Jesperhus Feriepark: Pirate Weekend (2016)

One weekend in April, we decided to take the boys to the Jesperhus Feriepark (Jesperhus vacation park) for a “pirate weekend”. Since the park doesn’t really open for the summer season until May, they offer a few pirate weekends. Off season or not, there were quite a few people there.

Renting a Cabin

We decided to stay in one of the many cabins that they had on the grounds, which easily slept 6 people in the three sleeping sections. Each bed came with a duvet and pillow, but none had duvet covers, fitted sheets or pillowcases. We had to bring those from home.

The bathroom had all the necessary features, but we had to bring our own hand soap, towels, shampoo and body wash. It also only had a shower, which wasn’t in our younger son’s best interest. He really didn’t like showers. If he were younger, bringing a tub, potty and step stool would’ve been helpful. Luckily, we didn’t need those things to survive.

The kitchen was stocked with the essential dishes, silverware, pot and pans, etc. that we needed to have our breakfasts and lunches (suppers too if we wanted), but it didn’t have dish soap, dish towels, paper towels or garbage bags. We needed to bring those as well. If we managed to forget some of these important items,we could go to the general store that they had at the main building to buy them, plus many more things we didn’t need (chips, candy, toys…).

The cabin was also equipped with a tv, offering the basic channels, which helped the boys wind down before bed.

If you chose a cabin, you could get a themed cabin, a play cabin or a basic cabin. We went with the basic cabin, since there were more available. There also appeared to be bigger cabins off in the distance that could accommodate larger groups of people, as well as many blue, tents for rent.  Then, there were the caravans (campers)! There had to have been enough space for at least 300 campers. I was so surprised to see so many campers so early in the camping season. Apparently, camping starts early in Denmark. The neat thing about campers in Europe is that they have these cool tents that can be attached to the side of the camper with the door. It adds to the living space, but I didn’t see anyone using them at this time of year.

Playgrounds and Restaurant

Since we arrived around supper time, we let the boys play on both playgrounds: one by our cabin and the other by the main building, before we stopped at the restaurant in the main building to get pizza for takeout. We even checked out a play building that they had with lots of fun things to keep the boys entertained before heading back to the cabin for a pizza supper.

Hugo and Rita Live Show

At 7pm, they started a bonfire in a pit in front of a small, outdoor theater. They had long sticks which you could use to make snobrød, or “twist bread”, which is usually dough wrapped around the end of the stick like a mummy and toasted over the fire. Though we didn’t make any bread, it was nice to be around a fire. In most Danish campgrounds (which this more-or-less was), you are not allowed to have a campfire. This one was no different, but it was an nice way for everyone to come together. At 7:30pm, Hugo the Bear and Rita the Fox came out to entertain the kids by singing, dancing and being silly. Both of my boys loved it! After the show, we made one more stop to the playground before going back to the cabin and getting ready for bed.

Indoor Swimming Pool (as of 2016)

On Saturday, we got up and had breakfast in the cabin. It was raining, so we decided to take the car to the main building to go in the indoor swimming hall. Since I had already had a swimming pool experience in Denmark,  I was ready for the locker room. Luckily though, my husband was with me and took the boys with him to the men’s locker room. Before anyone entered the locker rooms, we had to take off our shoes and put them on racks outside the locker rooms. I, of course, don’t have pictures of the locker room (not by my choice), but I can say that it was standard. However, the mini lockers were for rent. I wasn’t expecting to take 5 Danish Kroner with me (about 75 cents) to house my coat and clothes, so I would have to leave my stuff inside unlocked until I met with my husband on the other side. I was one of the first people in there, so I quickly dressed in my suit and went out to wait for money from my husband. Then, I went back inside and showered. By this time, there was a full locker room with both dressed and undressed woman showering. I made my best attempt to shower by using soap from the dispenser, but I left my suit on.

