Animals galore!

We have Wild Parks and zoos here in Germany. The kids really enjoy the Wild Parks because the majority of animals are free roaming which means you are "with" the animals. Last Saturday the kids and I ventured out to the Freisen Wildpark for an exciting afternoon.

The deer and pigs immediately greeted us....

Then this guy showed up....

He would sneak up and do whatever he had to do to get the bag of food!
Yes, he is hitting Colton with his antlers!
So we tried to escape him but he followed....chased.... us down for quite a while!
We did manage to dodge him so we could walk in peace.
Down the path we walked.....
The kids found a couple of kangaroos with a special surprise!
How CUTE!!

Jacque & Ian had fun throwing rocks into the water....

Hey, what's that?

Pretty soon it felt like we are in a scene friom Jurassic Park!
Seriously, the herds came running across this field and it was loud, fast, and I missed getting a picture of it all because I was making sure we were out of their way!

This guy stopped to check us out!
See the little piglets in the background?

The kids had fun feeding them branches....
Jacque really wanted to feed the deer but was scared they would bite his hand.
He'd drop the pieces of corn before the deer could lick them off.
Finally convinced him to hold his hand out flat.....
Yes, a SUCCESS!!!

This guy was not quite as friendly!

I think we will need to go back:)

Look what we found Mom.......

My children were supposed to be getting into our vehicle to go to the store.

Instead they were deeply engrossed in this stump....... They found something much more interesting......a roly-poly! It is the little things that are so much fun!

Eggs, eggs, and more eggs!

The eggs at the Oster Markt last weekend were amazing! There were 79 crafters from all over Europe who showcased many techniques for decorating eggs. I was on a mission to collect more eggs to decorate my dining room tree....mission complete!

Here are the eggs that I purchased! The egg prices ranged from 3 Euro - HUNDRENDS of Euro....gasp! I stuck with the under 15 Euro price range except for one......

All of vendors had special boxes or bags to put the eggs in. Some were fancier and some were recyclable like this one....

pretty on the inside though!

Naturally speckled egg....

With a tree on one side.....

Remember this lady from my original post?? (check it out HERE)
Well she has an incredibly steady hand!
I chose 5 eggs that had not been colored yet, but did have a design on them.
She wrote each of my kids' name on an egg and then colored them.
Each has a poem written on it as well...
Do you see how steady her hand is??
The packaging for each egg for the kids....

I just loved the colors on these...

These eggs were decorated with paper.....
This one had such a cute matching box....

I can't wait to decorate my tree next Spring with my new eggs and the ones I already have!

Dinner with a purpose....

Last night I enjoyed a "grown up" dinner with 2 friends at Il Capprecio. It is absolutely delicious!!! The 3 of us (and all of our kids....11 to be exact) are going to Spain for a week in a couple of weeks and we decided to plan our daily itinerary over dinner.
My friends convinced me that I should try one of the appetizers that they ordered....uhmm "no thanks" was my reply.

I eventually caved in to the peer pressure and tried escargo for the first time.....

....and it was good once I got past thinking about the slimy snails before they were cooked:)

We accomplished a lot at our dinner planning date.
We have a LOT of places to visit and I am REALLY looking forward to this trip!
We even worked in an evening dinner and Flamenco show just for the adults...
More to come after our trip!

Mission complete for the egg hunt!

Today was the first day of Spring so it only seemed fitting to go to an Ostereier-markte! What is this??.....an Easter Egg market. Kloster Eberbach am Rhein near Eltville hosts its annual International Rheingau Easter market. The halls of the former Cistercian monastery near Eltville am Rhein, famous as the site of the movie “The Name of the Rose,” will hold more than 75 exhibitors from 10 countries showing off their imagination and techniques for decorating eggs.

I have a tree that I keep up all year in my dining room that I like to decorate each season. I've collected a few eggs for the tree since we've been in Germany but really wanted to purchase enough to finish the tree off since this will be our last market in Germany....at least for a while!

We did have a little trouble finding the market!! It helps to be on the correct side of the river which we were NOT. I did get to try out my German skills when asking for help! Luckily we met a woman who spoke very good English and she explained that we had to take the ferry across to the other side.

...ferry schedule

Driving onto the ferry....

Our ride across the river which felt like we were spinning in circles!

As it turned out, it wasn't quite as easy to find the market once we were on the other side!
It was beautiful once we found our way.
The gate as we were entering the monastery grounds.....

Had a great time...so much in fact that I barely got any pictures on the inside...gasp!!
The artists here have AMAZING talent....
We ate at a DELICIOUS German restaurant that was just up the hill from the market.
I want to go back and take my husband!!!