Friday, April 22, 2011

Tiptoe thru the Tulips!!

Tulips are my favorite flower - always have been.  And any time I've pictured Holland over the course of my life, I've pictured those gorgeous tulip fields in springtime.  So no one was more excited about our impending trip to Amsterdam than I was.  Finally a chance for me to see the tulips and our timing was just perfect since it was peak tulip season!

Our travels took us to the world famous Keukenhof Gardens.  We hopped on two buses and were there within an hour ready to hit the ground running.  As we prepared to turn into the parking lot we were met with a vision unlike anything I'd ever seen - fields upon fields of tulips!  I only wish I'd gotten a picture from the bus because it was probably the most stunning view of the day, though that's not to say that I didn't get plenty of great pics, you'll see....with over 8 million flowers, get ready for lots of pictures!

Aidan and Liam excited to be seeing the tulips!

Liam doing some "karate" moves as he waits for his snack

  
Sharing a gofre before we set out

The first of many flower pictures you will see on this entry.  I loved the red tulips poking thru!
 
Aidan is still excited - though we've only just begun

Brotherly love...for now

He posed all on his own

Such a great picture of them, I only wish there had been more flowers in the background!

The first of many tulip field pictures


And another view

And yet another, this with some red and purple - love it!!

Trying to get a picture of the boys with the field in the background but people were pushing and shoving us out of the way - apparently it was a popular view!

More fields

Fields with trees in the front

Posing near the water preventing us from frolicking in the fields

Cool maze

View of the fields from the middle of the maze where there was a treehouse type area

We always love the zip line!

And Liam is now old enough to enjoy it too!

Aidan posing with the fields

Yup, more views of the fields

Are you sick of it yet?

We did not even bother going up to the top of the windmill - waaayyyy too crowded though I bet the view would have been spectacular!

Stay away from my Pringles!!

Chilling with daddy!

Make sure you read the descriptions!

The last one on the right is cut off but it is for the smugglers - to give misdirection the toes point in a different direction - love it!

Cool chairs made from pitchforks!

Aidan wanted to stay in this tree all day!

Bridge over the water that HAD to be climbed several times

More pretty flowers

And more!

Yup you guessed it, more flowers - Love this one and think I did a puzzle very close to this a few times... wonder if it was a picture from here??

Such pretty colors

Aidan seems to be taking advantage of Liam's stroller a lot lately

Actually maybe this was the puzzle...hmmmm

Same flower fields, different angle

Zoomed in a little

Absolutely in love with these colors!

Ok and these

Why can't my yard look this pretty?

Must eat every crumb

Playground - finally!

Fun with daddy!

Attempting to get Liam into a picture with me!

After visiting the tulips for a chunk of the day we headed back to the city where Aidan told us it was his turn to do something fun.  And that something fun was the paddle boats along the canal.  We were hoping for all 4 of us to go on a ride but Liam decided at the last moment that he just wasn't ready.  So he and I had a drink at a nearby cafe.  Then Aidan decided that I needed to go with him.  I'm not quite as good with steering a paddle boat as I am with steering a car or a bike, and will admit, I might have tapped a houseboat as I was paddling up the canal...shhhhhh... don't tell Josh!

Leaving the dock

Off they go!

We had a lovely dinner at a nearby cafe and met some great people that actually were from the States and Canada.  However, apparently the owners of the restaurant were not huge fans because they told us that the kitchen was too busy to serve us dessert...hmmm, I think there were only 10 tables in the whole place and you can't make us an ice cream sundae?  Sketchy... and not the greatest impression on us.  But dinner itself was yummy.

Liam pooped after dinner
Since Liam was so tired and we missed dessert, Aidan and I went on a mission for ice cream.  We ended up at Sara's again where we had those great pancake/crepes.  And I hate to say it but we ran into a family that would define "ugly" American.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be an American but there is no doubt in my mind why it is that at times people can't stand us.  And this family was the epitome of that stereotype.  They were loud, rude and yelling at the waiter.  I told Aidan to be super nice to the waiter since he was trying really hard and going as fast as he could.  He and I had a great mommy and son night out and it was the perfect end to a fantastic day!

Aidan and I on the way back to the houseboat - couldn't resist a picture with the canal all lit up!

Julie

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