Weekend in Paris

May 1st was Europe's Labor Day so Adam and the kids had a break from work and school. We headed to Paris to enjoy the three day weekend. I love a good Airbnb with a walk-up!

 The first day we got there we just walked around the neighborhood near Canal Saint-Martin and let the kids play for a couple hours at the Jardin Villemin, a park with several great playgrounds.

 I made the kids go without snacks for awhile because we planned to go to an expensive restaurant for dinner and I wanted to make sure they'd be hungry. They. Were. So. Mad. Noah flat out gave up.

 He took this picture of us. We all went a tad loony. We're used to eating at 5 pm but our reservation wasn't until they opened at 7 pm.
 
  We made it! The restaurant was Les Enfants Perdus. The Lost Children. Oooooookay.

 It was pretty good - the kids and I had fish and vegis and Adam loooooved his steak, potatoes and BONE MARROW. Ugh. That was my first time trying it and it's like snot-gravy. No thanks. But he liked it, so that's all that mattered.

They crashed into bed and woke up happy. Cuz mom brought OJ! That's why.

 I really liked our place this time. If it's got window with a view of more curly-cue railings, I'm a happy camper.

That morning, my little brother Owen came into town! It was such a treat to hang out with him for a couple days. The kids call him Uncle O! Everyone loves Uncle O!

I had some pastries waiting.....

 We went on a jaunt through Luxembourg Gardens.

 While Adam stuck with the kids at the playground, Owen and I took a walk and talked about the important things in life.

 Tree hedges for the win!

Off to find lunch!

 Ramen noodles means everyone was happy!
Followed by fancy eclairs and giant suckers.


We all loved this street performer.

 Dinner was at a place Adam had eaten at for work several months ago. He loved their blanquette dish. I tried it. It was a white stew with meat and vegis served over rice. It came in this adorable mini pot.
And .... it was not very good. Pretty bland. Adam remembers it being a lot more saucy last time.

We made up for it with the creme brulee the size of our faces.

 Next morning: pastries all around! Obviously and of course!
 

 We were there a week before the French presidential election.

 Uncle O does a jig!

 Goodbye apartment! We had to document the cute door in front.

That morning we drove to Le Chesnay, a suburb of Paris.

The LDS church built a temple there and we went through the open house.

 It is situated a couple blocks away from Versailles Palace. The grounds were lovely.

Lots of beautiful, floral stained glass inside. A lovely visit.

A cute boulangerie in town.

 Headed back to the car...

 We dropped off Owen back in the city so he could continue his trip to meet his friends and see more of Paris and London. Then we drove home. It's becoming commonplace to just bop over to Paris anytime we want. On the way home our GPS led us astray and we ended up going through some tiny French villages. I had to put down my reading and look out the window. I am taking it for granted that I just drive through cute little European villages on any given day. I don't want to forget how special this time is.

Spring Break: Home & Holland

Spring Break is a whopping 2 weeks around these parts. The anticipation of it makes me shake in my boots. I love routines, schedules and having my kids at school so I can get shiz done. When they're home underfoot, it's a struggle for me. Alas, we have good friends who were also in town and we got together nearly every morning. Thank goodness for that! And for mostly dry, sunny weather! We lucked out.

Parc Merveilleux never disappoints. Petting a goat is good for everyone.

 Karolina taught Sienna how to make a pop-up card.

 I separated the Legos into color piles, and the kids were in awe. Then they played with them for a couple hours, and I was in awe. Sienna especially took hold of that. Her brain welcomes patterns and organization and she was in a trance creating something unique out of each color pile.

 I never made it to the store that sells egg dye, so we did the homemade thing. Water, vinegar, and food coloring. It worked exactly the same!  Being an ex-pat/pioneer woman really pays off. They turned out lovely.

 And then I let them rip with the Sharpies, and it was another layer of lovely. Can we give a celebratory hoot that my kids are old enough to manage Sharpies with minimal mom hovering? It is a miracle.

What do you do when you live in a foreign country where the English clubs all charge a fortune to join their egg hunts? Plan your own for free! We did it in this small park last year. Nobody was there again this year, and it went off without a hitch.

 We had a hard time locating plastic eggs (just one store sells them here and they were nearly sold out when we arrived), but we all got enough for each kid to have 10. It was plenty and they were all thrilled. #easytoplease

 We went on a little walk while the dads hid the eggs.

