Cologne, Germany was a hidden gem. We only stopped in Cologne, because we had Hyatt points, and there happened to be a Hyatt there. We got there in the dark, and it was magnificent. But I think the daylight made it even better. I got up early to run, and when I walked out of the hotel, this was our view.
We were on the other side of one of the few cathedrals that made it unscathed through World War II, because it apparently housed soldiers. That being said, I got up and ran across LoveLock bridge to then run around the cathedral and neighboring streets. And I was in luck, because the neighboring streets were filled with amazing cafes and shops. So basically, I scouted out the best places to return to.
We all spent the day perusing the streets, and this is where Micah found the world’s best grocery store — REWE! We literally went through the whole store aisle by aisle. And after we bought stuff and ate it, we headed back for more! After the grocery store, Nonnie and I parted ways from the troops. We went shopping, and they apparently went to one of the best parks they have ever been to.
We had a lock for LoveLock bridge, but never were together to all put it up.
So Navy and I went on a special date, and she picked the place to solidify our love, before we left Cologne.
On our way out, we got lost (on purpose) in the back country of the German countryside. When we saw this strawberry field…the kids made me stop for “just one little sample”.
Oops.
Then we drove on to a random freeway exit. Like every single exit in Europe, there are treasures everywhere! This exit took us to a rad park, where Dash found his personal #5 (for being 5 years old).
And…
Only the most insane view of the Rhine river we have seen thus far!
Yep…that’s just a castle across the way.
On our way out of The Netherlands, we were road tripping.
I know that is a bad word to other families, but we literally enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
I have to give it to my family — all are rad travelers…especially my mom!
We check out our surroundings.
We get out at all things cool, like this field of wild sunflowers.
And some of the kids go sans seatbelts to create an in-car hammock.
That is, until they got caught.
But pretty ingenious and creative, kids.
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On our way out, Micah directed us to the Oud Reemst national park.
We paid a small fee to get in, and then they had tons of bikes available to ride all throughout the huge park.
It was an absolute blast.
We all got bikes to fit, and went adventuring.
The kids were singing as we rode, and we were like the scene out of “The Sound of Music”.
Until….Scout had a fit that none of the bikes fit him well.
We quickly solved that problem, by grabbing a bike that had a wheelbarrow front.
It was perfect too, because Nonnie was just going to stay and read in the car.
When I discovered this bike, I insisted!
I got quite the quad work out, but everyone seemed to be happy.
Micah took over after a while, and he took my unsuspecting mom 4×4ing!
It was hilarious.
It turned out that my mom said, “I really didn’t want to go out on the bikes, but that was so fun!”
My mom is such a trooper to go along with our great ideas, that when she really loves something, it is especially awesome.
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The national park also had the coolest Swiss Family Robinson style jungle gym. The kids played with Micah on that for quite a long time. There was only one mishap - when Dash fell from a very tall place. Thank goodness he was alright!
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As we continued driving, Micah had one more stop for us. Only the world’s largest “walking roller coaster”.
What?
Here you see it.
And we all walked it!
Nice find babe!
And we ended the night with a little frog catching.
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(One side note of today’s drive was when I got pulled over by a German policeman. He was really nice, but made sure I knew “Red es STOP…Red es STOP!” in his thick German accent. As he was only warning us, I told him how good looking he was. I think we ended up friends.
When we were in Amsterdam, we found out that our second day was going to be a huge city parade and party.
It was the best excuse to do something on our list of “want to do’s”, but we weren’t sure where to fit it in.
While researching, we came across a fairy-tail-themed theme park. I knew the kids would love it, and I was pretty sure we as adults would love it too. According to what I had read, it was a local favorite, and had not become a real tourist attraction, because it was too far out of the way from big tourist cities. Sounded perfect.
Our drive there was awesome. We got to see more of the amazing countryside, and even stopped off the freeway to a random town. That random town turned out to have the best bakery we found in Europe. Not to mention, they were having a little local festival that night, and the whole place was decorated with whimsical flowers everywhere. The bakery just had a few locals in and out of it, and they didn’t speak much English, but they were sooo nice and kind. they were so happy we stopped by, and they thought the children were so cute. The baked goods were so delicious, that after we drove the town (possibly one square mile in total), we stopped at the bakery again on our way out for more treats. It was heavenly!
