Saturday, July 13, 2013

A weekend in the Wildwest of the Blackforest


Early Summer this year, we were invited to a weekend of get-away. It promises a world of fun and fantasy, good food and music, marvellous company and chance to gaze upon the stars. Yup! A weekend when we were allowed to play dress-up and be kids once again, that alone makes us want to whoope for joy!

We have the options of either spending the nights like "real" Red Indians do: in Wigwams, roughly camping out in the fields, or take up lodgings like the cowboys. We picked the Buffalo Bill hut, a delight little house with a double decker bed for 4. I do admit we were a bit spoilt for modern amenities, but hey! We were here to enjoy ourselves, so no need for the usual "roughing out will build your character" kind of rubbish! :-)


Wigwams for roughing out..
..perfect to squeeze in 4 person in a go.

This surprising little piece of Wild West, simply named Tipidorf, is tucked up snuggly in the Blackforest in a town called Saudorf. Just by being here, makes you feel that you've landed on an entirely different planet!












I absolutely loved the details!


Try your luck in the Gold Rush 

The Buffalo Bill Hut

The little red indian and cowboy doing a freedom song

Bonfire to counter the chilly evening air

For any one who wants to take a horse out
for a ride

For less than 2€ you get to take a walk into
the Spiritual world of the red indians

For the macabre few..

Antlers Guard Station are like forrest cabins,
traditionally used by firemen 

We absolutely loved it! A huge cheer to our friend who have thought of this wonderful location and a most unusual way to celebrate his 40th Birthday!!



Saturday, April 27, 2013

Erlenbacher Pottery




A pottery party for Baby A



April was indeed the month for parties. It's back to Baby A. Like last year, this party was again planned around "craft". However, unlike last year, we decided to partly outsource the "craft" part to a professional potter. :-)

Frau Hartwig and her husband run a charming little pottery art center, called Töpfereiwerkstatt Erlenbach in the middle of Odenwald. First, a bit of geography lesson. The Odenwald is shared by three states. This patch of beautiful woodlands and some parts even of geographical wonder lies snugly between Hesse, Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. To be more exact, Wiki will tell you that "the northern and western Odenwald belong to southern Hesse, with the south stretching into Baden. In the northeast, a small part lies in Lower Franconia in Bavaria." And if you are even more interested in some unnecessary details, Wiki goes on to describe it as "the Odenwald lies between the Upper Rhine Rift Valley with the Bergstraße and the Hessisches Ried (the northeastern section of the Rhine rift) in the west, the Main and the Bauland (a mostly unwooded area with good soils) in the east, the Hanau-Seligenstadt Basin – a subbasin of the Upper Rhine Rift Valley in the Rhine-Main Lowlands – in the north and the Kraichgau in the south. The part south of the Neckar valley is sometimes called the Kleiner Odenwald (“Little Odenwald”)." But enough of that..

Back to the party/pottery...

Our breakfast set ready for the next phase of
baking and glazing

What a perfect way for kids to have fun when they are allowed to get up to their arms in muck... er.. I mean clay!? :-) For two hours they kneaded, rolled, pounded, cut, brushed, painted and produced beautiful works of art out of boring blocks of clay. Using their creativity, the children each produce a breakfast set comprising of a plate and a mug. Then, the breakfast set will be baked, then glazed, then baked again. All of this to be done by Frau Hartwig later. So there was a waiting time of 3 to 4 weeks, before we could actually see the finished art. It was all very exciting for the children, as the color they have used was not exactly like the end product! For their hard work (sprinkled with laughter.. occasional complain.. and songs) what was better for lunch than fresh baked pizza out of their stone ovens served with fresh crisp lettuce salad?!



Getting cleaned up and ready for lunch

Stairs leading upstairs where lunch was served

3 crows in a row...

Some finished pottery with paint in buckets

Each is individualized, fun and unique! 

In progress for baking, and glazing.

Waiting for a coat of paint.

More pieces of art in the courtyard.
More shapes and colours...
..as a guardian angel..

.. as Art deco for any gardens..

...for livening up any space... 


We ended the day back at home, as presents still needed to be unpack, birthday song still needed to be sung and cake to be eaten. All in, what a wonderful day it had been...


