[LisArno]

Ha ha ha! I'm laughing and you two are completely innocent. We don't have nice stores, we have a military PX. There wasn't one pair of size 4T girls jeans there yesterday - just a single pair of long pants and we had already bought that (in green camouflage). The entire children's clothing section would fit into a usual Wendy's. The toy/game store would be about the same. We had a choice of three beds for the kids. Most of my American shopping is done over the internet or every other summer when I return to the States. We do buy quite a bit at German stores, but the exchange rate is absolutely horrible right now. [I do need to note that I am grateful for what we do have in our PX - could be worse and we'd have nothing]

If I were in the States, I would use the idea of zoo/museum/swimming passes, but there's nothing here that I would take my children to on a regular basis, though there are numerous "one time" places (Lego Land, Play Mobil, kiddie amusement parks,...) to visit and Germany isn't into gift certificates for those places.

I do appreciate your suggestions!