As we drove to Efteling, the dark clouds started congregating, and creating what looked like a rain storm. The moment we parked, it started to downpour like a monsoon had hit. We were cracking up, and even my mom braved running in to the covered gift shop to wait it out.
Good thing that gift shop sold rain covers, because we bought them, and moved on.
For the first bit, it rained off and on.
But our covers were hearty, and completely protected us.
The whole first area featured different fairy tales. There was a slight synopsis, and then if you touched a button, stood on a certain spot, or opened a gate, the fairy tale would come to life. We were cracking up, because there was a slight darkness to these fairy tales. But Pippi was entranced. Especially for Rapunzel, who after hitting the mark, let down her hair. After seeing this, Pippi looked for Rapunzel in every tower in Europe!
Just to get an idea of how whimsical and cool this place was, check out their trashcans! You put the trash in this boy’s mouth, and he had some funny Dutch response.
Check out the “strollers” for the babies. Pippi kept swiping them to go for rides!
It also featured pink, green, and blue pigeons! We stayed at these pigeons for an hour. Navy was obsessed with feeding them. And every time a new color showed up, we would get more and more excited. Micah and I tried to figure out how they were those colors, and it definitely wasn’t any sort of topical color. It must be something they eat. Or…Efteling really is magical!
The rides were a blast. They were kind of crazy, because they just don’t have the scare of lawsuits. So Pippi was literally hanging off of the carousel that was probably three times faster than our carousels in the U.S. They had awesome roller coasters, and Micah, Scout and Navy ran to a few just minutes before closing to get in their last rides.
Like usual, Pippi made friends with stangers. She had several handfulls of their popcorn, and they were thrilled to share with her. It’s amazing how she gets people to like her…even across the language barrier.
And finally…the food was awesome. My kid’s favorite were the mini pancakes that were fresh off of the griddle. My mom’s favorite was the Chinese food that Micah found in Amsterdam that my mom enjoyed in a chopctisk-fed fashion! By the way — Micah has a talent of finding good food wherever we go. And the fact that he feeds me, the kids, and my mom off of his same utensils is a testament to how rad he is!
I honestly think that Efteling will be a forever memory for all of us.
It was a last minute change, and it was the funnest day.
I have heard a lot of people loving Amsterdam over the years. I’ll admit that it is a pretty awesome city. I think the coolest part, is that it is a city built around waterways…and most everyone travels via bicycles. There are thousands and thousands of bikes everywhere. My favorite part of many of my European days, was when I got up extra early, and ran a few miles. But out of all of my runs, I think I liked running in Amsterdam the best. Between the canals, the boats, the bikers, the flowers everywhere and the friendly people, my runs seemed the easiest in Amsterdam. (And let’s be honest — easy-feeling runs are the best runs in my book.)
One day, we spent the whole day just walking the city. We found the best berry stand, that my kids insisted we revisit on our way back to the car. Micah always does a rad job of researching all of the good stuff. On our walk, he took us to floating flower shops, famous canals, and the best part….great shopping.
Not only does he take my mom and me to the best kid shops…he waits patiently outside with the kids — or takes them to parks to play!
Speaking of parks — have I ever mentioned that Europe has the best parks in the world!
We literally stopped at dozens of them along our route, and each one was better than the last!
My kids especially loved the basket swings..where their daddy pushed them so high, I had to look away at times!
(Remember Micah, Scout and the swing?)
But the best playground of them all in Amsterdam, was the cool Amsterdam sign!
My kids crawled around that sign for an hour.
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Throughout our stay, we stayed in a ton of Hyatt hotels. They were all so nice, we couldn’t believe it. Some nights we all had beds, and other nights, a kid or two were on the ground in a makeshift bed. Dash and Pippi got the ground this night, and they were so hyped up it was crazy. I finally got up to see what the heck was keeping them awake, and they conveniently were “asleep”. When I was getting Dash up to switch places with Scout, I saw what was happening.
It was Pippi’s new mode of defense….her nails!
Needless to say, those things were cut off first thing the next morning.