I went to the area where two small pools were to find my family. The baby pool had a large mushroom in the middle of the pool, which had a small slide in the middle. We started here, since it had been a long time since my boys were in a pool. They needed extra time to get comfortable with the water again. This pool had toys for the little ones to play in the water, and my boys each took turns with watering cans, shovels and trucks. I couldn’t take pictures in the pool area, which was a major bummer! I just don’t get what the Danes have against taking pictures of people in their bathing suits?? I was only going to take pictures of my kids. I didn’t need a picture of unibrow in his speedo. Whatever! I, of course, took pictures as we were walking out. 😉

The pool next to it came up to the belly button on my 5’4″ frame. We played in this pool next, which had various rafts that we could use. The boys practiced swimming and had a great time. The swim hall also had three slides. Two were blue slides: one that the boys could have gone on where parents could stand at the end to catch their kids and one for people who knew how to swim since the end was in deep waters. My kids didn’t want to try them. However, there was a black slide that big brother was interested in trying. First, Dennis took the big boy down the slide, but they said it was so slow. Apparently, they needed to use an inner tube, so the second time was much better. The end of this slide was a shallow tray, so big boy wasn’t intimidated.

Little brother and I played in the baby pool until they came back. I wasn’t expecting big boy to be so hooked on the slide that he needed his mom to try it! It looked harmless enough, and my mentality couldn’t process the idea of my 6 year old wanting to do anything dangerous; I agreed to go. We picked up a tube and headed up the stairs. There was only one other person in front of us, so we didn’t have to wait long. I put the red tube down on the set of rollers that would propel us down the slide and cautiously sat down. Big brother sat on my lap, and we pushed off. Now, I was under the impression that this was a slow slide, so I was excited for what was to come. I had no idea what I was in for. First off, this was a BLACK slide, which meant no light in and no light out. We were literally in darkness. We had no idea which direction we were going or what was coming next. Things seemed okay at first, but then I could feel we were losing our balance. Before I really knew what was happening, we had fallen off the tube. It still felt like big brother was sitting on me, but I can’t really say for sure. I just knew we were still sliding down. Then, we started to spin and we’re going down sideways, then backwards, and then we were on our backs going backwards. For whatever reason, this freaked me out a little. I screamed on and off the whole way down, but it was more of laughing scream. Unfortunately for my son, I don’t think he knew the difference. I’m either helping this kid learn about life or messing up his emotions for a lifetime. Geez! After we managed to turn ourselves around so that we were going down facing forward, we were out of the tube! I had a huge, goofy grin on my face, because it really was fun, but I definitely felt a bit of the butterflies in my stomach! Big boy wanted to go again, which reassured me that he wasn’t freaked, but once was enough for me for now! 😉

After braving the showers alone, which is actually better than doing it with two small boys, I met my family in the hallway to pick up our shoes. This was, of course, when I decided to take some secret pictures of the indoor waterpark. You can also see a glimpse of the outdoor waterpark, which wasn’t open yet. It was in the 40s (fahrenheit) when we were there, so the outdoor section was closed with no running water. It had a large, orange octopus that was a large water slide for the little ones. It seemed interesting, but we would have to come back and try it when the weather gets nicer. We were all hungry by this point, so we headed back to our cabin to make lunch and take a well-needed, family nap! 🙂

Indoor Playground /Overcoming Fears

After we woke, we packed the pirate clothes and drove to the indoor activity center that we first tried out on the first day of being there. We had some time before the pirate show, so we decided to spend it playing. This was when my son talked me in to going down the slides. There were two, yellow slides in this building. I am not a big fan of speed or heights, so the idea of going down one of these slides was really nothing I enjoyed. I thought I was a big enough girl to do the smaller of the two, and I realized quickly that it was still fast. My heart was racing after that one trip with my little guy on my lap. I know that I’m being a baby. There were tons of small children on both slides, laughing and speeding down the slides without a care in the world. I was terrified! My bigger son asked me to go down the big slide with him, and I told him that I didn’t think it was going to happen. I told him that I would either faint, puke or pee my pants. He didn’t seem to be fazed at all by these images. He dismissed them almost immediately. I walked up the many steps to the top of the big slide with him, and I even went as far as to sit down at the beginning of the slide, but that was all I could muster. I told him that I didn’t think I could do this. Actually, I said, “I don’t want to do this.” He said, “come on, mommy,” which made me feel a bit annoyed at myself. I wanted to play with him, but I was so stinkin’ terrified of this slide. I know and knew then that I would be fine, but I just couldn’t do it. I said, “I just can’t” and got up. He ended up going down the slide without me, crying the whole way. I don’t really know what made him cry. I will never fully understand the emotions of small children, but he was very upset by this. How can you explain to you 6 year old that you are so afraid of something that you can’t do it. Then tell him that the “something” specifically is a slide. I am sure that he found it hard to believe and somehow internalized my abstinence for being something against him. I know that I felt horrible. I met him on the stairs as I was walking down and he was walking back up. Still crying, he said, “come on, mommy. Try something new!” Darn it all! That kid was using my own words against me. How can I tell my kids to try new foods and activities if I don’t. I was a fraud! I was bound to go down that darn slide!! I still didn’t want to and was afraid, but I had to do it to show my son that I wasn’t completely full of “sh*#”. I gave myself a pep talk as I walked up the stairs holding his hand, and then, I went down the slide. I was much better about it, than I had thought. I mentioned to my son that I would probably scream so loudly that I would scare people, but I didn’t. I ended up going down that slide 5 more times. Crazy!! The things you do in life for your kids!! I guess I should say, the things your kids help you overcome. I wouldn’t say that I’m ready for any slide now, but baby steps. I thanked my son for being so supportive of me. I hope he understood just how much he did for me in that instance and how much I went against everything my mind and body was telling me just to prove to him that I loved him!

