This week was Spring Break for Connor so it was very busy. There was no way I was going to stay in our small room all day with all 3 kids so I had to plan lots of activities. Thank goodness the weather was beautiful!
This picture has nothing to do with our activities but I just had to put it on here. It's not even a very good picture but it's so sweet. Connor was being grumpy about something and pouting in the corner. Everyone was just ignoring him but Whitney went over and sat next to him to cheer him up. No one can resist her charm. So cute!
Here are some pictures of the famous water tower here in Mannheim. All this time we've been here and this was the first time that we actually went downtown.
Another day I decided to figure out the transportation system once and for all while Jeremy had the car at work. I finally figured out how to buy tickets (with a little help) and we all got on the train and went downtown. It was quite an experience. I was worried about getting on and off the train at the right places and being able to figure out when/where to catch a train back. But everything worked out perfectly. The best part? Pizza Hut!!! We were all incredibly thrilled to find a Pizza Hut.
Second best thing... Starbucks! :)
When we got home Jeremy surprised us with our van!!! I guess he knew it was coming all along but I had no idea. He said that he scratched the car so we went down to the garage to see the damage. I was totally surprised to see our van. OMG - it was SO wonderful to have our nice, big, beautiful van back! It makes it more difficult to drive on these small streets here but it is so nice when you have 3 kids in car seats!
The next day we drove our van to Heidelberg. This is the next bigger city close to Mannheim. This was our first time going here too. It's about 20 minutes away. We went to the Heidelberg Zoo. Lucky for you my camera ran out of batteries so we didn't take too many pictures. It is a smaller zoo, which was perfect. We spent about 6 hours there and had seen everything. It was really fun and perfect weather!
The next day we went to Ladenberg again, but this time Connor came with us. We decided to try a local German restaurant (which is always scary... especially with the kids). It turned out to be great! This was the restaurant:
To end the week we went to Basel Switzerland. Basel was established in 44 BC. It is Switzerland's only port so it is pretty industrial. We stayed in what is called old town which is the oldest part of the city. Beautiful. It was only about 90minutes away from Mannheim so we thought it would be a safe, easy, first international trip..... and it was.
First we had to fill up. 53.37 Euro's (around $70) for half a tank (around 9 gallons)... Ugg!
Pictures of our hotel
Our hotel was right downtown so we were able to walk everywhere. We walked A LOT! The boys were troopers but ice cream breaks were mandatory.
We loved looking at all the little shops. This shop had all different kinds of Swiss Army Knives. Check out the HUGE knife in the middle. Yes, that's all one knife.
We thought this shop was funny because of the name. It is 46 letters long. All 1 word!
We "had" to get some Suisse chocolates!
The next day we drove to a small town about 30 minutes away and went Alpine Sledding. What an experience! The view was amazing and the sleds were really fun. These pictures just don't do justice to the absolute beauty we saw that day. It is a memory I know I will never forget!
I put more pictures of Switzerland in a slide show to save room. Thanks to Jeremy who planned everything. What a great trip!
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