My 2025 vision board has a pair of pink tulips, representing the famous Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands!! We woke up to a beautiful sunrise & I hobbled around our bnb getting Logan ready on my stiff post-half marathon legs.
Our rental was surrounded by canals and farm animals. We woke up with the cows, sheep, and chickens. It was a pretty cool place.
Day One was dedicated to Amsterdam and Zaanse Schans! We walked the bicycle-filled streets and admired the canals, lined with boats.
These nicer photos were taken by Brynn on her camera!
It was so peaceful & beautiful. Justin and I watched A Small Light on Disney+ a few months earlier. It's filmed in Amsterdam and it was pretty cool to see everything in real life.
Anne Frank House
You could smell the stroop waffles long before we got to this shop. WOW they were so good.
Tried some authentic Dutch croquettes for lunch with glasses of milk. I honestly don't even know what was inside the fried breading but they were pretty good.
Sweet Logan did so well. It's harder to travel with him now that he's more independent and would MUCH rather be on his own two feet than in the stroller. We found a quieter sidewalk for him to run around & he was pretty content.
I was super excited to visit Zaanse Schans and see the windmills! There was also a cute clog shop we visited. It was one of my favorite parts of the day.
Not pictured was my actual favorite part of the day:
Jamie stayed in Amsterdam to work so Logan, Brynn, & I headed home with grilled cheese & tomato soup supplies for dinner. Eating, talking to Brynn, and playing with Logan on the floor that evening was so good for me.
I love Brynn! She's like a sister to me & I've missed her! We've only briefly seen each other in group settings over the last couple of years. It was so good to just talk & connect & spend quality time together.
Day Two, we headed to Keukenhof!!! This has been on my bucket list forever and I was so excited to see the flower fields.
We were some of the first ones there and it was perfect. The morning sunshine was on our backs, birds singing in the trees, and Logan had lots of room to run around on the cobblestone paths.
We took the whisper river boat through the fields of flowers and the smell was unreal. Not even a slight cold could mask the flowers.
Before climbing on the boat, I had the thought, This is either going to be really memorable in a good or a bad way (depending on how Logan was). Thankfully, Miss Rachel on silent was the key for a successful whisper boat ride & it was a good memorable experience. Ha!
The big indoor greenhouse had more varieties of tulips than I could count with the most creative names.
The weather was clear skies & it felt so nice. There were plenty of dogs for Logan to say hi to & he even fell asleep in his stroller (!!!!).
I would love to come back someday with Justin and visit again a little later in the tulip season when all the leaves on the trees are out.
We stopped at a cute local cafe for lunch & got the yummiest chicken sandwiches and sweet potato fries. It was fun to people watch the locals. They're a warm, friendly culture and the lifestyle feels very relaxed. I loved the change of pace we experienced that weekend.
The rest of our time was spent at our cute home for the weekend! Kayaking with the cows and swinging in the backyard. It was the perfect amount of time before coming home to Justin. <3 So grateful Brynn & Jamie were down to make it happen and travel together.