We tried out all the other play areas again, since we had the time. They had a really neat merry-go-round that the boys tried, as well as, a few small plastic play sets for little ones. There was also a small pyramid that the kids could climb like a rock wall and go inside like a tent. A small area with plastic cozy coupes and mini motorcycles was where little bro and I had a bit of fun before leaving. I don’t think he laughed so hard on this trip as he did when he was being raced around in a cozy coupe. Unfortunately for me, my husband doesn’t ever think to take pictures unless I tell him to take pictures, so there is no race photo with a smiling little man nor a giggly boy in a video. (Loud sigh!)

The Pirate Show

We decided to drive, since it was raining pretty hard by this time. The distance wasn’t very far from the activity center, but it was located in a separate section of the park. We were told to arrive at 5:30pm, which we did. After being checked in, we were given red bandannas to wear for the show. We were on the “red” team. I was happy for this, because red matched our pirate clothes! Haha! We waited in an open area that was decorated with lots of things pirate-y, and the boys ran around swishing their swords at other kids, having fun, being pirates. At about 10 to 6, we were told that we could go into the dining room.

At first, the hostess was going to set us back a bit from the stage, but I asked if we could go farther up for a closer view. She then led us to the front of the table, where only one other family was in front of us. We had a great view. It was here, that a “pirate” approached us about having my little guy come up on the stage to “shoot a gun” for a part of the show. How exciting!! We sat down and waited for the rest of the people to take their seats before the show started. Bottles of beer and two different juices bottles were already on the table. The beer was Carlsberg Green and the juices were some type of fruit punch (red) and a pineapple drink (yellow). There were also rolls with butter and salad with various dressings (creme fraiche and thousand island) on the table. They were spread out so that they were in front of every 4th person. Almost immediately, the food was brought out to the tables. It was served in a family style, with a large try of meat (frikadeller, sausages, chicken legs) and corn on the cob being placed at about every 4th person. The last thing to come out was a large bowl of french fries. We all took turns helping ourselves, and the waitress brought out extra food when we ran out. There was a lot of food, so everyone really had their fill.

While we ate, the pirates performed their show. I can’t say that I understood everything, but it was entertaining. There were four main characters. Roger and Morgan were pirates. Princess Sofia and Sean seemed to be the people of nobility. There was a bit of magic, a bit of singing, a bit of sword play, and they even had the two cartoon characters from the park: Hugo the bear and Rita the fox, come out to join the show. Just as we were about finished with our food, it was little brother’s turn to go on stage to try to shoot a target. Of course, it was all pretend, but he thought it was real. When we told him to get ready to go up on the stage, he said, “what if that man tries to take me.” OMG! Talk about the sweetest little, 3-year old boy in the whole world! He was worried about being taken away. It was either my good “stranger danger” speech or the book we read a few days before about a boy going to live with the pirates, but either way, I just about melted when he said that. I told him he didn’t have to worry, because mommy was right here. He joined three other children on stage, and it turns out that the second shooter from the blue team (There were only red and blue teams.) was the one destined to win this competition. Little bro didn’t seem to mind! He had to write his signature on a document before going back to his seat, which was a scribble on a roll of toilet paper!! Haha!

Before the very end of the show, they brought out the dessert. Again, this was served family-style, and there were even extra pieces. Dennis, of course, took a second, but the three of us were okay with one. I couldn’t quite figure out the flavor of the cake, but it wasn’t my favorite. Later, Dennis told me that it was a typical Danish favorite, called “rum cake”. Holy moly! I unintentionally gave my children rum cake! Ugghh! Oh, well.

