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Saturday, April 14, 2007

Happy Easter 


We spent Easter weekend in Holland, it was a really quick but nice trip. The weather was wonderful, which always makes it a better trip. We started out on Thursday, just Jacob and myself, about midday. We drove up to Hengelo, just inside the Dutch border. We stayed the night at a hotel, and the next morning we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's home in Enschede. We spent some time visiting there, and then they took us to the Watermolen Bels pancake restaurant. It is an old watermill, with over 100 varieties of pancakes to choose from. Jacob played on the playground and enjoyed his pancake, his favorite food while in Holland. We also walked a bit down the road, and enjoyed the nice weather. It is so beautiful and quiet out there, mostly just farms and animals to see. That afternoon, Jacob and I headed to the town of Leiden, to check into our hotel and await Kenny's arrival. We had time for a quick dinner, and a swim in the hotel's pool before Jacob headed off to bed. I watched TV and waited for Kenny to arrive, his train got in around 10:30 and then he came by taxi to the hotel. Then it was straight to sleep, since we had plans for the next day.

We caught the train to Amsterdam Saturday morning, and walked through the city to my cousin's home on the canal, Leidsegracht. It is very nice to visit with them, and this was the first time Jacob has met them. We caught up on the things that are going on with us and them, and we also went on walking tour of the Jordaan area of Amsterdam. By the afternoon we said goodbye and made our way back to the train station, with more than a few stops at some shops and places to sit and watch the people and bicycles go by. The city was packed with people by the late afternoon, much different than when we arrived at 9:30 in the morning. We got to the train station at just the right time, our train was ready to leave moments after we got on. Then we had dinner in Leiden, and back to the hotel to rest our tired feet.

Sunday morning, (Easter morning), we hopped out of bed and quickly checked out of the hotel. We were off to the Keukenhof, a short drive from Leiden. Easter Sunday is one of their busiest days, so we wanted to arrive early to beat the rush! We were there by about 8:45, and it was very nice. Hardly anyone there yet, and we were able to see the things we wanted to without pushing people out of the way. We had a cheese sandwich before we left (always eat cheese in Holland, it's so good) and then left by the early afternoon. On our way out the crowds were growing, and there was a very long line of traffic to get into the parking lots. Our timing was perfect all weekend!

We drove back to Mannheim that afternoon, and got to Kenny's apartment about 5:30pm. Long enough for Jacob to visit with the landlord, and for us to unload the car and get settled. Finally we all went to bed early, we were quite tired from our busy weekend. The next day Kenny had to work, and Jacob and I had lunch with him there. His landlord had Jacob and I up for cake and coffee, all of her children were there with their families, so plenty of kids for Jacob to play with. He's very fluent in his German, they are all very impressed with him. Finally made it back to Wolframs-Eschenbach late that evening, and started the task of unpacking, doing laundry, etc.

I put the pictures up on our photosite, just click on the album with Jacob and the wooden shoes on it.

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