We went to Holland!!! (day 1 and 2)

Well we did it!! We made to trip to Holland to visit my parents who are serving for 3 years as LDS mission president in the Netherlands/Belgium mission. 

Here is my play by play, more for my benefit to remember than anything :)

Day one: Friday

We made it to Salt Lake in the midst of pouring rain, everything went perfectly and we got our tickets and through security without any problems. Had a quick bite to eat, and boarded our plane.

 waiting at the gate

 The boys were so excited for their first plane ride

 Nix was an angel and was just happy to be along for the ride

We had a 4 hour flight to Chicago that went great but was just a bit behind schedule, we had a quick connection where we needed to take a shuttle to our connecting gate, take the boys to the restrooms, and pack around all our carry on mess. We RAN through the airport while they held the plane for us, but ended up making it on ok.

After a 9 hour flight, We got into Amsterdam around 8 am, which is 2 am Utah time. The boys were so so good, when we landed the people in front of us saw Nix and said they had no idea I had had a baby behind them the whole time. We have such good boys!

We made it through the huge airport, customs, and baggage claim. Then walked through the doors to see my parents there waiting for us!!! We were all so happy to see each other, my Mom grabbed Nix (who she and my Dad have never met) and held him for a long time :) 

We took the train from Amstedam to Lieden, where the mission office is. I was super windy and cold so we hurried and walked from the train station to the office. They have parking garages that are several stories tall and just filled with bike after bike, I've never seen anything like it. There is no parking anywhere, so everyone you see is riding a bike (and they don't stop for anyone or anything!)

On our way to breakfast we had to stop and get our first windmill picture. We were not as prepared for the cold as I should have been, I was expecting chilly but this was bitter cold. Luckily the mission office had some extra coats for Lance and I. It was the coldest spring in almost 100 years, my parents kept saying "Sorry, It is usually so nice here!" Haha, I'll believe that when I see it, I guess we have to go back now :)

When new missionaries come in they always take them to the panekuken haus (pancake house) the pancakes there are so so good, they are huge and have lots of yummy toppings. I got caramlized bananas with powdered sugar, lance got "speck, haam, and kass" which is bacon, ham, and cheese. The boys got a "kid sized" powdered sugar panakuken.

Or course we were exhausted and so after our brunch we drove to the mission home which is about 15 minutes away. We unpacked, had a nap while my parents watched the boys , had dinner (I loved eating a dinner my Mom had cooked!) and then went back to bed :)
The boys were up around 3am (9am Utah time), Yay for Ipods to entertain them while we try to get a little more sleep.

It had been too cold for the regular flowers to come out, so the yard workers planted flowers all around the mission home for our arrival :)