Dinosaur Park

If you are looking for something to do on a Sunday in Germany, this Dinopark is the perfect place to visit.  It's great for kids AND adults.  We all had a great time and even though it poured down rain at the beginning of the day, we still ended up enjoying the scenery and had lots of fun discovering all types of dinosaurs and bones.
When you first enter the park, there are well kept (free) public restrooms.  There is also a shop and ticket building where you purchase your entrance tickets.  You must go through this building in order to enter into the park.

The gift store had goodies from small to large. 

You could purchase toys, t-shirts, binoculars, stones,

stuffed animals and rain gear.

Once you purchase your tickets you can also download a free app that will tell you about the park as you walk along the paths.  It will have an English option and you can listen to facts about each dinosaur and their era.
On the day that we went, there was a rain storm at the start of our day.  Lucky for us, the park had a great covered eating area and a little snack bar, where we purchased some brauts and fries and hunkered down for the storm to lighten up. 

Eating tent to stay out of the elements

There is also some fun things for your kids to keep busy with in this area as well, including an area to uncover dinosaur bones. 

There are also bathrooms in this area, which are free as well.

After eating, the rain let up and we were on our way.  We had a map, provided at the ticket counter for free, which we took with us so we could see where all the paths went.  Dogs are allowed and everyone just seemed to enjoy walking around and exploring.

 

You were able to touch all the dinosaurs that were reachable and in some areas even climb on them.

Towards the end of the park, there is an open play area and playground.

But, what was unexpected was the kids activities that were available.  You could chose from discovering fossils in rocks, to mining activities and discovering copper and silver, to painting your own model dinosaurs. 

All of this was for a small price and there were LOTS of options.
Along the way, there were small placards that told of the dinosaurs and some info about them.  They were in Dutch and English.

At the end of the park, there was a caveman exhibit that had mammoths and other displays.

This was great little family trip.  It's close to the base and will offer 3-6 hours of fun for the entire family.

INFO:
***The 2018 season starts on March 24th and ends on November 4th. ***
The park is open daily-also on Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 18:00 hours
Distance from Spangdahlem AB front gate:  32 minutes
Website:  http://www.dinopark-teufelsschlucht.de
Address:  Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht
Ferschweilerstr. 50
54668 Ernzen
Tel (0)652593393-44
Ticket Prices:  8,50 euro for children 4-12
10,50 Euro for above 13

Teacher Appreciation Gift

Teacher Appreciation Gift Alternative

Let’s face it-teachers have one of the toughest jobs in the world.  Hat’s off to any person that is willing to work all day shaping the minds of our little ones, staying up late grading papers, making lesson plans and updating class websites.  As well as, working weeks through the summer to set up their classroom with a fun and interesting theme to inspire their students.

Teacher Appreciation week is a great time to thank your child’s teacher or daycare provider.  If you can’t do something small each day of the week, then doing something at least one day of the ‘appreciation week’ is well received. You could even do an end of the year gift for your child's teacher.

My sister is a teacher and she appreciates getting gift cards-to anywhere, really.  Getting USEFUL gift cards is great, such as:  Michael’s arts and crafts, Paneras, any restaurant, etc. 

If you want to do something more personalized, you can always help your child make a sweet gift.  Pinterest has a ton of ideas!  But, you can also put together a themed gift.  Gourmet coffees with a travel mug is always nice, when you include a hand written note from the student with it. 

Last year my son had a male teacher and he was AMAZING!  I looked to Pinterest to help me find a ‘manly’ teacher appreciation gift and didn’t find anything really great…it seemed like many gift ideas included beer or were kind of cheesy.

So, I took it upon myself to make a gift basket that I was hoping would be useful and fun at the same time. 

I went to a local store in my village (yes, I said village-we live in Germany and there are little towns everywhere and the locals call them villages) and bought a plastic bin and some color coordinating ‘grilling equipment’, such as:  rubber pot holders, marinating brush, and spatula.  I then went to the store and purchased a few nice BBQ spice rubs and sauces to include in the gift basket as well.  I had my son write his teacher a card to top off the gift baskets contents. 

I LOVED how this turned out and even better…his teacher said that he grills EVERY Sunday afternoon, even in the snow, and that this was the perfect gift for him.  I was thrilled that is was received so well and really enjoyed hunting for the perfect items to include in this teacher appreciation gift for my son’s wonderful teacher! 

Hope this inspires you to think outside of the box and find that personalized gift for your child’s teacher-they deserve it. 

