Higley Family in Town

We were so blessed to have so many fun visitors this summer. Jarom's parents also came!

The boys had a blast wrestling with Grandpa!
He even went down the slide with them.

We went to a Delftware factory.

And can I just say that Myra is a perfect little traveler. She is very easy to take places and she gets lots of attention no matter where she goes!

Finding toys and pens in Grandpa's pocket is one of the favorite activities of all the grandbabies. My boys used to love it too.

Sleeping on the train with Grandpa.

We had a chance to buy some weed in Amsterdam. I told Grandma she should buy the grandkids weed lollipops to take back...they were selling them for one euro!

Went to Kinderdijk again and this is the only picture I got before my camera died (not that I need more pictures of windmills anyway).

Haarlem, Netherlands

So are you sick of my vacation posts yet??? Let's see, I have 4 more left!

Around Town

My Dad and Lara were able to stay for 10 days and then had to go back to the US for work and school. My Mom and Renae were able to stay for one month! So here are a few of the things we did in those last few weeks (which seemed like only days).
Went to see the windmills (kinderdijk).

Went on several bike rides and found these fun ziplines.

It was nice and warm (maybe even too hot) so we played outside a lot.

Set up the pool for the boys.

Mom and Renae even did a fun treasure hunt for the boys...they loved it! It reminded me of when my Grandma Lyn used to do treasure hunts for all the grandkids.

Mostly we just hung out, chatted, laughed like crazy, ate WAY too much chocolate and junk, and stayed up WAY too late eating, watching movies, and playing games.

Obviously the day they left was one of the hardest ever. This picture is just way too sad. Man how I miss my family. I'm SO grateful they could come though.

Belgium

We rented two cars for the weekend and drove to Belgium together. We started out in Brugge. As you can see, it's gorgeous.

Everyone with their maps and cameras trying to figure out where to go and what to do! Sadly somehow all my pictures from this trip have disappeared. Thankfully there were many cameras there so I have snagged pictures from my sisters (without their permission of course!).

It was SO fun to be together again. You know all 4 of us used to share a room? Great memories.

I love Lara's face in this one...haha!

A very healthy and delicious meal (not and not).

Glade kept on the look-out for...birds?

Wow, he's adorable. :)

Jarom and I called it quits a little early and headed to the hotel with the kiddos. My parents and sisters stayed out later at night and got some cool night shots.

Here's our hotel (and the lovely Renae).

Myra and Jimmy at the chocolate museum. We also took the kids to a french fry museum. Now those are my type of museums!

And Lara got a new boyfriend out of the trip...lucky Lara!

On the way home from Brugge we stopped in Ghent to see this amazing castle.

It was really anything you'd imagine seeing in an old castle...

...strong warriors...

...torture devices and a guillotine...

...and ancient crapper (in use none the less)...

Yep, it was pretty cool!

And here's the whole gang!

Belgium Waffles anyone?!?

Haarlem

I was really excited to go to Haarlem. It is a really neat little town with many buildings dating back before the war.
First we stopped in this delicious bakery. We bought a bunch of different pastries and passed them around. My favorite was the hot cheese croissant. Oh wow, I really want one now!
Next we went to the Corrie ten Boom Museum. Have you read "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom? If not then I highly recommend it. It's about a Christian family that hides Jews in their house. The museum is the actual house they hid Jews in. Somebody turned the ten Boom family in and they were taken to jail and eventually to concentration camps. Corrie survived the camps but her family did not. She dedicated the rest of her life to teaching people about Christ. It was so neat to be able to visit the place I had read about and then imagine those events actually happening.
This is the room they hid the Jews in. They would climb in through the hole in the little closet (under that bottom shelf). The hole in the wall was later added just to give visitors of the museum a better look inside the hideout. They never did find the Jews hidden inside. A family member or friend let the Jews out several days after the ten Booms were arrested.

Me and my sisters on top of the roof of the ten Boom house.

Grote Kerk: where the ten Booms often worshipped

This organ inside the Grote Kerk was played by Mozart and Handel.

Dad and Lara

Typical rainy day

And here's Shelley entertaining the boys while we waited for our train.

Amsterdam

What's a trip to Holland without going to Amsterdam, right?
Enough french fries to last Jimmy a lifetime...or a day.
The famous Anne Frank house

Anne Frank statue on a street named after her

Vondelpark is gorgeous

I can't count how many jumping pictures we took this summer!

Grandma's got a new boyfriend!

After a fun day exploring Amsterdam, we ended with a cafe dinner outside while listening to these musicians. They were actually pretty good.