..as statement for any tree..

..or just for a good laugh!



Friday, March 22, 2013

Pirate Party!



Arrgghh!! The Invitations... 

Another year comes, and what do you know? Baby M turns 5 and once again it's time to party!!! This year, like every little boy's dream, we have chosen the pirate theme. We have the invitations printed out, and the edges slightly singed to get that "piraty treasure map" look. Oh yes, make sure you do this outdoor. The smell of burnt paper is strong! When I was experimenting with something small, I had my concern neighbor knocking on the door... She smelt a pungent paper burning, and came over to check. ;-))


The message in the bottles, all ready to go...

Both Baby M and Baby A helped out with finishing off the invitations. We used old plastic smoothie bottles, filled them with sand from our sandbox in the garden, and seashells we have picked up from one of our holidays. It was quite a messy task with two kids vying to do more than the other. We had quite a bit of vacuuming to do afterwards. Still, they caused quite an excitement when we distributed them in the kindergarten the next day. :-)


Bottled "sea" water for the pirates"

We did pirate crafts to get the little pirates properly geared up for the party. There were paper swords (transformed from old cardboard), telescopes (made from kitchen towel rolls with a surprise picture I drew on pieces of tissue on one end... We had pirate ships, cross bones, sea monster, etc.) and pirate hats!


The pirate cake

For food, we had mini sausages with pretzels, multi-colored chewy candy the shaped of sharks, fruit slices, chocolate muffins and a chocolate Birthday cake. Yup, I got out Baby M's Playmobil and glued them onto the Birthday cake. The kids were really amused! 


A pirate pinata ready for a bashing,
and pirate ships ready to sail off.

In the garden, we played an obstacle game (accompanied by a really funky pirate CD I found), did the usual pirate "canon" fight (actually aluminium paper wrapped ball) - had lots of giggles and laughter. Then followed by a modified round of pinata bashing. Modified because I turned it into a football instead of the usual bashing up with a stick. Baby M was concerned that someone might accidentally get whacked on his/her head. And finally a treasure hunt! I found party treats paper boxes the shape of treasure chests, gave the kids a treasure map to start the hunt. They were led from spot to spot with only pictures as clues. We had a lot of running.... and happy shinning eyes at the end of the hunt.




Now, we are looking forward to the next party...


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Peppercress



Actually quite an eye catcher!

Eating out at McDonald's is definitely one of the kids favorite dining experience. We don't mind that so much anymore as over the years, the Happy Meal has evolve with options for a healthier choice of food. We have the kids picking fresh orange juice instead of one of the soft drinks, we offer them a generous dollop of tomato ketchup to go with their fries and nuggets. However, we just can't stop them from choosing one of the many plastic freebies. (Have I mention "useless" freebies?!). We have a whole box of them.  Just when we thought we have had enough of them, there... in February, there was a whole new selection for even more. But this time, we ACTUALLY could put them into real use!

Viola ! We started growing peppercress in the wheelbarrows! What a laugh, what a treat for the eyes.. and what a yummy spicy zesty addition to our salad (or soup or sandwiches!)


Busy gardeners... yummy!



Ready for picking...


Oh yes, from next month onwards, we are upgrading the kids to the adults' menu. So no more plastic freebies...



Friday, February 8, 2013

"Faschings" Muffins


Cool muffin toppers for the "Faschingsbuffet"

Today, Baby A's class threw a "Faschingsparty". Whereas WIKI will provide you a good description of "Faschingszeit" - there ARE different cultural/historical interpretation even within Germany, let me put it together from the point of view of children what Faschings actually mean. Think of it as mixture of carnival and Halloween! Whereas WIKI will tell you that the "Faschnacht" period actually started on November 11, the highlight for children is the last two weeks (it officially ends on Wednesday, February 13). It is a time where parties will be held, both masked and otherwise. In other words, it's great time for kids to play dressed up!


For Baby A's party at School, we decided to use different toppers to reflect just that. Based on Catch My Party we had pirates, princesses, cheerleaders and cowboys decorating the muffins. As usual the toppers were a hit and a laugh!







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