Windmills, Clogs and Canals

After who knows how long, here's the second part of our Holland trip. I just thought I'd share with you some of my favorite pictures of this beautiful land.

This country oozed rural tranquility as sheep, ponies, and goats roamed alongside the dikes.



How could we resist posing inside these enormous clogs at the clog factory in Zaanse Schans.



At the end of this day, Tristan's exhaustion and irritability could only be cured by a strawberry milk shake (which was previously Pauls until he gave the little guy a sip...).






A cheese shop in Zaanse Schans that featured dozens of delicious types of Dutch cheese. After much deliberating we went home with two varieties that we enjoyed for days and days.

Amsterdam

We so enjoyed this relaxing city as we took a boat through the canals and walked the cozy little streets. Amsterdam is a city filled with more canals than Venice and more cyclists than the Tour de France.








Boat houses fill the canals and are common places to not only live on weekends but serve as permanent residences for numerous 'Nederlanders'.









Anne Frank's house.




Windmills, windmills and more windmills. The town of Kinderdyke was quaint and know for just that -picturesque windmills.




These last pictures of Holland are from Kuekenhoff's petting zoo. After hours of walking around and enjoying the flowers Tristan was more than thrilled to get out of the pack and play with the animals.


This Flintstone type car was oddly placed in the middle of the petting zoo, but Tristan couldn't have been more happy.



You can see from my face that this emu (I think that's what this animal is) just nipped me.



Tristan's favorite animal was by far this little sheep. He couldn't help but climb into its little manger and sit in the hay with him.

Lately Tristan has found every possible spot to find climb into and sit in. After fears of him braking the end tables we finally found a chair just his size.


Tristan just like his dad is a huge fan of meat. More often that not we wonder if Tristan is eating enough, because of most of his meal ends up on the floor. This particular day though, that was not the case. We had barbequed pork ribs and he couldn't get enough.

After putting away an amazing amount of ribs the little guy was feeling fat and happy. I have to say that after reviewing these pictures, I'm wondering what happened to his bib and why he reminds me so much of a crazy old man (you know the ones that roam their home in a wife beater all day) at only a 16 months.

Lastly, we do have some news that we're very excited about. After a recent ultrasound we found out that the newest baby Domm will be....a girl!

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.