Stork story

This story occurs well in the past, so forgive the tardy posting. When we were in the Netherlands in April we were barely pregnant and had no idea we were expecting. (I started feeling the pregnancy sickness the day we traveled home, but the pregnancy wasn't confirmed until a few weeks after that due to an inconclusive home pregnancy test.)

One morning as we were in the supermarket parking lot enjoying cheese and bread for breakfast, someone said "oh, look at that huge bird on the building." Still absorbed in my Dutch cheese, I didn't care enough to look until Irena (Jacob's boss) said "I'm sure that's a stork. We studied them in school." Just then, Jacob and I had one of those moments straight from the movies where we exchanged a look, reading each other's thoughts across the car. We knew we COULD be pregnant but weren't sure. Seeing that stork seemed to be a sign or something. We're not superstitious, and we don't believe in signs. But this one seemed so fun and coincidental, we had to share on the blog. :)

The proverbial stork won't actually be visiting us until December, but the above is a photo of the one we saw on April 10th. [I was 5 weeks pregnant that day.]

Amsterdam

While in the Netherlands we did visit Amsterdam. It was such a mixed bag!

First we visited the Anne Frank House (above) where we got to walk through the actual secret annex where her family hid. It was hard to believe we were actually in that very place where she kept the famous diary. One thing I loved about the museum is that they didn't give any 3rd-person explanations. Everything was explained using quotes from Anne Frank's diary.

Then it was off to the red light district. Yes, the lights are actually red. And yes, the ladies are selling their services from windows along the streets. It was one of the most disturbing things I could imagine. Now, I unfortunately don't have to imagine it anymore. And because of the following photo, neither do you...

credit to Becky for this photo

We also saw many "coffee shops," which don't actually serve coffee. I'll just say that we couldn't escape the smell of what they were serving.

Above is an example of a block of Amsterdam houses (this one happens to be the back of the Anne Frank block).

And a word about the food... We had the most amazing spare ribs in the universe. We loved them so much we went to the same restaurant the next night. No photos of that, but here's a photo of a gorgeous pastry and a photo of the famous Holland cheese.

Going Dutch

After Jacob spent the week near Frankfurt for a work conference I flew to meet him and we went to the Netherlands with his coworkers Irena (the boss), Becky and Marcia. We had such a fun time in a unique, lovely country! The windmills are beautiful and plentiful. We went to one location with 19 ancient windmills. And just so you know, there was a constant, strong wind the entire time we were in the Netherlands, so we understand why they harness the wind's power.

We went to a clog-making shop and saw an amazing demonstration about how they make the iconic wooden shoes. Here's a photo of Jacob browsing the wall of clogs; and a photo of me trying some on. Jacob tried on a pair too and found them surprisingly comfortable! To the left is something extraordinary--a clog for horses. No joke. We also experienced some of the famous Holland tulips. We went to a huge garden where we saw many breathtaking flowers. Some were outside, some were in huge greenhouses. All were beautiful!