Back in Holland!!!

Tyson and I never thought we would be back here visiting Holland, especially with our children!  We thought we were so lucky to come visit with Tyson's family six months after we were married.  Then we came back again when Tyson decided to accept an internship for a summer in Belgium.  Now, we were so lucky to come visit for the weekend while on this trip to Germany.  Tyson loved that he got to spend another New Year here in the land that he loves so much!

 

Zaanse Schans is one of my favorite places in Holland because I feel like you get a feel for what Holland is really about while visiting this tourist destination- Windmills, Delft Blau pottery, Wooden Shoes, Gouda Cheese, canals, and tulips.  Not much was open this time though, it was New Year's Eve, but it was so fun to bring our girls back here to visit the land of Tyson's mission!

 Love the Windmills!

One huge Wooden Shoe :)

 

My cute parents :)  We were the tour guides on this trip instead of them :)

  We stayed in a hotel right in the center of Delft, Tyson's first area of his mission.  The hotel is behind me as I am taking this picture.  If you recognize this church then you are remembering it from the front of the DVD on The Best Two Years!

Just a beautiful sight of the Amsterdam canals at night!

 Enjoying a traditional New Year's Dutch Food, Olliebollen.  Basically it is a fried, round donut! 

We decided to buy the girls some small wooden shoes at this one and only tourist shop open on New Year's Eve in Amsterdam's City Center.

Just a glimpse of the festivities in Amsterdam!

This is what it is all about!  Happy New Year 2011!!

At the stroke of midnight, Tyson and I ran outside our hotel, (while our girls slept through the crazy loud fireworks) to celebrate for a few minutes!  We stepped outside right as the clock tower on the church started chiming in the New Year!  It was a fun memory for us to be there together!  The not fun part was that the fireworks went on until about 5 am!!!  Non stop...not even exaggerating!  There was a huge New Year's City party just a few blocks away that went until 5 am AND fireworks are not illegal in Holland, so people could light big ones off all the time!  It was crazy!!  It took the girls a while to fall asleep because of the constant booms and explosions, but once they were asleep, they slept right through everything thank goodness!