Kristin Comes to Visit!

Isla loves hanging out in this basket, and Brennan set up a picnic for the two of them, which was heavy on reading material.



A very good friend from our WA days came to visit last week and we had a blast together! It was so good to see Kristin, and the only way her visit could have been any better is if it had been possible to get our entire families together. She was in Spain from Japan for training and we are lucky that she hopped up here to visit us. Here we are stopping by the picturesque Breberen windmill.



Kasteel Hoensbroek was having a sand sculpture exhibition so we popped into the Netherlands to check out the art and the castle. The inner bailey had some period games set up for the kids.



The sand sculptures were absolutely amazing. Here are the knights of the round table, a da Vinci montage, one featuring modern technology, the Thinker and a cathedral.



We toured the castle and then stopped for some yummy tomato soup, hot dogs, and pie.



The next day the girls did some browsing and shopping in Heinsberg while Brennan was at Kindergarten. Isla got all gussied up in some very cool new clothes from Japan (skirt and leggings, below) and we hit the town. Highlights included the bakery and chocolate shop.



We picked Brennan up from school and headed to the designer outlets at Roermond. We enjoyed browsing (despite being discounted the prices were still a little steep for us), eating lunch, and playing on their covered playground.



We spent day 3 in the Netherlands, starting with a lunch stop in Thorn.



Here are some pictures of the beautiful church.





Kristin enjoyed her first pannekoeken and the kids had fun playing at the lego table.



After a frustrating drive (a combination of driver and/or gps malfunction) we finally made it to Maastricht. We were so relieved to be out of the car that we stopped for some romping and a photo shoot right outside of the parking garage. Fortunately we parked near the old wall, so the scenery was good.



We were in survival mode so we bee-lined for the McDonalds to appease the kids, with a quick stop at a toy store on the way. Brennan was allowed to fill his own ice cream cone, how fun! We did some city-gazing and shopping, then headed home to crash. Kristin's visit was way too short and we miss her already, but there is a chance that we might end up in the same town next year, which helps.