“Big Kid” Trip to Paris

April 2011  

Our friends Karla & Erik recently moved on to their next duty station…Snif…but before they left we did a babysitting exchange. We watched each others kid(s) so that the adults could go on an overnight to Paris. 

Here are some pictures of Mark & me in Paris without kids.

 

Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge over the Seine

One of these days we will get more pictures together…

This is as close as we could get without pushing and punching the people.

We ate dinner here & bought some wine.

Not sure what was happened...but I guess it was funny.

Notice how his shoulders are larger than the statue.

I love her attitude.

The last time we were here with Andie, we didn’t go up into the tower because 1) they didn’t allow strollers, and 2) the line was too long to wait in with a breastfeeding 6 month old.

This time we made it to the top (elevator) but walked down…my legs got all wonky by the end.

Keukenhof – Lisse – Holland: April 2011

http://www.keukenhof.nl/

Keukenhof is like spring on steroids. There are blooming flowers, baby animals, and it has an overall feeling of newness.  This year they had interior design installations set up around the park, and some interesting ways to display flowers overall…the flowers were almost fashion accessories in some places. The gardens are only open from March to May, but we have managed to go 3 times.

 

This year we stayed in a hotel that was within walking distance to the gardens. We figured that it would be a nice walk. After getting directions from the hotel staff, we set off on our adventure. It was great at first, and we got some pretty shots of the girls along the way. We came to an intersection, and although we should have gone left in the direction the sign was pointing, the hotel staff said to take a right…and there were many people walking to the right. Perhaps the parking was left? Everyone seemed to have a purpose, so we followed. 

 

As we walked, all of these older people were walking fast passing us up. I thought that they were in quite a big hurry to see a bunch of flowers. Then I noticed that they all had on hiking clothes and carried bottles of water, and after about 35 minutes we asked one group, “Is this the way to Keukenhof?”

They replied with “Yes, The Keukenhof 30 K walk.”

Needless to say, we inadvertently participated an about 5 K total, ended up going back to the hotel, and driving the 1 K , paying parking, and going to the park.

 The polka dot dresses make another appearance!

At first she did not want to take a picture.

We must have bribed her, but I don't remember with what.

Along our walk we saw a few interesting things. The first was a goat on a leash. (Not something we see every day). As we continued to walk, we then saw deer within a chain linked fence. 

At that point Andie asked, “What is this crazy place?!”

Later on we came across this gardening gem. Charlotte asked, “Is that the garden?”

 

I took so many pictures it was hard to decide what to put here. I put some of the pictures in separately because they are just so pretty. I figure it doesn’t cost anything so why not.

The mama sheep was really great until...the babies!

Charlotte likes to yell at birds. Not sure why, but she does.

This baby was hard to walk away from.

Just a cool turkey

Burgers’ Zoo in Arnheim, Netherlands

http://www.burgerszoo.nl/

We went on a family trip to the Netherlands after Mark’s change of command. It is always our favorite trip in early spring because you can see the tulips. 

Our first stop was the zoo…for the kiddos of course. The animals looked a bit bored at times, but it was still nice to see them, and no one was hiding because the weather was perfect.

 

 

Be wary of angry Tortoises wearing tennis shoes.

 

Back at the hotel there was time to take a coffee & apple break.

Cute conversation of the day:

Charlotte: “Are we going back to the show-n-tell ?”

Mom: “Where?”

Charlotte: “The place we slept last night.”

Mom: “Oh! You mean the hotel ? Yes, we are.”