The house where my mom was born!

I realized I left a picture out from our trip to holland... infact I left many out, but this one has significance to my Mom, and my Grandparents Mimi and Bupa. This is the house they lived in when my Mother was born. It is the dark house on the left hand side (at least I hope that's right... number 1037).

Holland!!! (Part 5 the last)

Paul and Janine rented a boat for an afternoon and we took a tour of Amsterdam. It was such a fun time! Here is Paul acting well... like Paul.

We were sitting upfront to make sure it all went okay. We didn't hit anything, and I consider that a success in itself.

If you are in Holland, then nothing screams cool like a boat shaped like a wooden shoe! I can't imagine this would be very practical.

We had a BBQ at Paul and Janine's. They invited Hans and Mrs. van der Sluis. We don't have a good picture of her to put up though... if we get one we will post it!
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The Nieuwe Kerk (The New Church). We went inside, it was really cool!

Paul reading from the book of John (Jokes... I think he was reading the pamphlet).

Me in front of a huge brass facade. The church was huge inside!

The Palace. The Royal Family uses this when they visit the City.

Paul and Digna at Sushi.

Sorry Marja. This was the best picture we had. Sushi was really enjoyable. It was the kind where you sit in front of a conveyor and the sushi rolls by and you pick what you want.

We went to eat at a restaurant called Praq. Sooo good. Cassie said this was where she had the best cream puffs in her whole life. It was really fun to sit outside, in fact I think we had dinner more outside then in for the whole trip!

My personal little piece of art from the trip. I call it "Paul in the Knife". This is cutting edge photography. Okay, enough of the jokes. I do like the picture though!

Central Station in Amsterdam. This is one massive train station! And of course everyone takes their bike to the train, so there were a lot of bikes out front!

This is a Bicycle parkade. A lot of bikes!!!

Parking in Amsterdam is incredibly expensive. 55 Euros a day. That's roughly 80 Dollars Canadian... a day. WHAT???

On the whole this trip was a blast! We had such a great time seeing everyone. The family we saw was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was wonderful for Cassie to get to meet everyone. There was so much to do and see. It was an amazing vacation!

Holland!!! (Part 4)

These Sheep were all walking in a row along the top of the Dyke. It was a really cool site, there were a lot!

Paling (eel). These won't be available much longer, so we had to have some while we still could.

Bupa enjoying himself with his portion. We bought 5... can you guess who got the extra one?

Cassie is awesome! She tried everything. Though the appearance was a little hard to get over, she did enjoy it.

Us on the little island of Schiermonnikoog. There are only a handful of cars, so everyone is on the bike. We rented a tandem. It resulted in a lot of laughing. We had a great day here and would recommend it to everyone!

We were lucky enough to take in a temple session while we were there. It was wonderful to do that with Mimi and Bupa.

Paul and Mary Van't Schip (spelling??) also joined us. It was cool because The session was in French. Apparently the Dutch Temple is the only official Bilingual temple in the world (French and Dutch). This is because the Temple also serves people that come up from Belgium.

The front door and the panel above it are bronze. The plan was to let it turn green, but unfortunately they used an improper cleaner on it and the chemical reaction turned it all dark brown. The door is 5 inches thick though!

The Fokkerlaan. This is were my family lived when I was born. It was in pretty good shape, and looked nicely decorated inside.

The Grift. This was the last house we lived in before we moved to Canada not counting Mimi and Bupa's apartment. Unfortunately it looked pretty run down. The whole neighborhood did, but it was fun to see it again.

Holland!!! (Part 3)

Meet the Joostens. We arranged to have a lunch together with all the extended family so Cassie would get to meet them. We did it at the "Pannenkoeken Huis" in the Amsterdamse Bos. We had an awesome time there. The people were great, the food was great. What more could you ask for? This is Janine, Digna, Marja, and Martijn.

Cassie is sitting next to Oom Wim. Then there is Tante Trees, and Oom Herman. For those of you following along in English, Oom= Uncle and Tante= Aunt.

Oom Herman, Paul, Jeroen, Tante Toot, and looping back, Katelijne, Hans, and Stevka.

Me carrying the goods! Pannenkoeken!!! (Pancakes)

Stavka pointed this out to Cassie. You can actually watch them make the pancakes. Really cool!

Cassie with her Pannenkoek. Bacon, cheese, and syrup if I remember correctly. It was Mmm Mmm Good. I had the same one!

Cassie sporting her new wooden shoes! Unfortunately they were too big to fit in the suitcase so we had to leave them there.

Me with some dried/ drying fish. This is in Modderbak. (Mud bucket... strange name for a town). Very fun little trip though.

Winkel van Sinkel...

Cassie and I in front of one of the Modderback Homes. They are very very small. Only short people could live in these. This is a very old fishing village if any of you are wondering. I believe it spans back at least a couple of hundred years.

Holland!!! (Part 2)

Cassie's first ever train trip. Note the excitement at the train station.

In Rotterdam visiting Wilfred and Constance. We had a wonderful day seeing the sites with them!

Constance, Wilfred, and I in front of the Rotterdam City Hall. There were so many weddings that day. Everyone wanted to be married on 07/08/09!

The EuroMast. Smaller version of towers seen around the world. The view was spectacular!

This bridge is called The Swan. It is the largest single mast suspension bridge in the world.

The Park. A park in Rotterdam with some beautiful gardens.

Two architectural landmarks in Rotterdam. The homes on the right (and yes they are homes) are the cube homes. It would be strange to live in one of those. And on the left is a building called the pencil. I wonder why...

Mimi and Bupa's old house on the Bos en Vaartlaan. Where my mom grew up and met my dad.

Where my dad grew up, also on the Bos en Vaartlaan. Infact the houses are only three away from each other. I am pointing at the cat in the window. The house is mostly cleaned out at this point, but the cat remains!

This is a little "portje" or arch that is between the two homes. it allows access to the back gates of all the townhomes in on that block.

Holland!!! (Part 1)

Well, here are the long awaited pictures of our trip to The Netherlands. We had a blast. I will try to organize these in some sort of a chronological order. Hope you all enjoy them! Our first day. We arrived at 7:40 AM. Big mistake. To avoid "jet leg" the trick is to stay up until your normal bedtime... so that made it a long day for us. This is with Jeroen in Lelystad. Cassie heard there was stores there, and so shopping became the most important objective!

We are in Enkhuizen here. This is a really small community that was declared a city by the reigning monarchy a long time ago.

A Draaiorgel. A street organ that plays random music usually accompanied by a busker clinking a money can to the beat of the music.

Cassie trying herring for the first time! "I would never order it, but would definitely eat it if it was served to me" is the direct quote. She was raised well!

A fun little bridge. My eyes are closed, but that is usually the case in pictures hence I put it up anyway.

Cassie met Opa for the first time. Opa had a great day that day. He recognized Cassie, and spoke english with her almost the whole time!

We went to Muiderslot. This Castle is from the 12th century! How cool is that?

Back to Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Or just me locked in the dungeon.

Cass and I in full medieval regalia.

This picture is awesome! Cassie the Jester. I don't even know what to say about it... just sums her up perfectly!