Hey Michael, they all look like you!

We've been researching our ancestry a lot lately.  I think having Rosie has made us want to know more.  We'd hate for her to ask that inevitable "what am I" kind of question and have nothing but blank stares for her.  We've always known Mike is Dutch.  His last name gives it away!  So with Rosie in tow, we made our last BIG adventure to the Netherlands.  Research in hand, we visited two villages his family was from and of course squeezed in a couple days on the North Sea.

Side note: This is another giant blog post.  I can't help myself.  Too many fun pics to filter.  Imagine how many I left out!

Day 1:

Leaving Ramstein, we drove to Cologne, Germany.  We learned a lot about traveling with a baby and I think this was the best trip because we finally had it figured out.  So our stopover in Cologne was mostly planned as a way to get the baby out of the car.  And there was no better place!

The Cologne Cathedral commenced building in 1248.  Building wasn't finished until the late 1800s.  Pesky funding issues.  It has the second tallest spires and largest facade of any church in the world.  It is an impressive site, and not something a regular old camera can capture.  It's just too massive to get a handle on.

Of course, we decided to mountain goat it to the top.  

332 ft of climbing, 533 steps.  

Super tiny stair case.  Yeah, even Rosie was worn out!

 The building was amazing.  Just amazing.

Just like in a previous post, I said I wouldn't go up to the top and then felt like a wimpy example for Rosie.  I REALLY need to get over this heights thing.  It kinda ruins the climb when you have to sit down at the top to collect yourself before going on.  yuck.  I'm mustering a smile before bolting back down.

Below is a picture of the orchestra hall.  

They were taping a recording so nobody was allowed to walk near the building.  

Apparently the studio is just under the brick!  Seemed a little inconvenient.  

Then we got back in the car and continued onto the first of the Dutch villages, Zutphen.

Next are some pics of our fun hotel in Zutphen where we stayed one night.

Dutch vending machines.

Zinfandel in a vending machine!

We feel confident the Blue Dog Family Tavern needs one.

Rosie liked the cherub statue in our room.  :)

Zutphen is where Michael's Great Grandmother, on his Grandmother's side, was from.  

Her last name was Vanpopering.

Funny thing about all these "Van..." names - they're EVERYWHERE!  ha!  

Funnier yet was checking into the hotel.

The concierge asked for the last name and smirked because I'm pretty sure we don't pronounce our last names correctly.  Whoops!  Another thing we found interesting is that because the first half of our name is so common they just abbreviate the Vander portion to v.d. and then go on with the rest of the name.

So our name went v.d.Laan

I tried to convince Michael that we should call up some Vanpopering locals and introduce ourselves as their way cool American cousins.  He was not down with this idea.  So anti-social.  ;)

These next photos were just outside the hotel and around the village.

The really great thing about Zutphen, and pretty much all of the Netherlands, is that everyone rides bikes everywhere or walks.  We rarely saw a car in town.  And everyone had colorful, trendy yet casual, bikes.  It wasn't like China, where even the bicycles appear communist.  People weren't riding at mach speeds or willing to run a pedestrian over.  They were laid back and usually riding 2-3 wide while chatting with friends.

Loved it.

Van der, Van der, Van der.......

DAY 2:
We woke up in Zutphen and toured the city a bit more, finding some yummy breakfast along the way.

Above is the alley way behind our hotel.  Below is our hotel with the local cathedral towering in the rear.

Did I mention it was the 4th of July?!!  

Even in the Netherlands we were all ready to celebrate.  

Yay for America!

I especially loved all the detailed nooks of this tiny place.

The great thing about traveling with Rosie is that we're up early to see the crisp morning clouds and sun. 

Sleeping in is over-rated.  

Okay, now that she's actually 13 months...not 8 months when these photos were taken...sleeping in late is looking less over-rated.  :)

 I guess Rosie is deciding what's for breakfast.  Who taught her Dutch?

 Then it was back in the car and off to the next village.

Gotta make room for fishing boats, so up the road went.  It seemed like this came out of nowhere!  

The next village is called Bruinisse.  Michael's Great Grandfather, Evert Rietman, was from here.  The village both now, and back then, revolved around mussel farming.  We didn't know anything about mussels prior to this trip, and all the info we learned was actually very interesting.  For example, I had no idea plots of sea are farmed just like a plot of land.  It has to be seeded and harvested and cared for in all the same ways.

