Friday, November 25, 2022

Monschau

November 25, 2022: Monschau was stop number two on our 'Christmas Market' trip! We trained in from Cologen to Aachen and then hopped on an hour bus ride to get to this cute little town tucked away in the hills. We loved our time in Monschau wandering the cobblestone streets through old classic buildings and homes and the nature views. We loved the remoteness of it which made for a nice change of pace from Cologne with the fresh, crisp mountain air. 























Hiking up to the ridge was definitely a highlight. Seeing the village and the Christmas market lights from up top made for some good views and as always with the boys, some good stick finding and rock collecting along the way. 





Early morning vibes :) 

Our bus ride out of Monschau consisted of a full hour with both Luke and Clay alternating throwing up in our garbage sack barf bag on a jam-packed, standing room only bus. There were a few good Samaritans trying to help by giving us their tissues but most people just wanted to get as far away as they could from the stench that came every time we opened the bag for another round of throw-up. 
Unfortunately this was only a pre-cursor to the bug that would hit both Alyssa and I the next day on our last day in Cologne. Spent the evening alternating throwing up for hours at a time, emptying our stomachs and then some. But before then, we were able to enjoy the day in Aachen. 
Our bodies barely recovered enough the next day for us to go home, change trains at the last minute and sprint up and down flights of stairs with Riley carrying Clay on his back and Luke in his arms and Alyssa with Lucy, the stroller and suitcase. We made the train with 45 seconds to spare that would have been a 2 hour wait if we had missed it. Good times. 

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Cologne, Germany (Christmas Market Trip)

November 24th, 2022: We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early, so this year thanksgiving had nothing to do with turkeys and football and everything to do with all things Christmas! Cologne was stop number one on our ‘Christmas market trip.’ We took the train to Cologne, only a few hours away from Amsterdam and got off in Germany surrounded by Christmas markets and lights. It was so fun to return to this city, we first visited with my parents last year but this time to see it covered in Christmas. Cologne had 6 huge themed markets through the city center… with so many neat unique Christmas gift stands, food stands, and ice skating rinks and rides. It really is a wonderland and so fun to walk around and see the festive things and foods Germany serves and makes to celebrate Christmas. This was year number two for Christmas in Europe, and one of our biggest regrets from last year’s Christmas market trip was not trying the food stands enough. So this year, we tried everything! Which ended up with food poisoning at the end. . . but zero regrets. 






One of the highlights of Cologne was iceskating with Luke!











Monday, November 21, 2022

The Forrest

Amsterdamse Bos, what we lovingly call 'the Forrest' has quickly risen through the ranks as one of our favourite places to go. We love how close it is to us and how big and pretty it all is. Between early morning runs and looking for bugs or making forts with the boys, it really has a special place in our hearts. It's our Narnia and Secret Garden. Visits to the forrest have especially increased during paternity leave and getting as much outside nature time as we can before winter comes. 


Riding in the forrest with full gear for a full day of fun. 

The ultimate playground. Looking for bugs, building stick forts, collecting rocks, digging holes through downed tree stumps, making boats to float the water and building ramps for the cars, to name just a few of the forrest activities. 







Nothing better than a hot ramen lunch on the jet boil in the forrest on a nice crisp fall afternoon. 



Morning run scenery. 

The beauty about the forrest is that its so big, we keep finding new spots to go back to. Found this gem just in time before the weather really changes. 




We found the cutest frog, the boys were brave and held it