Sparkling Green Water and Shiny Golden Rocks

We took the kids to our favorite local state park the other day. Our original goal was to walk a new trail, but we didn't get very far. After getting maybe a quarter mile down the path, we stopped to investigate a little beach area on the bank of the South Yuba River. You know what happens when you put a bunch of boys near rocks and water, right? They start throwing them in. And if the rocks are big enough? They start making bridges and pathways to the little islands in the middle of the river. The kids were having so much fun that we ended up staying on our little beach for well over an hour. Even then we only left because it was getting dark!

If you remember my first post about this park, you might have figured out what Sam had on the end of his finger. It's a small gold flake. I think it's technically called gold dust. (Y'all had me laughing with the guesses yesterday! I'm almost glad I don't have a great camera! Now I'm going to be looking for more things I can do like this because it was fun!)

The weather was gorgeous. It was over 60 degrees and the sun was out--we could see the gold dust sparkling under the water. Sam, who has been very excited about the prospect of panning for gold, was over the moon with glee.

It wasn't long before he ditched the shoes and socks, rolled up his pant legs, and got down to business. This was serious stuff, y'all.

We haven't picked up proper panning supplies just yet, but he did a good job improvising. It's not in the picture but we also utilized someone's discarded coffee cup and lid. (Had to get in our community service for the day, don'tcha know?!)

I mentioned that it was 60 degrees, right? It was lovely outside, but that water was frigid. His hands and feet were lobster red. I did the mom thing and worried about him "catching his death of cold"--and all I got was the I'm-nearly-14-gimme-a-break-mom eyeroll. He's got it down pretty well. *insert exasperated mom sigh here*

Can you believe the color of the water? It was gorgeous. The deeper parts were slighter more turquoise and the interplay of that with the emerald green was breathtaking. That kid there isn't too bad, either. This picture of him amuses me because, for once, you can see my family in his face. Everyone generally says, "Wow! He looks just like Jason!" And he does, but in this photo I can see my dad's dad. It's the chin and jawline.

It was a great day and, at the end of it, we had about eight decent-sized flakes. He's very gung-ho about finding some more; his birthday is next week and I'm trying to find some basic panning supplies. Not the metal detector and big-time supplies the guy across from us had (holy moly!), but a pan and some tweezers or something. Panning for gold is not one of the activities I ever saw this family getting into but it's rather looking like we will. Maybe we'll luck out like this guy. On second thought--maybe that metal detector isn't such a terrible idea.

Have you ever panned for gold? What kind of area specific hobbies do people have where you live?

Local Find: South Yuba River State Park

Our family loves a good road trip. Sometimes we have a destination in mind, other times we just want to get in the van and drive. Not too long after we moved into our new house we did one of our "just jump in the van and GO" drives. Turns out, we live not too far from a State Park called the South Yuba River State Park. Talk about a great find!

At a later point I may come back and talk about some of the history of this area--because there is a lot--but today I'm just going to share some pictures we took on our first trip out there. (Oh yes, we have been back!)

This is the entrance to the Bridgeport Covered Bridge. It is supposed to be the longest single-span covered bridge in the world and if I had any idea what that meant, I would tell you. To me, it's just a beautiful bridge with some great history.

Coming out of the bridge and heading to the left, there is a trail. One of several. (This isn't it, but this park is home to the first wheelchair accessible wilderness trail in the U.S.) We decided to hike out a little ways just to see what it was like. Since we hadn't known where we were going we weren't really prepared to do anything too taxing. If you look in this next picture you can see Sam leading the way, Jake inspecting some find, Jason playing a leapfrog game with Izzy, and Zander is--well, wait. What is Zander doing?

Oh, yeah. That's right. Zander was reacting to these two signs, which we had just passed.

Don't worry. We talked to him and his stress level went down significantly. Here he is a few minutes later, pretending to be a mountain lion.

A view of the bridge from the trail. Isn't it gorgeous? I can't wait to see it in the spring. (These pictures were taken in mid-September.)

Another view from a little further away.

We turned around after a mile or so and went back to the area around the bridge. There are some "beaches" there where people are allowed to pan for gold. No, really! Isn't that kind of neat? We let the kids play in the water for a little while. Sam really, really wanted to find some gold. He didn't, but he really seemed to enjoy himself anyway. (There he is, up in the top corner.)

Zander had an absolute blast playing in the rocks. He did nothing but climb them nearly the entire time we were there. It was a lot of fun watching him explore.

