Missing flights!

Why is my husband so prone to missing his flights?? I can't tell you how many times this has happened. His flight from Florida was scheduled for this morning. He was there early and everything seemed to be going as planned until he remembered a small little detail.....oh yeah he forgot the passports!!! By the way, the airport is about an hour from where my Mom lives!!! He left and made it back 10 minutes after his flight left. Luckily, he got onto another flight and will hopefully make his next connection to Germany...fingers crossed.

Oh, he also had to throw my Mom's car keys onto the carpet as the doors were closing on the tram that was taking him to his terminal. Yep, he almost left WITH her keys.

All this drama....I can't wait to talk to him!! He is conserving his cell phone because he wasn't able to charge the battery the whole time he was in Fl because of that pesky little 22oV plug!

Another true story.....
My husband was visiting us while we were still living in Florida...I think he was in Alaska at the time. Anyway, I was driving him to the airport and we hit horrible bumper to bumper traffic in Tampa. This was not good...the airport was only like 10 minutes away if we could just drive like normal, but not on this day.

There was still hope that he would catch the flight so I literally just dropped him off at the curb and he took off running to check in. We didn't have cell phones back then so I couldn't call to check on him...so I did what any good wife would do!

I went shopping! The kind of shopping that involves groceries....not the kind I really enjoy. The airport is very close to an AFB so I drove over there to shop at the Commissary.

As I was walking out to my car with my buggy full of groceries I see this guy that looks an awful lot like my husband walking towards us. Yep...it was him. Yep, he missed his flight and took a taxi over to the Commissary and waited there WITH his luggage for me out in the parking lot. We got an extra day together so I think this was more of a reward to miss flights...maybe this is where it all started!

I love you Babe *wink*!

Clogs, clogs, & more clogs!

Our Netherlands vacation was coming to an end so we packed up and began the journey back to Germany, but had one final stop before we left. We had toured Clara Maria on our Spring Break trip and I knew my husband would love this place! So, we had to stop and it was on the way home...sort of. I mean what kind of trip would this be if we didn't go to a clog and cheese farm???...we're in Holland!!!

This farm has been in the same family for 150 years and it is full of charm! The people are nice and it is truly a country farm....no frills, but that is what makes it so cool!

Check out these FUN FACTS ON CLOGS....interesting!

Today, I'm going to share the clog making part of the tour. The clog factory, well small room, has authentic antique machines that are still running. Clogs are made from the wood of poplar or willow trees. So, our tour began with a chunk of wood.

Safety first...put on your goggles!

The chunk of wood must be chopped. The guide picks a child from the tour to be the "helper" and on our first trip Lauren was chosen. Here she is about to help him chop the wood with an axe....I don't think they would give a kid an axe in the states??

This machine will form the outside of the clog.

Closer view of the clog mold....

Then it moves over to this machine which carves out the inside so your foot will fit nicely. Sarah was chosen to be the "helper" when we went the 2nd time....they are lucky girls!

...and closer

.....big stack of clogs covered in sawdust!

They actually had tons, well it looked like it, of sawdust which they save for bedding for the cattle in the winters.

This car was outside...Colton & Jacque had a good time on it over Spring Break!

I said this was a cheese farm too so stay tuned for the yummy details!

These babies are so darn cute!!

I had to share this YouTube video! These babies cracked me up...even though it is digitally enhanced!! Very clever....check it out:)



Did it make you laugh too??

Spring Break road trip.....

I and three of my friends ventured off with our kids during Spring Break to tour the Keukenhoff Gardens in Holland during Spring Break this year. We caught the bus at a ridiculous hour....3:30AM to be exact which is way to early for me since I am not a morning person. Seems like it will be fine until the alarm is going off, but we did make it on time and were actually a few minutes early....gasp!

I had never heard of Keukenhoff Gardens before, but it seems to be a well known place to Europeans. The Gardens are only open for 2 months each year. They have a variety of flowers in bloom during this window of time.....absolutely beautiful! The big draw are the tulips, but our trip was just a little too soon to see them all in bloom. We are going to go back at the end of the season next year to hopefully see those tulips in bloom...I LOVE tulips!!!!

The trees were just beginning to bud.

Beautiful tulips indoors....

festive music and singing.....

The kids had fun at the petting zoo....

Just after this picture was taken Lauren put her hand smack dab into a fresh puddle of lamb pee!

It was almost time to head back to the bus when my friend Andrea and I headed over to a place called Swan Lake because we thought this was where we were supposed to meet.....well it wasn't, but we are so glad we found this place! There was a wooden stepping stone path in the lake that was full of swans. The kids had a great time feeding the swans. Sarah did manage to fall and drop one of her legs into the water as she was hopping from stone to stone...not surprised!

Peaceful.....


Jacque smiling....pre funny faces stage:)

We headed back to the tour bus....we made it back on time even though we were sidetracked by the swans! Everyone was there except one person and she ended up being a 1/2 hour late. She finally arrived and we headed to our next tour spot. We LOVED this next place a lot. So much so that we went back on our last day in the Netherlands. My husband didn't get to go the first time so we didn't want him to miss out.

