Holland

I know it's been a while since posting, and I know I said I'd do better-and I haven't I'm sorry. My excuse: We found out we could be coming back to the states much quicker than anticipated and so I've been house hunting. If you're interested, I'll give you more details to follow. For now I'll tell you a little more about our oh so fabulous and relaxing vacation to Holland.

Holland was probably the most relaxing vacation we'd been on thus far. I was surprised by the beautiful countrysides, picturesque ponies (grazing just a stones throw from fields of flowers ) and kindness of the locals (upon almost hitting a woman and her child -on their bike, she smiled, laughed and then waved very kindly to Paul and I). To say the least this was a wonderful vacation. This first installment (yes there's more) covers the beautiful flowers of Keukenhoff. Keukenhoff (for those of you out there who haven't heard of it) is the most spectacular collection of tulips and others seasonal beauties in an 80 acre park. For those of you who love flowers, make this trip a priority-you must go in your lifetime. After going you'll know why Holland is the flower capital of the world!

Paul being sassy in the park.

The day was filled with beautiful flowers and delicious food. Paul and I enjoyed Benelux waffles more than once that day (and yes we've renamed the famously delicious Belgian waffle-since you can get the warm sugary dessert in almost all of the Benelux region). This time we enjoyed it with fresh cream and strawberries-ooh delicious!

Tristan rode in style in his brand new Deuter pack. He loved riding in it almost all day long and then was so comfortable that he slept in it afterwards.

Another sassy picture of Paul and Tristan (even though you can't see his face, I'm sure he's being just as sassy)

Paul and Tristan enjoying some yummy french fries (sans the fatty yet hugely popular mayonnaise).

How could you not smell the flowers? With thousands- no millions of flowers there the place smelled amazing. Paul was sure to smell more than a few varieties.

Being in Dutch country I couldn't leave without a picture of me wearing a huge pair of clogs.

More Benelux waffles (this time covered in deep dark rich chocolate)-oh so delicious!

I hope you enjoyed the flowers and if you're interested in more Holland, stay tuned for more. About our recent news: Paul got accepted into the Solar Space Science/applied physics masters program at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio. He was accepted into the program starting October (tentatively). We are still awaiting details but as of now we should be in the states by this fall.

Summer Days

It may not technically be summer but boy has it felt like it. We have had such a string of beautiful days, that I forgot we actually had a few more months til the real summer came. Tristan has enjoyed our neighbors trampoline (Thanks Ray family!), playing with our sweet neighbor Anne Cathrin (she is 3 years older than him and speaks German-but that wont stop them from having a great time), and simply getting out and exploring nature. The little guy is over joyed every time he can get out and chase ants-and the like.

Here he is taking a break in one of our flower pots (please don't look at the yard-we're working on it). This was at the end of a busy day-and he was sapped.

Paul was washing the grill and Tristan had discovered the water faucet outside. Upon discovering the wonder that is water, the little guy proceeded to drink from the tap til we took him in for dinner (he could have stayed out there all night).

After a busy day of playing outside Tristan did something that he has never done before...he fell asleep (outside his crib that is)! It was unbelievable, Tristan fell asleep on Paul at 6pm and well we had to take a picture (after all we didn't know if this would ever happen again).

Here's a close up of the little guy.

Today after church Paul suggested that we get a picture of Tristan before he changed or got filthy (he looks like such a dapper little guy in his church clothes but we rarely get a picture before he's covered in food...).

Here's mom and the little guy (he looks like he's ready to moon dance with his stylin white socks and black shoes).

We couldn't resist taking all the pictures-he was so uncharacteristically chill!

Big blue eyes

Here he is wondering what the heck we were doing and why we were doing it so long.

Here's the little guy looking a little older than I'm used to.

Just a couple pictures of our happy boy before he went to bed.

Lastly, I want to say thank you again to Megan for making these beautiful letters (we've still got to hang them up but that's the easy part).

I hope you're all enjoying beautiful weather (and if you're in Rochester take a walk in Highland Park for me-oh how I love the lilacs and Magnolia trees!).