Den Haag

I hope you aren't sick of my summer pictures yet because I still have about 12 more posts of them!
The highlight of Den Haag (the hague) by far was Maduradam. It's a miniature city with a whole bunch of models of places in the Netherlands. I was amazed at how closely they paid attention to little details...like the tiny people and dogs and bushes trimmed to look like trees.
Jimmy in front of a tiny windmill

Classic Glade face

Sleeping Beauty

Glade was heart broken when he found out he was not allowed to play with the model cars.

Model of an amusement park...you put a coin in and the rides all came to life!

These next few make me laugh...I'm surprised Lara and Shelley didn't get us kicked out! :)

"Shelley, watch out!"

haha
Are you laughing yet?
"Lara, you are HUUUUGE!"
How many people can you fit in one wooden shoe?
We also got to go to Den Haag temple, which was one of my favorite evenings of the summer!

Emotional Day

I don't know if I can fully explain how many emotions were there this day...picking up my parents and little sisters from the airport...so I won't even try!
Lara, Mom, Renae
I wish she could have held her when she was seconds old and not months...but still...

What an exciting day this was!

Delft

Hello Delft, city of Johannes Vermeer and Delft Blue pottery.
Hello storybook views

Hello bored little boy

Hello birds (and not-so-bored-any-more little boy)

Hello sister (miss you)

Hello cool view

Hello again gorgeous girl

Hallo blauwe hart

Hello city hall

Goodbye Delft

Summer Recap: Keukenhof

Thankfully Shelley got here just in time to see keukenhof. I think when most people think of Holland they think of tulips. One of the things I love about keukenhof is the smell of the flowers!

Unfortunately I can't take credit for these great pictures. Shelley took 90% of them!

Jimmy played inside this glass maze for 30 minutes or more. He loved it and he got really good at it. By the end he was showing some adults how to make it through!

Growing up our Grandpa Ross always took cheesy pictures of people smelling flowers...thus this picture is for him! :)

Gorgeous

They have a fun petting zoo for the kids. The turkey (below) tried to eat us! Not really, but he sure was scary.

Okay, so there's a story to go with this picture. Shelley and Jimmy are sitting on one of those wooden "lily pads" as you can see. Well after they had their picture taken Jimmy and I had ours taken. After Shelley snapped our picture we started to walk slowly across the lily pads. Then Jimmy got this brilliant idea to run across and being the brilliant mother I am, I also thought it was an excellent idea. We took off running and who would've guessed that those wet lily pads would be slippery? Umm, apparently not me and down we both went. My whole right leg went into the water and was wet up to my knee. I slammed into the next lily pad, hitting my chin and lip on the wood. My lip bled for the next few hours and I was cut up on my legs, hands, and face. I was in quite a bit of pain but what hurt even more was my pride. I slowly picked myself up off that wooden board (and of course my child too who thankfully only scratched his little pinky). I carried him very slowly, head down very low, praying nobody was looking. Ugh, I was very embarrassed. And too bad Shelley had put the camera down just minutes before! This was months ago and I still have a scar on my lip from it.

And I leave you with a picture of my budding photographer! If you ever make it to Holland try and come during the spring so you can see all the flowers. I think it's definitely part of the Holland experience.

Summer Recap: Rotterdam Zoo

We went with Shelley and our friends (Falkena family) to the zoo. I always have a good time at the zoo and of course the kids do too!

They have an awesome playground! The slide (below) was actually REALLY fun!

Glade prefers to lick his ice cream from the table. I wonder how clean those zoo tables are!

See the butterfly? Because I don't!

Shell and Myra bug

Myra wanted to pet the alligator.

We got this cute monkey magnet and Jimmy made this creepy contraption to hold him. Looks like some freaky form of torturing device! :)

Let the Summer Recap Begin!

I'm finally going to begin sorting through all my summer pictures. We have had quite the adventures and have quite the number of photos. We sadly just said goodbye to our last visitors. We've had guests since the beginning of May and it has honestly been SO much fun! It feels so strange to have just our little family here now.

I suppose I will start from the beginning (or somewhere near it). Shelley (my sis) and I went to Delfshaven. It's here in Rotterdam. It's really pretty...lots of boats, water, a windmill, etc. The old part of Delfshaven survived World War 2.

In 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers held their last meeting in this church before sailing to America.

And here's a cute boy who followed us around that day! :)