The final "vacances" — part one

The last two weeks the boys have been off school once again, the final vacances of the academic year. Jesse took several days off as well, and we set off for yet another new-to-us destination, this time driving northeast to the Netherlands. On our way, we spent a lovely 36 hours in Belgium with Roger and Karen Morgan. Roger is a colleague of Jesse's. What wonderful hosts! And fortunately, having raised three sons, our monkeys didn't phase them—which is always a relief when traveling with children who spend most of their time looking like this:

On Sunday afternoon Roger and Karen took us for a sylvan walk through a lovely park / arboretum / forest nearby. Despite some drizzle (and the aforementioned monkeys), it was just beautiful.

 

After spending Saturday evening and Sunday with the Morgans, it was off to the Netherlands on Monday. We didn't stay in Amsterdam itself (more on that in tomorrow's post), but we did head straight into the city on Monday afternoon for several hours. It was King's Day, a huge national holiday, and the city—not to mention every little hamlet we passed en route!—was decked out in orange, orange, and more orange. There were flags and buntings and flowers everywhere...roads were closed...people were thronging. Very festive! 

Our personal destination that afternoon was Amstelpark, which Jesse had read online hosts a huge children's yard-sale kind of thing on King's Day, and we thought the boys might enjoy it. The event apparently started as a day when kids could haul in their toys, clothes, etc. and sell to other kids and families. We found that it's transformed in recent years into so much more, though, and it was terrifically fun! There were thousands of people there, and there were indeed hundreds of blankets spread on the ground with mostly used kid gear for sale. But the super part was that kids also had gotten creative and were doing way more than selling their used stuff. Kids were playing instruments with their hats on the ground for coins, sibling groups were singing, there were homemade games and challenges galore where you could pay 50 cents to play (we loved one game that shot a chocolate covered marshmallow off a catapult that you could catch and eat); girls were giving manicures; kids were face painting; a family had strung up a hammock you could pay to lie in for a minute; friends had crafted items to sell; the girl pictured below would give you a compliment if you paid her!  :) The ingenuity was endless, and the best part was how unpolished and kid-driven and just totally creative it seemed to be. Needless to say, we didn't have any change left in our pockets by the end. 

He asked for a butterfly on one cheek and a grasshopper on the other, with a dotted line connecting them. Naturally. (You cant really see the line dotting over the bridge of his nose here, but it was super cute!)

I liked how bulbs had been planted in the knots of the trees in the park!

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The next day, Tuesday, we headed to west to the famous flower fields and to the storied Keukenhof Gardens. We rented a couple of bikes to see the area up close and personal. Josiah was SO excited. We haven't gotten him a bike here in France, and he's really been missing riding. Jesse and I got a tandem (with William in a seat behind), and Josiah was a champ at keeping up and riding safely.

Sure do love that boy! 

The day could hardly have been more gorgeous in pictures, but what you can't see was that a stiff wind was blowing for the first several hours and the temps were in the 40s. Our bodies stayed warm enough with our exercise, but our fingers and noses were painfully cold!! Totally worth it, though. Gorgeous!

After an hour or two of biking (and getting awfully lost for a bit), we arrived at a perfect late lunch spot. Kudos to Jesse for choosing it! It was loaded with buckets of fresh daffies and tulips, and I was basically in heaven, although the picture below looks a little stiff since I was still thawing out.  :)

Cold boy + hot chocolate =

a picture that the boys ask to see every day because it makes them laugh so hard!

After turning our bikes back in, it was into Keukenhof Gardens itself for the balance of the day. About 80 acres. 7 million bulbs. Over 800 varieties of tulips alone. Stunning. 

William got lots of oohs and ahs from passers by when this little friend spent ages on his hand. He eventually deposited his winged companion inside a tulip.  :)

Can you see my hand? These particular tulips were enormous!

They're honoring Van Gogh this year.

Yeah, I could have sat there a while. 

I'll leave you with the obligatory Jesse-throwing-William shot. Tomorrow I'll try to post up the rest of the trip.