Close followers of the stock exchanges may know Perrigo has been defending the largest hostile take-over in U.S history for the last six months which we know means our days on this wonderful adventure may be numbered (but not if I can help it)!! That being said, we are taking every opportunity to venture out and explore Europe!
We knew the girls were going to have 9/25 off (not sure why) so it was a good excuse to extend their holiday. We landed in Brussels and began our next adventure!
We drove to a town just north of Amsterdam called Voldendam. Volendam is a popular tourist attraction in the Netherlands, well known for old fishing boats, cheese and wooden shoes (clogs). While there is lots to see in Amsterdam, we figured these tourist attractions may leave a better imprint on them than the 'big city'... Not to mention, Russ and I don't really care for the crowds, traffic and the expense in BIG cities!
Right outside our hotel was a little place complete with the best tourist trap the Netherlands could offer. Cheese tasting, a wooden-shoe making demonstration and biggest souvenir shop I have EVER seen!! Of course, no adventure would be complete without an incident of some kind. The girls spotted the infamous hole-less face boards and took off for the photo-op. It had rained that morning, which left a big muddy area around the "Simonehoeve" signs... Loralye in her unrelenting effort to "be first" at EVERYTHING in life, took off running, slipped and skidded at least 3 feet through the mud. After a quick change, we were able to capture these funny pics of Chmiel Dutchmen (and women)!
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| Annelyse impresses herself again with her photography skills! |
There was a large group of German tourists coming behind us, so the guides were nice enough to give us a personal tour in English! The girls were totally fascinated by the wooden shoe making. You can see in the picture they start with chunks of wood and begin by whittling it down. The blocks with holes (to the right of the woman) is how the shoes begin to form. Many years ago, a competent shoe maker could produce one pair per day. Today, they use two different machines which allow them to make about 100 pairs a day! 
The girls were not interested in getting a pair of shoes for themselves, however they did insist both of their baby dolls needed a pair. Even though they didn't end up getting any shoes, they tried on about 9,574 pairs and got a big kick out of the humongous ones! 
After the shoe demonstration we moved on to the cheese tasting!!! We all agreed we could have spent the entire day there, walking around tasting the glorious cheeses! For all the different varieties and flavors, I was grateful Loralye only boasted her utter disgust on one occasion and napkins were only used a few times. Even though English isn't their first language, I am pretty sure the looks on their faces and tongue-wiping was pretty indicative of their opinion of "old cheese".
After lunch, we headed to a town called Zannes Schanes, located in North Holland for some windmill viewing. The highlight of the trip for us, was climbing up to a platform on a working windmill.
Of course, this was not the highlight for either of the girls, who didn't like the wooden stairs, because they were, "too tall", "too steep", "too slippery"... I think Annelyse even said they smelled funny. This observation was likely due to the spices being milled by rotation of the windmill. Once on the platform, Loralye covered her ears because the windmill was "whooshing" too loudly... why do we even try?!?! For all the whining, they still are pretty cute!
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| The unbearable "whooshing"... Annelyse looks traumatized doesn't she?? |
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| A view from the top! |
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| Heading back down the steep stairs... They didn't want to come back down! |
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| Sleeping Beauties |
After a busy morning of clogs, cheese and windmills, we headed for Amsterdam with grand plans for for our first day in the big city!! Our little travel buddies were not on board with our plan and were clearly showing signs of hanger and fatigue.
After a much needed nap, we headed out in search of Vondel Park; an urban park set on 120 acres originally opened in 1865.
The park had some great play equipment, lots of good people watching, friendly wildlife and a contact buzz around every corner.
The girls really enjoyed these elevated play structures until of course, Loralye fell and got stuck in one of the holes. Luckily another father who was close by helped pry her foot loose and she was back on her way.
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| Annelyse loved the wildlife and water features throughout. |
The girls really enjoyed these elevated play structures until of course, Loralye fell and got stuck in one of the holes. Luckily another father who was close by helped pry her foot loose and she was back on her way.
