Rock Climbing and eggs, eggs, eggs

So on Wednesday they had free rock climbing at the KMCC.  This place is HUGE!!!!  It is the first time we have been there.  I was only able to take Michael since AJ was still in school.  They had climbing shoes for Michael and it made a huge difference in his ability to climb and climb quickly.  There was a little bit of a line so they said he could do some bouldering while he was waiting.

 

Look at him holding on there.  This was before we were able to get the shoes so he was doing it in his socks. 

 

Here he is in the climbing shoes.  The white line is as high as you can go bouldering, as you can see Michael was doing really well working the wall.

 

This is his first climb

 

At the top was a bell that Michael was able to reach!!!  He was very excited!!

 

This was the second wall that he did.  He was working it really well. 

 

Here he is at the top of the wall, you can see how high up it is.  The white line is over 5 feet probably close to 6 feet to give you some perspective on how high he went.

 

Michael at the top!

 

Still bouldering, he climbed for an hour straight.  He was pretty tired when we were done.

 

Here we are decorating eggs.  This time though they were hollowed out and then filled up with confetti.

 

These kids will look for them on Easter and when they find them get to break them over each other's heads.  My boys are very excited about that prospect!!!

 

AJ doing some work on his eggs

 

Michael and his eggs.  All the eggs were very colorful and are going to be great fun breaking them over each other's heads.  

Swimming!!

On Sunday after church the boys and I decided to go swimming at the Ramstein pool.  We took in an underwater camera and had lots of fun with it!!  It even took videos (which I can't figure out how to upload on here yet, but will sooner or later)!!  The boys kept asking and asking for me to take videos so we had A LOT of them and some were really cute!! 

 

There is of course their little slide that the boys loved going down it.

 

The only problem was since Michael is only 5 I have to go with him, so we played a little and he tried to go a little farther in front of me.  We were told after that we have to stay together.  Only a few more months and he can go down by himself.  It is really crazy because he has gone down a lot bigger ones by himself for over two years.  :-)

 

Michael showing me his underwater hand stand

 

AJ and his underwater shot!!

 

There is a smaller slide that the boys had fun going down also!

 

Michael taking a break at the bottom!!

 

 

AJ having so much fun!!!  I love to see those smiles!!

 

Michael with his big splash!!!

 

There is also a mushroom there with a waterfall that the boys love to go in and out, and under a lot!

 

It looks like AJ is contemplating something, what that is I am not sure.

 

AJ showing me he can still do his back float

 

Michael showing me his dolphin kick.  It is really nice to know that they haven't forgotten all the lessons from their swim lessons.  They were also able to go off the diving board in the deep end.  They both jumped in and with out me touching them turned and swam back to the wall with their face in the water.  I am so glad they are confident in the water!!

 

They were building a dual boat!

 

Michael so excited!!

 

He was turning the water on and off of the small slide

 

Michael and me swimming together!!  I do have soooo much fun with my boys whatever we are doing!!  They keep me young, active and yes sometimes pulling out my hair, but they are such wonderful boys and turning into young men.  The wisdom that comes out of their mouths sometimes makes me sooo proud to be their mom!!  I sure do love these boys with all of my heart!!!

Luisenpark and Easter Market

On Saturday we headed to Mannheim to go to an Easter market.  We heard that it was in a really cool park so thought the boys might enjoy it also.  The park was AWESOME!!!!  There are so many things there and there will be more in the summer time.  It was cold, so many things were still shut down, the bumper cars, the boats, the playground with water, but many were still open.  They had a Chinese Garden, an amphitheater and so much more. 

 

So we finally got to a parking space, there were tons and tons of detours, construction, our GPS was trying to take us through dead ends.  It took us over 40 minutes longer when we should have been there in 5 minutes, it was crazy and insane.  So we decided to follow all the people, figuring that they were headed to the Easter Market also.  Well then all of a sudden we heard Polizei coming up and a lot of them.  Then we saw this...

 

A LOT of Polizei in full riot gear, they kept coming and coming

 

 

and coming.  I was not sure what was going on so I immediately turned the boys around and we walked the opposite direction.  We found out a little later that there was a soccer match going on right next door.  I wasn't sure if something happened that brought them or if it was a precaution, but I wasn't going to find out so we moved the other way quickly.

 

The boys were working on balancing - this one didn't just go around, it went back and forth. 

 

AJ trying to push Daddy off and LOVING it!!!

 

This was the castle park and of course they have a big slide!!  The thing that surprised me was the fence up at the top.  Normally in Germany they don't have any of those safety precautions.

 

They do like going down the slides together!!

 

AJ is such a monkey!!  :-)

 

 

This led to a really tall fire pole - again I was surprised about the fence around it.

 

 

This was a cool little thing that showed the different stages of a butterfly.

 

This was a really cool tree and a FANTASTIC picture of my boys!!! 

 

 

Me and my two boys!!!  :-)

 

This nest was HUGE!!!  I couldn't believe it!!

 

This is to give it a little perspective, Michael is right beneath the nest and AJ is a little in front of it.

 

 

I just LOVE this kid!! 

 

There were some great flamingos there also!!  I knew there were places to play, but there was a whole gambit of wildlife there.

 

These pelicans let the boys get really close, but David was still keeping a close eye on them just in case.

 

 

Michael jumping down to Daddy, AJ waiting his turn

 

David jumping off of the top - I told him if he hurt himself he was on his own LOL

 

This was really cool, a full size chess board!!  The boys and I played David and we almost won, but David still beat us after we put up a good fight.

 

Another really cool park!  All three of my monkeys on it!

 

David wasn't able to go under this roof, so he had to climb over the top

 

AJ up on top of the bridge instead of on it

 

Climbing up one of the many ladders in the park

 

AJ pushing Daddy down - LOOK OUT!!!

 

AJ very happy getting Daddy off of the slide!

 

Michael climbing the rope - check out the upper body strength

 

AJ's turn - but Michael was messing with the rope.

 

This was a cool bridge, it was one of those bouncy ones

 

Michael bouncing along!!

 

These fish just came right up to the bridge when we were there.  I am thinking that they are used to getting fed because they kept coming to the top looking for food.

 

 

The boys thought it was really cool!!!

 

Here are some parrots they had, one of the many birds that were there.

 

 I couldn't believe my eyes, but there were penguins there also.  Crazy - though it was cold enough for them. 

 

These were the coolest birds.  They are so bright and I found out that they are Scarlet Ibis.  The entire plumage and legs of them are colored bright red.  They live in South America from western Venezuela through the Guyana's.

 

We finally found the Easter market about three hours after we got there.  We didn't even get to all of the different parks, or the Chinese Garden, but that leaves us a reason to go back!  But if you look at the eggs in front of Michael some of those were over 60 Euros (of course that is the one AJ wanted).  There were so many different types, sizes, and colors here.  I couldn't believe how much people can do with eggs.

 

It was in a pretty big room with many different vendors.  They also had wooden eggs and other Easter crafts.  There were some that had small people inside of hollowed out eggs.  Simply amazing!!  But I just couldn't see spending 100 Euros on an egg.  We bought a much cheaper one so if it does break on our way back to the states, it won't be as heart breaking!  After that we headed back to the car, and headed home.