Izzy's favorite activity was throwing the rocks into the water. Or onto the other rocks. When he threw them onto the other rocks you could hear this resounding "BONK" noise that just echoed off the hills around the river. He was in heaven after discovering that.

Isn't this the perfect place for kids to explore? I think this might be their favorite place so far.

Where is your favorite place where you live?

Day Six: Roadtrips

I don't know about you, but this family loves a roadtrip. All six of us love to just get in the van and just GO! One of our favorite evening past times is getting in the van and driving. At each intersection we pick a random direction. The goal is just to end up somewhere we've never been and to see something we haven't seen. A couple weeks ago we did this and ended up in Saint Wendel, which is about 40 minutes away on the Autobahn. We didn't get there via the Autobahn. In fact, I doubt I could pick out the route we took to get there. It took quite a bit longer than 40 minutes; I can tell you that!

Having spent the past 7 years in Germany, we have seen quite a bit of the surrounding area through the above method, as well as longer (and slightly better planned) daytrips. We have enjoyed it, but we feel a little--uncomfortable sometimes. The truth is, we have seen more of Germany than we have of our own country. Yes, we're very familiar with the panhandle of Florida. We could even give you quite the tour of parts of North Carolina or Indiana; but we didn't travel that extensively while we were living there. If we were given the opportunity to go anywhere, we went to visit family. Period.

One of our goals when we return to the states is to see more of our own country. Living in California will give us some awesome travel opportunities in that we have never truly been west of the Mississippi. (We have both been to Hawaii, I have been to Alaska, and Jason spent some time in Washington state...but for all intents and purposes it's a new area.) We're already busy planning some serious camping trips and several roadtrips. It would be awesome if we could check off all 50 states at some point in our lives. I love the idea of making that a goal.

Do you and your family like to travel? What is your dream roadtrip? What are some places in the U.S. that you think EVERYONE should see?

DayTrip: Mainau, Germany

Jason took a few weeks of leave in April. We did a lot of housework and prep for the move but we managed to have a little fun too. We planned and managed to take two trips during our little family vacation time. It was beyond spectacular to spend all that time together. We had so much fun!

Our first trip took us all the way down to where Germany butts up against Switzerland and Austria. In that small area there is a very big lake. Here in Europe it is frequently referred to as "Bodensee"; however, Americans generally know it as "Lake Constance." We didn't have time to see the entire area so we decide to make a one day trip to the island of Mainau. It was gorgeous! (This trip also managed to mark off one of the travel goals I have set in my 101 Project.)

This first picture was taken just as we crossed the bridge onto the island. The water was so crystal clear. I don't think I've ever seen such clean water.

Here's Jason with the welcoming flower which greets you at the park opening. I'm guessing that this display changes from time to time. It was so funny to come around the corner and see this cheerful flower and its smiling face. The kids really enjoyed it.

The island is home to a huge variety of flowers, bushes, and trees. They even have a few sequoias. Here are Izzy and I with one of them. I guess we'll be seeing some more of these in the nearish future.
Sam spotted this tree and instantly just had to have his picture with it. About 30 seconds after I shot this picture he realized there were bees in the tree. Sam has had a rather intense fear of bees since getting stung last summer. Needless to say, we didn't get any more pictures after that.
Jake really loved this trip. He's very cooperative about getting his picture taken (for the most part) but we usually get this funny little closed-mouth smile when he knows the camera is pointing in his general direction. It was nice to get a big old grin for once!

Zander has been to several parks and whatnot where there were flowers growing, but never quite this many and never without being in a stroller. We spent a lot of the day swooping down on him as he attempted to pick every flower in the park. It was an interesting experience! Here he is with a beautiful bed of daffodils near the front of the park.

One of the neatest things about Mainau is the butterfly house that is in the middle of the park. It is supposed to be the biggest butterfly house in Germany and it has a TON of butterflies! Just for fair warning, it is hot in there. If you go to Mainau in the summer I'm not sure that you'll have as enjoyable experience in there as we did, but it was great the day we went. You shouldn't have any trouble spotting the butterflies, but there are several of these "feeding stations" scattered throughout the place. It sure does make it easier to snap a few pictures!

The whole place is set up like a little tropical forest, with all sorts of plants and flowers. There is a stream that runs across the path at one point (just a small amount of water) and a waterfall too. Here are the three older boys in a small "cave" in the butterfly house, underneath the waterfall. If you look through the water you can make out a bridge across the way. The platform in the water is covered in turtles.

