Day 13 (Edam)

Biking from Edam through Volundam, Marken and back up again was SO much fun!  Despite rain and wind, Timmy LOVED the tandem bike and made driving sounds the whole time. :)

  We rented bikes from Ton Tweewielers.  Loved it!  They were so friendly and helpful, and knew exactly which bike would be perfect for Timmy, even though he was afraid.  This was my favorite part of the trip!

http://www.tontweewielers.nl/contact/

I want to buy one of these kid tandems!

Day 14 (Heerlen and Leiden)

Visited the Corrie ten Boom Museum in Heerlen, and then

visited the Pilgrim Museum in Leiden.

Day 15 (Fitness and Lindt)

Adam and Melissa visited my back fitness class with me.  Afterwards, we destroyed our efforts and visited the Lindt chocolate factory and taste tested our spoils.  Adam and Melissa spent the day packing up and trying to decide what to send home with Adam to keep the load light for Mel and the kids on the way home.

Day 16 & 17 (Lousberg and Church)

Adam left early on this morning for home. :(  We were sad, especially his kids, of course.

We all took a hike around Lousberg.  The kids did well, since it ended up being a pretty big hike. We played at the hammocks, park, devil & clever woman statue, foot bath, and viewed the top of the hill to get a view of the city.

Church on Sunday, which always seemed to leave us just in recovery mode afterwards.

Day 18 (Brückenkopf Park)

 Great place on a hot day to visit.  We had fun in the water, saw the sensory garden, saw some goats and other animals, and played in a cool park. Sethy got hurt, but luckily didn't lose any teeth!

Day 19 (Hangeweiher Park)

On this morning, I had the boys attend preschool while I looked at 3 preschools in our city for next year.  As Timmy will be in school in our area, I need to find Aaron a spot in a preschool closeby.

After lunch, we headed down to Hangeweiher Park with the morgans.  They had new boats!  We both got dragon boats, paddled around for 30 Minutes and played at the park there for an hour.

Day 20 (Baby Party and Cafe Mohren)

On this Wednesday, I had a 3 hour sugar test at the doctor, taught my yoga class, and showed the Morgans around the Dreiländer Ecke.

Melissa and I attended Isabelle Lüth's baby party at Rebeccas's home.  The girls were ALL over Marvin!

Afterwards, we cleaned the church (our turn), and then enjoyed a cafe break in the city afterwards with tea and almond croissants.  Scott was a dear to watch the kids, and we enjoyed the quiet city atmosphere at night.

Day 21 & 22 (Hoensbroek & Chill-out Day)

The next day we made yummy Bruscetta and hung out at home, making plans.  

Chores and Chill-out day.

Day 23 and 24 (Hohes Venn, Wedding, and Church Picnic)

We went hiking in Hohes Venn (See past post).  You might think this is Timmy's first communion picture.....but......

 It was actually Mai and Dennis's wedding! They invited Timmy to be their ringbearer, and he was delighted.

Melissa watched the kids after the ceremony, so Scott and I could eat delicious food at table 8, and boogie until midnight.

Day 25 (Bokrijk Speeltuin)

We went on a Monday to go to the Bokrijk Museum, but it was closed.  Ooops!  But it ended up being a great mistake because the largest playground in Belgium was next door, and it was practically empty!  Sweeeet!  We spent 6 hours playing there to our hearts content!  The best things was....it's free!  Cost us only 2 Euros each to park.

Day 26 and 27 (Yoga and Cologne)

Day 26 Yoga Class  

I took the younger kids to the gym to play in the Kids Club, while Luke and Melissa had a little day in the city.  Luke helped the missionaries with a teaching appointment and got some fries in town after.

COLOGNE

 Took a bus, a train, a subway, a tram, a kiddie train, a streetcar, and all back again!

Despite keeping walking to a minimum, Aaron was still pretty mad that I didn't bring his roller (scooter) at the end.  He can go so much faster than walking with it.

 Aaron LOVED the tram over the Rhine

 HUGE kids park at the Rhinepark

The Chocolate Museum.

My kids keep talking about this and how the chocolate was made, and how they got to try some!

We ended the tour with the amazing cathedral of course as well.  Can't miss that!

Day 28 (Blotevoetenpark)

Blotevoetenpark

(Barefoot Park in the Netherlands)

Ironically, I don't have any other photos of this, but it was one of my very favorite days.  We spent 2 hours walking through this barefoot park along different paths.  Walking on all sorts of textures and paths, and through mud and water...all without shoes.  Super fun!

