Wuthering Lights: May 2013

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The End

*blink*

wake up!

we just made it through the last night of our trip!

(and you made it through the blog posts!)

it was an adventure all right...

one cute awake Benji

one totally wiped Isaac

one return trip on the chunnel

...one very fun adventure!

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Louwman Museum, Den Haag, the Netherlands

"this car museum looks neat - it's got good reviews" - husband

"fine *heavy sigh* " - wife

so we ended up at the Louwman Museum

on route to our hotel in The Hague

it was SO cool!

hands down the best car museum we've ever been to

Jay Leno calls it the best in the world

and, if you know Jay,

that's saying something!

a seriously amazing collection of cars:

literally some of the first cars in the world

the oldest Toyota know to be in existance (even Toyota only has a replica)

the first v6 engine and 4 wheel drive race car (from 1903!)

steam cars

race cars old and new

fire engines through the years

paintings, memorabilia

trophies galore

movie star cars

Winston Churchill's car

Steve McQueen's car

heck, even 1 of the 3 remaining Astin Martins of James Bond fame

and this is all a private family collection

(and to think I was proud of my postcard collection back in the day!)

the cafe was awesome

it looked just like the street that the original Mr. Louwman

had his car repair shop on

(his grandson owns the museum now)

Benji was drooling over this stroller

Aaron vs the mini cars :-)

"The name's Bond, James Bond"

this quote is genius

this swan car belonged to a maharajah

it sprays hot water from it's beak to clear the road of beggars

and even leaves white droppings from it's backside

do you see the baby swan too?!

Toyota GT2000

Aaron wouldn't mind one of these for Christmas

as we were leaving Aaron said "I think that's the current Mr. Louwman"

and it was

we introduced ourselves

shared how much we loved his museum

and he kindly took a picture with us

seriously, if you are ever in The Hague

you MUST visit!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Keukenhof, the Netherlands

I told Aaron that if he got to go to Musikmesse

then I got to take pictures of the boys in front of tulips

so that's how we ended up going to Keukenhof

one of the most beautiful

and famous

gardens in the world

it was a cold winter so most of the tulips had not bloomed yet

but we did get to feast our eyes on such colorful

crocuses

(I looked that up and yes, that is how to spell the plural of crocus)

hyacinths

and daffodils

it was wonderful

there were a variety of sculptures throughout the garden

we liked this colorful little owl

boys + tulips = just what I was hoping for!

every year Keukenhof has a theme

and this year's was

United Kingdom

which seemed apropos

we were excited to get a picture of Benji

in front of the Big Ben tulip mosaic

but alas, no tulips!

Isaac enjoyed meeting animal friends in the petting zoo

on our way to a REAL windmill

Isaac and Daddy got to explore it!

there was a greenhouse FULL of the

most glorious

tulips!

it was like walking into a rainbow

and it smelled divine

it was such a treat to enjoy such beauty

I'm still kicking myself for not buying some bulbs as a souvenir!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Haarlem, the Netherlands

from Cologne we drove to our next stop

Haarlem, the Netherlands

we stayed in a great flat right next to a canal

it was very picturesque

(and Aaron said it made up for the hostel in Cologne)

on our first morning we walked to the center of town

Grote Markt

and saw Sint Bavokerk

this impressive church

this organ was played by Handel and a young Mozart

we loved the variety of textures and materials in this vibrant, historical church

the main reason for staying in Haarlem was getting to visit

the Ten Boom House

this is where Corrie ten Boom and her family hid jews and students

during WW2

we kept missing the english language tours

but thankfully caught the last one of the day

it was a very moving experience to hear their story

while sitting in their living room surrounded

by Ten Boom family pictures

and belongings

this family loved and honored the Lord

this museum does the same

it is a beautiful testament to Jesus

and memorial to the Ten Boom family

we recommend it

while we were waiting for the tour we went to the

Teylers Museum

and saw lots of paintings by Dutch masters

but the coolest rooms were the science rooms with things like this:

a battery from 1789!

the Dutch have some pretty splendid stores on the high street:

the boys kind of melted towards the end of the Ten Boom tour

so we saw the hiding place in Corrie's room

and skedaddled on out of there

and over to a coffee shop for some vital vittles

(aka a massive slice of Dutch apple pie)

walking home over canals

with a quick stop to pick up dinner

some sweet brother time

Haarlem was such a relaxing, beautiful, walkable town

I'd go back in a heartbeat!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Cologne, Germany

we had been to Cologne before

on our Christmas Market tour

and remembered liking the cathedral

so we stopped by on our way to the Netherlands

we remembered thinking the cathedral was big

but didn't know if it had grown in our memories...

nope, it's massive!

Monday, May 13, 2013

100th Post!

I'd like to take this moment to thank you

for being a dear friend

and reader

of this ~~award winning~~ blog

*taking a moment*

well, now that's done

I can't believe this is my hundrenth post

I wanted to leave you today with the words of

Psalm 100

¹Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
² Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
³Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His^[a];
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

⁴Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
⁵For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.

and a picture of me and onion rings