Cruise from Kiel, Germany to Oslo, Norway

We hit the road at 6am to head to our cruise ship in Germany. Oh what fun driving down the autobahn in Germany at 100 mph. The kids think it's the greatest thing.

We ate our sack lunch while waiting for our loading time. Soon we were on the ship inspecting our room that we thought was a mistake. Where were all four beds? When we realized there were latches on the ceiling we pulled the two bunk beds right out of the ceiling. Whew! Beds for all. What fun. Then the surprise of personal pizzas costing $25/person and a glass of apple juice running $6/glass. Yikes! Welcome to the prices of Norway. We enjoyed the water park/water slides inside the ship and then hit the sack early so we would be ready for the arrival in Oslo the next morning.

Cousins and the Luggable Loo

Fun to see Marcel's cousin and kids who live two doors down from his parents.

The whole family jumped on our bikes and headed out of town to the largest camping store in Europe. It's just a short distance outside of Marcel's hometown of 30,000 people. Here we found the Luggable Loo. What a kick! It's a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat and lid. Just the perfect thing to take on a camping trip.

Apenheul - The Ape Park

We enjoyed a fun day at the Ape Park. First we all rode our bikes to the train station, then rode two trains, and a bus. Whew! Makes you think twice about going any distance with a crowd. It was so fun seeing all the monkeys, gorillas, and such. This time we didn't have any jump on our shoulder, but we were sure hoping they would.

Opa & Oma's house

What fun to stay in the home that Marcel grew up in. It's just a shame that they have had plumbing problems the last two times we have come. What a funny site to see a toilet in the yard. The flowers and yard are just tremendous.

Safe in Norway

Just have a moment using someone's computer. We left the city of Oslo about 1 hour before the bombings. We are safe at the European Bible School about an hour out of the city. Head to Molde on the west coast on Sunday for a week. Will post more later with photos. Thanks for your prayers. Love ya all. Heidi

3rd Day in the Netherlands

Opa and Oma had to ride the bus to church 45 minutes away as our family filled up the car. How kind of them. We enjoyed showing the church to the kids where Marcel and I first met.

The sun was shining but Emma needed a nap, so we took a little rest. Then headed out on an afternoon bike ride with sprinkles falling from the sky. It was a lovely time riding on the dirt roads through the dark woods to the farm Oma was raised on. Just for a moment we crossed the border into Germany and the kids were tickled they rode their bikes to another country. Then down another dirt path to the farm Opa was raised on. This farm had been bombed by the Canadians during World War II as the Alies believed it to be too close to the German border and maybe the Germans would make it a command post. Opa's family had to live in a chicken coop until they were able to get money from the governemnt to build another house and barn. It was fun seeing Uncle Henk and the cousins. It poured rain on us during our ride back home, but what an adventure for all.

Alex cooked his special potato, cauliflower, carrot curry for our dinner. He had gone shopping on his bike with Oma & Marcus

to the store the day before for all the ingredients. Yum, yum!

2nd Day in the Netherlands

This day started out with the whole family hopping on bikes and heading to town to check out the huge summer sales. The boys ended up with a wonderful selection of Dutch clothes. Then off to a Gellato treat, the cheese shop for some great cumin cheese, the German Bakery for rolls, and back home to enjoy the rolls, cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers for lunch. While Emma napped the boys headed out with Opa and Oma to climb the bell tower of the church they were married in, which is in the city square. They reported that it was a bit loud climbing the tower as the bell went off on the hour. The construction began on the church in the 1200s and was finsihed 300 years later. Can you believe that the church is older than the good ol USA?

During Emma's nap the boys rushed home on their bikes to grab their wallets and then back to the toy stores for some Playmobils. Marcel had ok'd them riding back to the house by themselves. My oh my, were they ever tickled with freedom like that. THey said all three store clerks spoke English and they were thrilled with doing the transactions on their own. I think they made 4 trips back and forth to the village center that day


The shops are open until 9:15 pm on Friday night, so Marcel and I enjoyed a couple of hours together strolling the streets and popping in and out of shops. It stays light around here until 9:50pm so we had a wonderful time together.

1st Day in the Netherlands

We are having a wonderful time in the cold, rainy Netherlands. Hope to see the sunshine tomorrow. We rented bikes this morning, then headed off to the quaint shopping streets to check out the toy and clothing stores, florist shops, and of course the fresh pasteries.

This afternoon we had a blast with the whole family at the city swimming pool. Marcus and Alex insisted that they ride their bikes over to the Zwembad (as this would be typical Dutch they said) so the girls rode in the car and the boys all on bikes. While the wind blew the rain sideways outside, Emma made us climb the ladder to the big water slide over and over and over again. The boys took floating mats and made a huge floating platform in the middle of the pool. Marcus was thrilled to make two Dutch friends by just using hand motions. He said "Mom, they keep asking me questions, and I just always answer with, ja. It seems to work to just tell them yes. Then they give me things like floating mats." Alex said, "At least they gave you stuff and didn't take stuff away from you."

Back home Oma made yummy pannekoeken (pancake type crepes) for our supper.

Going off to bed soon so we are rested for another full day tomorrow. So glad the kids slept the whole first night. I think the melatonin pills helped a lot. Will try to keep you all posted with fun photos.