The website

http://www.blotevoetenpark.nl/EN/

Day 29 (Aquana)

AQUANA in Würselen

Water, kids, fun.....what more can I say?

Day 30 & 31 (Liege and Sunday rest)

 Visiting the famous steps after picnicing at a park.

  Chillin' at the Book Market, lounging in some convenient chairs.

 Here, Aaron wouldn't smile for a picture until he decided to be the waffle eye guy.  There he is, the waffle eye guy.  Lately, it's been the salami eye guy, which is much messier and stinkier.  

This is La Cathedrale de St. Paul, which I thought was nice.  The kids were totally beat by now, but doesn't mean we didn't drag them around longer...

Finally, the last stop was Eglise Saint Jacques.  This is now my favorite cathedral in Europe.  No crowds like all of the really famous churches, kind of out of the way, an awesome ceiling, and some really cool marble statues along the rim.  I really loved it, and will definitely try to go back again next time I am in Liege!

Finally, after dragging them around all over the place, we gave in to Pizza Hut after unsuccessfully trying to find something charming. :)

Day 31 was church and recovering.  Scott asked Melissa to teach the English Sunday school.
What a sport!

Day 32 (Steinerbos Park)

 This place was crazy!  We thought everything was closed because we were the only people there!

But they opened everything up for us.  We enjoyed a train ride, parks, sledding with mats down the fast slides, go-carts, a huge thunderstorm, then sun again, a boat ride and a chilly dip in the pool!

Day 33 (Bokrijk Museum)

Visited the Bokrijk Outdoor Living Museum

 Seeing the sheep get herded by the sheepdog was my favorite part.

 The kids could see authentic Belgian homes and buildings that were over 100 years old.

 Their favorite part seemed to be feeding the donkeys.

 We took a quick 20 Minute run through the humongous playground once more on the way out.

Day 34 (Augustusberg, Drachenfels, Remegen)

I talked Mel into finally taking a day to tour on her own this day.  The kids were begging to stay home for a day, and there was still some cool stuff to see in the area that Mel hadn't seen yet.

So, off she went to brave one-way streets, pedestrian paths, crazy parking, and even a ferry ride in the car on her own!  But she got to hit three cool sights in one day....of which we would have surely been only able to see one with the kids.

Augustusberg Castle

Drachenburg Fels and Castle hike

  

And the Peace Museum at the Bridge at Remegen, a WW II site of significance.

Day 35 (Cafe Van der Daele)

Seffy's "special day" in the city getting cocoa and treats at Cafe Van der Daele, and visiting the Teddy and Co. toy store.  The rest of the day, we dedicated to packing up and shipping out for Paris.  *My highlight was finding a baby items I needed on sale for 3 Euros discounted from 60!*

Day 36 (Paris I)

Arrived in Paris on the Thalys train.  We found our hotel, lugged our luggage painstakingly there through the subways, which was more work than we expected.

 Walked around the garden by the hotel in the heat.  Saw a pretty grotto and lakes, and had to eat ice cream to cool down from the heat.

We spent the rest of the evening happily at the Eifel Tower, eating dinner at a restaurant nearby and staying out to watch the tower twinkle.  We even took a horse and carriage ride around the tower for good night views.

Arrived

Day 37 (Paris II)

Best day in Paris!

 Visited Sacre Cour for the first time.  Amazing church!  Amazing view of the city!

 Had beautiful weather for L'Open Tour.  

I enjoyed the headphones with quirky old music about Paris.

 Viewed the Madeline Church

Had yucky cheap food at Mezzo di Pasta, and repented by eating the most amazing desserts Paris can offer at Fouchon (as a gift from our friends, Mike and Bärbel) 

 We each picked one and split it, and then got Luke some dairy-free fruit gems of his own.

After rushing back to Fouchon for the bathroom, :) and waiting for Aunt Katie to get a free 10-minute massage on the street (oh, yes, I did), we walked the Tuileries Gardens, and let the kids play with old fashioned ships in the fountain.

Kinley played with Pigeons (her favorite part of the whole day), and then we took a kid-friendly, 1 hour tour of the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa, La Victoire de Samothrace and a little Greek section with mosaics.   Just the right little tiny taste of this HUGE museum for our group.

Day 38 (Paris III)

Bus toured Paris in L'Open tour, since it was pouring rain.   Walked in the pouring rain to experience "the best burritos I've ever had" at Candalaria.  Ended up having to buy the kids new socks to keep them warm since we were all soaked. More bus tour, and ended the day with delicious Tai food at Montai.