The beautiful sites in Zaanse Schans, just outside Amsterdam

We got to go inside the windmills to see how they worked and what they were used for... this one contained a sawmill.  It was fascinating to see how the wind moved the propellers which in turn moved gigantic suspension saws to cut these big logs...

A charming Dutch house:

A demonstration on how they make the wooden shoes.

And then they try to sell them to you for 30 euro a pair!

We followed the dramatic news back in the States by reading the Dutch newspapers...

Ha!  Not really.  We watched CNN at the apartment.  That was pure craziness, wasn't it?

The next day we went out to the flower fields near Lisse.  I was pleasantly surprised to see so much in bloom since spring has been delayed


Stopping to smell the daffodils

Em was a very enthusiastic photo subject, C not so much.

I just loved the vibrant colors

And had to get the gay guys... 

Unfortunately, Ben wasn't willing to pose like that with me.

We attended the flower parade... the floats were impressive, all made from, you guessed it, flowers. They smelled even better.

They blasted Strawberry Fields Forever as this one went by.

And you get the idea

Then it was off to the Keukenhof... the largest flower garden in the world.  Each year over 7 million bulbs are planted and people come from all over the world to admire God's creations.  What's most amazing is that it's open only 9 weeks out of the year!  We tried to time our visit just right at the peak of the tulip season, but we were a little premature.  Still we were able to find hyacinths, daffodils, and a few tulips in bloom.  Many beds were just green stems and leaves though, they need a couple more weeks.

Some indoor flowers

I believe this was the girls' favorite part.

I took a pic of Ben biking through the countryside and he was totally scowling at the camera (at least I like to think it was the camera)...  I told him to look like a little more jovial and this is what I got.

And our bike ride back to the car after a loooong day.  I loved how tidy the homes and streets were... the backyards along this canal were so immaculate and cute!