Holland Day 3-4: Den Haag / The Hague {April 18-19}

After Keukenhof and Amsterdam, Saturday was much more relaxed. We took turns going to the temple in The Hague. After about 5 months, it was so nice to be able to go there and feel the peace of the temple. It was interesting to have it in so many languages and to be listening on headphones, but also a neat experience.

While we were at the temple in the afternoon, Russ and Star (who had arrived the night before) and the Oates took all the kids to McDonalds, then checked out the amusement park at our campground. We didn’t realize until then that all the rides etc. were free since we were staying at the campground. Not that we would have spent a ton of time there since we were out sightseeing a lot, but it would have been fun for the kids to spend a little more time. The kids played on the trampolines, rode the Ferris wheel, and rode the monorail (where you had to pedal yourself). We tried to do a few more things but there were height requirements and the whole place closed earlier than we expected.

below: the slide at the playground we went to – I was surprised Ryan ran right up there to go down this huge slide, and by the end was going down head-first on his back. And the swing that could fit all of our kids, and more

   

And of course, we remembered to go get one last round of gelato that night.

Sunday, we went to an English-speaking ward in The Hague that was in a real chapel. It was nice to have church in English and be in a building that fit everyone! Afterwards, we drove over to the temple so the kids could see it, then headed home.

It was a great trip with great friends, and we were so glad we were able to go see Holland! We loved the tulip fields, the windmills, and the bikes. It was beautiful.

Holland Day 2: Amsterdam {April 17}

Our second day in Holland (Friday) we drove up to Amsterdam for the day. It felt like an adventure just getting to the parking garage in Amsterdam – as we drove on the freeway, a semi clipped the back corner of the car in front of us (and behind the Oates). The car spun and ended up in front of the semi, being pushed sideways for a second before spinning and landing facing forward in the left lane. Fortunately, they didn’t hit anyone else and were able to drive their car off the road. Once our heartbeats finally slowed from that near-miss, we got off the freeway in Amsterdam and were constantly on alert for bikes, cars, buses, trains, and pedestrians on all sides as we drove through the city. Once we parked, we decided we were officially on foot or public transportation until we left the city. We were done with driving there.

Our train of 4 adults, 6 kids and 2 strollers made its way to the pirate ship, past the cute boutique shops, to the Dam Square and Dam Cathedral, and to the outside of the Anne Frank house (we had heard it was nearly impossible to do with kids, especially with our quantity and ages). We then hopped on a hop on / hop off boat, which we thought would be really fun for the kids. It moved rather slowly and we fed the kids their lunch on the “no eating allowed” boat to keep them from irritating the other passengers. We did see some cool sights along the way, like the huge bike parking garage by the train station – it was as big as a car parking garage, and completely packed with bikes.

Back on foot, we walked through a little outdoor market where the boys convinced us to buy them 5 euro watches, and to the square where you could see the “iamsterdam” sign. There were promises of a huge kid-friendly park with fun playgrounds that kept the kids going. When we got there, we made our way to the playground that a local had given us directions to, and it was quite disappointing. A cement pyramid of stairs and some bars to hang from was about all there was. The boys were still able to get some energy out – I online later and there are supposedly something like 4 playgrounds in the park, but we didn’t realize that and we had already walked a ways into the park to find the first one.

From the park, we rode the boat back to the train station, which was near our parking garage. The dads took most of the kids back towards the car while Tasha and I (and Bennett and Ingrid) did some quick souvenir shopping. We met the dads at Vapiano’s and got pizza for dinner before heading back to our campground, and nightly Gelato run.

There wasn’t a specific touristy spot in Amsterdam that was my favorite – but I loved the water everywhere with picturesque bridges over the canals, the architecture and the leaning houses, and the bikes everywhere. It would be a fun city to go back to and bike around without kids!

 

the pirate ship

 

the “Dam Cathedral”

on the right: in front of the Anne Frank House

 

 

on the left: the bike parking at the train station; right: “Amsterdam Central” train station

   

         

Holland Day 1: Keukenhof {April 16}

One of the top items on our Europe bucket list was to go see the tulips in Holland in the spring. The boys had 2 weeks off of school in April for Easter vacation, so we took advantage and went to stay in the Netherlands for 4 days. We talked the Oates into joining us, and Russ and Star came up for the weekend. It was crazy at times trying to play tourists with 6 little kids, but we had an amazing trip. Holland is beautiful! We stayed at a “campground” between Amsterdam and the Hague in a 3-bedroom tiny mobile home. It worked out great – there was a small kitchen so we could avoid eating out some meals and enough bedrooms that the kids slept great. We arrived Wednesday night (after battling traffic in Brussels, Antwerp and the Hague), got settled, and walked to a little downtown area in Wassenaar and had gyros for dinner.

Thursday, we packed up early and headed to Keukenhof – the huge tulip festival. As we were driving over there, I could see that all the tulip fields along the way weren’t in bloom yet – they would have a few pops of color where some random tulips had opened up, but most weren’t quite ready. There were a lot of really pretty Hyacinth fields along the way though – lavender and pink and white – and daffodils. Keukenhof had several different varieties of tulips and flowers, so while I could see that if we were a week or so later, there would be some pretty amazing tulips, we did still get to see a lot.

We managed to keep the kids somewhat entertained and happy until about 1:00, and squeezed in a few more sights during the meltdown phase before heading back for naps around 2:00. We took the back roads on the way back and saw some really pretty tulip fields in bloom – the colors were so bright!

A few pictures from Keukenhof (there’s a mixture of pics form my camera, Nate’s phone, and the Oates’ phones. We had a lot of pictures :)

They had little maps at the entrance to Keukenhof and the boys each took one. Bennett and Ryan constantly had theirs out figuring out where we were and deciding where they wanted to go next

        

 

a crazy bridge across the creek; and on the right: Ryan was hiding from me in the flowers and Eliza decided it would be fun to tackle him; right: we discovered stroopwafels at the gift shop and indulged in way too many throughout our trip

on the left: almost the picture I was going for, on the right: how the rest turned out

   

After going back and letting the kids take a nap, we headed to the beach. No dips in the North Sea, but the kids loved playing in (and in Eliza’s case, rolling around in and eating) the sand. We finished off the day with our nightly ritual of walking downtown for gelato at Luciano’s before putting the kids to bed.

        

And finally, I took way too many pictures of the flowers. I think because they held still and I didn’t have to try to get them to smile :)