Update on the Spring!
It's finally here - a massive update on what's been going on with us for the Spring from February to now.
We had a great time visiting Aruba for a much needed respite of sun to sustain us through the long Amsterdam winter. Why Aruba? Well, it's a direct flight from Amsterdam as they are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and we could count on sunshine. For a while, we were only getting 4-5 hours of sunlight, because we are so far north. Much worse than Seattle!
A perfect day
Divi-divi Tree
We stayed in a small fishing village at the south-end of the island away from the tourist area. It was quiet and quaint and exactly what we needed to be able to relax.
We saw some great sunsets and wildlife too - we had fun one day counting crabs and bird-life from our little dock.
Brent brought his golf clubs with him and we spent one day at a beautiful resort. Brent battled the sun and wind on a difficult course while Ruth got pampered in the spa. We had a great lunch poolside- an extremely relaxing day!
For those of you who know Brent's fascination with sunsets, it's no surprise that we spent most evenings relaxing with a cool drink and watching the sunset over the ocean.
Giver her two pina coladas!
Aruba has some of the best beaches we've seen anywhere in the world. There are long stretches of perfect white sand with no one around. Needless to say we spent quite a bit of time walking the coastline and enjoying the water. The water as warm as a bath!
So I'm sure you're wondering how we handled the re-entry into damp and chilly Amsterdam in February after being on the beach? Well, we felt the best way was to get out and enjoy the boat at the first sign of sunshine. We saw some really interesting bird life while out. This is probably the most unique bird we've seen and extra credit to anyone who can tell us what kind of bird it is (we have no clue)?
We had Brent's mom (Shelly) to visit in March. It was the first visitor of the new year and we celebrated by checking out several new sights and places in the Netherlands together. Besides exploring Amsterdam, we also went to Leiden to tour the inside of a windmill. No trip would be complete without a visit to the city central square and some shopping of course.
We also went to Aalsmeer which is the largest flower auction in the world. The auction building itself is the second largest building int e world (10.6 million sq feet) and is full of carts of fresh cut flowers and plants. Flowers from all over the world (Europe, Columbia, Ethiopia, etc) are traded here on a daily basis. To see the flowers whirling around on long carts and elevated delivery systems was fascinating and the smell inside was amazing! Shelly is a flower and plant expert so it was really fun and unique to get to see this together.
One of the auction floors- where flowers are bought in bulk for distribution around the world
You can tour the faciliatied on elevated cat walks, so all the flowers are getting moved around beneath you on what look like baggage carts.
We celebrated St. Patrick's day in style by hosting our own party complete with our rowdy friends! Ruth made traditional Irish stew while our friends brought soda bread and potatoes colcannon and we all helped out with the Irish Whiskey. (from left our great friends Lara, Michael, Courtney, and Doug)
"May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.
And our ale never turn musty!"
We also took a day trip by car to Antwerp, Belgium. It has a cute downtown and we had a crip, but sunny day to take in the sights. A highlight was enjoying good Belgian beer at a little cafe in the town square. Unfortunately, we didn't come away with any new diamonds, but we did see some great Flemish art (Ruth's favorite) at the Royal Museum of Fine Art.
Never happier than when visiting a new place!
There are so many trips to update you on, that we'll have to do the April update all on it's own (we'll get to it this week- we promise!) We miss you all and would love to hear from you what's new in your lives as well!
Love Brent & Ruth
Aruba!
We had a great time visiting Aruba for a much needed respite of sun to sustain us through the long Amsterdam winter. Why Aruba? Well, it's a direct flight from Amsterdam as they are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and we could count on sunshine. For a while, we were only getting 4-5 hours of sunlight, because we are so far north. Much worse than Seattle!
A perfect day
Divi-divi TreeWe stayed in a small fishing village at the south-end of the island away from the tourist area. It was quiet and quaint and exactly what we needed to be able to relax.
We saw some great sunsets and wildlife too - we had fun one day counting crabs and bird-life from our little dock.
Brent brought his golf clubs with him and we spent one day at a beautiful resort. Brent battled the sun and wind on a difficult course while Ruth got pampered in the spa. We had a great lunch poolside- an extremely relaxing day!
For those of you who know Brent's fascination with sunsets, it's no surprise that we spent most evenings relaxing with a cool drink and watching the sunset over the ocean.
Giver her two pina coladas!
Aruba has some of the best beaches we've seen anywhere in the world. There are long stretches of perfect white sand with no one around. Needless to say we spent quite a bit of time walking the coastline and enjoying the water. The water as warm as a bath!
So I'm sure you're wondering how we handled the re-entry into damp and chilly Amsterdam in February after being on the beach? Well, we felt the best way was to get out and enjoy the boat at the first sign of sunshine. We saw some really interesting bird life while out. This is probably the most unique bird we've seen and extra credit to anyone who can tell us what kind of bird it is (we have no clue)?
March - Flowers and Mom
We had Brent's mom (Shelly) to visit in March. It was the first visitor of the new year and we celebrated by checking out several new sights and places in the Netherlands together. Besides exploring Amsterdam, we also went to Leiden to tour the inside of a windmill. No trip would be complete without a visit to the city central square and some shopping of course.
We also went to Aalsmeer which is the largest flower auction in the world. The auction building itself is the second largest building int e world (10.6 million sq feet) and is full of carts of fresh cut flowers and plants. Flowers from all over the world (Europe, Columbia, Ethiopia, etc) are traded here on a daily basis. To see the flowers whirling around on long carts and elevated delivery systems was fascinating and the smell inside was amazing! Shelly is a flower and plant expert so it was really fun and unique to get to see this together.
One of the auction floors- where flowers are bought in bulk for distribution around the world
You can tour the faciliatied on elevated cat walks, so all the flowers are getting moved around beneath you on what look like baggage carts.We celebrated St. Patrick's day in style by hosting our own party complete with our rowdy friends! Ruth made traditional Irish stew while our friends brought soda bread and potatoes colcannon and we all helped out with the Irish Whiskey. (from left our great friends Lara, Michael, Courtney, and Doug)
"May the hinges of our friendship never grow rusty.And our ale never turn musty!"
We also took a day trip by car to Antwerp, Belgium. It has a cute downtown and we had a crip, but sunny day to take in the sights. A highlight was enjoying good Belgian beer at a little cafe in the town square. Unfortunately, we didn't come away with any new diamonds, but we did see some great Flemish art (Ruth's favorite) at the Royal Museum of Fine Art.
Never happier than when visiting a new place!There are so many trips to update you on, that we'll have to do the April update all on it's own (we'll get to it this week- we promise!) We miss you all and would love to hear from you what's new in your lives as well!
Love Brent & Ruth
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