Un día en Den Hague...we're working on the language

The true events of the day as seen through the eyes of Madelyn: Our first adventure outside of our Rotterdam bubble took us to the royal city of Den Hague! We began our adventure by following our new navigation lady friend to the heart of the city. We walked through the shopping district to the Queen's Palace. We never expected to be invited in for tea and become hommies with the Queen, but we are just that amazing! Then we moved on to tour a "famous" old prison. The tour was in Dutch and because my Dutch skills are so amazing, I helped her through the whole tour. I'm a great cousin. After Carlye attempted to take a picture in a zone clearly marked by pictorial "no photography" signs, no language barrier there, just stupidity, we got yelled at and Carlye was put in the stalks! This adventure in the prison left us with a grumbly in our tumbly! We went to the Mexican food place she and Ryan had scoped out on an earlier trip to the area, and indulged in Holland’s finest Mexican cuisine. Once our bellies were full and we were recharged we headed out to find a miniature museum. But it was closed so in our defeat we found the beach. We enjoyed watching the sunset on our day of fun in The Hague:)

Carlye's side: I never realized my loving Aunt and Uncle could have raised such a fibber. We did not have tea with the Queen, but rather saw some "queens" while enjoying a Coke nearby. And as I recall the picture taking story somehow left out the Double Dog Dare issued by dear dear Madelyn. In case anyone is interested - No she did not come to my aid, but rather snickered in a corner. There was an interesting part of the afternoon where Madelyn decided to make friends with some stuffed figures in the open plaza. This may or may not have occured after margaritas, I'll let you decide. Enjoy our pics - we had fun!!

No, we are not tourist! We live here! Obviously!

My new friends! We could sit and talk or not talk for hours.

This was Carlye's attempt at taking a picture in a NO picture taking zone at The Gevangenpoort (Prison Gate Museum)

Apparently they are VERY serious about their "no picture" taking policy!

After out torture chamber experience we thought we deserved some relaxing time by the North Sea.

Dipping our toes in the refreshing Scheveningen beach waters

Zoo Adventure

There is an arguement going on over here that we hope that you can assist us in settling. We can not decide who makes a better penguin. Please see the poll over to the right and help us settle this once and for all.

The Rotterdam Zoo is really nice. We started out in the Oceanarium.

Alex didn't waste any time getting to know the great white shark.

He then thought it would be a good idea to check and see if his breath was a s stinky as Jack's.

Nope... Jack still wins the stinky breath contest!

Ready to go explore the world above the ocean floor.

Still checking for breath to compare to Jack's, no winners so far. The fake animals were a little more cooperative than the real ones.

Global warming polar bear. Where's the snow!?!

Madelyn and I tried to get a picture together with the animals. One elephant was especially eager to get in a picture with us.

This giraffe was eager to get out of the picture, luckly we caught it before he was about to escape.

Alex the ladies man.

2nd day of work

Day 2 of bringing home the spek. (bacon)

Mission Completed.... in record time.

Curt gave Madelyn one mission while in Holland with us. The mission - - to stop Alex from running around while eating.

Madelyn enthusiastically accepted the mission......... Watch the video below and join Ryan as he observes Madelyn's handiwork for the first time.

Madelyn says:

Well, he's definitely not running anywhere. Close enough, Mission completed!

We made it!

Everyone survived. Yay! 2 hours at the airport, 10 hour flight, 2 hours to get the dogs out of customs, and an hour drive to our new house. We were exhausted! All and all nothing too exciting to report about the trip other than several rounds of high 5's between Alex and the guys sitting behind us.

As of today, we've been here one week. So far it has been bunch of unpacking and a little bit of exploring. Madelyn has been suspiciously quiet when somone asks her what exciting things we've done so far. Apparently vacuuming up cat hair does not rank high in the wild and crazy things she has done in her life. I'm sure we will have lots of stories in the near future. But for now everythng is pretty tame.

Ryan's first day of work was today. He looked so handsome all dudded up. Unfortunately he escaped before we thought to take a picture. Maybe we will catch him tomorrow.

Our house is very nice despite the cat hair that we are diligently working to rid ourselves of. It is located on a quiet street in a neighborhood that is themed around music. To get to the house you have to cirlce, the harp, G clef, and music notes roundabout. Its pretty cute.

Just a short walk from the back door is a little pond where we walk the dogs. There is also a little zoo where we go to see the goats, chickens and bunnies. Some of the roosters are bigger than Jack! There are wild ducks, geese and swans that appear in the neighborhood ponds from time to time. It's awesome here. Now if we could do something about the cold...... Here are some pictures of our new home.

Our front door

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Looking down our street from the front door.

Our back patio. No grass, but there is an apple tree, pear tree, grape vine, etc. Alex loves it back here. Lots of pics coming soon.

Pond behind the house. We take the dogs walking around here 3-4 times a day. We've met lots of doggie friends including our neighbor Spike.

Wilber the swan that sometimes hangs out at the pond.
p.s - sorry Carrie, we named the swan Wilber. I guess you'll have to come up with some other name for baby Haden now.