First trip

We took our first trip in the van as a family! I'm still amazed at how much space there is. The kids can't physically fight anymore. They can only just about reach each other. It's so spacious I'm gonna have to work really hard not to fill it up with crap :)

We headed north out of Berlin not really knowing where we were going except that we wanted to eat ice cream and Rob wanted to try out Mandy on the Autobahn. 

We ended up heading to Oranienburg and had ice cream on the side of a lake in a boat/harbour restaurant here. 

A bit of a grey one, but we had fun all the same. Looking for signs of beavers at the waters edge and running obstacle courses through the woods.

When we got back to the van post ice cream and walk the kids wanted to try out their bed. So this is them. The reason Jacob is blurry has nothing to do with my camera skills and much more to do with how mush the sugar rush and excitement contribute to him wriggling about :)

That was when we had our idea for the second trip of the day. The idea was we would go home and get the two mattresses we had been planning on using on our bed, the computer so the kids could get comfy watching a film up top, and some bits and bobs so we could picnic in the van. And that is what we did. Picked up some chips on the way and parked in a nearby glamorous location (an Aldi carpark with a view of the canal :)). I then introduced the Germans to chip butties - an instant hit I might add- and we set about converting the van for sleeping, just for fun.

The kids lay down in the roof and watched a cartoon. We converted the seats into a bed to find that the folding mattresses we use for kids guests fit perfectly side by side to turn the folded down seats into a really comfy bed for us. We closed all the curtains, opened a beer and imagined ourselves somewhere other than Aldi car park. Then the computer ran out of battery and kids started kicking up fuss...

But the first inklings of the fun we are going to have in the van have been planted in all of us and now we only have to put up with Jacob asking daily why we can't sleep in the camper van tonight!