Flynn's 9th Birthday!

For Flynn's birthday we went to Europa Park at stayed at the Bell Rock hotel, just beside. The staff there come and sing you happy birthday at breakfast time and bring you a cake. We told Flynn that we weren't ordering the cake this year for him (since he's having cake on the 20th and at school) but then we ordered it secretly. It was fun to see his face!

 

 

 

We're really gonna miss that hotel!

 

 

 

In the lobby it's all decorated already for Christmas, with a village-scene train track and six buttons you can push to activate various trains and elements in the village. Hours of fun!

 

 

 

 

And they do great cocktails for the happy parents

 

 

 

 

Shoe-shine machine came in handy

Seems we also came decorated in Christmas colours

But the really funny thing, was that Europa Park was actually closed for the week!! It said nothing on the website when I booked the hotel but the staff informed me when I tried to buy the park tickets at the hotel. I couldn't believe it and thought everyone would be gutted, but Blake was relieved and Flynn didn't care because the hotel itself is like a small theme park. So we spent our time (we were just staying one night) enjoying the pool, play areas, bar and restaurant. Not to mention the awesome rooms. And so that there was a bit more to look forward to on the second day, we took the kids to an indoor play place on the way home.

 

Nepomuks Play in Germany

 

 

And then, the following day, it was his party!  The plan was to take the 9 kids on the tram into the city, for Lasertag. They were a boisterous lot but pretty well behaved.

 

Flynn and Saari

 

 

 

Alessio and Davide

 

 

Cedric and Laurin

 

Jonah and Lilly

 

 

 

First up, a short film on how to play Lasertag.

 

 

Everyone got it?

 

 

The smallest but the fiercest warrior 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Then it was home for cake.... and wrestling.



 

 

Bordeaux

At the start of November I had a girls' trip to Bordeaux. It's just an hour's flight from Basel and makes a great weekend trip. We headed off on the Thurs night to give the dads a decent stretch of quality time with the kids.

 

Like so many French towns and villages, Bordeaux is beautiful. The buildings, parks, monuments, cathedrals, the riverside, everything.

 

The choc-shop.

 

St Michel Cathedral

 

 

 

 

We did a Wine/Vineyard tour, which included some tastings, vineyard chateau visits, and learning about Bordeaux's wines, how they are produced and the history of it all.

 

 

The third to last of these bottles called a Magnum, the other bottle sizes all have special names too. I would tell you but after a few tastings it all got a bit fuzzy.

 

Touring the wine production areas was actually very interesting and I really did learn a lot about wine.

 

 

 

 

How text-book-French-looking was our guide!!

 

 

 

 

Then we visited the famous wine producing village of Saint Emillion. It's an amazingly beautiful, rustic and picturesque village. Steeped in history and historic buildings and wine shops galore.

 

 

 

The big vineyards are ancient and most feature a beautiful chateau, surrounded by the vines plus sometimes lovely gardens and wooded areas.