic place! They have a little kids play area, a HUGE big kids play area with slides, indoor go karts, (slow moving cars) trampolines, and multiple inflatable bouncy areas, even an inflated rock wall! We had chicken nuggets, fish sticks and fries followed by Brady's second birthday cake- this time yellow with chocolate icing. We'd only planned 2 hours, and we really need three at this place. The kids had a great time!

Cologne Zoo

Saturday, May 2 we traveled down to Koln and went to the zoo. This zoo is rated the best in Germany, and one of the best in Europe. After going, we could see why! The two biggest exhibits are the elephant area and the primate area. Each of these has multi sectioned houses to keep the animals, plus huge outdoor areas to enjoy.

The animals have all sorts of toys and devices to keep them entertained. The Elephant have holes in the wall with treats inside so that when they reach their trunks in, they can work for a treat. The primates area had multiple bridges for the primates to go outside with, and many ropes and swings to climb on.

The zoo has small fences and relies on natural boundaries to separate visitors from animals. This means you can see the animals, but also have space to take some great, clear photos! We were lucky to witness some animals playing with each other and we got to see the otters feeding time.

BBQ on the Rhein

The day after the Drag party, we joined friends Alex, Jan, Allegra and baby Adrian for a bbq in a large park on the Rhein. The park was long and thin, and has so much for the family. There are two dog parks, two playgrounds, a great view of the Rhein and currently a circus at one end.

We brought a small soccer ball, Jan brought a cool nerf football with a tail. The kids enjoyed running and racing, and having their shoes off in the grass.



We were there for a good portion of the afternoon/evening, and left at 8:30 Sunday night. The kids were beat and asleep before we were on the autobahn! We had such a great time, it made us want to move into the city!

What a DRAG

Last weekend, Stuart and Gabrielle graciously took care of Keira and Brady. Chris and I were invited to a birthday party- where the theme was Drag night!

I just wore a t shirt, jeans and chucks tennis shoes. I wore some manly sunglasses and a hat to hide my hair. Chris was a real prize jewel that night though!

Chris shaved, painted his nails (I painted his face with flamboyant makeup) and donned a velvet dress and gold wig! He looked fantastic and we got some stares while driving to Neuss! One guy at the gas station did a double and triple check, it was hilarious.

Having friends over

The weekend of April 17th, Julia, Dirk, Thomas and Caroline came over for dinner. We had a nice dinner of barbecue chicken, cucumber salad, potatoes and onion rings with brownies for dessert. I was a lovely dinner, with great conversations.

After the kids went to bed, we broke out the Wii, and competed in boxing, bowling, tennis and baseball. Chris currently hold the reigning boxing championship after beating Dirk. Caroline is great at bowling!

After we'd wiid enough, we played a little Karaoke revolution. We played girls against guys, and then picked and sang duets until midnight!

It was a great get together, one we'd like to have once a month.