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| The play structures in Europe often beautifully blended in with the wooded landscapes. This structure was woven throughout the trees connecting different platforms. Here they are on one of the crossings between platforms. |
The next morning we were determined to do as much as we could in Amsterdam before heading back to Belgium. We started the morning wandering the city in search of a canal tour. Along the way, we stumbled across the VanGogh museum, which we had planned to visit the day before, but had to nix from the itinerary in exchange for some beauty sleep. We toured the entire museum in 45 minutes flat and I believe they actually learned something. Loralye was very impressed with how many different times VanGogh painted himself wearing the same hat. Annelyse has since attempted to recreate his Sunflower painting in hopes of becoming a famous young artist.
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| In case you were wondering, the Van Gogh is on the right. Nice effort Annelyse. |
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| The Rijksmuseum... didn't make it inside, but Lo was impressed! |
Seeing that we couldn't take pictures inside the museum, I made them pose next to this bus stop to take a picture with VanGogh... obviously they are less than impressed with this photo request!
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| Their only picture with VanGogh... and their babies |
After the museum we headed to the canals for a tour of the city. Amsterdam has has more than one hundred kilometres of canals, about 90 islands and 1,500 bridges. Much of the Amsterdam canal system is the successful outcome of city planning. In the early part of the 17th century, with immigration rising, a comprehensive plan was put together, calling for four main, concentric half-circles of canals with their ends resting on the IJ Bay.
The canal ride was a nice break, complete with an overview of the history of the city... however the selfie-stick appeared again, this time on the only section of the boat which was not enclosed. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, it didn't accidentally fall into the water.
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| Lo taking pictures of herself |
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| This one cracks me up... at least they aren't fighting over it this time... |
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Where are we??? Who cares... we have a selfie-stick and 'twirly baby'!!!  |
After the boat ride, we decided to take a stroll around the city to see if we could find some of the more well known pockets of the town! We took a brief stroll through the Bloemenmarkt (flower market) which is the only floating flower market in the world. The flower stalls stand on houseboats and are filled with flowers, bulbs and pot from all over the world!
After the Bloemenmarkt we wandered right into the Red Light District... don't worry no pictures were taken (much to Russ's disappointment). The funniest part of the 2 block detour (know locally as De Wallen) was that the girls didn't notice anything! Perhaps they didn't notice anything due to a contact buzz??? After that little escapade, we decided our time in Amsterdam had come to an end. While it was a great experience, the traffic in Amsterdam was like no where else we have ever been. In particular were all the different modes of transportation competing with one another; cars, motorcycles, bicycles, trams and people running every which way. It was like a real life game of Frogger! We even had a close call when a reversed unexpectedly. It was nice to see the the group of guys nearby show the motorist their disapproval by beating on the back of his car. Way to go guys!
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| Hiding in the 'M" |
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| Big girl in a big city... so she thinks anyway :) |
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| The "Rainbow Bench" ... the girls were excited for a picture here! |
We hopped back in the car and headed to the town of Brugge (Bruges in French, pronounced "Brouge" like the makeup, just with a B in front). Brugge is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is another of the canal-based cities, much like Amsterdam and Stockholm. Brugge is often referred to as 'The Venice of the North'.
With Belgium being well known for their chocolate, we thought it was only fitting to try and make our way around the 50+ chocolate shops in this little town. How they all manage to stay is business is really a mystery! We also thought the girls might like a tour of the chocolate museum, but really, they just fixated on the promise of "chocolate at the end of the tour." Every exhibit, demonstration and activity was met with the question... "Is the part where we get chocolate?" Can't say that they learned much in this museum, except perhaps that my patience for their questions regarding chocolate was running thin...
