Tori's Visit

In the middle of May, my cousin Tori stayed with us for about 10 days. We were the first stop of her 2 month European adventure. Tori was so much fun to have stay with us. The girls loved having "aunt Tori" around, she didn't have to be entertained all the time, fun conversations and overall good company. After all, she is like another sister to me! I was really bad and didn't take pictures of everything we did, but I think I got the majority of it. This is what I get for getting so behind on my blog. I can't remember everything!

One day we traveled down to Koln. We walked the city, saw the Dom and got some lunch. The girls and I waited at the bottom of the Dom while Tori climbed all the way to the top. I would have loved to have done it with her, but not with two little ones!!



In true German/Dutch fashion, it was gloomy and rainy a lot of the time that Tori visited. That didn't stop us from getting out though. We traveled down to the Burg Eltz Castle in Münstermaifeld, Germany. I had heard a lot of hype about how neat the castle was and have been wanting to pay a visit. The entire drive to the castle, we had amazing views of the rolling hills covered in Yellow Flower fields, which I think are Canola Oil Fields. They are SO pretty and they cover Germany in the Spring and Fall.





The Castle did not disappoint. It was amazing.











The weekend Tori was here, we decided to take off for a girls weekend and Abe watched the kids. We first stopped at Keukenhof. It was at the very end of the season and the park was only going to be open for a couple more days. We knew it was a gamble if everything would still be in bloom or not. Last year Abe and I went to Keukenhof and never went in the actual "park". We just rented bikes and biked through all the tulip and flower fields, which was amazing! I really wanted Tori to experience that, but unfortunately all the fields had been cut within a day or two from when we got there. Bummer. Luckily, almost everything was still in bloom in the park and it was beautiful.























After Keukenhof, we headed down to Brugges, Belgium where we stayed the night. We were welcomed into Brugges by this picturesque windmill.



We stayed in the "Parkhotel", which was right near the heart of town. It was close to everything and great for what we needed, however not the best place for your money... however they are all probably very expensive!



After a good nights rest, we hit the town the next morning. I love Brugges.











Inside the church we found this gem





Good old chocolate store find...



We were starving and decided to eat right in the square. As we sat down, we started admiring the views that we had. Right after I took this picture, we were approached by a rude waiter. We ordered our food and decided not to get a drink because it was 7 or 8 EURO for a water (which is almost $10 for a small water). That is a load of crap, so we thought we would just be thirsty. He told us that we were not allowed to NOT order a drink and refused to take our order unless we ordered one. We decided to take off and get a brat from a small stand on the streets instead.



Our brat ended up being a gross hot dog, so we stopped at the next best place: a Belgian waffle stand. Probably the best waffle I have ever had!











and on our way back to the car, we saw this. All I can say is this town must love boobs?



I had figured that if we left early enough from Brugges and had time on our way home, we could stop somewhere else to explore. After some recommendations from some other military wives and seeing that it was right on our way home, we decided to stop in Gent, Belgium. I really didn't know what to expect. I thought it would just be another average large city. It was a big city, but it was amazing. There were canals all over the place, several fancy cathedrals, castles, shopping, etc. I am so happy that we stopped there!

















We ate dinner right across the street from the Castle



All in all, it was such a fun weekend! Before Tori took off, we had to make a trip to the local ice cream shop (of course!) and went on a little walk.





The girls and "aunt Tori"



And of course Norah was being crazy on her bike going as fast as she could.



The roads aren't exactly flat, so she would get going super fast and then kept falling over and luckily, right into the grass. She looks mad in this picture, but in fact thought it was really funny and didn't care at all.



Thanks Tori for all the fun we had with you!!