Overall, I would have to say that this was one of the best experiences that I have had with my family anywhere. We have been to Medival Times in the USA, which is really great. It is very similar, but this is more personal. The room is smaller, and they really get the audience involved. Medival Times does that, but I would just say that it is different. The pirates encouraged all of the children to come on the stage to have a group photo taken. Then they also told them that they could get in line to have individual pictures taken with the pirates. This was such a nice gesture. You would think that they would be in a hurry to be done or that people would have to pay for a picture, but that wasn’t the case. They were happy to be around the kids; you could tell.

Going on a Treasure Hunt

After all of our pictures were done, we went back to the area we waited in the beginning. The princess gave the children a “treasure map” and pen, and she told them to find all of the items on the map for a prize. The adjoining building was the indoor play place and zoo, which resembled a tropical jungle of sorts and was where we had to look for the items.

I have to say that Denmark really knows how to make themed play places. This place was amazing! Right way, we could see a stairs leading up to a rope bridge to the left and a “swamp” with a crocodile to the right (Fake, of course.). We walked the whole play area to find the different statues, pictures, etc. The boys climbed ropes and walked over various types of bridges.

The big boy and I even decided to walk over the rocks in the swamp. We were doing a pretty good job, too, until the crocodile decided to attack and spooked my son. He fell in the water! Haha! I was holding his hand, so only his legs got wet. Luckily! It didn’t faze him, however, from looking for more items on the map.

The next room had hammocks, slides, coloring pages, and a sandbox. We told the boys that we would come back the next day to play, so we would just focus on the hunt.

We returned to the main area, which is really a cafe of sorts, since it sells candy, snacks, ice cream and drinks. This was where a pirate was waiting behind one of the counters with the prize. It was a certificate telling the child that he/she was a real pirate. The pirate gave out some gold (chocolate coins) and then gave each child a hug. I thought that was a nice touch. My big guy became a pirate king, which went straight to his head for the next couple of days. He thought he was king of everything. Lord help us! The kid was already very bossy without the king title. Little brother became a pirate captain, which you could tell he liked! 🙂 After it was all said and done, we were there a total of 3 hours. I would say that was money well spent for this dinner!

On Sunday, we really had done most of what Jesperhus had to offer. The pirate show the night before really wore us out, so we all slept in on Sunday. After eating breakfast, we headed to the indoor activity center, yet again. We wanted to go to the Zik and Zak Gymnastik Party, which took place at 11am. We were early, so the boys played on the slides and toys. It rained all day the day before, so I encouraged my kids to avoid the outdoor playground until after lunch when they could get their rain clothes on. It wasn’t raining then, but the rain clothes would protect them from the wet sand. They both had runny noses, and I didn’t want them to get worse by being cold and wet. I have to say that the indoor activity center was cold on the feet. If we ever go back there in April, I would want to bring slippers and/or thick socks for this place.

Sunday Morning Exercise with Monkeys (cartoons and mine)

Zik and Zak, the two monkey cartoon characters, came into the hall with a lady who was dressed in her PJs. They did a bunch of stretches to their stuffed animals, and then they began to do some exercises. My little guy wasn’t really sure about this and just watched, but my bigger boy was all into it! 🙂 The one disappointment I had with this was that it ended at 11:15am. I didn’t think it really needed to go any longer than it did, but the sign said 11:00 – 11:30am. If we showed up late to it, we would have missed it. Just saying…

Indoor Jungle and Zoo

Because we played in the activity center many times, we walked over to the indoor jungle and zoo. The zoo was closed the night before, so we didn’t get to see it, and the boys really wanted to have more time in the jungle play land, since we didn’t actually get to play the night before. The play jungle was truly amazing. The boys climbed rope ladders, crawled in tunnels and played in the sand. They had a blast.

We also visited the zoo, which had animals walking/flying around you instead of in cages. I loved this idea. I’m not one for keeping animals in cages, so this was really cool. There were lots of different types of parrots flying around, and on the ground were two different types of lemurs. We even saw lots of fish and also turtles in the water.

After a little bit of lunch, we packed up to go home! This was by far, the best weekend we had spent in Denmark to date. Who would have known that such a place existed and that we would be able to experience it after only living in DK for a little over a month. We are truly blessed!

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