Friday, April 30, 2010

Friday, April 30

I just had to include a couple more pictures of the flowers in Holland - so pretty!

Brenna and I in Amsterdam (Dustin would love to do the kayaking someday there through the canals...)


above, Brenna waving to the boats in Amsterdam (she did get lots of waves in return too :-). below, playing at the beach (of the North Sea)

I just love her shoes in this picture, lol

the shells were very neat on the beach - Brenna was in love :-) (I would have to say this was her favorite part of the trip)





Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here. We had a very busy day here today - Brenna and I attended the spring brunch for school and then we were invited to one of her friend's house to play this afternoon. It was pretty rainy here today, but Brenna had fun on the last walks looking for snails, so at least that was something positive for her with all the walking...
I was pretty unprepared for the spring brunch today - I didn't realize the class would be singing and also preforming a small play - I had no camera or video (it was really cute too - Brenna played a tree in the "play"). Brenna had lots of fun playing with the other kids - lots of indoor running around. Brenna's current best friend - Milena - invited us over to play in the afternoon (lucky for us, her grandpa picked us up too so we didn't have to walk up a very steep hill to get there :-) Brenna really liked exploring the new house and toys and the girls played pretty well together.
So, these are our last pictures to share from our trip to Amsterdam and the North Sea. On Sunday, Brenna was feeling even worse, so we decided to have a very relaxed day and spend our morning at the beach and then go into Amsterdam later (we even talked about just doing a drive through, but we made a quick stop at Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam and had lunch close by). We had breakfast at the hotel before going to the beach (we should have asked if that was included - we got hit with a huge fee when we checked out for breakfast - what a bummer!). The hotel was close enough to walk to the beach (even though we didn't have a view of the beach). The cars from the parade on Saturday were parked there too (along the boardwalk), so it was nice to see those up close before going to the beach. Brenna loved the beach and all the shells there - she could have happily just played there all day. I think we spent about a hour and a half there and then decided it was time to go back to the hotel and clean up and head to Amsterdam. (I was glad we hadn't checked out yet with all the sand Brenna had on her - I kind of felt bad that the hotel staff had already cleaned the room (even though we hadn't checked out) - but not as bad about it after we were hit with the enormous breakfast fee (seriously, I think it may have been cheaper to do room service than the buffet style breakfast they served downstairs...)). So, after checking out of the hotel, we drove to Amsterdam and based on how Brenna was feeling decided to just do lunch and a walk by of Anne Frank's hideout (from the war). There really isn't too much to see from the outside, but we weren't willing to stand in line and go in with how Brenna was feeling...
After Amsterdam, we drove about 2 hours south to our hotel and enjoyed a nice supper in the quiet town there (Dustin and I both had a seafood salad - it was pretty good - it even included eel (which actually was better than the salmon on it). We tried to get a good night sleep, but I think we all slept pretty poorly at the last hotel, so after Brenna got a little sick in the room (she does that if she coughs too much or gets herself really upset), we decided it was time to just head home. So, we left the last hotel at around 6 in the morning and we skipped our stop in Cologne on the way home and just went straight to the doctor's office instead...
So, that wraps up our trip - I loved seeing all the sights from this trip - loved the flowers, the chocolate, and the canals (and the beach) - I would definetly do that trip again!
We have a holiday here tomorrow - so all the stores will be closed tomorrow and Sunday - should be a pretty quiet weekend here (probably just cleaning and hopefully some sewing - poor Dustin and Brenna!)
Well, have a great weekend! Take Care!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Wednesday, April 28

The flower parade in Keukenhof

Touring the gardens at Keukenhof - unbelieveable how many people were there (the flowers were beautiful and wonderful smelling too!) Isn't Brenna looking adorable!

I thought these shoes were great that one of the workers were wearing - don't they just scream "Holland" to you???

The flower fields - so beautiful. Had Brenna felt better, I would have tried to get a picture of her in one, but it just wasn't in the cards for this trip with her feeling so tired (and we could tell that she was feeling a little worse by day 2 of our trip, but she still completed the day at the garden well).





