Spring Trip to the Netherlands

Dad and Nora feeding the ducks.

On the banks of the lake in the Netherlands, check out the modern windmills.

Our family sized bike. Nora LOVED this and has not stopped talking about how much fun this was.

Nora sitting pretty.

Ben made his own fishing pole. The next time we go to a Centre Parc, we will bring out fishing poles, rollerblades, more board games, and a BBQ grill.

Who would go on a trip to the Netherlands and be only 20 min. away from Amsterdam and NOT go? Well, that would be the Y-Rock family. No, we are not freaks. We went to a Centre Parc Resort in the Netherlands and did exactly what we needed to do...RELAX. We arrived on Friday evening and tried to eat out, but as anyone who has toddlers knows, this was a challenge. In Europe, meals are S L O W as @#!t. I appreciated this when we had just one child (as you may recall, we lived in Europe for 5 yrs. from when Benno was 6wks until 5yrs.) but with three kids, a three hour meal is pure torture. Needless to say, I scarfed down my lovely pizza and dragged Nora and Ella back to the villa for much needed baths and bedtime. When Chad and Benno returned to the villa, they changed and went to the Aqua Mundo...an indoor water park complete with water slides, pools, steam room, hot tubs, and tanning beds. I opted to stay put and get the girls to sleep. Our villa had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and living room. The kitchen was totally furnished, right down to the juice machine, so for the remainder of our stay, we cooked all of our meals. I loved every minute of it. We swam, biked, went on nature walks, went to shows (Europeans are really big into stage shows -- such as clowns, magicians, ect), ate, made fires in our fireplace, drank, watched our neighbor catch really big fish from the lake behind our villa, went to a petting zoo, watched movies, and played cards. I was so relaxed when all was said and done. I think we are planning another such trip in the very near future.