A Georgia Girl in Germany

April is the “Month of the Military Child,” which means that the base has several additional activities to recognize military children. One such activity this year was a photo scavenger hunt. MacKenzie found a copy of the rules and a list of the photos to find...and wanted to enter. Fortunately, several of the photo opportunities listed were places that we either were already planning to visit or that were easy to find, so we traveled the entire month carrying around the Month of the Military Child sign so one of the kids could hold it in a photo.

Here are the kids in front of the “youngest castle” we could find -- the Stuttgart Neue Schloss, which was built between 1746 and 1807, but reconstructed between 1958 and 1964.

They received a point for each photo taken inside an American restaurant. They decided to have it their way and wear the crowns at Burger King after a visit to Legoland.

They received points for taking a photo outside the entrance of their favorite roller coaster ride (the Feuerdrache -- the Fire Dragon -- at Legoland), and earned extra points for submitting a photo of them while on the ride. MacKenzie was cautiously looking around just before the first big drop here.

MacKenzie was excited when we took this photo of the Polizei since they earned double points for convincing them to let them sit in their van for the photo! And, the Polizei got a kick out of us asking to do so.

We don’t need much of an excuse to visit the Ritter-Sport factory (and this time we had two excuses: Nana was visiting and needed chocolate to bring back, and we needed a photo). This photo gave them more bonus points since we convinced two factory employees in uniform to eat some chocolate while posing with them. MacKenzie’s friend Hannah joined us that day too.

This is another bonus photo (double points again) for having their photo made on the U-bahn with the driver. When he saw them standing next to his cab, he politely opened the door and invited them in for the photo. We weren’t sure we were going to get those bonus points, so were excited when that fell into place!


This was another photo with bonus points, although this one was tricky to get just right since we had to include another tourist taking a photo in the background. Zachary and MacKenzie kept lining up next to each other, holding the sign, any time it looked like someone was taking a photo. Fortunately, I was quick on the draw and the man in the red jacket took his time while getting his kids to pose for his photo.

When it was all said and done, we found 19 of the 20 photos listed on the scavenger hunt, and earned the bonus points on all but five of them. MacKenzie was very excited to learn that we had won the contest. Since it was her idea and prompting, she earned the prize -- a new digital camera, a kids travel journal and a nice gift certificate for a local tour company (she wants to use it toward a trip to Paris!). The boys wish they had their own camera now, but she’s good about sharing and doesn’t use it exclusively.

Labels: Benjamin, Germany, MacKenzie, Zachary