On the advice of our great B&B hostess,(who has a six year old son), we decided on a day trip to Maximillian Park (known as 'Maxi Park') - which was about 30 minutes drive away, just outside of Hamm.
In this big park (kind of like a version of Britzer Gardens, see April post)was a dinosaur exhibition, with large, slightly animatronic dinosaurs, mainly T Rex. The kids had a great time, and Alexander is now puzzling over the question if T-Rex was a hunter or a scavenger....
Help......he's behind us!
After a good look around the exhibition, we headed out into the beautiful sunshine. First stop was the Jungle playground, then onto the woodland playground, and at last to the water park/pirate ship. This was a massive space, with a mini-lake, Pirate ship with water cannon, water towers and pumps, ramps, tunnels, sand....all the things a kid likes! We stayed there for ages, the boys had a great time. It was quite warm, and if they weren't in the shade so much I think they may have even gotten a bit sunburned (when we left Berlin it was cold and cloudy, so we forgot to pack the hats and sunscreen..)
There were underground tunnels, which were fun to explore too!
After ice creams and more play, we finally dragged the kids away late afternoon and headed for the exit. We ran into Katrin, our B&B hostess, buying plants at a market there! Nicole spotted a bottle brush (Callistamon) plant, and because this is an Australian variety, she had to have it. An early Mothers Day Present. We should run a sweep on how long it stays alive, because Nicole is notorious for killing pot plants, and our terrace gets heaps of sun.
These ride on mowers looked like fun, pity the key wasn't in there!
We finally got to the car (The shrub fitted in the back - sort of....), drove back to the old town in Arnsberg. We went for a walk along the riverbank, then sat in a beautiful beergarden overlooking the valley. There was a glider field nearby, and the boys loved watching the gliders circling over the valley whilst we relaxed in the late afternoon sun.
We then went to a local Italian restaurant for dinner - the food was excellent, but the service was sloooooooow. Not so good if you have 2 boys - waiting 45 minutes for their meals is not their idea of 'dinner'.
We dropped Heike off at her car, then returned to the B&B, where the boys joined Johannes in the yard, cooking bread on a stick over the coals in the BBQ. The kids had a great time, and the 'rolls' they made were quite delicious! We sat and had a good chat to Katrin, and also had a wander around her garden.
In the end, a great day with lots of focus on the kids, and a great chance for Nicole and Heike to catch up.
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