Leaving the Netherlands we stopped by Burg Eltz in Germany on our way to Frankfurt for tonight. It's a great castle that was occupied up until just recently.

The family waiting for the tour of the castle. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures inside the castle itself.

The courtyard inside the castle was pretty cool. The was a very narrow/tall castle.

Afterwards we grabbed a meal.

On the way out we got a great picture of the gateway/castle.

Brecken helped Mitzi on the way back to the parking lot.

Ian was already to play knight after visiting the castle and getting his own shield and battle ax.

Once we got to Frankfurt and checked into our hotel for the night, Mitzi, Ian, Brad and I went across the parking lot to McDonalds to grab a bite to eat.

Brad even gave me a smile, although it took about 10 pictures to capture the smile.

Ian had a great time in their play area. They had balls, baskets, bikes, a maze, etc. It was alot of fun for ian and Mitzi.

8-2-10 Monday Since heading to England, we are off the Saturday to Saturday stays and travel schedule. Today was a travel day. We are heading from the Netherlands to Germany near Frankfurt on our way to Switzerland. We drove to Burg Eltz which was a remote castle not too far from Koblenz. It’s a very different castle. Three different Eltz families lived in the castle, and the castle is kind of build in a triangle around a center courtyard with each side of the triangle being for a different family. They gave a great tour in English that was really interesting. It was neat to see some of the features of the medieval castles. They way the toilets were built to dump out the bottom of the castle were pretty interesting. They had a neat treasury and armory as well. After we finally made it to Frankfurt and checked into the hotel, Brad and I took Mitzi and Ian across the parking lot to McDonalds. They had a spicy burger made with Tabasco sauce that was really good. The play place had a small indoor basketball court, a climbing play-place like McDonalds back home, and a race course/obstacle course for kids. It has a timer so they can race against their previous time. Ian kept doing it and going for a better and better time. Mitzi loved playing with the balls and climbing in the play-place.

Just when you went into the open air museum, there was a bunch of little gnomes.

There were some beautiful grounds.

On older lady was demonstrating lace making.

Megan and Ashley had a good time at the open air museum.

There was a fun playground.

Going to the open air museum was one of the highlights of visiting the Netherlands.

They had a square with old fashioned games, toys, rides and then shops and such around it.

We had lunch with everyone getting to try the little pancakes that they put butter and powdered sugar on.

They had some canals, windmills, bridges, boats, shops, etc. all to give you the feel of how life had been like in Holland in years past.

Megan playing a hoop game.

Ian rode one of the little push/pull cars.

Ashley on the high wheel bike.

I even roade the high wheel bike, but I don't think I'll be riding it in LOTOJA this year.

Some of the shops.

A beautiful view over one of the ponds.

One of the many windmills. They probably had 8-10 windmills here. Some were huge.

One of the goats that came up and said "HI" to us.

8-1-10 Sunday We got up and got the kids all to church today. We went to church in Gouda. I ran into one of my old mission companions, Michael Jansen. Come to find out, his wife is the sister of the man who’s house we are staying at. I didn’t even look him up, but just ran into him ½ way around the world. Sometimes it’s a small world. After church we went to an open air museum in Arnhem. They’ve transported a lot of historic buildings from around the Netherlands and set up a museum/park around them. They have a bunch of windmills, old stores, farmhouses, and have recreated an old fishing village. They give demonstrations on some of the traditional Dutch way of life. We watched an old lady making lace, a blacksmith creating things, and some people playing some type of traditional Dutch game that’s kind of like croquet, but they roll the balls with these big paddles. They also had those mini pancakes with butter and powdered sugar. The kids loved them. This was a real neat area that allowed the kids to see lots of traditional crafts, trades, buildings, etc. all in one place. Everyone liked going to the open air museum and I think it was very culturally enlightening for the kids. I think eveyone enjoyed it and learned alot.

The Netherlands Temple.

Haarlem town square and market. Haarlem is on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

Another shot of the market.

The guide at Corrie Ten Boom's house.

The kids listening to the guide talk about how the Ten Booms hid people during WWII.

The hiding spot in the closet.

Grabbed dinner at McDonalds.

Kindra in front of some flowers. Some of the flowers in Europe were amazing.

7-31-10 Saturday I got up and went to the temple this morning while everyone else slept in. I was hoping that they’d be ready to go by the time I got back about noon, but we didn’t finally leave the house until 1:45. Very typical leaving the house late. Kindra read a story by Corrie Ten Boom about the house they had in Holland and where they used to hide Jews during WWII called The Hiding Place, and she wanted to visit it. They’ve turned the house into a museum, and it’s a little bit like the Anne Frank house, where you can see the hiding place they used to hide the Jews. We made it there at 3pm, and the last tour was at 3:30, so the girls went shopping while I took me, Mitzi, Ian, and Brad and explored the market at the town square that was going on. We got some fried fish that was fantastic. Then went back to where we were going to meet the girls. They weren’t there, and I sent Brad to get them as they were starting the last tour of the day. We barely made it. It was very interesting hearing about Corrie ten Boom and her life. They estimated they helped and hit about 600 Jews during WWII in their home. They finally got turned into the Gestapo. They were arrested and her dad died in prison shortly thereafter. Her sister and brother died in concentration camps, and she’s the only one who survived. She went on to write a number of books about her experiences and her faith in Christ. It was pretty interesting. After the kids were starving so we stopped at McDonalds. They like McDonalds because it’s something familiar and easy. Especially Ian and Mitzi like it. We did a little more shopping and then headed back to our place. We left some food for the kids, and Kindra and I went out to dinner in nearby Gouda. We are staying only about 5 minutes from Gouda and it’s the closest larger town. I love Gouda. It’s large enough to have really neat churches, townhall, buildings, etc., but small enough to be very manageable. Although I love seeing some of the major sites in the big cities, they are a little overwhelming, especially trying to drive in them, find places to park, and managing with 6 kids. We found a Mexican restaurant, and Kindra loves Mexican food, so she wanted to go there. It was really quite good. After dinner, I’m using some of the time to try and catch up on the blog.