First, our housing. We once again used airbnb.com, and we couldn't have been happier. We stayed in a beautiful, rural town called Zegveld in a little rental apartment attached to the owners' own farmhouse. The rate we paid was far less than anything we could find for even a modest hotel room in Amsterdam, making four nights of housing very manageable—plus we had a full kitchen so we made almost all of our own meals, two bedrooms, a beautiful living room, tons of land to run around on and explore, silent nights, etc. etc. etc. What's more, the delightful owner shared her sons' toys with Josiah and William. She's raising five boys and has bookend daughters, a 22-year-old who is married with a daughter of her own and a 6-year-old youngest. With bins of Legos and connect-y toys and a huge trampoline outdoors, Jesse and I were hard pressed to get J and W to leave the premises. :)
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| The tree in front of our house. |
Among other things, the owners raise sheep. Several lambs were born the week we were there. This little one was only a day old, and our landlords happily let us have a cuddle!!
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| She had just licked his fingers. :) |
When I say they "happily" let us cuddle, I'm not referring to mama sheep, who was not impressed. Here she is eyeing me rather warily a few minutes after her lamb was returned to her. Sorry, mama.
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| The owners were clever. They'd dug out a big crater beneath the trampoline so it was just a few inches off the ground. |
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| Josiah was very enamored with this go-cart, and I wish I had a pic with William in the back seat! :) |
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| Josiah made Lego monograms for us one morning to label our places at the table. :) |
Obviously we were utterly charmed by the place. Indeed, if another guest hadn't been booked for Friday night, we probably would have added another day to our stay. Frankly, we were charmed by the beauty of the countryside across the Netherlands, not just in Zegveld. Every town we passed was so tidy and well-kept, the colors were vibrant, there was water in every direction (most driveways were small bridges since practically every road was accompanied by a canal alongside!), and it didn't hurt that we were there when baby lambs and calves were in the fields. And the magnificent birds! Swans, cranes, and storks everywhere.
On that note, our landlord tipped us off that Zegveld has erected a small village for nesting storks. Seeing as it's nesting season now, it was the perfect week to see it. The place isn't publicized on the internet; we were thankful for her heads-up!
The other great thing about Zegveld is that it was really centrally located for day trips in different directions each day, which suited us well for this trip. So...back to the travelogue:
On Wednesday, after a slow morning of Legos and stopping by the stork village, we headed back up to Amsterdam for a late lunch. We decided we had to eat some of the famous Amsterdam pancakes. On our walk to the restaurant, we enjoyed the crazy crooked houses of the city.
We also enjoyed the canals at every turn, picturesque even on a gray day when it kept threatening to spit rain. 
We highly recommend the little place where we ate, called Upstairs Pannenkoeken. It has only four tables in a room the size of a small bedroom and is found up a flight of ancient stairs so steep it's like climbing a ladder. I've never seen stairs like it! I guess codes were different in the 1500s when the building was made... :) The teeny interior was quaint with photos of the royal family on the walls and over 100 teapots hung from the ceiling. The pancakes were of course freshly made to order. We got two savory options and two sweet options and split them across the four of us. Delicious!
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On Thursday the sun came back out and we headed south to Gouda—yes, the home of the cheese by the same name, although did you know it's pronounced "how-da"? We didn't! Thursday mornings in Gouda are festive, since it's when they hold their weekly cheese auction and farmer's market. They definitely cater to tourists, with the activity equal parts legitimate and staged, but it was wonderfully fun either way.
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| A 60+ pound wheel of cheese. |
The boys ate a lot of samples. Who am I kidding...so did Jesse and I! :) And we've been enjoying yummy gouda nearly every lunch since returning home to France seeing as we bought a few chunks there. What's more, the farm next to our rental made and sold artisinal gouda, and so we got to walk over and meet the cows, see the cheese making process, and buy a little wheel from them too. I've always liked gouda cheese at home in the US, but this "real" stuff definitely tastes different, more aged, and is absolutely wonderful.
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| Curing cheeses at the farm in Zegveld. |
All told, it was an awesome week, and we were sad to see it end. On Friday morning, Jesse was off early for a meeting in Utrecht while I stayed back to pack up and clean a little and the boys got in a last hour or two of jumping and playing. By noon we hit the road and made the long, 500-mile journey home. The end!
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