Marks Birthday weekend

April 9th-10th 2011

One of Mark's favorite things to do is ride bikes.  And one of his most recent "life-long dreams" has been to ride in the Netherlands (I think because it's so flat there that pulling a trailer full of two enormous beasts is easy). Anyway, for his big #3-0 birthday bash we fulfilled his dream with a long weekend vay-cay.  We went to Kinderdijk first for the windmills, then to Amsterdam for the... uh, culture; and finally to Kukenhof for some tulips.  And so our magical journey began...

Kinderdijk

A lovely path that went through the canals and windmills. 

Amsterdam 

Didn't take too many pics in Amsterdam. Not sure what happened but we had a great time walking around the lovely city, checking out what they had to offer. One thing I will remember about Amsterdam is the gigantic bike parking lot. So many bikes one could not believe. Again, don't know why but I didn't get a pic. We loved seeing all the bikes everywhere. We went to a big flea market, Ann Frank house, flower market, cheese shops, ate yummy food, Rembrandt's house, beautiful canals...

We were very excited to tour the Anne Frank house.  At the same time, the girls were very excited to not be strapped in a car seat or bike trailer.  Boy did they have some energy to burn off.  What began as a relaxing stroll through history and Miep Gies office quickly deteriorated into an exercise in damage control and getting the girls out quickly, calmly, and undetected.  But the museum really had an impact on Sadie because she asked us to tell her the Anne Frank story about 50 times on the way home.  She was really fascinated by the whole situation.

Amsterdam has a really big and really neat flower market. 

cheese as far as the eye can see

Kukenhof

We had heard such wonderful stories of the Kukenhof gardens during the tulip season.  We were excited to bike around the surrounding tulip fields for a nice authentic feel.  We think that we just barely missed the peak of tulip madness; we must have been a week early :(   But, still beautiful and very fun...and we'll be back. The girls being the flower-lovers that they are were in heaven to see the rows and rows of tulips.  There were lots of daffodils and some other purple flower going on.  We did a stealthy drive-by daffodil snag (on wild, public grounds) for a special treat for the girls.  It was pretty intense.  Afterward we had a birthday celebration and feasted on chicken salad sandwiches.  In the car.  The girls loved it. (Then cake later at home.)

The whole trip really was a huge success...until the end.  We were about 1.5 hrs from home and our gas light went on.  Uh-oh.  We would have filled up earlier but we wanted to cross the border into Germany for cheaper gas.  We were just sure we would find a station. We found several, but they were all closed and wouldn't accept our American debit cards! Aughhh! Plan B? keep driving.  So we did.  Yep, we really just said a prayer and kept driving further... further... still going... Mark's seat was drenched in sweat from the intensity.  And you must understand we were out in the middle of Belgium or Germany or who knows where.  There was nothing around for miles.  Just some random, shut-down, ghost-town gas stations.  We were all surprised, but we actually made it off of the Autobahn at our exit and were just about 4 km from home when the car died.  Wow.  What a miracle we made it so far! Did we unpack the trunk, load up our bikes, and drive home at 11:00 PM with sleeping girls in a trailer? Nope.  We felt bad, but we called our good friends who were nice enough to come get us and take care of us until the whole thing was resolved.  Thanks, Millers! You truly are the best! How everything turned out really was miraculous and we are very grateful.  And we were reminded of what good people surround us in our lives.

Bok Bok Bok

Imagine the scene in Napoleon Dynamite where there are rows and rows of caged-up chickens. Never in my all my days did I imagine myself in one of those places, but there I was, walking down a dark, creepy walkway with hideous cries of locked up hens begging for us to free them. And there we were, exchanging Euro for chickens with the Hühner Meister. The drive home was equally as frightening due to a box in the back of our new van full of wild beasts scratching and clawing to get out and meet us. Would they get out and attack us while we were driving? We didn't know. No one knew. But we finally arrived home and were anxious for our new family members to feel safe and secure in there in new coop. So the fun begins...