 One of the MANY ports.

 Cutie pie, Rosie.

 Self-timer family pic with a giant mussel.  Of course!

All the residents had little front door gardens.  They were all so sweet.

Wooden shoes.  Yep.  We found some.

 We stopped at a local mussel museum.  To be honest, it was basically the only "to-do" in the entire village.  And while we were worried it would be completely boring, it turned out to be one of the best things we did.  The man that ran the place was excited Michael was coming back to see his heritage and was VERY proud of the mussel farming community.  He easily recognized both the Rietman and Vanpopering names and told us why Michael's family immigrated to the U.S.

Sometime around 1911 there was a massive storm that knocked out the entire village, fishing industry and all.  People were doing anything to keep food on their families plates.  When the times got too rough, many of the villagers to refuge in different countries.  Michael's family left for the states.

Below are pics of what a typical dutch home looked like.  The homes were often broken into summer sides and winter sides.  The pic below is of a mother sleeping in essentially a closet.  She just had her baby and the newborn would sleep in a crib above her for easy access.

Families kept a bird in a cage in their kitchen because birds would always croak first if the carbon monoxide got too crazy.

Below is a picture of how the harbor used to look.  

I know we saved the date of the photo, but I can't find it!

 

After we visited Bruinisse, we were all ready for some down time and started to head out to our new hotel.

It was only about 20 min down the road, so we passed some additional villages along the way that we ended up returning to the next day.

 These old signs painted on are just awesome.

This is our hotel, located right off the North Sea.

 We turned this place upside down making a little private area for Rosie so that we could still be alive after she went to bed.  Did I mention she goes to bed at 6:30pm!!  She's serious about her snooze time.  

 After Rosie took an afternoon nap we were dying to see the beach and ocean.  We didn't have a ton of time to just hang out before dinner, but we felt like we HAD to at least see the sea.  Of course, Mike's idea of "walking distance" isn't always what normal people consider "walking distance".  Just because we can technically walk that far does not mean it's okay to label this route as convenient.  Ugh.  It was a walk!!!

 The beach and sea did not disappoint.  It was just wonderful.

 This was Rosie's VERY FIRST beach and ocean experience. 

 Hesitant at first, and the water was chilly.

Then she starts warming up to the idea and has a bit more fun.

 

 Rosie went through a phase of riding everywhere in her stroller like this.  

Thanks goodness she has since grown out of it.

  

DAY 3:

We spent the third day in relaxation mode and went back to one of the cute bed and breakfast villages for some photos.  Just couldn't get enough of this cobbled circular drive.

After our drive, we caught some lunch nearby, 

let Rosie take a nap (key to an afternoon of fun), and then headed to the SEA!

 The only downside of super soft sand...it doesn't go well with strollers.  So I made Mike carry it over the dune till we were back on the hard packed, wet sand.  He was excited.

 Why are there no people???  No idea.  It's amazing.

 Rosalia vs. The Ocean

 Curious excitement. 

 Followed by the reality of cold water.

 Excitement.

 Reality.

 She's a sand castle girl for now it seems.

 We attempted a self timer pic.  I think Rosie is glaring at the naked sun bathers down the beach a bit.  Nudists in real life aren't quite like nudists in the movies.  hmmm.  

Feeding Rosie.  I haven't really talked much about our baby feeding situation in part because I don't think you care, and in part because Mom's like to judge.  Yeah, they sure do.  Shocking, I know.  So I will briefly describe our situation and say only to each their own.

I was fortunate enough to exclusively nurse Rosie for 9 months.  I was very open minded and it had its pros and cons and I'd do it again, 100% for sure.  Transitioning away, however, was not the best of times.  We tried everything (and I say "we" because Mike truly was as consumed by all this as I was...should I try pumping? which sippy cup? bottle? what do I do? what do I do? ahhhhhhhh! ...he is the essence of what partnership should be).  Ultimately, she switched to formula and went straight to a sippy cup.  And that's the feeding of Rosie.  One chapter closed in her very exciting life ahead.  I think the process showed me the conflicting feelings we'll have over and over again as parents.  I was happy to be done nursing, but oh so sad at the same time.

No message in the bottle, but maybe there used to be.  :)

This was our last big trip as a family before Rosie and I headed back to the States.  

What a great way to end our European adventure.