Kingsday/Kingsday Eve with Kjerstin

Kjerstin returned the visit and came to the Netherlands! We spent most of our time in Groningen for Kingsday/Kingsday Eve (aka the BIG party). We also did one day trip to Amsterdam with Madi!

KJ in Amsterdam :D

Our sassy relationship together.

Pancake house in A'dam

East Meets West

Chicken Curry in a Pancake. My new favorite meal.

Kingsday is a national holiday in the Netherlands; similar to the 4th of July but with more beer and a much crazier time.... Europe.

Keukenhof Flower Garden with Brynn

Brynn made a visit to the Netherlands!! It was so wonderful to see her! We spent a little bit of our time in Groningen and then we made our way to Amsterdam for a few days. In Amsterdam we made a day trip to Keukenhof a very well known flower garden and it was the perfect time to visit, everything was blooming!

Amsterdam in all it's beauty.

Window shopping in A'dam..... ha. 

 Keukenhof Garden

Schiermonnikoog

That's a mouth full! Schiermonnikoog is an island in the north of the Netherlands. I went with CIEE for a nice relaxing weekend. The islands economy is based on tourism; we were a bit early for the tourist season since it's still a bit chilly but we still had a nice time. We went on a biking tour of the island, relaxed, and I was able to go kite flying on the beach.

Our bike tour guide

It was windy out

Madi & I

Easter in Holland

Easter weekend we had a lovely brunch in Groningen. Then we traveled to the west of the Netherlands to have a family weekend. We went to Noordwijk, a small town in the west of the Netherlands on the sea. I was able to meet some of Hanneke's family on Easter. We stayed there for two nights and were able to see some of the flower fields, explore the dunes, and walk along the sea. On our way back to Groningen we stopped in Amsterdam for a half day. In Amsterdam we walked through the Vondel Park, did some shopping, along with visits to Begijnhof and the Eye.

Flower Market before Easter Weekend 

Yep, I'm Dutch. (First tulip purchase)

Easter Brunch :)

Exposed my family to caramel rolls.
Thanks Grandma Darlene!
They loved them but they were a bit sugary. #America

Weekend in Noordwijk: 

The Amazing flower fields of Holland!
Just think how beautiful this smells.

Famous Dunes

Biking in the Dunes

Sister Bonding :)

Amsterdam:

The next two pictures is an area called Begijnhof. In the 14th century where a group of catholic women created a community similar to a life as a nun but without the title of being "nuns".

The ferry ride over to the Eye

The Sibs ;)

Living the life, the Dutch life.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with some nice family time. Tara showed me how to make poffertjes, these amazing little butter sugar coated mini pancakes! I also spent this past weekend in Leeuwarden staying on a house boat and running a half marathon with my host mom and Tara ran her first 10 km!

The little chef! 

Poffertjes :) :)

The end result! 

Living on the canal in a houseboat

This is a common lifestyle in the Netherlands and a neat use of space, i think. This weekend I went with Hanneke and Tara to Leeuwarden to spend the night before our race in a houseboat! 

It is quite a neat way to live. 

Modeling for everyone ;)

Hanneke and Miel getting the "car" ready 

Driving the "car" to get our race packets 

Time to run! 

Proud of my host mom getting 2nd in her age category! Whooop!