In the kids' section of the park there is a small pond where ducks and fish live. I thought I would throw this picture in just to show how very clear the water was. No murk, whatsoever. And one really, really big fish! That thing was nearly the length of my entire arm.

The park was very family friendly, although it didn't appear that we were allowed to take our own food in for a picnic. That is pretty unusual for Germany. We took our backpack carrier that day because we weren't sure the place was stroller-friendly or not; it was! (The butterfly house isn't, but the rest of the park definitely is. You could leave your stroller outside the butterfly house if you took your valuables with you.) A backpack carrier works pretty well, though! Izzy spent most of the day in his and he was pretty happy. See?

DayTrip: Wildpark Potzberg

One thing we have learned during our time here is that Germans love their nature and animal parks. There are tons and while they are generally similar as far as the attractions are concerned, each has its own "claim to fame." A lot of the time that claim to fame comes in the form of a castle.

Occasionally it comes in the form of a dinosaur or two. (See background of picture.)


These are pictures from a trip to Wildpark Potzberg we took during our first spring here. Located about 20 minutes northwest of Ramstein Air Base, Wildpark Potzberg is a smallish nature park right outside of an old castle. The castle is now a restaurant and hotel and makes a great place to host group events. We know of at least one class of American high school students which rented it out for their prom. (You can get directions through the park's website if you are nearby and interested in going. The address is located across the bottom of the page.)

There is a food and ice cream place located inside the park area but picnic lunches are allowed. (The food is a little pricey so packing some sandwiches is the better way to go, in my opinion.) The picnic area (which you can see in the background of the next picture) is located in the playground section.

The animals are not very exotic, as is the case with many of the German zoos, but the entire animal exhibit is very hands-on. You are allowed to pet and feed most of the animals.


Okay, nobody pet this next one, but we thought he was a little out of place with all the regular animals. We're suckers for the odd balls, don'tcha know?

They also have a birds of prey exhibit. Not hands on, but they have a few scheduled shows through the day that you can watch.

The park is located up in the hills so the views are spectacular.

It's definitely worth the trip if you are within an hour's drive. It makes for a nice afternoon out with friends.

DayTrips: Heidelberg

As we're rounding the corner on our last few months in Germany (the count is at approximately 167 days left in country...not that anyone is counting), Jason and I would very much like to get out to see some places we haven't. We also want to revisit a few of our favorite places.

One of the very first places we went after arriving in country was Heidelberg. I have read some opinions that Heidelberg is too "touristy" and therefore not worth the trip, but it is so pretty there that we've never agreed. We don't even do all that much when we visit the area; we just like to walk up and down the river and look at the city. We're easy to please, what can I say? But then, who isn't with views like this?

This was Izzy's first trip to Heidelberg, so we had to get the obligatory "all the boys" picture. As usual, we did not get every set of eyeballs on us. Oh well.


After we got our picture we let the boys do boy things on the bridge. It was pretty cold (okay, it was frigid) but they seemed to enjoy it.


We tried and tried to keep this hat on Izzy's head correctly but it kept sliding forward until he could barely see past it. It kept his ears warm, though. He absolutely loved walking up and down the bridge. I can't wait to take him back when it's warmer.

This is a little courtyard near where the trek up to the castle begins although we didn't go up there today. I think Jake might have stayed and stared at this fountain for hours if we'd let him. We're planning to head back again once the weather warms up. We came out this way in order to check out the prices on the funicular that provides rides up to the top of the hill so that we'll know for our next trip. I think the boys will get a kick out of it.

We were only there for a few hours but we had a great afternoon. Izzy insisted on walking most of the trip; Zander insisted that he needed to ride in the backpack carrier. (Side note: Zander is a huge kid for a three-year-old. Most people think he is four or five. The sight of him in that backpack carrier is pretty funny and we got a whole lot of looks. Jason even had his picture taken by some Japanese tourists over it.) It was empty enough that we were able to just let Izzy walk wherever he wanted; he spent a lot of time following the patterns of the bricks. Oh, the joys of being 15-months-old.

It's hard to believe that we are so close to the end of our time here! We are doing our absolute best to relish these last few months, even as we are looking forward to our return home. Hopefully we'll be able to fit in some great last trips between now and that long plane ride home.