A Visit and a Baptism

My mom and dad came to visit in May to see Matthew get baptized. It was wonderful to have them here for that special day. We love this big guy and are so proud of him.

Of course we packed in a bunch of other fun stuff to do while my parents were here! We took them to all of our favorite places and we had so much fun together!

We visited Stowe gardens and Blenheim Palace, and went to our first horse race. We took a day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon and walked around Oxford in the pouring rain.


We went on nice walks and ate yummy food and enjoyed the few times the sun actually came out. Matthew and Anna loved every minute they got to talk and play and watch movies with Gwa Gwa and Gwampa.

It was wonderful to be with my mom on Mother's Day, and a sweet friend even took some pictures of us that day that are so special.

We loved every minute we had together, and are so grateful for the time we have with them even though we are so far away right now. Thanks for coming to see us - we miss you too much! :)

Amsterdam

We spent two days in Amsterdam while my parents were here visiting this month. It is such a quick trip (a 45-minute flight!) and the perfect place to spend a couple of days walking around and riding bikes. We stayed in an airbnb house in Haarlem, just a 15 minute train ride outside of Amsterdam.


On our first day we did a bike tour through the city, stopping at some of the main sites, and trying to not get run over by other bikes and pedestrians. :) It was really fun! We also visited the Anne Frank House and ate lunch at the Pancake Bakery. We loved walking around the gorgeous streets and noticing all the fantastic details.

Amsterdam was so clean and colorful and walkable. My kind of city! There were a lot of things we didn't have time to do, but we loved everything we saw!

The next day we spent the morning in Haarlem, which was a quieter and more spacious version of Amsterdam.We walked to the city center where there were gorgeous buildings and a perfect farmer's market. We took a tour of the Corrie Ten Boom house and it was so inspiring and incredible.

That afternoon we visited Keukenhof, a 79-acre garden with over 7 million flower bulbs planted there! We hit Holland right at the end of the peak tulip season, so all the flower fields in the countryside were already gone, but luckily Keukenhof was open for two more days.

We couldn't choose our favorites - there were so many gorgeous flowers! Everywhere we looked there were beautiful colors and textures. We spent a few hours walking around, eating waffles, and taking way too many pictures! :)


On our way back to Haarlem we stopped in Zandvoort, a town right on the coast of the Netherlands. The beach was lovely and it was so relaxing to walk in the sand and collect sea shells.


It was so fun to travel with my parents and see this beautiful part of the world. We really loved visiting Amsterdam!

8

Matthew turned 8 this week! He was so sweet and excited about everything, and it was fun making his day special.

He got a few fun gifts, had McDonald's for dinner, and had a few friends over for cake and ice cream. He was very specific that his cake be a sea turtle, and he was really happy with how it turned out!


We love, love, love our Matthew boy. He is sweet and friendly and is growing up so fast. I love watching him learn new things and develop new skills. And I'm glad that he still needs my help sometimes. :) Happy Birthday Best Boy!