Our most recent family holiday was a long weekend in Holland to see the tulips in bloom. We arrived a little too late in the season to see all the tulips in the fields, but we had a wonderful day at the Keukenhof gardens just southeast of Amsterdam. It’s a great place to visit with kids. There are tulips from all over the world, as well as a wonderful petting zoo and fun playground for the kids. Olivia loved taking photos of everything and both kids are pretty silly when we take photos of them! Our favorite tulip was the ‘ice cream’ tulip. We took our bikes along and went riding every day. Holland is the perfect place to cycle, especially with young children. It’s flat, easy riding and there are bike lanes and trails everywhere. We stayed along the coast and were able to do some beautiful rides each day along with our daily ride into town to do our grocery shopping. We even got to watch some gliders taking off and landing. Olivia just received a new bike with gears for Easter and was really excited to be able to ride along next to us. She declared she loved Holland because she got to ride her bike on the streets in town like an adult. D and I ride our bikes through Brussels, but there are not as many bike lanes and it is too dangerous for us to let Olivia to the same. When cycling in Brussels, I use my Dutch made “Bakfiets” which allows both kids to sit in a box in front of the bike. It’s big and heavy, but very secure and I take the kids to school in it as long as it’s 10 degrees centigrade (about 50 degrees F) outside…and not raining!
We had a wonderful time in Holland and plan to return next year with all of D’s family. We want to go at the time of the Tulip Parade which travels through the entire tulip producing region and is held when all the fields are in bloom. And of course, we’ll take our bikes!
We’re off now for a two week camping trip to the Italian Dolomites. It will be the first time we’ve taken the kids camping and they are so excited. It’s already been an adventure getting all the gear and figuring out what to pack. But no more time to write about that now. It will have to wait for our return!