 Megan kept everyone on task.

Aaaaaand, it lasted a total of 60 seconds. I love these kiddos!

 Love these families! We were all going to have a picnic but it started raining. So we all went home. Wah wah.

 Easter bunny delivers!

 Easter Sunday. Outside our lovely hotel church. Haha.

Spring Break week 2 was spent in Holland, where all of my dreams came true. It was a big bucket list item for me to see the tulips in Holland. AND WE DID. And it made me so, so happy.

 The tulip sight-seeing is a tricky thing. You can't time it right unless you live 10 minutes away. So, Keukenhof Gardens is THE way to go. It's huge and it's gorgeous and they always have a million flowers. We did pass some roadside tulip fields that were still going strong, but most fields were brown. And it was only mid-April. Here are a couple:

Anyway, Keukenhof was magical.

 This bed of flowers was planted to mimic a famous painting ... not sure which one.

 A higher view of some tulips in distance, and maybe lilacs in the foreground? Not sure.

 It had a maze and a nice playground for the kids.

 It. Was. Freezing. I couldn't feel my hands, so I bought us all hot chocolate to share.

 There were several greenhouses showing off a bajillion varieties of tulips. I loved seeing all the different breeds. Amazing.

 Posing game is on point, kids...

 This little bridge spoke to the inner daredevil.

 Suckers to make the endless walking sweeter.

 Speaking of posing on point! I was just doing what I saw other tourists do.

 And nailing it!

 I cannot even with these flower beds!!!!

 Now you know:

 Not there yet...

 There he is!

 A natural...

 Couldn't talk him into anything lower than a crouch. We'll take it.

Another day we hit up the Kinderdijk windmills. We brought all four of our bikes from home, and we officially became a biking family. I was proud of our little crew. Even if the wind and the cold made us all cry. It. Was. So. Cold.

 We toured inside two windmills that people used to live in. Incredible!

 Living room.

 Her reaction after reading that someone had died...

 One of the bed cubby holes.

 Front door.

 Used clogs. (SO COOL.)

 Noah thought it looked comfy.

 There were several floors.

Looking out the window with the windmill swooshing by every few seconds. The sound was awesome.

 I loved this picture of a family in their Sunday best enjoying an afternoon tea together. Along with operating a windmill, it was common for families to supplement their income with fishing. There were also some cool black and white pictures of people ice skating on the canals in the wintertime.  They existed in a different world.

 Front door again.

 So majestic.

 
Such a goofball.

 The second windmill we toured was modernized. Fun fact, the Lux flag and the Netherlands flag are identical, except Lux's shade of blue is closer to sea blue/turquoise.

 Oh, you know, just a scattering of clogs.

 Tiny pump piano that actually worked.

 Kitchen/living room.

 More kitchen in an outside shed.

Laundry churn has Adam working like all DAY.

Let's talk about our Airbnb for a moment, shall we?

It's 100 years old, a separate building on the owners' property.

Came with: a styrofoam flotilla. EEK TO THE MAX.

 A trampoline, with a second, algae-covered trampoline half-built into the ground behind it.

 And last but not least, the resident pig pets, Weiner and Schnitzel.

 Back to regular programming. I bring you our day in Delft.

 Delft is the place to go if you want to see and/or buy blue and white pottery. We toured the Royal Delftware Factory. Loved. It. The kids even enjoyed it because they could navigate their own small audio guides. Awe.Some.

 

Christmas plates.

 I got major trinket fever in this town. I could have bought everything.

 But. I did not buy everything. I bought this one pitcher. And I love it so much I want to sleep with it every night. It's hand painted and actually from a now-closed factory called Old Delft. GAH.

There was one pottery guy working and one painter working. Slow day, huh guys?

Gouda cheese market was a fun event!

A bit of theatrics accompanies the market. Cheesemongers like these two men do some fenangling and fancy handshakes and then trade their cheese. No idea if this is legit or just for show. Only the Dutch could say... This guy took a plug of cheese out of a wheel and passed it around. #cheeseplug

 Sienna kept picking up the cheese wheels. I could barely do it! They were incredibly heavy. Girlfriend is buff.

 When the show is done, the younger dudes toss the cheese back onto the wagon and the wagon departs.

Our final day was a bike ride out to the North Sea and the four hour drive home.

Goodbye beautiful Holland!