A European Adventure

What an adventure! After much debate and discussion, Chris and I decided that I would join him for a trip to the Netherlands where he attended a conference. This was the first time we'd left Eli over night and we had much angst about it. We had a lot more angst when a volcano erupted and caused our return to be delayed several days. We worried for nothing, though, because Eli had a blast hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa for an entire week. He even got to see his Papaw and Aunt Melissa and some of the cousins, so all in all, he had a great time.

Despite the fact that we were stranded in a foreign country, had to spend major bucks to get tickets back home before NEXT week, and were generally in a mild state of worry, Chris and I had a great trip too. That's how fabulous the Netherlands is!

Here are the highlights - I promise photos of Eli soon (yes, he did grow while we were gone).

The 16th century state house and Thursday market in Delft (a wonderful small, really old city with beautiful canals).

The last remaining vestige of the old city wall; one of the gate towers with modern drawbridge.

The interior of New Church (begun in the late 15th century). New, right? This is where William of Orange-Nassau or William the Silent is entombed.

Old Church or Oude Kirk; begun in the 14th century. Yes, that tower is leaning due to a mistake in construction and the soft reclaimed land it is built on - much of the Netherlands is below sea level. The canals and dikes make this possible.

Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge) in Rotterdam habor. Rotterdam has a lot of good Modern architecture. The city was virtually destroyed by German bombing during World War II.

The conference included a dinner cruise of Rotterdam's huge harbor on the 1926 paddle steamer "The Majesty" complete with queen on top. That's Erasmusbrug lit in the background. Dinner was an ode to what the host called "South America" - he meant the American South (inspired by the paddleboat theme) complete with BBQ chicken and the theme song to "the Good, the Bad, and Ugly" as the buffet rose on a round elevator platform from the nether regions of the boat. The Dutch should stick to what they know best, I think, such as awesome cheese!

Enjoying the canals of Amsterdam.

The bulb fields near Amsterdam - those are hyacinths, oh, the fragrance!

Chris at Keukenhof Gardens (yes he did actually attend the conference too).

Millions of bulbs and thousands of people at Keukenhof.

Amsterdam: clean, quiet at night, stunning old architecture, many people and bicyles but relatively few cars. Not a bad place to be stranded.

The Dutch are serious about their bicycles - check out the bike parking deck at behind the bridge and to the right.

Easter, Etc.

There's been no time to post new photos lately because we've all been too busy being outside enjoying the sun - we'd forgotten what it felt like. Eli is beside himself to be outside and Chris and I aren't far behind; we went on three picnic suppers last week. Picnic suppers work out really well since Eli is done with his booster seat. Don't get me wrong he still should be sitting in the booster, but he refused heartily. Instead he wants to sit in a chair all by himself. His chin barely looks over the table edge and he gets down and roams the kitchen every 5 minutes, but his eating is improved so I guess it all works out.
Our Easter was very nice. Eli got the concept of finding eggs right away, though I did give him some help. He was really into it once he discovered there were bunny graham cookies inside the eggs. And the marshmallow Peeps. Oh, my. He's addicted. We put the chocolate bunny from our neighbors in the freezer before we had a little sugar-holic on our hands.