Smileys Kinderhotel im Babydorf

"Mom, mom, there are two boys here and they're just our ages, seven and five, and they speak ENGLISH!"

Well, that didn't take long at all.  When we booked our hotel room, our contact at the front desk mentioned that there would be at least one one British family staying at the hotel, and so Dennis and I were hopeful that the kids might be able to find some friends. We had no idea of the ages of the other guests' kids, so we thought it best not to mention it to ours.  But within minutes of waking up, our kids found some little friends.  I think it's so poignant, that, amid all the play equipment this place offers, finding some companionship was what excited them both most. Ella earnestly informed me: "Mom, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship that will last all the way until next Saturday!"

Plus, the boys are named George and Lucus, so you know their parents are the very best sort of people.

The kids got to race around with each other for a few hours in the morning, exploring all that this crazy hotel has to offer.  It's absolutely adorable, this place.  The decor is strictly Grandma's Attic, with funny little tassels and plastic fruit and lace and throw pillows on every available surface. Inside there's a soft play area with large building blocks and a kiddie habitrail that extends across two floors.  Dennis joined the kids in there, to Ella's friends' amazement.  "Wow, a dad who goes down slides?" they asked her. "Yeah," Ella told them, "My dad's really cool." Dennis's chest visibly puffed.

Our kids and their new friends did many, many laps through the play structure after breakfast, when they weren't squealing through the dining hall, playing tag.  When every single family at a hotel has a child, no one seems to mind when the kids run somewhat amok.  In fact, there's a general air of relief as we tacitly permit one another to cut their kids some slack.

The kids simply could not believe their luck when they
discovered the cake buffet.

Alex, making friends over fußball

But mostly, there's cake.

That dining area is just great: the meals run in multi-hour blocks, but there is always food between times, as well, including our favorite, "cake hour," from 3:00-4:00. 

Each family has its own assigned table for the week.  Breakfast and lunch are buffet-style, and each night parents get to choose their dinner for the following day. (Children are offered a steady diet of spaghetti, chicken nuggets, pizza, and apples and oranges.)

And did I mention, there's a bar with around-the-clock coffee?

Dennis and I finally convinced all the kids to trade the indoor play structure for even greater wonders outdoors.  For our own sakes, not theirs. From our balcony we could see a really incredible playground, and we wanted to play.  What we couldn't see from our room was a second playground across the street and a little wooded trail that went up the side of the mountain, decorated with plastic garden gnomes along the way and leading to a kid-sized forest hut and a mountain-top zip line. On the far side of the hill was also a sledding slope and snow machine. Instead of shiny American plastic, everything was made of painted plaster, so all the structures had a sun-bleached, slightly run-down appearance. Adding to the charm, in my opinion.  And there's a delightful lack of guardrails and attendants.

There's one couple who sits next to us in the dining room who brought only a tiny baby with them.  Dennis and I laughed a little behind our hands: when a baby is that small, you can take him anywhere, but here's this cute couple, so excited to join the realm of parenthood, taking their newborn to a Kinderhotel. But, as I've already said, one of the best perks of having kids is having an excellent excuse to play with all their toys. So maybe this couple came for the playgrounds. Maybe I would have done the same thing, if I had a place like this nearby when Ella was 6 months old.

Although the hotel has its own mascot, the playground was
decorated as a Smurf village.

A magical path

Alex and I took turns flying down the mountain.

Making up their own version of chess

Something for everyone

After lunch, we took the kids swimming in the hotel pools: there are two of them: a bath-water-warm baby pool and a pool and water slide for the big kids.  Joey enjoyed both equally: several times he wanted to go down the large water slide on my lap, and each time we went underwater and resurfaced, he sputtered a happy "Woah!"

After an long day of exploring the charms of the hotel, everyone was looking a little tired at dinner.  One by one, the moms and dads took their kids up to the buffet, and Dennis noted that it really doesn't matter what language everyone is speaking: every parent has that special voice reserved for trying to convince their children to eat something new.  We knew exactly what they were saying, and we said it all, too, especially to our older, pickier eaters.  Happily, there was unlimited ice cream for dessert, and the kids thought they'd really gotten away with something great when they each got two scoops of ice cream as a reward for a meal well-eaten.  What didn't register with them, incredibly, was that the scoop was about the size of a tablespoon.

Kiddie cheers: To an excellent day.

Tomorrow and for the rest of the week, the hotel has programs for the children all day long and a theater and movies in the evening, although most parents, I suspect, will be taking their kids skiing.  Ella's and Alex's new friends tried to talk them into going, but they're unconvinced, still.  

Ella's resigning herself to seeing them only in the evening. "I'll be wearing a brown dress tomorrow, with pink sleeves, just in case you have trouble spotting me." 

"Okay!" Lucas answered. "And, um, how long will your dress be?"

Perhaps this friendship indeed will last all the way to Saturday. They seem to understand each other perfectly.