Have you ever spent days preparing and packing for a major trip and arrive at the airport with children that are so excited to get on an airplane they could explode only to be turned away? Because that happened. So here’s a little PSA for you. Don’t try to travel internationally with a passport that is expiring within 6 months of your flight. It turns out many countries won’t let you in if your passport is even thinking about expiring. I guess they don’t want you to get stuck in their country?
It was Micah’s passport that was going to expire over the summer. The tragedy is that his passport had been lost for years until the day we were scheduled to get the kids new passports. That morning I found it filed in the wrong place. We rejoiced, hive-fived. Ah, we were so foolish.
Anyway, we had a decision to make – go back to bed (a depressing, but safe route) or wing in in Seattle where we had a 6 hour layover. We chose option B thinking that the best case scenario would be split up with the second half following a few days later with a fresh passport in hand. Turns out Seattle is a magical place (sorry Disney, the real magic happens here). After a bit of pacing, bad airport food, frantic internet searching, phone calls and a harrowing cab ride through rush hour traffic, we had a new passport and we’re actually able to catch our flight. Wow. Just wow.
Our first week started with lots of jet lag and chocolate sprinkle sandwiches.
One of the reasons we scheduled our trip at the end of April was to see the tulip fields. The weather was warm this year though and the growing season started early. We just managed to catch the end of the season before they cut the heads off the flowers (they sell the bulbs and that keeps them nice and fat) and were super lucky that our trip coincided with the annual walking tour of the tulip farms. We opted for the 7.5km tour, but there was a 20km and 30km for the devout tulip lover.
It started out cold and gloomy and then we added a bit of drizzle to the party and then rain. The contrast of the gloominess and brilliant flowers was incredible, but I did kill a lens in the ordeal (R.I.P. 85mm).
We had a mellow Koningsdag at home. Micah discovered some dress up clothes (Zwarte Piet anyone?) and insisted Mila put on a princess dress and join him for some football/voetball/soccer.
The weather has been getting progressively colder and this Hawaiian family is woefully unprepared for 40s and 50s. We’ve bought emergency jackets, pants, and socks and it keeps getting colder. Reluctant to leave the house, but we had to make a trip to Alkmaar for the kid’s first pataat and Chocomel.
A quick trip to the vlindertuin/butterfly garden were we enjoyed tropical plants – bananas, papaya, pineapple. Ah, it was warm in there.
We ended the week with a trip to Zaanse Schaans which is an old dutch village that has become a repository for historic buildings and windmills. Micah was enraptured by the klompenmaker/wooden shoe maker. He watched the presentation 3 times and then stood up and exclaimed to the packed room, this is awesome! Of course we couldn’t leave without 2 pairs of klompen.
On the agenda for next week – biking, Amsterdam, trains and more chocolate sprinkle sandwiches.
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Wow! Amazing trip! Sounds like the adventure you had there! I love the photos and story :)