I was appalled (as my memories of my sister Ashley’s nails came flooding back)…but just like when I was little, Dash said, “Mom, it doesn’t hurt..and it is kind of funny.” I used to think teasing with a fingernail response was funny too. I still changed them out, and all was well.
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I really did like Amsterdam a lot… but when we use the word LOVE, I’ll save it for the countryside!
I think driving around the Netherlands was one of the best vacation days I have ever had.
The beauty was insane! I stopped so many times just to look at the flowers and fields. Everything was straight out of a storybook. Just driving around, and stopping at any of our whims was magical.
The houses were straight out of magazine.
This was one of the dozens we stopped to look at.
The fields and livestock were so amazing.
How about a homemade apple “Fruit Automaat” AKA vending machine. The farmer told us that the apples were picked that morning, and to join him and his family for a look around the orchard. We were crushed that we were heading somewhere, and didn’t have an extra hour.
Of course Navy and I stopped regularly to pick the wildflowers.
Pippi is starting to enjoy our wildflowers as much as we do.
Navy always put together a little bouquet for me to have in my front cup holder.
I know the Netherlands (Holland) is known for their flowers…and rightfully so! They were everywhere, and they were amazing. And we were in the off season of their famous flowers!
What about this cute little town we happened to drive through. My idea of the best vacation, is to go to Europe, rent a car, and get lost in the countryside. I’ll take the Netherlands, Italy, France, England, Ireland…what am I saying! I’ll take any European country!
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Netherlands…mark my words…I’ll be back!
As iconic as windmills in the Netherlands/Holland are…pictures can’t even begin to do them justice. We hit the most beautiful day to see the windmills. They were literally amazing!
If you will notice, Micah had his favorite hat on when we got there. But we learned that windmills run off of wind — and one of the stronger gusts took his hat off, and sent it straight into one of the waterways.
Poor sap!
Micah and the kids tried to find and retrieve the hat for a while, but Micah gave up. The kids kept on trying — and actually got yelled at by one of the homeowners of the windmill. (Yes, they are actually homes that people live in.) He was really gruff — REALLY GRUFF! but I pulled up my big girl pants to explain that we were looking for my husband’s lost hat. Once he heard that we weren’t just fooling around, he was nice.
He showed up with a big stick to try to help. The kids watched on, but we never found the hat. But because the guy liked us, as we walked back towards his home, he ended up showing us around, and giving us a legit up-close-and-personal tour of his windmill house.
He probably spent 30 minutes explaining to us the inner working of Windmills, how he got his, the pros and cons, and the history of these things. He was awesome, and then the coolest thing happened! He excused himself for a minute, and then came out with a new hat from the company he works for — and gave it to Micah! It was the nicest gesture, and we were all beaming from ear to ear. He went from gruff to awesome in an hour’s time. It was a really great day.
The windmills were amazing!
But our personal tour of them, was top notch!
Clearly, Navy agreed!
The next stop on our European vacation took us on a little road trip through Ghent, Belgium, and then Bruges, Belgium.
Our first stop in Ghent was idyllic.
Why, you ask?
After parking in the most insane spot ever (thanks to my mom’s handicapped pass), Micah took the three oldest kids to a rad castle, while my mom and I took Pippi to an even radder “castle”. It was the building right behind Micah in this picture. Okay, I’m not sure if it is a castle or not — BUT it did house the most amazing shop we found in all of Europe! That’s right! Sissy Boy was the find of the century.
My mom and I could not have been happier. And the best part — because of Micah’s amazing detective work, he took us to every single Sissy Boy we passed for the rest of our trip!
The kids loved their castle adventure! But they were all cracking up, because it was one torture chamber, to the next, to the next. Each room just explained some different sort of torture that took place! The kids said it was a bit spooky by the end!
After, we stopped by Bruges. We had seen picture after picture, and heard amazing things about it. What we saw, was 8 million tourists. Because our kids were asleep in the car, we drove through it, but didn’t really stop.
UNTIL…..
I screeched my car around a wrong corner. Micah told me we were going the wrong way. But since I was in the driver’s seat — I knew exactly where we were going!
I got the girls out to follow me…to a huge bush of wild berries!
