A Glimpse into my Life.

This post is sans pictures again. I swear I took pictures, lots in fact. But*someone* was trying to be clever and put all her pictures on the memory card so she wouldn't have to take a few cd's home. Well, we realized when we got to the airport that the card was still at home! So much for photographic evidence of the trip. But! I am going to steal Shannon's cd so I can at least do pictures of a little bit of the trip before I get the card somehow!

Let me just say that traveling with three kids, age 5 and under is an adventure. Especially when one of them (who currently refers to herself as the Lost Princess- a chip off the old block) is her own person and doesn't march to anyone else's drum. At least the bigger parts of the crew are seasoned travelers and know that they need to get with the program once we are at the airport.

Traveling out with Shannon was fine, there were relatively few hitches. The main one being Little Miss had decided the week before we left that she wanted to start potty training. Yeah, add that into the airport mix, and there was seriously no time from when we went through Security to when we boarded the plane because I was in the toilets the entire time. Dutch needed a diaper, Rynie needed to go once, and Little Miss went in there three times! What a way to start a trip. The flight to MSP was uneventful and we booked it to our next flight and there was just enough time to change the diaps that needed to be changed and ask about preboarding the flight then get on. The gate crew were great and gave Shannon and I both our own bulkhead rows for the trip so we had lots of space with the kids! It is very nice to have that little bit of extra space when you have a few little helpers who want to stretch their legs.

Once we got to Schipol, around 6:30AM, that was an adventure. Shannon and I had to figure out where to go through customs so we could get the stroller through, then we went to baggage claim and couldn't see any luggage. Finally, we got smart and asked the men at the security desk where to go and got pointed in the right direction. Dutch was so happy to be set down and crawling around while I pulled off the luggage off the carousel. Thankfully, through the next set of doors we saw Bumpa and Floolie!

The only way to describe the country side on initial impression is surreal. Beautiful, but surreal. It is just that flat. There is no other way to explain it. They have tall buildings, lots of trees, and no mountains, hills, or anything that resembles an incline that isn't man made. They've even brought in sand and made an area of dunes covered in native grasses to add variety to the landscape. Add that to the fact you know you should be underwater, and it really is an interesting feeling. Everything was very lush and bright green though. And you'd randomly see windmills, and canals. They even use the canals to 'fence' off their cattle. That never would have worked for ours!

Floolie made us breakfast when we got back to her house, and we turned the kidlets loose on her house! I don't think her house will ever be the same. Thank goodness for grandparents that weren't jet lagged, so the mamas could get some sleep.

Anyway....More update later, but at least it's a start, right?!