Mother's Day

We slept in this morning, and when I got out of the shower, Jeff and the older boys were just arriving back to the cabin with fresh bread and honey from the market, which made for lovely Mother's Day breakfast.

After breakfast, we rented bikes from the camp and took off on a grand adventure. Biking is the preferred method of translocating here in The Netherlands, and we saw bikers of every age and ability out and about on this absolutely gorgeous day. We rode through farmlands, crossed a major highway without anyone getting run over, and ended up in some tulip fields that were still blooming. (We're nearing the end of the tulip season, so many of the fields have already produced and are being prepared for the next season.) Then, we headed back a different way than the way we came, in order to avoid the major highway (because I don't need that kind of stress in my life), winding around through an industrial area and finally ending up at a lake, before coming back to the campground. Altogether, we estimate it was about 8 or 9 miles roundtrip, all of it so very beautiful and bucolic. But, based on how much my legs hurt, it was possibly a little too ambitious for someone who hasn't really ridden a bike much at all since I was the age of my oldest child. But, even so, if I had it to do over again, I would do it.

After a late lunch, some calls back to the U.S. to visit with moms and grandmothers, and a dip in the pool, Jeff and the kids took me out to the onsite restaurant for a fabulous Mother's Day dinner.

It was really a wonderful day! But my favorite part of all, is getting to be "Mom" to Ruth, Weston, Max and Clay, not just on Mother's Day, but every day! I am thankful and blessed!

ready to ride

bike buddies

a waning, but still pretty, hyacinth field

This scene just doesn't even look real.

We passed this beautiful church and impressive mosaic on our bike ride.

flowers for Mother's Day

Mother's Day dinner at Restaurant Taveerne

So incredibly thankful to be called "Mom" by these special people