Jimmy's Countdown Chain

Jimmy was with me when we bought our flight tickets to the US months ago. He has been asking me EVERY day how long until we get to go. We made a countdown chain when there were 21 days left. We're so excited because now there are NO chains left! We leave early tomorrow (Friday) morning.

Please pray for us...seriously...we're going to need it. I am worried about traveling alone with the two little boys for so long. I have many fun things packed to hopefully keep us all entertained. If there are no delays then we will be traveling for 22 hours. That makes for a very long day for all of us. We can't wait to see everyone in just a few hours (I wish I could beam us there...or at least Glade. He is anything but a good traveler!). Okay, off to bed. My goal was to be in bed by 10pm. I have 3 minutes...I may actually make it!

Keukenhof & Efteling

So you probably know that Holland is famous for its tulips. Keukenhof is the world-famous 80-acre park. Each year 7 million flower bulbs are planted! I thought it was amazing how they have the whole garden planned so there is always something blooming. It was gorgeous and my pictures really just don't do it justice.

My favorite part was the smell. Too bad there's no way to capture that and send some to all of you. The whole park smelled so good! The little boys' favorite part was the petting zoo (okay so that area didn't smell so nice).

We also recently went to Efteling with some of our friends here (the Peck family). Their daughter, Abby, is so sweet to Jimmy and he just adores her. I loved watching them run around the amusement park holding hands! They had all these little houses you could walk through...like Snow White's house, Sleeping Beauty, Red's Grandma, etc...they were so cute.

These mirrors that contort your image kept the kids giggling for so long. Jimmy thought they were absolutely hilarious!

Can you find Jimmy in the maze?

This was taken before a really cool 3-D show called PandaDroom (Panda Dream).

Both boys loved this little train ride.

Jimmy's favorite was this train one. You have to pedal to get your train moving. Kristal and Alex Peck are in the train behind Jarom and Jimmy. Alex was so good at pedaling that they kept catching up to Jimmy and running into him. Jimmy thought it was so funny!

I loved Jimmy's expression on this little rollercoaster. Normally he is pretty expressionless on rides but not on this one! After this ride he saw a very big boat ride that he desperately wanted to go on. Jarom and I could tell it was just for older kids (think Tidal Wave at Lagoon...but I swear this one went higher) but Jimmy was determined so I took him on it. The poor kid was so scared. He hid his face and whimpered. After the ride he said, "I not like the big boat. It go too really high and make my sad." Poor thing. We had a great time with the Pecks and were so glad we went together. I hope we all go again next year too. I thought I'd end this long post with the gorgeous picture above. I'm flying to the US with Jimmy and Glade on Friday. I'm sure Utah will look even browner now that I'm used to such a gorgeous green place. It's even green here in the winter.