Back From the Cold and Windy North

Home from a girls trip to The Netherlands. Poor Bryce had to stay in Lux and work. Tulips were seen, although not nearly as many as last year. I'll fill you in on the highlights tomorrow.

Keukenhof Garden

The motivation to visit The Netherlands was to see the tulips. It did occur to me that this motivation was a bit strange since in Washington we have beautiful tulip fields in the Skagit Valley. But come on . . . the Skagit Valley is *not* Holland. And so the wheels were set in motion.

Do you see what I see? A quilt!

The famous Keukenhof Garden is located only 30 minutes south of Amsterdam. It not only had fields and fields of tulips but, most notably, a large garden.

It was gorgeous. Trees, ponds, paths, swans and even a white peacock! The girls happily skipped up and down the paths, stopping to smell each bed of hyacinths. Eva was very interested in the names of the tulips with her favorite being Pink Diamond. Each girl had their picture taken in front of a tulip bed of their favorite color. There were sculptures to admire set between the flower beds. A real wooden windmill that we were able to climb up. A group of singers in traditional Dutch clothing. Waffle stands. Souvenir stands. Bulb stands. The most exciting, to Eva anyway, was the petting farm!!

Audrey let out a blood curdling scream and jumped into Bryce's arms, clinging for dear life. But Eva was enthralled by the petting farm. Actually I was too. It was a fenced area with all kinds of farm animals just wandering around together. A calf, a llama, pony, goats, ducks, sheep, chickens of all kinds. These were my favorite. Lambs, little pigs and rabbits. The rabbits were Eva's favorite. She was so tender with them. There were many one last pets.

It was such an enjoyable outing. Perfect for adults and kids. We will definitely be back next spring.