Brenna loved all the statues - she wanted her picture done with all of them (too bad she wasn't as excited about the flowers - but who can blame her since she wasn't allowed to touch and/or pull those)









Hello All!!
Hope all is well. The weather here is great and Brenna is getting over her cold, so things are looking up here. We took Justice for a nice walk this afternoon :-)
So, some more about our trip - on Saturday, we drove from Brussels to Keukenhof (in Holland). It was amazing driving into Keukenhof seeing the fields of flowers. Brenna did well on the drive, but we were all ready to get out and walk around some (although I don't think any of us were prepared for the large number of people that would be at the famous Keukenhof gardens (not sure if there were more people there because of the parade - but the park was packed!). Brenna loved all the statues at the park more than the flowers, but I think she enjoyed seeing the huge number of flowers and windmills at the garden. We went to about 45 minutes of the parade that occurred too (it is a major parade in the Netherlands - it goes for 40 km and starts at 9:30 in the morning and ends at 9:00 in the evening). Brenna got tired at the parade and we decided it was time to pack it up for the day and head to the next hotel (right on the beach of the North Sea - although Brenna and I didn't see the beach until Sunday morning). Dustin picked up supper for us all and it was time to turn in for the night :-) (Brenna loved that our hotel room had a TV that rose up from the stand - she thought that was very cool). (also, very poor planning on my part to buy so much chocolate in Brussels and then worry about it all weekend getting hot in the car - that is what we ended up carrying around in the back-pack - how silly!)
Well, I think that covers some of our highlights. With Brenna being sick, we cut out some of our ideas for the trip, but I think we still all enjoyed the things we saw. (pictures can't do the flowers in Holland justice - the fields and windmills are just so neat in person!).
Well, take care!

Tuesday, April 27

Brussels at sunset (park was across from our hotel)

Brenna before the cold hit - we found a playground and she could have stayed all day...


Grand' Place in Brussels

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there! Things are good here - we had a nice trip over the weekend (I don't think I told anyone on the blog, but we went to Brussels and Holland over the weekend). Brenna came back with a horrible cold - so bad that we just drove straight to the doctor's office on Monday morning to get some medicine for her :-( (we also cut our trip somewhat shorter - Brenna was hit super hard with sore throat/cough/runny nose/sneezing/watery eyes) (it made my eyes water just to see how bad hers were).

Anyway, Brenna had a better night sleep last night and is napping now, so hopefully, we are on the road to recovery...

So, on Friday, we started our journey north - we drove straight to Brussels (we did drive through Luxembourg and we stopped to use the restroom - so I am counting it in the countries we have stopped in, lol). Brenna was a great traveler and we watched all of season 2 of a new show I found on itunes (H2O - Just add water) ;-) We went straight to our hotel and checked in and then took the metro to the Grand' Place to walk around. The weather was great and we had a very nice time walking around enjoying the chocolate shops (I bought the most delicious raspberry creamed filled truffles - they are of course gone now, lol). (Dustin wasn't as impressed with all my chocolate shopping - he is not a shopper that is for sure!). We did see the famous Petit Julien (Manneken-Pis) fountain - but only stopped for a quick minute (and a couple quick pictures). We let Brenna play at one of the area playgrounds, but we decided it was time to head back for supper and major hand washing (after Brenna playing in the sand at the playground). Brenna started in with her cough on Friday night (just while sleeping) and she was somewhat grouchier than normal, but we continued on with our journey after breakfast on Saturday morning. We enjoyed a relaxing time in Brussels - we didn't try to cram too much in - just tried to enjoy walking through the town and buying delicious chocolate :-)
Well, more about our trip later!
Take Care!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Wednesday, April 21

so, I'm starting off today showing off my quilting that I have been working on lately :-) (although I do have to say I am wishing I could get another of these quilts finished soon - it makes me feel so much better to have some of these items finished :-)


The square below is for Brenna's I love you quilt - can't wait to see it finished - I think it will be adorable :-)
So, not many votes cast, but the winner was the apple in the middle :-) (that was my vote too as I knew I was going to be doing some other red ones in the quilt soon)
another of my blocks for the pinwheel quilt along (this is one of my extras)
I love these little owls - wish I had more of this fabric (then again, I always want more fabric...)
I love the blue and red together below - I wasn't sure when I cut them out, but all put together, I love it :-)
So, now for our walk this afternoon :-) I just had to get a picture finally of the "chicken truck" - I think Brenna can spot it from a mile away (and yes, that was our dinner today, lol) (most of the pictures were taken by Brenna while she was sitting in the stroller - but she was asleep when we passed the "chicken truck" (so that was by me) and the one picture of her today)


(above, we were on a hunt for flowers today, but I was impressed by her fun sidewalk pictures and feet pictures)