Not a good blogger. . .

I am horrible at keeping up with blogging! I've really got to work on this. . .literally. :) I guess I've got to set aside a regular time to blog so I can share what we are up to. It's just that our schedule is never the same around here mostly because of the hubby's work schedule being so quirky. It's great that we DO homeschool, or my kids wouldn't see their daddy that much. I'm going to take the time now to post some pics of some of the things we've done since the last post.

Luisenpark, Mannheim
When visiting this park, make sure you plan to be there all day so you can do and see everything. We really enjoyed our trip. We will definitely be going back.


There are stork nests atop almost every tall structure. It's really cool to see the storks flying overhead and landing in their nests.



Have you ever heard a penguin make this noise??? I never have. . . at least not when I was 20 feet from one.

Burg Nanstein

We tried going to Burg Nanstein in Landstuhl last year, but for some reason we were unable to actually go inside to look around. I heard that this happens a lot. We got lucky this June though. Here are some pics from Nanstein, some from this year and some from last year (around the castle grounds).

August 2009-

I had to take a pic of the kids by the pretty ivy by the parking area.

Score! We found a lizard!!

June 2010

Landstuhl from above
Brave Daddy!!!! LOL!! The kids were afraid of these spots. It was nice and cool down there though. :)

Frankfurt Zoo

The Frankfurt Zoo was our first trip outside of the Kaiserslautern area. We took the kids there last July (2009). It was a fun trip. My only complaint is the parking. We had to park on the street a few blocks away. The zoo is nice, but they start kicking you out about 30 mins before their closing time :( There were nice eating places, even a Mexican restaurant. What is it with German nachos? What's with the seasoned chips??? Can you guess which restaurant we chose?

Here are some pics from last year's trip.
Ever seen a snake turtle??

Kaiserslautern Zoo

We visited Kaiserslautern Zoo last year, before J got here. The zoo is small, but they have a lion that is rather loud. They also have animals like raccoons and chickens that we see on a regular basis at home. Oh, and the cafe there is not what you would expect from zoos in the U.S. As with most German eating places, the food is quite good. Here are some pics from that visit.

We got to watch this tiger at feeding time.

The thinking gorilla statue
Hahaha! We thought it was funny that they had raccoons.

Dinosaur Park

I haven't made any new posts in a while now. So, I thought I would post some pics from our past field trips that we took before I started this blog.

The first of our visits is to the dinosaur park in K-town. We also took Grannie and Pawpaw when they came at the end of May this year, but Man! was it hot that day.

Summer 2009 visit-This is an AWESOME picture! Don't ya think? :)

May 2010-Don't they look miserable? We were HOT! Oh yeah, and here is the pachycephalosaurus. I just spelled that from memory, too. My first son became a dino freak at age 2. :)

This is my Dad and J. He held him pretty much the whole time. I guess the stroller made him super hot.

Chocolate Factory Trip

We took a trip to WAWI, the chocolate factory in Pirmasens. The hubby had to work so it was just me and the kids. It's a really small factory, but the ladies there are super nice. Plus, the chocolate ain't so bad. Brandon got a big, hallow duck, and Samantha got chocolate bugs. Downstairs we were able to see the where the products are made that they sell upstairs in their store. It's a nice place to visit. I just wish it wasn't a 45 minute drive for us.

Here's a before shot.

In the small cafe in the store were displays of old metal molds and a display about where we get chocolate. The display here has pods and cocoa beans.


Here's the after shot...still smiling. :) We ate chocolate on the way home.

Planetariumm Mannheim Adventure Trip

We joined a homeschool group this morning at the planetarium in Mannheim, Germany. http://www.planetarium-mannheim.de/ We viewed an hour long video, and the kids picked up a bit of info even though the majority of the presentation was way over their heads...and I admit, a bit over mine, too. LOL!!! Some of the things discussed were satellites, the "beginning," stars, light wave lengths, a few of the planets, gas clouds, and Sis's favorite, Red Giants. J slept the whole time. I think it helped that he was in the carrier and the chairs at the planetarium leaned back. This trip seems to have sparked Sis's interest in all things outer space. B already had an interest. I'm hoping that we will try to tackle a Lapbook on space and the planets that I have been wanting to work on for a while now. We started to study space earlier, but other things grabbed B's attention, and we ceased working on it. This seems like as good an opportunity as any to start it back up.


Here we are before the show started.


We were given a DVD with extras to watch at home. That's what we are doing now while I'm working on our blog. Here's a picture of the DVD cover.

Dynamikum Field Trip

Dynamikum Science Museum in Pirmasens, Germany

We made a weekend adventure trip to Dynamikum in Pirmasens today. The kids had a good time, and we were there about 2 hours.

I think we could have saved 25 Euro on admission and just bought them Slinkys because I think their favorite part was the Slinky stairs.



Sis spinning tops

B making elephant foot pints




I take the Slinky comment back. The slides were the best part.



Of course, we had to end our trip with a popsicle.




That concludes our trip. Boy was I pooped.

My new blog

So, if you know me, you know that I have had a website for a while now that I haven't been keeping up with. I blame it on the move and the pregnancy, homeschooling, my schooling, and getting adjusted here. Well, now I am taking on this blog to show you all our homeschooling adventures, and I promise, promise, promise to start working on the website again as well. I will use the website for anything not related to our homeschool stuff such as our family trips.

Here I go!!!

Hollie