A mouse and windmills

 8/14: The ‘day’ kind of started at about midnight when Quinn came upstairs to our bedroom to tell us he was hearing noises in the kitchen (right next to his bedroom). He said he looked around and the Cheerios were knocked over - he thought it could be a mouse. Ewwwww!

Being the strong, independent woman that I am, I asked Bob if he could please go check it out (I can deal with spiders - not so well with other critters). Bob looked around a bit, didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary, and helped Quinn to settle in on the couch upstairs.

When we went into the kitchen in the morning, we discovered that our new loaf of bread on the counter had indeed been enjoyed in the dark. Gross. Our Airbnb hosts had mentioned in the welcome material to avoid leaving food on the counter as it can attract mice. However, the reason we had food on the counter was because the sole cabinet they recommended we store food in was completely jammed with their own stuff.

It wasn’t too big of a mess - Bob cleaned up the counter, we tossed the bread, and we got ready to bike to our tour bus for the day. It had been raining, and we were a bit concerned about biking and getting caught in a downpour, but we decided to go for it. Fortunately, it didn’t rain and we arrived to our bus no problem. We set off for a tour of a few smaller Dutch towns. We saw beautiful windmills, tasted cheese at a local factory, and saw a reenactment of an old cheese market.

Quinn representing Holland with his orange shirt

Charcot likes windmills :-)

Windmills are used to grind (spices), cut (wood), and pump (water)

Shortly after these photos we ended up in a downpour. We got thoroughly soaked before we could make it back to the bus; Simone and I had wet feet for the rest of the day - a feeling I haven’t had for a very long time! It was made better, though, as Bob had recommended we each bring an extra pair of socks in case it rained (so smart!:-)

The cheese shop is named after Simone!

Our cheese making “teacher” - he gave a shout out to the top cheese making location - WI!!

Quinn was chosen to get a free souvenir

They carved his name into it

Some huge clogs!

Re-enactment of the old cheese market

We were tempted to buy one of these cheese balls, but it would make our checked bag too heavy!

Bringing the cheese from the port to the market

It says ‘Edam’ on the boat 

After the tour we went to the rooftop swing downtown at the A’DAM lookout. Bob and I were hoping the kids could do this on their own, but one adult needed to go up with them. He decided to go along with them, while I stayed on the ground level to blog a bit. They had fun! And Bob got a little queasy…

Ahhh! Hold on!

We got the kids settled at home with showers and dinner, then Bob and I biked to a spot we had walked past many times. It was a great patio for a beer.

These miniature cars are hilarious!

We rode to a nearby tapas restaurant (Dos) that had great reviews on Trip Advisor. We sat at the corner of the bar (Bob’s favorite) and enjoyed a cocktail, asparagus, filet, shrimp, and sardines. Cappuccino and caramel flan for dessert.

I have really lucked out so far on my restaurant picks! The reviews on Trip Advisor have been very helpful, and with each new great experience my family has said, "you're 8/8, 9/9, etc, Mom!" I'm enjoying it while it lasts! :-)