Keukenhof Gardens

On Sunday we headed to the world famous Keukenhof Gardens. It boasts being the world's most photographed place. We arrived early to avoid the crowds and thanks (sort of) to the rain it was pretty reasonable walking around. As Liz put it, there were a ginormous amount of flowers. With this being Holland and all the primary flowers were tulips and hyacinths. There were just too many colors and types to mention or photograph. The gardens were very nicely organized and we enjoyed out stroll quite a lot. This year marked the 60th anniversary of the gardens and it coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Dutch founding New Amsterdam (NYC). So there were displays of New York icons such as the statue of liberty and Hudson river. The rain began falling harder after about 2 hours of being in the gardens so we wrapped things up and headed home. It was an amazing display of color and design. Throughout the gardens there were various things to see besides the flowers. One display had a man making wooden shoes. It was neat seeing how fast he could carve out the outside shape with his blade. He made wooden name plates for the girls after carving their names in wood and then using the blade to slice the thin venir with their name on it. Pretty cool trip and only 3 hours away.

Kinderdijk, Holland, The Netherlands

We headed up to South Holland for a weekend trip. With the tulip season in full swing we wanted to see the Netherlands during this time of year. Our first stop was to Kinderdijk. It is situated near the city of Rotterdam and contains 19 windmills. The canal and original windmills date back to the early 1300's. The ones currently here date from the mid-1700's and 1800's. 18 of the 19 are rental properties with people living in them year round. The second one in from the parking lot is set up as a period museum. We couldn't have asked for a nicer day. Over half of the windmills were spinning and the sun shone the whole day. Our first stop was for a canal boat tour. This gave us the quick view of the windmills and the girls really enjoyed it. After that we headed to the museum windmill. Inside the living quarters were set up as they would have been 2-300 years ago. The people slept in beds built in to the wall. The inner workings of the mill were going and you could see the scoop wheel pumping water out of the field into the canal. We ended up having a picnic lunch and a nice stroll along the canal. On our way out there was a Peugeot car club that was meeting up in the parking lot. The girls got to sit in the rumble seat of a 1933 car. Tori offered $99 to the man to buy it from him. He smiled and said "now that's an offer". After the windmills we headed to Leiden for our overnight stay. It is a quaint university town with canals running through it. We stroll along the streets and eventually had a nice dinner. Tomorrow Keukenhof.

Victoria Park

With Easter complete the girls and Ed had a morning free to hang out with Sam, Sophie and Justin. We decided to go to Victoria Park and play on the jungle gym. Emilie and Tori really enjoyed playing with their cousins. They led them around and helped them go down the slides, swing on the swings and navigate the tunnels. We ended up spending all morning there enjoying the great weather and fun things to play on.

Thanks Easter Bunny!

Easter in Kitchener, Canada with family was how we spent the holiday. The girls had two weeks off from school so we headed west for a week. Easter morning came with the hopes of goodies from the Easter Bunny. Em and Tori searched high and low throughout Grandma and Grandpa's house. After an exhaustive search both baskets were found. Post 7:30am chocolate binge we headed for Easter Mass. Following church Carolyn and Sean joined us and we headed in to T, Sam and the twin's for Easter dinner and egg hunt. Aunt Marilyn, Uncle David, Jodi, Mike & Penny all came in from Toronto for the afternoon. Uncle Sean ran the egg hunt. The "big" kids had their own special Easter eggs to search for while the "little" kids had random eggs to choose from. Each kid got their own special bucket with Easter gifts for them. The sun was shining and everyone enjoyed watching the little ones hunt for eggs. After the searching was completed we all played in the backyard. It was good to spend some time with the family.