Maastricht, Netherlands

We loved this little town in the Netherlands, about 1 hour from our house. We took a day trip here and enjoyed it like we had Aachen a few weeks before - by wandering and browsing and finding snacks along the way! We will try to make it back again (hopefully with visitors) because there are a couple of good museums and other worthwhile sites to see.

The Helpoort Gate, from Medieval times - apparently the oldest surviving town gate in Holland

Main square

I love street views like this

St. Servaasbrug bridge, from ~1280

View across the river

Griffin was a little more into the cannons than Ethan

Ethan Turns 10!

The blog title just about says it all! Our first baby hit double digits! The actual day of his birthday was during the week, but they happened to have the day off school for some holiday, so I took the boys to a small local amusement park on a beautiful day. Then Ethan had his friend party at an indoor soccer center with 8 of his (very nice) school friends. From friends & family he got tons of books, NBA gear, and treats from the States that you can't get here (Life cereal, Rice Krispie treats).






About a week after school let out we went to this great park about 30 minutes from us that we hadn't been to before, Gruggapark. It had multiple play areas for all ages, tons of beautiful green space, and garden paths that the boys loved exploring. June was a pretty fantastic month!

Grandma Hopson sent these cool, personalized aprons for the boys. Ethan will help in the kitchen occasionally, but Griffin really likes to help me bake and cut vegetables.

Aachen, Germany

We've been to a lot of places since our last post in May, including a great visit home to Michigan. I'll start where we left off, at the end of May, when we took a day trip to Aachen, Germany, less than an hour away. Aachen was actually a Roman city and grew mainly during the time of Charlemagne in the 8th century. When Charlemagne was crowned emperor, Aachen was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.

We spent a really low-key day here in beautiful sunny weather, mostly walking the city, eating dinner & ice cream, and popping into the Cathedral and the Rathaus (town hall).

Front view of the cathedral

Back view

Inside

Horse statue beckoning you into the restaurant

View of Griffin on the Rathaus stairs

View from the Rathaus

Strange, movable doll sculpture

I liked this statue, but I also happened to get that couple in the background - aren't they cute :-)

Rheinfels Castle & Burg Eltz with Grandma

Again, I just wanted to add some visuals to Ethan's previous posts about our travels with my mom. We took a weekend trip to the area in Germany south of us where the Rhine and Mosel Rivers meet, and where there are castles galore.

Rheinfels Castle ruins
On the Rhine River in St. Goar, started in 1245. Apparently what is left of this castle is just a portion of the original structure, but it seemed huge to us. All that's remaining, except for a small indoor museum area, is the stone structure - so no interiors, which Ethan & Griffin loved. The boys felt like such explorers here because you're basically free to roam all of the rooms, passageways, mine shafts, and grounds.

Catapult balls-after a battle they would be gathered from outside the castle walls and re-used

Grandma being brave in the dark, narrow passageways ;-)

View through a window

Burg Eltz

Near the Mosel River, started in 1157.

While the first castle was about exploring cool ruins, this was all about perfectly intact interiors and a cool location.

(postcard scan)

In a dramatic setting

Scott & my Mom taking the long walk (this was only the last 1/4 of the distance)

Grandma & Ethan waiting for the English tour to begin

Graffiti from a walking path tunnel in Koblenz. Since we live very near, and often visit, urban areas of Germany, we see a lot of graffiti, some better than others.

Second Amsterdam Visit (with Grandma!)

So Ethan did a great job of describing our time with my Mom here! I have some images to add to his posts. It was fantastic to have her here and I'm glad she got to see our house and lifestyle. I know it's still hard for her to have us so far away, but I think she understands even more now why we're here and why we're enjoying it so much.

View from our hotel in Amsterdam

Still on our list of tours to take

The city's much more colorful this time of year! It was cold, grey & rainy when we were here last

Rijksmuseum

'The Kitchen Maid' by Vermeer (postcard scan)

'The Night Watch' by Rembrandt (postcard scan)

I was so glad that we could share the experience of going to the Anne Frank House with my mom.

The bookcase that hid the secret staircase, which you actually get to climb. (postcard scan)

This was one of the parts of the house that made me emotional - pictures that Anne had taped to the wall as decoration. For some reason, the other area that got to me was the kitchen sink - I just got a vision in my head of the women working in the kitchen, trying to keep the group fed and keep some level of normalcy. (postcard scan)

On the Canal Boat Tour

Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands. We missed the full-on tulip blooming time by a week or two, but they had tulips inside and other plants blooming outside. (Ethan took most of these pictures)