Watching Planes

I'm not sure that many people would call it an advantage, but we live pretty near to Schiphol Airport outside of Amsterdam (it's actually located in its own city/municipality of Schiphol, but I digress).

Living near an airport wouldn't be my first choice, but they way it's done here I hardly ever notice it in the daily routine.

Of course, when you do have to travel, it is awfully convenient to live 15-20 minutes away from an international airport, and it makes day trips around Europe more feasible (or it did before there was a Little Man).

One big advantage of living near an airport is the fact that on Sundays (especially rainy ones), when all the shops are closed, you always have something to do.

At Schiphol, there is a panaroma deck and a large restaurant and kids play area. We can go there, watch planes, wander around the deck (weather permitting) eat a pancake, visit the only Starbucks in the Netherlands open to the public, and pay a ton of money for short term parking.

Still, with a mother who loves to travel and a father who is a few lessons away from a pilots license, it would be hard to say Kevin comes by his love of planes any way but honestly.

Adventures with Winnie & Lars

Mark it on the calendar - a timely post! :-)

Last night was St. Maarten, which I wrote about last year here, so I won't bore everyone with the details and background again.


This year (like last year) we went with Winnie and Lars with our lanterns. Lars is 6 weeks older than Kevin, so they get along great (most of the time).

Here are my thoughts on last night along with a few of the best pics....

1) This year was better - Kevin sang loudly, knew the song, and enjoyed it this year to my eye way more than last year.

2) we got lucky with the weather - it was cold but dry for the full hour we were out last night. For a house recovering from flu, that gets a big 'yipee'!

3) It's more fun in groups - doing this in a group of 4 children made it a more fun evening for the adults that tag along, too.

For anyone (that might be named "Oma" ) who can't get enough of the little man, the whole photo album can be found here: http://flickr.com/photos/kevindanielfels/sets/72157608939618781/

And finally, a pic of Little Man enjoying the spoils...

Two weeks ago, we met up with Winnie and Lars (who Kev calls WinnieLars, as if they are one unit) at a large indoor play castle.

There is three stories of climbing, a 40 foot slide, motorized cycles around a track where you control the speed and the steering, a huge bouncy castle, and even an outdoor play area. It was cold but clear (and everything was wet), but worth it for Lars and Kev to enjoy what might be one of the last nice days of this year.

Back inside, Flat Stanley came along and cheered Kevin on at the Air-Hockey table.

It was a great day, they had sooo much fun together. The full photo album is here:
http://flickr.com/photos/kevindanielfels/sets/72157608953634715/