Michelle's Visit (Part 1)

Michelle has come and gone...we had about a week and half of fun and boy did we take advantage of it. Our adventures will definitely make you want to come visit :).

Kherington LOVED having Auntie Michelle around. We had been home from the airport for only a few minutes and Kherington was going potty. I went in to wipe her and she tells me "no, no mommy...Auntie Michelle wipe." Haha...Michelle did a lot of that :).

Okay, so now for the fun. We hit up 5 countries in that short amount of time (and went through a lot of chocolate eggs and ice cream...aka bribery). Here's the run through of the first half of the visit:

Day 1: Namur, Belgium
Since the best way to get adjusted to the time zone change is to stay up until you would normally go to sleep, I wanted to make sure to plan something that would require us going somewhere fun. We headed down to the Citedelle de Namur. I decided on the Citedelle pass that meant we could go on 2 tours and do the train ride...the only thing is, I forgot that we hadn't actually taken Kherington on any guided tours since getting kicked out of the Neuenchanstien (Disney) castle in Germany. Kevin did great (slept through it) and Kherington did okay but kept saying "All done, bye, bye". The tour was in 3 languages with one person doing all the talking. We finished the first tour (the one of the tunnels) and decided to skip out on the next one so we got some ice cream and waited for the train tour.

That night we introduce Michelle to kebap's (definitely not even on the same deliciousness scale as the ones in Germany) and frites. She thought they were putting a lot of Ranch on the frites...thinks again (it's mayo).

Day 2: Brussels, Belgium
We had some of the darkest weather I have ever seen in my life in the morning. We were driving around at 10am and it looked like 10pm...all the cars had their lights on and it was raining. It was so strange. We headed downtown to the Palace. The month of August visitors are able to walk-through it so we did that then walked down the stair to the Grand Place and wandered around. Michelle tried her first waffle...the waffle wasn't too awesome (the ones downtown are definitely inferior to other locations) but the toppings were tasty. Kherington got her ice cream. Michelle had Kevin in the wrap and was holding the cone and when I went to take a picture I notice Kevin's forehead had a big pink dot on it (framboise).

In the afternoon (after Kevin's doctor's appt), we went out to the Neuhaus chocolate outlet and then to Gaasbeek Castle. We missed the last tour, but had fun wandering around the ground (they are amazing and so picturesque).

Day 3: Amsterdam, Netherlands
When you enter the Netherlands on the way to Amsterdam, off the side of the freeway is a ginormous statue. When we took my mom, she was like, "Wow, that's a big golf tee." Yeah, definitely not a golf tee...we thought we should document it (and make fun of mom).

Amsterdam's parking in crazy expensive, so this time I decided that we'd park at a P+R outside the city and take the tram in. We went to the P+R Olympisch Stadion and waited in a line to get into the parking lot for about 30 minutes before deciding on driving downtown to park in our normal expensive location. Apparently if you're going to do the P+R you need to get there early (we got in around 11:30am). We wandered around the streets a little but it was POURING rain, so we decided to jump on the tram for a bit (fyi: to buy a ticket you just get on and pay the driver...I think it was 2.30 for an hour of riding). We took it down to the Albert Cuymarkt which is one of the largest outdoor markets in Europe. After testing some awesome fresh fruit drink (similar to the ones in Barcelona which i loved) and finding a couple other goodies, we headed back to our car.

Next up was the Zaanse Schans which is a dutch muesum town. It is free to enter the park (you still pay for parking though) most museums are free, but some cost a euro or two. There are a bunch of windmills, a bakery museum, traditional dutch crafts (wood shoes / cheese). We got there a little late but had a blast wandering around the cute houses and windmills.

On our drive home we went took the long route so we could swing by The Hague temple. Kherington thought it was an awesome trip b/c the fountains were like playing with a huge water table :).

Day 4: Antwerp, Belgium
We had a slower morning and took our time getting out the door, then headed up to Antwerp. We parked right at the train station and went into explore. If you haven't watched the flash mob that was done there you should. We wandered the streets, saw some interesting looking people...one with underwear longer then their cut-off jean short (ewwwww).

Kherington wore her monkey backpack/lease...she let Ryan hold the end part of the time which is an improvement from her deciding she 'needed' the tail (she's just wear it like a bracelet which pretty much defeated the point of having it in the first place).

I also found the new bike that I want...i think it is an upgrade from the wheelbarrow bike I wanted before :).

Day 5 & 6: London, UK
We drove up to London. I had planned on taking the eurotunnel, but tickets were sold out when I went to buy them so we took the seafrance ferry instead and it ended up being a good move. It is just an hour long to cross (eurotunnel takes 30 min) and Kherington was able to run around and get some wiggles out.

We drove straight to our hotel, got checked-in then walked around the corner to jump on the tube (we bought oyster cards for 5 pounds that are good for 5 years...then loaded enough money for a day pass onto it). Some of the highlights of wandering the streets of London included a stop at a massive toy store and the M&M store, relaxing at trafalgar square, riding the city double decker buses and playing at a park outside the castle.

Funny story...so it had finally stopped raining and we came upon a park but it was still all wet. We let Kevin and Kherington swing, then Kherington decided the slide looked like fun...the very long, steep wet slide with a big puddle at the bottom. She went soooo fast down it, flew off it and skidded through the puddle. She was soaked but very happy :).

After stopping at a pasta restaurant for dinner (and ice cream for Kherington) we took a night bus tour. It was kinda long, but totally worth it. The top was completely covered, Kherington zonked out right away and Kevin was about by about half way through.

The next morning after a full English breakfast (sausage, ham, eggs, toast, and bean) we headed over to Windsor castle. It is massive! Right near it there is a huge shopping area with a wide range of stuff...i picked up a couple thing at the pound store (think dollar store).

Next up was COSTCO. Yes, for me, a trip to London would not be complete without this...and what was on my list? Diapers, wipes, fruit snacks, muffins, cooking spray, a coat and a pizza for us to share :). Some people think Disneyland is the happiest place on earth, but for me, that would be Costco.

Then before heading back to the ferry terminal we went by the London temple...I've already blogged about his before, but it has the most amazing temple ground and this time the visitors center was open too.

Now funny story #2: We're waiting in line to board the ferry and Kherington need to go to the bathroom. Ryan asks if she wants me or Michelle to take her and she says she want daddy to take her :). He stalls a little, then off they go. They were probably about half way there when it starts down pouring (it has been nice and sunny moments before). Ryan's carrying Kherington and they don't have coats so he starts running, but Kherington tells him "daddy, no running." They came back drenched!

Other Fun Stories:
Michelle pretty much got hit on in every city we went to. In London, a guy walked up to her and said he really wanted a picture with a blond haired girl (funny though that her hood was on and I wouldn't actually label her blond). At Costco she was chasing Kherington around and a guy tried to get her phone number (and then email address). We went running on night and two guys we ran by started chasing us (and she got lots of honks).

We saw a sign right before crossing a bridge that said "Weak Bridge Joint"...what is that supposed to mean? You've been warned so if this bridge falls it's on you? We thought it was strange.

Pictures I liked that didn't really have a home: