A Delayed Birthday Party

With Mia and Mr. Mimi sick in early December Mia's birthday party was a bit delayed. She had wanted to invited seven children from her school and we stared with a puppet show for children at the Kulturfenster - a small cultural center just around the corner from our place.
After that everyone came to our place to play a bit.
We had prepared for a little guessing game to start off but after that the other children discovered Mia's toys and everything took its own way

Later it was time for pizza and the unpacking of the presents and some bownies

A bit after 6 p.m. the parents showed up to pick up their children

Bürgerfest at Campblell Barracks

The bi-yearly citizen's festival for the city of Heidelberg was taking place this year at the former Campbell Barracks. They had just been returned from the US government to Heidelberg and the huge area will be the site of a major development for new housing in the next few years. They were used to be off limit of non US military so for many in Heidelberg it was the first opportunity to see this big area in the south of the city.

Mia first was interested in a play area for kids

 Later we watches some performances by local sport clubs in a tent and the children play section there. The we saw a fire truck on display

There were also ride on fire trucks

 ..Segways..

and a free carousel

We left just in time before the rain started

Trip to the Zoo

On a mild January day Mia had the idea to go to the zoo again. We have a yearly ticket and its only a 15 minute bile ride away. Its not very big but there is always something new to see - like a presentation of the owls.

 Mia  also checked out a chicken cage that is in accordance with EU regulations

We had seen the peacock before 

Ice Skating

In the third week of her vacation staying at home wasn't so interesting anymore and so Ji and Mia headed to the ice skating rink in the Old Town. There she met a girl who goes there quite often

 It was good to be outdoors for some time

 After lunch Mia also wanted to check out an indoor  ice skating ring in Eppleheim. It was a bit difficult to find but is a good option when the outdoor one is closed

Heidelberg Winter Circus

We could ride our bikes to the Winter Circus in Heidelberg - which Mia really wanted to see. In the break she wanted to have a picture taken with the parrots

One highlight were the trapeze artists at the end
 

Dominos

One morning we build things with the set of domino pieces Mia got for Christmas. The tower became pretty tall and Mia did a little celebration dance when it reached eight stories

When she tries the ninth level it fell apart though

Visit in Spellen

A bit more than five years after our last visit at Andrea's and her family's place we drove to Spellen again. For Mia it was a great place to visit: She could see horses and sheep just a few steps from the house and Andrea's daughters are 12 and 10 and she had some great playmates.

 
Linda, the younger one was very good at Foosball

Since the weather was very nice we drove to Wesel for a walk on the Rhine

There was also a small playground

Later we all went to the river to enjoy the sunset and to try some stone skipping