Windmill Country

I was told that there is just one windmill in Amsterdam city, and to see any real ones, you've got to get out of town. Since we didn't have time to visit any traditional villages, I just figured I wouldn't see one on my visit, and I was OK with that. But on our VERY long bus ride on the way to the flower gardens, I was able to catch a shot from the bus on the way back!

A baby in the Flowers

I made a joke about putting Casio on the grass and taking some photos of him. But in actuallily, he had to have a change of clothes and a new nappy anyway, so Sinead popped him down on the grass. He was so happy in the the grass, and just sat there happily for absolutely ages while I snapped some photos of him. I think they really turned out adorable - and it was great that we ended up with photos just out of coincidence!

All of the flowers!

We went to Amsterdam really for one thing - the flower festival. It is what Amsterdam is famous for - big, beautiful tulips! The big, big festival is at the Keukenhof gardens. We chose the sunniest day of our three days there - so thankfully the sky was super blue and cloud free. We took our little tram to the airport in the morning, and while

I got Starbucks, Josh got in the line for the tickets. The line was quite long, but not too bad. Then, we were told to line up for the bus. And holy camole was that line long. So so long, that it went all the way around the train station for the airport. We had been told it would go fast, but it really didn't!

I think we were in line about an hour or so - maybe longer! We all got very peckish, but at least we could go inside periodically and get a snack! We finally go to the bus, and we were on that bus for SOOOOO long! We really were convinced it was meant to be that long, but on the way back, the bus was only 20 minutes long! Once we arrived, we had no problem getting into the gardens. They were amazing. All tulips, in

all different colours and varieties - it was just amazing to see! It was seriously one of the most beautiful places! There were 7 million tulips there I read online - and it really felt like that! We walked around the whole park, taking tons of pictures, walking around the lake and just exploring. There were a lot of people there too! It was really busy - afterwards we found out that it was one of the busiest weekends they had ever had! We found the most amazing thin Dutch waffles - they were incredible! The lady who made them must have a made a million

a day - they were these little squashed waffles, where she sliced them down the middle in two - and slathered them in caramel! They were delicious! We stopped for a while on this patch of grass near the back of this huge park - with less people - we had a beer and some snacks and it was just wonderful to sit there and enjoy. It had really worked out well for us - getting a beautiful sunny day in this park in Amsterdam. Everything worked out in our favour! There was a Japanese garden that we walked through, as well as a windmill to see. It was just a really cool place!

The Magnum Cafe

A girl we are Facebook friends with had recently visited Amsterdam and had gone to the Magnum Cafe too! It is a great place, where you can personalise your Magnum ice cream! I had been to one with Sophie in Thailand, where it was more of an order on a little pad

of paper, and then they bring the ice cream to you. Here, it was a little different. Sinead and I waited in line, while Josh and Casio and Abel went upstairs to sit on the giant Magnum bean bags! We chose out chocolate, and then all the toppings, and it was wonderful! Mine was dark chocolate, and speculous cookies and nougat!

Baby Casio

We had such a good time with Abel and Sinead and Casio in Amsterdam. What was so nice about it, was that it was so relaxing. One night, Sinead made us really nice tortellini and pesto one night, and every morning we got up and made toasts and jam, and these really nice

Dutch sprinkles that go on them too! We got to spend a lot of time with baby Casio too - he is so adorable and I really enjoyed hanging around a baby! He is a very mellow baby too! It was nice in the mornings to just chill out in this awesome apartmenet we had, all together, chatting about Japan, and singing songs about the little iPhone we bought Casio to play with!

Amsterdam

We love our friends Abel and Sinead so much! They live in Ireland, which isn't too far away, so we try and see them as often as we can. We were so lucky to have them travel all the way to Florida to read at our wedding. It was great to have them there - but we really didn't get to spend

too much time with them, so only a week after our Michigan wedding we planned to meet them in Amsterdam. I had forgotten how recently I had been in Schipol ( at ESTEC) but we met them there, and travelled to our amazing air B and B which was super modern!

We got there quite late the first night, so in the morning, we sent the boys out to get some breakfast food and we had a really relaxed morning. Because we all got up so early, we were up and ready by nine o'clock! We wandered around all the canals, and checked out all around the city. It was great to explore it all, and take the tram to some of the famous spots. But mainly, we just walked around and had a great time!

I finally got my Sparklers!

The Powell Crosley was a lovely venue, but they didnt allow sparklers, or balloons, or confetti, or anything - so in the end we just left in our limo after a final song (which was lovely!) But in Michigan, we had sparklers! And everyone lined up and they were amazing! We took a million photos and it was just so perfect! Apart from we didn't end up leaving for another few hours! But it was worth it for the awesome photos! We left a little later, after our photographer, and stayed in a cute little hotel, where Josh's mom had brought us a wedding quilt and lots of yummy candy!