Holland cont.

Saturday, we got up early and headed to the Anne Frank museum. The lines can get bad and that is not how we (or the kids) wanted to spend our time. We ended up being first in line and it was very nice. I had been here in 1998 when I did my college tour but they had completely re-vamped the entrance to the museum. It is now all glass, steel and modern. I was very dissappointed because I had remembered the entrance to the house the way Anne would have. However, the rest of the museum still maintained its authenticity and the visit was rewarded.

A friend (and ex-co-worker) of Anthony's and his family are now living and working in Rotterdam so they drove up to see the Anne Frank house and spend the day in Amsterdam. It was a quick visit but very nice to see friends from the states. The girls loved their litte "Sam".

We then hopped on a train and headed about 15 minutes out of town to one of my favorite memories from that earlier trip. It is a Dutch town called Zaanse Schans. It is known as a conservation village that has fought to maintain a traditional Dutch lifestyle through architecture, traditions, livelyhoods and handicrafts.

The town is so quaint and authentic you actually feel like you are visiting "real" Holland.

They are know for having the largest collection of working windmills.

We visited a traditional mustard mill and brought home a jar of the marvelous product.

We also visited a cheese farm and sampled their wonderful cheeses. (Anthony and I both liked these better than French cheeses.)

A traditional wooden shoe maker...

and even found a pair that would fit Grandpa Roger.

The kids each took home their own pair. Bella picked pink, Brooke orange and Andrew red.

We ate a traditional pancake lunch and headed back into Amsterdam to catch our train back to Paris.

I snapped these pictures of the "parking garage" next to the station--thought you would get a kick.

Monday, we got Bella into a ENT who was SUPPOSED to speak English. However, he did NOT and it was quite an event. But the jist of it is that Bella blew out more than 50% of her ear drum. She was put on an anti-biotic and ear drops to clean up the infection and then we called our ENT in Dallas to see what he wanted to do (and to talk about it in English). They usually wait 6-9 months to let the perferation heal as much as it can and then do reconstructive surgery. She will have surgery as soon as we return in August. She can not go outside without covering her ears and will need to wear plugs to bathe and be around water. Further infections can be very bad and dangerous. She will suffer some more hearing and speech delays but should catch up later. I feel for this precious baby who has spent so much of her young life "catching up".