Bernkastel Wine Festival

We had such a great family day on Saturday. It is wine festival time here in Germany and Bernkastel was having their annual wine festival and huge fireworks show. Jackson woke at 5:50 on Saturday morning (what is up with that?!), so we decided to head to the festival early and skip the fireworks because we knew he wouldn't make it that late.

I absolutely love the festivals in Germany. Booths fill the streets with handmade gifts, all sorts of food and drink, and fun rides for children. They have bratwurst, currywurst and a ton of other wursts that I'm not even sure of. They serve french fries, mushrooms in cream sauce (yum!), flamed salmon, smoked cheese, crepes (filled with your choice of cinnamon and sugar, nutella, or a mulititude of other fillings to suit your taste, including rum), and waffles (the amazing thick good kind and you can top them with cream, sugar and/or cherries). They have stands that look like our version of the Sweet Factory with rows of candies and chocolates and other stands that sell sugared and spiced nuts. I love the booths that sell the sugared nuts and German gingerbread cookies. I can smell the butter and sugar as I walk past. I think I've bought 100-200 grams at every festival or market I've been to. They also have booths that sell beer and wine.

One thing that I love about Germany is their concern for the earth. You do not see a lot of paper or plastic at the food booths. Instead, they serve your beverage in a mug or glass and your food on a plate along with stainless steel cutlery. When you buy your food or beverage, you pay a small fee for your glass/dish/etc. You can either keep it or return it to get your money back. I love it! It totally cuts back on the amount of trash accumulated at such crowded events.

So, we started our day walking from booth to booth and surveying all of the handmade items - jewelry, journals, purses, coats, sweaters, parkas, wooden toys, wooden boxes, aromatherapy products, decorations for the home, etc. We passed by a small playground and set Jackson free. Interestingly, he wasn't at all interested in the see-saw, slide, sandbox, or swings. He just wanted to open and close the gate that led into the fenced play area. We had to pry him away because we were trying to find the carnival area that had rides for children. We knew he'd love them.

At the end of the craft lane, we found pony rides. He was very interested in looking at the horses, but made it very clear that he did not want to get on them. Then, we found the toddler rides! There was a great track with tons of cars and trucks, and the track didn't just move in circles. It went up and down and around and back up and down and around. It was drizzly, so no one was in line to ride. We took him up to the cars and let him pick the one he wanted to ride in. Let me tell you, the man knew what he wanted. He headed directly to the semi truck.

After the first ride, we let him ride again. Jason wanted him to get into the Ferrari, but he would not have it. We tried every other vehicle and he only wanted the truck. So back to the truck he went. If we would have let him, he would have stayed in that truck all day. He loved it. We walked around to find other age-appropriate rides, but nothing looked as good as the vehicles on the track.

We grabbed some crepes and then ate them under the overhang at the bumper cars. What were we thinking? Jackson was in heaven with the rows of "cars" that were lined up waiting for someone to ride them. (It was early in the day and raining, so there weren't that many people in the carnival area.) He jumped from car to car. This boy's dreamland!

Pause for a bite...

Now back to the cars:

We had to walk back through the craft booths so we could cross the river and get to the other side of the festival. As soon as we approached the play area, Jackson started exclaiming, "Gate! Gate!" and wiggling his way out of Jason's arms. We stopped to give him some time to run around and to give our legs a break from all of the wonderful walking we were doing. All he cared about was opening and closing the gate:

A little boy, probably about 4, was apparently bothered by Jackson continuing to operate the gate. He was trying to find a way to latch the gate so that it could not open. His mom was yelling at him from afar, so he stepped back. And here's how the next few seconds went:

"What are you doing, kid?"

"I'm gonna keep on closin' this gate. See. I'm closing it."

"Yep, it's closed. And then I'm going to open it again, and again, and again..."

"Mine!" (He actually said this!)

"I'm the master of this gate."

I could not believe he screamed, "Mine!" He just started using that word whenever we eat and it's in a very innocent way. He likes to point to my food and say, "Mama" and then point to his and say, "Mine." It was one of those moments when you try so hard not to laugh because you know that his attitude is one that you do not want to encourage. I laughed anyway. I couldn't help it. But he didn't hear or see me!

We tried for a family picture:

And then we just had fun snapping photos:

He found the dirt hiding in the inner rim of the tire and poured it down onto me. Then I decided to put him on the ground and let him do whatever he wanted with the sand:

All good things must come to an end. It was painful, but we had to leave the play area. Jackson was so exhausted. He hadn't napped all day and woke so early. I knew that he needed to get in his stroller so he could fall asleep. In minutes, he was out. We crossed the river:

And headed to the wine and food booths:

Then we crossed the river again to get back to our car. But we made a few stops first. Jace bought me a handmade journal with handmade cotton paper (Erica, this is the one I'll use for Jackson's memories! Thank you!) and a handmade necklace with matching bracelet! We were so close to the rides, that we decided to give Jackson a few more rounds on the track. Again, he only wanted to ride in truck. I even tried to put him in the same truck with a different paint job, but he just told me no. He only wanted the first truck. I've gotta hand it to him, the boy knows what he wants. Here he is eating, driving, and messing with controls on the dash. Quite the multi-tasker:

What a fun day! I'm glad we didn't let anything stop us from going.