This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. 



Playing along with Soulemama.

Family Fun Day

This post is mostly for those of you not on Facebook as I posted all the pictures there too. 

We went to a little Family Fun Day today with our friends Summer and Braelynn.  It's technically called Abenteuerspielplatz Riederwald.  There were bouncy houses, games, a kid powered train and lots of other fun things to do.  It was inside which was nice but, it was kind of a madhouse.  The best part....they had face painting.  The pictures are too cute not to share.

Yes, it was really hard to clean off.  (It's actually not all the way off yet.)  You're welcome.

JKFP

 

Spring Dippemess

Last night we went to the Spring Dippemess.  It's a fun fair/carnival with rides, games, market stalls, and food.  From the Frankfurt tourism website:

Dippemess is a tradition which dates back to the 14th century. At that time, the Maamess, as it was then called, was a medieval market for domestic articles. Potters from the Westerwald, Kannebäckerland and Urberach came here to sell their wares, especially their ceramic bowls and pots. These were known in the Frankfurt dialect as "Dippe", from which the event soon took its name.

It was crazy fun.   Ready for photographic evidence?  Of course you are.

First up was the Ferris Wheel.  It was massive.  Each of those cars could hold (probably) eight people comfortably.  And lucky for us, the cars were enclosed.  I'm here to tell you, spring or not, it was COLD.  I think the high for the day was in the upper 30's.  It wasn't that bad until the breeze rolled in.  

Frankfurt skyline from the top.

What should we do next?

It's a little chilly.

From the Ferris Wheel we noticed this insane thing.  James got that crazy adrenaline twinkle in his eye and decided since there was no line....

Personally, I think there is a REASON there was no line!

Fisher assumed the "worry face" as soon as the ride started.

James survived (thank goodness) and then we stuck with the mellow rides for a while.  

Fisher perfecting his "Mario" bounce.

Fisher and James with Piper on his lap.

Then I got a turn with Piper.

Then we got a little crazy.  Fisher had declared earlier in the day that he wanted to ride a roller coaster.  Well they had one and there was no line (a benefit of the cold I think).  James went up to pay and asked if Piper was allowed to ride it.  As long as someone was riding with her.  Damn.  That meant I would have to go too.  They both had to have a parent with them.  (I'll add here that I used to love roller coasters but after having children even a fast elevator can make me a little queasy.  Seriously.  Childbirth must have knocked the thrill seeker right out of me.)  All four of us rode it....

It's probably a good thing none of us really looked at it too closely before getting on.  After we had paid and were walking up the ramp I looked at James and said something about this being a "really bad idea".  They. Loved. It.  Heck, we all loved it.  I was really proud of them.

The "BIG hill" on the right.

We went back to mellow after that.

Now for the food.  Fair food is WAY different here.  I think the last big fair I went to was in NC and it's been quite a few years now but, they mostly had fried everything.  Fried pickles, oreos, fries, elephant ears, snickers bars.  Everything was fried.  Here everything is dipped in chocolate.  And it's almost all fruit.  

Bananas, grapes, strawberries, cherries, kiwi, pineapple,
apple, and even a mix of all those.

Heck, that on the far left is a chili pepper!
Dipped in chocolate!

Candied strawberries.

And sometimes just plain fruit.

Even American Ice Cream.  They didn't have very much
business with it being so cold.

With all that food we hardly ate anything.  Once the wind picked up we were done.  We ended up just getting takeout on the way home.  I know!

There were also lots of games.  Most of them were set up to win at least something so the kids really loved it.  The apartment is now covered with tiny stuffed animals and plastic guns.  

Fisher was particularly good at the shooting games.

He must get that from his dad.

Okay, it's time to go now.  Our noses were red and our hand were numb but boy did we have fun!

Our last look before heading down to the train.

Yeah....we're going to have to do that again. 

JKFP

What I Need

Here's something I already knew about myself....I am not a city girl.  Being here, in this city, has only made me more sure of that fact.  I'm a fish out of water. 

I found this German word the other day.  Waldeinsamkeit.  It's my new favorite word.  It means 'forest loneliness' or 'solitude'.  (I'm probably using it incorrectly aaaaand that's okay.  But I know that's what it means.  Thanks Charlie!)

Waldeinsamkeit is what I need.  I have really needed trees.  And not the evenly spaced ones at the playground either.  Real, forest-y trees.  A path you follow and you can't see the end.  Well, last Friday we found it. 

Our friends Summer and Braelynn went adventuring with us and we had a fantastic time!

There was a huge playground by the entrance too.

We had so. much. fun.  Waldeinsamkeit AND a playground.  Heck yeah!

JKFP

Flat Stanley

A couple weeks ago we participated in the Flat Stanley project.  It's a fun little project where a child sends out their "Flat Stanley" to someone in another part of the country (or world).  The recipients then take Stanley all around their town and take pictures of him enjoying the sights.  It was so much fun.  It really got us out of the house and adventuring.  Oh and our Flat Stanley came to us from Kings Mountain, North Carolina!

We pretended to be tourists and went around to quite a few of the Frankfurt area sights.  I thought you'd like to see where we went.

This is the train stop by our house.

Inside the S train.

At the playground on the "boat".

Another one at the playground.

We love these basket swing!

At the Eiserner Steg Bridge



It's also known as Frankfurt's Love Bridge.
Couples write their names and the date on a padlock, lock it on the bridge,
and toss the keys into the river. Yes, we are SO doing this.

View of the Main River from the bridge.

This is Romer.  It's the "town hall" of Frankfurt.

Just across from there is the "Fountain
of Justice".
I love this picture!

The Kaiserdom in the snow and wind.

Inside the Kaiserdom.

Family dinner with Flat Stanley at The Paulaner.
It's our favorite restaurant.

Inside MyZeil.  It's part of the main shopping
area.  The Zeil is considered "the Fifth Avenue
of Germany".

Outside the Senckenberg Naturmuseum.

Inside with the dinosaurs.

By the Bald Eagle.  Piper's Barbie had to
get in on the action too.

In the bug room at the Senckenberg.

Alte Oper
Yes, that is a fancy opera house.
No, we did not go in.

By the giant euro.
Frankfurt is a major financial hub in Europe.

By the new headquarters of the
European Central Bank.
Yes, this is the one by our house.

So there you have our adventures with Flat Stanley.  There were so many places we wanted to take him but we only had so much time.  The weather rarely cooperated but we hope he enjoyed himself anyway.

If you'd like to read about Flat Stanley (yes, there are books!) you can check it out here.  If you'd like to know more about the Flat Stanley Project you can do that here.  It was really fun to be a part of it!

JKFP