Why did we get chickens? For the eggs of course. Nice, fresh, healthy, practically free, organic, free range eggs. Good for the body and the soul. Also pets. The girls are in love! There is actually a Pet Show on Monday that we are thinking of entering Lady cluck into. How cute would that be... Everyone showing off their dogs and here comes Sadie on stage with a chicken on a leash with a bonnet and painted finger nails (well... claws). We would win for sure. No doubt. Also our garage has a room that used to be a chicken room with a door for the chickens to get out side and everything. Also we have a huge backyard. Also we live in the middle of the country, this is normal here. Also we thought it would be a great adventure and would teach the girls some responsibility. Also Mark got an idea in his head and wouldn't rest till it came true. Also Mark talked me into it.  So far the girls love waking up in the morning and checking for eggs, feeding, watering and letting the chickens out to play or as Sadie would say "bok around". Their names: Lady Cluck, Henrietta, Madam Pecks-a-lot, and Sareesa (a name that Sadies made up and uses for everything.) I actually had these fine animals growing up. They are beautiful birds, as Mark would say. His new babies and our very first pet (besides a short run with a fish in 2004).

Don't worry about Sadie's out fit and hair. Sometimes it's just not worth the fight.

Preparing their new home 

anxious to let them out 

Mystified by their new pets

Such fine fowl.

The princesses of poultry

Mark constructed this outdoor portion all by himself.

Who says chickens don't make good pets? But experiments in flight can lead to family choas...

The fruits eggs of our labors. 

Wazzzzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuupppppppppp

Well, it's been awhile. Time for a little update, wouldn't ya say? To describe the last 3 months in one word I would have to choose the word crazy. We had some awesome times and some not so awesome times. But we are happy to say that we are all happy and alive and doing awesome. So, how about some awesome?....

 A few items of business...

*We are now the proud owners of a mini van.

*We are now the proud owners of 4 chickens, yes I said chickens, real chickens.

*We started our very first ever garden.

*We had a sensational time with my mom, dad, and Hayley (sis) for a whole month

*We traveled to The Czech Republic, Austria, Southern Germany, Netherlands twice, Belgium, France, Luxembourg

*Discovered 3 cherry trees in our backyard that we didn't know were there, and they are bursting with the most delish cherries ever. Looking forward to our plums and apples come fall. We also discovered we have rhubarb, wild strawberries and black berries growing in our yard. I swear you can eat anything that grows in our backyard, it's a dream come true

*We are now BFF with all our older German neighbors

*Sadie finished up her 1st year of preschool, with honors I might add.

*Mark turned 30!!

...and it goes on and on and on. 

First on the docket: The two sweetest girls in all the land... The Olsen sisters...

Here is just a bunch of recent pictures of the girls.

Thionville, France 

Sadie Jean has recently turned from a little girl to a big girl. (She informs me all the time.) She has the wildest, happiest, funniest imagination and I love watching it develop. Did you know she has a real unicorn cave in my very closest. She no longer sleeps with her beloved blanket because ponies that live in the unicorn cave need it more than her. She all of the sudden will eat anything and everything. Which is a huge improvement from eating practically nothing. She loves to tell the craziest stories. She is soooo sweet.  I love to just listen to her little mouse voice it seriously soothes me. She helps me cook dinner and is pretty good at the dishes as well. I can't believe I have a big girl now. 

Okay. London seriously is going to be a comedian. She cracks me up. She has some of the best jokes I have ever heard from a toddler. She makes up these weird things and then laughs so hard about them. Examples: She will say, "Medicine for the bun?" and then say "nooooo!" and then starts laughing so hard. Another example she will randomly start saying "cow poop" over and over until we are all laughing. May not sound too funny in type but coming out of her mouth with her silly little voice it gets me every time. She is also the biggest copy cat and repeats anything Sadie says or does. She loves doing everything that Sadie is doing right now. She loves her sister. She is a little snuggle bug too. London is now 21 months old but I swear her and Sadie are the same age some days. 

I could go on and on and on about these little sweeties but there is much to blog about. Maybe you are anxious to hear about our hens. Maybe not. Who knows? Peace!