Cigoland

In August we spent a weekend in Kintzheim, France, about an hour's drive from Basel. 

There are lots of cool things to do here, including a place called Monkey Mountain. This place is like a big nature reserve where Macaque monkeys roam free and, being used to visitors, will come right up to you and take a piece of popcorn (which they allow you to feed them) from your hand.

They also have a couple of playgrounds there, which the kids actually enjoyed more than the monkeys. Perhaps having regularly seen Macaques wild in the parks and forests of Singapore, they were a little underwhelmed.

Kintzheim is another wine village of the Alsace region, all of which are very picturesque.

What a salad!

While watching French kids' TV at the hotel a cartoon came on with a character that looked just like Uncle Shauny - we had to take some photos!

We happened upon a fair in a nearby town, where we had headed to find a restaurant. "Overjoyed" is too mild a term to describe the kids' reaction.

Some more sights around town...

See the castle in the background. They do a trained-eagle show here.

But the main reason we chose Kintzheim, was a place called Cigoland, or Storkland in English.

This is a kind of old-fashioned amusement park. It's intended for kids under the age of about 10 and is a delightful place.

The bumper boats were a huge hit

As were the racing cars. Benjy proved lethal in his car, going top-speed and driving straight into the ride-assistant at the end. He did not see the funny side.

Yes, King Kong has seen better days.

But this little roller-coaster was excellent - not too scary for the kids, but scary enough!

"Again! Again! Again, dad!"

There was a variety of animals in the park, including chickens running around in the playgrounds.

Benjy says hello to the ponies.

And hello to a big choc-nut ice-cream!

Being Storkland, there were storks (both real and fake) all around the park.

These are the real ones

Benge makes himself a nest in the ball-pit

There was lots of very negative feedback on Tripadvisor about Cigoland. People used to the likes of Europa Park and Disneyland were expecting something similarly high-gloss and high tech. Knowing that it would be a different thing entirely we were actually pleasantly surprised at what a cool place it is for younger kids -  and amazingly good value.  We really loved it and expect to be back there again next summer.

FIrst Day at School and Kindy

The school year here starts in August, after the six-week summer holidays. The tradition in Germany is to give your child a cone full of sweets and school things (pencil cases, pens, etc) on their first day. This tradition has now filtered into the Swiss culture and Flynn was quick to let me know that he was looking forward to his.

First day of school was a morning session for Flynn

The same day was Benjy's first day at Kindy. Fortunately his first day was an afternoon session, otherwise it would have been tricky to handle, with Blake also away.

First day of Kindy doesn't get a cone, but a new PE bag with some sweets and comics did the trick.

The kids here have these big, hard, square school bags which come in all designs and themes. They are very proud of them.

Off to school!

Flynn shows Benjy around. Here's the playground in front of his classroom.

Flynn's classroom 

Quick hopscotch

And its off to meet his two teachers, Frau Schenker and Herr Schmitz. These two take turns rather than teach together.

Flynn was pretty subdued - but luckily he had two of his ex-kindy colleagues in his class. One unfortunately (the girl left below) that he does not like - and she sits right beside him.

 Patrick, on Flynn's right, is the other kid from his kindy, and Flynn does like him. Patrick has a teenage brother and so brings a wealth of knowledge in such matters as swearing and rude finger gestures, knowledge which has been happily received by Flynn and applied in the classroom. This we know thanks to a letter from Flynn's teacher, who is less than impressed with the demonstration of his new knowledge.

Flynn's classroom, and teacher on the right.

After finding their places, there was an assembly to welcome the new kids.

Then the kids were assigned a buddy from the older primary kids. Flynn's buddy had him and another new pupil. His job was to show them around and help them with any questions during the first week.

It was just a short day for Flynn - finishing at 11am. 

His normal hours are Monday to Friday, 7:55 am to 12 pm. Then after lunch at home, he goes back for afternoon school on Tuesday and Friday from 1:30 to 3:15.

Then at 2 pm, it was time to take Benjy for his first day at Kindy.

The kindy kids have to wear this reflective sash as a safety thing. It's called a drei-eck (triangle).

It was nice that Flynn could come along on the walk to kindy.

Benjy was very excited and not nervous at all

Benjy's best friend is Pippa, (parents NZer and Aussie) and anywhere she is, he is happy to be. We were very relieved that they were zoned to the same kindy!

Greeting one of the two teachers (Frau Angelini). Then parents were allowed to stay for an hour, before leaving the kids for a second hour. Benjy cried when I picked him up, because he didn't want to go home yet.

Benjy's usual hours are Monday to Friday 8,30 to 12 pm. And Tuesday afternoons he goes back from 1.30 pm to 3 pm.

 Both first days went very well, and both boys have settled well into their new lives.