We rarely ever take tours and this trip just confirmed to me why we usually choose to discover things on our own. The same lady who was late caused us another delay. We stopped at a McDonalds to have dinner because we had a long drive home (about another 5 hours) so we were going to make it "quick." Well EVERYONE went to McDonalds except this one lady who decided to walk to a sit down restaurant that was close by. Needless to say, an hour later the bus driver went walked to the restaurant to get her! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to keep kids calm while sitting on a bus waiting. I just thought this was terribly inconsiderate and proof to me why groups are difficult. I would have probably went after her at about the 10 minute mark.

The trip was wonderful even with the delays and I'm sooo glad we went!

More to come on the next stop from our most recent trip there....still love this place!

Does this look familiar?

Any guesses where this is??

Here are a few clues......

1. This place has many themed areas (Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece, Children's World, England, Russia, Adventure Land, Austria, Holland, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, and Iceland)
2. We are actually from Florida.
3. My husband and Jacque are in Florida right now visiting family.

Are you thinking EPCOT in Florida?
If so....you would be incorrect!

This is actually EuropaPark and is located in Germany.....many, many miles from Florida!

I know, it sure looks like EPCOT with that big ball....called the EuroStat at this park.

All of the rides have the baby swap option which was great for our family. This was one of the first rides we rode and I was surprised that the entire family was not able to ride. I rode with the kids first and learned why this ride was not little ones! This ride is actually an indoor roller coaster in pitch dark....kind of like Space Mountain at Disney World. Luckily, we all like roller coasters!!!

This park is also similar because of the country themed lands, but there is one BIG difference. EPCOT is designed to be much more educational than the EuropaPark version. This place is packed with awesome rides and is HUGE!!! In fact, you really need two days at the park!

There is my husband waving from Poseidon, one of three flume rides!

This is what everyone was doing while I rode this ride.....
WHY is this so much fun???

Where did they go??

The cars were fun....

The outdoor jungle ride was nice too!

There were ducks galore in the water and they would actually catch rides on the boats. Here is a cute Momma duck with her baby.

I've never seen a single swing like this one!
It was right next to the big swings that the other kids were riding.

The park closed at 6PM....typical for Euro parks. Just before we were leaving the kids went onstage for a KinderDisco. They had a good time, but I think sometimes the songs didn't translate right. At one point they were doing a dance to Sexy Eyes! WHAT???

Regardless, they had a good time!

See the concentration....trying to figure out what to do in German!

It was an exhausting day, but TOTALLY worth it.
We can't wait to go back!!

Good food, great sights, and interesting catch!

I've mentioned Volendam quite a few times so I thought it was time to share some pictures from this cute little fishing village. We spent a lot of time here in the evenings!

We enjoyed ice cream from this waterfront shop.
Delicious!

Reasonable prices too!

We found bronze statues all over the town representing the history of the fishing village. There were miniature versions on display at the museum.

Here are a few.....

Any guess as to what this fisherman has in his bucket...besides the can??

Yep....lots of eel of course!

We ate breakfast everyday at our little apartment and packed lunches all but one day. Yes, we packed a weeks worth of meals...a little lighter load on the way home! Eating out is just too expensive for a family of seven so this was a way to conserve money and stay on our budget for the trip. We did plan to eat dinner out a few times at local restaurants just to experience the culture!!

We ate dinner at this restaurant the night we arrived. You can see how they slide the front wall open to make it airy. We were lucky enough to get 2 tables on the front....fantastic seats!!

We ate here for lunch one day.

This is one of the kibbeling meals (cod) we had for lunch.
There was also potato salad hiding under the sauce.
It was VERY good!!

We were in the right place at the right time when one of the fishing boats docked.

The kids were able to go down and see what they had caught.

They were selling their live catch on the spot.

...and what were they catching??? Yes, there is a theme here!
EEL...here is one of the buckets they had for sale!

Don't they look delicious??

These cows were in a field just past where we were staying. They have absolutely nothing to do with a fishing village, but they are quite unusual. We have NEVER seen cows like these. They all had this white stripe around the middle!

...and off they flew

My husband is still on his 30 day post deployment leave and wanted to take some time to go back to Florida to see family. We would have liked for the entire family to go, but purchasing tickets was out of the question for seven......astronomical price....around $8,000 for a week!!! So, we opted not to purchase tickets and took the Space A option. We also decided that just my husband and Jacque (2 1/2) would go since it would be easier to get 2 seats instead of 7.

He left yesterday morning for the local Air Base in hopes of catching a flight. You just never know if you will get a seat or not so our fingers were crossed. It worked out and they filled 2 of the 17 available seats.

They were able to fly on a military plane which is really cool for kids! They are not confined to a single seat and can move around to play. Plus the seats are attached to the side of the plane....again super cool for a kid. Jacque had fun playing with the other kids and my husband didn't have to worry about keeping him super quiet....I like this feature:)

It is a little noisy, but that didn't stop Jacque from sleeping.
It is probably like the hum of a vacuum putting a baby to sleep!

They flew into Maryland and then had to purchase tickets to Fl...luckily these were CHEAP.....$59! It becomes way to complicated to get hops when you are on a time schedule. He ended up getting to Tampa at 10PM.....felt like 4AM our time. My Mom picked them up and they are having a great time....just trying to get rid of the jet lag!

Yes, Jacque is riding in the backpack!

Wish we were all there!!!
Love you!!