Wrap up…

We have stayed in four different apartments, four different hotels; traveled by plane, double-decker bus, boat, train, car and public transport. We realize that our French isn’t horrible but we don’t know any Dutch. Apartment living is a lot easier - we get more space, laundry options, a kitchen and fridge. The only drawback is that we have stairs to contend with. Let’s not get started with stairs…

We have been back for 3 days now and we are slowly recovering from jet lag. The boys seem to make it an extra half hour in the morning each day and more awake throughout the day. It’s nice to have the room to spread out in the house - though it’s not too big. We live in a mansion compared to some of the apartments we were in - its really nice to have the separate rooms for the boys, let alone our own bedroom. 

On most of our trips we spend the last dinner talking about what our favorites of the trip were. We mention things like meal, city, hotel, apartment, and unexpected surprises. All the cities were different and great - London surprised us. D LOVED the Tower of London, the London Eye, riding on the double-decker bus and counting the steps with Grandma in the hotel. 

Being our second time in Paris, it was nice exploring from a different part of the city. We looked for kid-friendly options and found them. Some highlights were the playground at the Luxembourg Gardens, the toy floor at the department stores, seeing the Eiffel Tower on a sunny day and celebrating D’s 5th birthday! 

Traveling through Provence and Nice by car was a lot of fun too. We walked through an open air market in Arles, saw a celebration for kids in Avignon, looked for flamingos (there weren’t nearly as many as we thought there would be), and spent quality time with Nana and Papa. 

Amsterdam was a perfect city to end with - its the most like Portland. We enjoyed walking through the streets and crossing canals, finding the TunFun Steelpark for the boys to run around, collecting miniature groceries from the local super market, having dinner with friends, and visiting the Kukenhof Gardens with its thousands of flowers!

To say one moment, day or even city was my favorite is tough. We have such fond memories, over 800 photos, some funny videos, and souvenirs that will always be special to us. We didn’t buy many things, mostly toys, a few books, and a few pins to add to D’s collection. It was an amazing journey and we wouldn’t change any of it at all. 

So, if anyone needs help planning a trip…just ask. We will try to help anyway we can.