Izquierdo Visit (4/25 - 5/1)

Mom, Papa, Grandma and Grandpo, our first visitors of the spring/summer!, arrived in Cologne. Looking back we didn't take enough pictures, but we had a great time. Christian was so excited to have his grandparents here... well, most of them. It took him a little while to warm up to Grandpo, but after he discovered Grandpo would take him outside whenever he wanted to he was much friendlier. :)


We visited the Flower Parade in Lisse (near the Kukenhof) and it was amazing. This is where the majority of my pictures are from. It was a beautiful day to walk around outside and enjoy the small town. It had a little river that ran through the town, and the outdoor market was open. The floats were gorgeous and almost completely covered with flowers. Christian's favorite part were the tractors that pulled them.








Later we drove to a town on the coast for a delicious relaxed dinner complete with marching bands.

In this video Christian is enjoying one of the many marching bands. At the end he fell down and immediately started pushing his car as though he meant to do it. :)

On Sunday we all went to church. Grandma and I went twice - once to the Catholic mass and once to the Protestant service. It was really nice to have everyone there with us. Christian had quite the send off to the nursery. :) After church we went to the Hoensbroek castle. Mom and I went up to the very narrow staircase to the top of the tower - despite mom's claustrophobia. Grandma finished a little early, so she and I sat and had coffee. Mom entertained Christian. Grandpo started off with Papa and Cliff, and then joined us in the cafe. Papa and Cliff took the full tour.

Monday we all went to Brugge (except for poor Cliff who had to work). It's such a lovely little city. It's called the Venice of Belgium, because it has so many canals.

Tuesday Christian wasn't feeling very well, so Papa took Grandma and Grandpo to Cologne. They had a good time looking at the cathedral and cruising the Rhine. Mom, Christian and I relaxed. It's a great thing we were here, because our screens were delivered for our windows. Yeah!! Cliff flew that day, so Mom and I went to watch him land. Unfortunately we saw someone else land, because his flight ended up landing early.

Enjoying some quality time with his favorite person.

Mom tried to get a picture of Cliff landing, but couldn't see the display screen in the sun. As it turns out it wasn't Cliff landing anyway, so instead we got this pretty cloud picture while another plane landed. :)

Wednesday we did some shopping, but the highlight was an E-3 simulator ride for Papa and Grandpo. That was all we had time for. :( It was really nice to have that time together and we're looking forward to your next visit!