Breaking news -- Lily knows how to grow cabbage

You bet she does!  Her school participated in the Bonnie's plants cabbage program and this is the cabbage start that she was given about 2 months ago...

She submits her picture in September to be in the running for a $1,000 scholarship! Fingers crossed!

Girlfriend's got a green thumb~

Laurie

P.S. Here's the "before" pic... 

I am Amsterdam...

Well, I'm not, but that's the slogan for this beautiful city that I had the luck of visiting while tagging along with John on one of his business trips!  We took this trip back in September. (Hey, no hassle on how long this post has taken to write!  Just love me for my determination to get it completed!)   One way I can easily remember the date is because we were out of the country on Lily Clare's birthday.  BELIEVE ME when I say that I was given a very hard time about not being with Lily on "the most important day of her life".  Yes, I felt guilty, but --really-- am I supposed to pass up a week's trip to Amsterdam and London with a paid hotel room?  We left the kiddos in the loving hands of their grandmothers and Miss Lil had a lot of attention and spoiling on her special day!  (I even had an incredible friend deliver surprise cupcakes to Lily's classroom with a note from John and me.)  So, see?!?!  I'm a loving, thoughtful mother...right?!?!

So, John and I flew nine hours overnight and awoke to a new city and new adventure.  He had meetings to handle the first couple of days, so I had to do some exploring on my own. (Hence the many selfies!)

I fell in love with these powdered sugar covered babies!  Poffertjes -- a street food must!

Rembrandt's - The Night Watch"  Did you know that it is 12' x 14'?!?!  Huge!

The view from our hotel room

But eventually, he had some free time and we got to explore together! The best day was the day we rented bikes and rode 1 1/2 hours out to the incredibly fairytale like town of Weesp.

The scenery was unbelievable!  Here you'll see the reality of the old saying "black sheep of the family"! 

We visited Muiderslot castle.  It was built in 1285 (what?!?!) and was just amazing to think of what kind of stories those walls had to tell!

A not so tiny fireplace with a not so tiny tour guide! 

We stopped for lunch at a small canal front cafe and listened to the church bells ring and watched the drawbridge open to let passing boats through.  

Never has a sausage, fruit and cheese platter tasted so good!!!

The next day brought a little more sight seeing around Amsterdam, then we were off to London for a few more days.  

As I add to all of the posts about these trips that I've been fortunate to take...we could never do this without the help of our moms and friends!  Knowing that we're leaving the kiddos in the loving hands of these people helps to increase our enjoyment and relieve A TON of stress!!  And everyone knows...

  

 Ready for my next trip~
Laurie

Full of surprises!!!

Who knew that I would be taking an eight month blogging sabbatical?!?  Not me!!  I'm not sure exactly what happened...but, I'm back and I'm ready to start posting on my page again!  So, as I collect my thoughts and review my hundreds of pictures that I've taken since last August, here's something for you:

"Poor, dear, silly Spring, preparing her annual surprise!"

~Wallace Stevens

The surprise of Spring is definitely something that has made me smile this week!  What has made you smile?

More to come~
Laurie