You Know You Have a Husband if.....

I had fun writing my 'You know you have children when...' segment, so I thought I would do one on husbands.  So, here goes...
You know you have a husband when:

~Part of your lovely 'adult' looking entertainment center you work so hard to make sure is free of kids toys and DVD piles has that one section that looks like this

~When you, as a mother and wife, come downstairs in the morning and find the cookie jar looking something like this

You know it had to be the hubby that finished off the cookies during an Xbox marathon of 'Call of Duty'.  Poor guy STILL asks me to this day if he can eat the last of something in case it is promised to the kids.

~You know you have a husband if he decides to be a sweetheart and cook dinner but inevitably leaves this

~When your cute and clutter free entry looks like this in a matter of 48 hours

~When the top or your refrigerator looks like the local GNC store exploded

I wouldn't change one thing though about being married to the man of my dreams.  I've known him for 25 years...yes, I have pictures of us sitting next to one another in the second grade. (don't do the math and you won't find out how old we are)...I've been married to him for 9 years.  I am truly blessed that I could count how many large arguments we've EVER had on one hand and that he is my best friend that I am in love with.  Just thought I would poke some fun at him a little bit:)





Butcher Paper!

I bought a kids easel at a Yard sale 2 years ago and it has been the best $8 I ever spent.  It came with a HUGE roll of butcher paper.  The other day it was cold, yet again, and we needed a change from the normal art projects that we do.  I had bought some new washable markers for the kids and placed them in makeup bags from the dollar store.  One for my son, and one for my daughter. 
All it took was some tape on either end of the butcher table to secure it to my dining room table and it provided about an hour of table coloring fun.  I was able to cook dinner and effortlessly keep an eye on my artists.  As a mother, it was a dream:)

I hope my roll lasts for a while longer because I don't really know where to go to restock it.  Someone told me that the local newspapers usually have left overs similar to this after printing the paper...a couple of feet on each roll that gets thrown out because it's not enough to print an entire paper on.  I'll have to investigate.
(On a side note, one Christmas I wrapped presents for our family in the butcher paper and let the kids decorate it with Christmas themed stickers and red and green crayons.  The family loved receiving Christmas care packages with the kids artwork as wrapping paper)
Do you know where I can restock my beloved butcher paper roll?

You Know You Have Kids When...

You know you have kids when:

~You open up your pantry and find vehicles next to the snacks:



~Your refrigerator looks like this:

(notice the 'no fatboy' written out in the magnetic
alphabet that my husband placed on the fridge to
remind him not to snack:)

~You reach for a pan when beginning to cook dinner and you find a 'snake' in the cabinet:

~A shelf in your stockpile looks similar to this:

~You have 2 toilets AND a stool in every bathroom in the house

~You clean your back patio door about 2X's a week and it still looks like this:

 A grandmother once told me that her back door had handprints all over it from when her grandchildren came to visit.  Her daughter asked, in dismay, why they were still there on the door looking filthy.  The gradmother responded that it was a beautiful, constant reminder of her precious grandchildren and all the memories the visit had left behind. 

Kids bring such joy:  even if it is the form of a messy window, or a bathroom not looking as soafisticated as we desire. 

It's the little things that should remind us of what a blessing they truly are and the love they enable our hearts to feel is when we" know we have kids"....

I'm a Redhead!

Ah, the joys of changing my hair color by the season...I'm currently a redhead.  I have been about every color in the rainbow, it seems like, throughout my life.  I usually do red in the winter and blond in the summer.  I would've liked a darker red, but this is what came out and it's good for right now.
I got a great deal on hair color with a Walgreens sale and a coupon and got each box of hair dye for $3.  I picked up 4 boxes, all different colors.  It's not like if I don't like the color I can't wear a hat for a couple of days and dye it again.  I once went to church with burgundy hair and matched the pews.  I was not going to miss church! 

So, here I am:)

I used Clairol foam 6R-light auburn.  I have to say that I like the no drip formula of the foam but if you've ever tried it you know that it has the worst smell.  It's not like a normal hair dye smell...it's like a peroxide stinky sock smell.  It takes about 2-3 days to wash that smell out.  Yuck.  But, I had never tried the foam and it was a great promotional price for the right color.

I also love this blog and the hair demo she posted this past Friday was fun to try out on myself.  Her hair is about 5 times thicker than mine, but I gave it a shot.  It was nice to curl my hair and feel 'pretty'.  I might actually paint my fingernails tonight.  Watch out!  I'm on a roll!