When we got back to the car, the boys had woken up, and were bummed to miss the berries, but we had plenty to share!
Surprisingly, I think the road trip parts of any trip might be some of the funnest parts! I love the adventure — and the discovery that is around every corner!
After much research to get to Europe, we decided to fly in and out of Brussels. First, because the flights were so cheap (about 70 more than our $600 Delta vouchers from our Hawaii flights). We also chose Brussels, because we could rent a huge van for $670 for the entire three weeks. (It was literally $2000 less than other European cities.) So Brussels it was!
Because it was our first stop, and our jet lag was out of control…it took a day for us all to get in the swing of things. But when we did, we saw Brussels in all its glory!
The Grand Place might rival any architecture I have ever seen with my own eyes. It was incredible — a massive square of huge buildings, with streets lined with incredible shops jetting off from all sides, just like an octopus’ legs.
The storefronts were beautiful. They were so fun to walk and peek into. And buy a treat or two from!
Not surprisingly, the chocolate street was our favorite! This shop alone, put together a huge tray of delicious and beautiful chocolates — just for our kids to sample. The people in Brussels were incredible nice, and loved our kids — who were in shorts and tank tops in pretty cold weather!
It was these chocolate dipped strawberries, that had my kids insisting that I bring out my wallet!
Like most big European cities, there was good street entertainment.
Brussels is known for their Frites. (French fries) Micah said they were fine — not a drop dead must…but definitely worth the try.
We also had the famous Belgian Waffles that are everywhere in the streets. Another “fine” treat.
Everywhere we looked in Brussels, we saw this statue. Somewhere, deep in the streets of Brussels, is a statue of the “Peeing Boy”. My kids were dying over the naked boy everywhere — just look at Pippi thinking it is hilarious.
Naturally, we needed to go see this amazing statue! I think the only bigger let down, was the Mona Lisa! It was a tiny statue, with about a million tour groups crowding to see it! But the great thing that did come out of it, was that we finally gave Dash the perfect nickname — The Peeing Boy!
And from that point on…Dash was the “Peeing Boy” throughout the Europe trip. Little did we know how fitting that would actually be!
Here is the crew.
We are heading to Europe for three weeks!
The plane seat assignments gave Micah his own seat.
Lucky him…or was it?
The excitement in the air was palpable…and I loved being among it.
But lucky me, when he took over at our layover — and oversaw kid races.
It was perfect…and just in time for the long second leg of our flight.
He wore them out just enough for them to be tired and calm the rest of the way.
Because we are leaving, and won’t be back until the day before school starts…I had to do all of the back-to-school prep right now. I got all of Scout’s 5th grade, Navy’s 3rd grade, and Dash’s Kinder supplies labeled and in their new BYU backpacks. As I was labeling them, I kept giggling during Scout’s stuff. He finally came over to see what I was laughing about, and when he saw the reason, my good sport laughed too!
I don’t know many 5th grade boys, who would let their mom write “I [heart] Scout Denison” or grounding threats, and then just laugh it off.
Scout — you are rad!
My dad has the barn in escrow, and it is time to move all of our belongings out.
Although it is the end to an era, and a little sad — it is also exciting to take a road trip to the barn!
After a few hours of driving — we saw that little red roof sticking out.
Ryan was there — and ready to greet us! He is so awesome.
I especially love the Christmas lights he put up on the roof! He was glad I noticed!
It is always amazing to see what he does with the place. It is immaculate, and clean. There isn’t one thing out of place, and no matter what I am looking for, he can find it. He has his own trailer, and a family room. He has certainly created quite the great space for himself.
He packed all night long with us, and helped us the whole next morning. He was such an awesome helper, and he kept us laughing the whole time. He seriously should have been on Saturday Night Live!
I’ll admit, that as we drove away, I might have been a bit emotional. It was sad saying goodbye to the barn — and especially to my brother who has had a bit of a rough go — but who I absolutely adore.
The best part of the trip…
I loved finding little gems from my past — like this $13,800 check I won from Card Sharks!
That was an awesome two days down memory lane.
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Update: The barn fell out of escrow! Bittersweet, but maybe I’ll get another barn excursion in!
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