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| Our little Coco Beans |
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| The creepy statues made of chocolate |
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| The Best Part... watching chocolates being made... and of course taste-testing with the Chocolatier! |
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| Chocolate store... #1 |
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| #2... Lo to busy eating to count |
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| #3 |
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| #4 - Getting frustrated because this was the fourth store, but they hadn't procured anything... |
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| #5 - Fake smiling in order to keep me happy on this "fun adventure" |
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| #6 |
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| Arguing over which number we were on... #7 |
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| #8... Lo gave up, we relented and bought more candy... Probably better we didn't make it to the other #42! |
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| "How many more times is she going to tell us to smile... it's another stupid building!!" |
Friends of ours recommended taking the horse and carriage ride around the city which proved to give us a nice overview of the history and the girls a break from walking. 
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| So many beers... so little time |
The city was great for walking and had many beautiful parks, buildings and lots of history. Of course, no trip would be complete with out making some animal friends.
After a few fun filled days, it was back to work for me... We certainly don't feel like we ever have enough time in these amazing places, but also understand if it wasn't for being in Ireland, we wouldn't be seeing these places at all... Russ and the girls really enjoyed themselves at the Hotel Reylof in Ghent. Based on their recollection of the days events... most days seem to go in this type of order...
1.) Breakfast
2.) Swimming
3.) Napping
4.) Watching TV
5.) Snacking
6.) Swimming again
7.) Playing with friends in Deurle (from the US)
8.) Dinner
Life sounded pretty good! We joked about moving into the place given it's close resemblance to "The Plaza Hotel" from the book, Eloise. The hotel staff really enjoyed having the girls there and were always quick to give them a chocolate treat, hotel toys/trinkets and coloring books/pencils.
The city of Ghent also has many canals, a neat castle, lots of great old buildings and architecture. It was fun to take evening strolls together in the town and of course, Russ and the girls were able to give me the low down on where everything was (chocolate and candy stores, McDonald's, souvenir shops, etc.
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| Days with Daddy |
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| Selfie with their bags of "Belgium Chocolate" |
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| With all her teeth... |
Of course, it was in the swimming pool that Annelyse lost her first tooth!! They had a little scare because they thought it may have fallen out in the pool. After searching the side of the pool for a few minutes, they found it, thank goodness!! Heaven forbid not being able to present the first lost tooth to the tooth fairy!! Annelyse brushed her tooth so that it was clean for the Toothfairy and put it into an empty Altoids container so it would be easy to find. The Toothfairy left a nice note, some golden chocolate coins and a 5 Euro bill. Needless to say, she was thrilled!
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| I love how amazed she looks and how she is supporting her arm :) |
From Russ - Visiting friends in Deurle was certainly a highlight for the girls. This was favorite activity #1a or 1b right up there with swimming. We were able to visit a local park which had a lot of play equipment and a small zoo like area with animals on display. It was a very neat park, with the exception of some of the play equipment. Annelyse went flying off one of the spinning toys within 5 minutes and within 10 minutes Loralye had plunged off of a tall climbing structure. They apparently aren't as concerned with liability in Belgium. Those types of play things would never make it in the sue-happy US. Our friends also had a great backyard (aka "garden") with swings, tree house and trampoline. The girls had a great time together with their little American buds.
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| Here is the angled fireman's pole that Lo decided to dangle from 6 feet or so in the air. I think she was showing off for the little boys. She face planted into the pebbles and was blowing them out of her nose shortly thereafter. Not Loralye's specialty. |
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| Here's what Annelyse fell off of. It's about 3 ft. high, on an angle and spins fast. She let go and landed directly on her back. I heard the wind as it was knocked out of her... Not Annelyse's specialty. |
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| The Zoo Park outside of Ghent. Look at the antlers on that buck! |
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| American friends hanging out at the park in front of the deer exhibit. |
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| The sad walk back to the airport after our fun visit to Belgium and Holland. |
Lots of good stories and memories we had!
But all good things must come to an end... We headed back home, looking forward to the next adventure!
Lots of Love,
Lyns, Russ, Annelyse & Loralye
