In The Steps Of Kings

On Sunday October 12th we headed south to check out Hohenz.ollern Castle:

Even after driving up quite a hill to get to the parking lot we still had to climb farther to get to the actual castle:

Once there we discovered the castle was hosting a small festival. The boys immediately joined in on trying to pop the giant bubbles the Bubble Man was blowing:

And occasionally they did actually pop one!

Of course, that meant they were covered in bubble remnants:

We eventually forced the boys to go inside the castle. Because it was a festival day they were having what they called 'Walk Like A King' day - instead of having to go through as part of a guided tour, we got to go through  the castle at our own pace. Plus they gave us royal capes and slidey shoes to wear!

With the tour out of the way we needed a quick snack before making our way back down the hill - good thing the festival had an ice cream cart!

We tried to leave but the boys spotted a cannon. They had to try and climb it like everyone else:

Pearson didn't want to climb it - he wanted to 'fire' it!

The exit took us around the outside of the castle. The entire castle is ringed by statues of the Kings of Prussia (who became the Kings of Germany):

Why does a castle in the far south of Germany have a bunch of statues for kings from the far north of Germany? Because the Hoh.enzollern family originated in the south and ended up in Prussia due to marriage. Once they became the Kings of Germany they actually restored Hohenzol.lern Castle to serve as a monument to their family history.

Take Me To The Zoo!

One of the first memberships we purchased upon arriving in our new home was to the local zoo and botanical garden - the Wil.helma.

Because Pearson didn't get an actual birthday party this year, a few days after his birthday on September 9th we took his best friend T to the zoo:

It was exciting for a lot of reasons but the two biggest were:
1) Seeing the tiger out and about!

2) Seeing the white crocodile!

Then a month later on October 11th we finally got to take Daddy to the zoo for the first time. We got there just in time to catch the penguin feeding:

The sea lions were also out in force - making a ton of noise and splashing around:

The boys had a great time leading Daddy around to all their favorite animals:

Opa Ist Da!

On September 24th Grandpa Hopkins came to visit! Unfortunately we still didn't have a couch at that point so everyone had to cuddle up together in our chairs:

Grandpa's visit was from Wednesday to Wednesday so for most of his visit McColley and Brayton were in school. Therefor our sightseeing was on a strict timeline.

On Thursday the 25th we stuck really close to home by visiting the Me.rcedes-Ben.z Museum:

Pearson was a bit of a stinker during the visit but did really enjoy the hands-on displays:

On Friday the 26th we ventured a bit more far afield and visited the Beben.hausen Monastery and Palace:

B.ebenhausen was an active monastery from the 12th to 17th centuries but was then converted to a royal residence in the 19th century.

It was actually converted into a hunting palace and Pearson had a great time finding all the animals hanging on the walls and incorporated into the art:

To tour the palace section we had to take a guided tour... which was only available in German. Luckily they had English language pamphlets we could use to follow along!

On Saturday the 27th everyone had the day off so we had to fit in as much as possible! Our first stop was the R.itter Chocolate Factory!

We learned about Rit.ter's history and philosophy plus how they source their ingredients. McColley got the chance to taste a raw cocoa bean... it wasn't what he was expecting:

We then headed to L.udwigsburg Palace - one of the largest Baroque buildings in Europe to survive in its original condition:

Our main reason for going was to check out the Pumpkin Festival:

After exploring the entire festival and eating a lunch with pumpkin in every dish we left the Palace complex:

Sunday the 28th was probably the most important day of Grandpa's visit - we went to Vol.ksfest (what St.uttgarters' call their Oc.toberfest)!

We ended up having lunch in the S.chwaben Bräu tent:

All the adults ordered the only size beer available - a liter!

The kids got a slightly smaller drink - half a liter of pop!

 We were lucky to have our lunch in a slightly quieter area of the tent but as we exited we experienced all the mayhem of the main tent:

Volksf.est is basically beer tents and carnival rides so the boys were excited to do a few rides after lunch:

Then on our way back to our bus stop we stopped at a local park to run off even more steam. Grandpa challenged McColley to make it up to one of the 'nest' areas in this giant web thing:

Monday the 29th we took a bus tour of St.uttgart and then had a lovely lunch at an outdoor cafe.

Tuesday the 30th was a bit overcast but we decided to explore a park near our house anyway. K.illesburg park is HUGE! We explored the fountain area:

And climbed the observation tower (our house is basically just behind my head in the picture):

Unfortunately on Wednesday Grandpa had to go home so I dropped him off at 5AM at the main train station so he could catch his train up to Fr.ankfurt for his flight home.

Our Trip(s) to Our New Le.goland

The weekend after McColley's birthday we had a surprise in store for the boys:

After a drive lengthened by traffic jams, they were all too zoned out to notice the road signs as we neared our destination:

Because it was our first trip to Legol.and Deutschla.nd and the trip was between McColley and Pearson's birthdays we decided to spend two nights on property. We got an 'Adventure' themed cabin:

The best part was that we were joined in our trip by some old friends! Remember McColley's best friend T from Dover?

Well, T and her family are in Germany too!

McColley and T are now big enough to ride the rides without an adult, so for the Sky Ride it was just four of us:

There are also a few rides that even Pearson can ride alone. His absolute favorite is the horse ride:

After lunch we decided to tackle driving. This section is split up by age, so Brayton, Pearson and T's little sister K had to go on the smaller version:

Brayton and K had no problem but Pearson required a lot of assistance:

McColley and T got to drive around a much bigger course and McColley even took the car through the car wash!

Since we were in a driving mood we headed over to the boats next. Once again McColley and T got to go on their own while the other kiddos and parents followed behind:

Somehow the kids convinced B to take them on the pirate ride... everyone ended up getting soaked!

We wandered back through Miniland but before we could leave each of the boys had to take on Dar.th Va.der:

Our very last ride of the day was a medium sized roller coaster that B took Brayton on and T and her mom also went on. Everyone loved it except Brayton who thought it was OK-ish:

On our second day at Le.goland we finally went through the front gate (because we'd already had to check out of our hotel):

Unfortunately Brayton got eaten by a shark... but it spit him back out:

Our most important stop of the day was the X-Win.g model - the largest Le.go model in the world:

After having so much fun the first time Pearson actually begged us to go back. So we made our second trip on Labor Day:

This time it was less busy so the boys were able to pose for some optical illusions:

Mostly we re-rode our favorite rides from our first trip by Brayton asked to do one new ride with me:

 He ended up not liking it very much unfortunately.

On October 10th the boys had a day off school and B had a day off work, so they did a boys' trip to Le.goland to check out the Halloween decor:

Pearson is almost obsessed with the horse ride (he talks about it constantly). On his first ride of the day he got his absolute favorite horse - black with brown hair and a dragon on the shield:

On his second ride of the day he got something other than his favorite horse... he basically didn't consider it worth the ride:

Le.goland closes soon for the winter but I think we've already gotten our fair share of visits in!