A great-grand visit.
We rounded out a year of visitors by saving the best for last. At 82 years young, my grandparents, Asher's great-grandparents, made the trip from Jersey to Germany -- sorry to out your ages on the world wide web, Mimi & Poppy, but you guys make it look good. They kept up with a busy, sometimes cranky toddler, survived road trips chauffeured by their sometimes cranky granddaughter and checked off a few new cities in their travel diaries.
I feel so lucky and grateful to have, to know and to be so close to my Mimi & Poppy. Anytime we visit New Jersey, we are usually surrounded by the hustle bustle of holidays and family celebrations so not only was it unique to spend time with them in Europe (!!!) , but it was also unique to have them all to ourselves. We had time to sightsee, time to relax and time to talk. We talked about their favorite travel destinations and the places they'd still love to see. We debated the pros and cons of tv/movie previews & trailers (I am for, Poppy is against). We talked about our family tree and the stories that have been passed down and we ventured a few guesses on the ones that have remained a secret. We commented and commiserated on all things politics. Mimi read approximately 5000 books to Asher - or maybe it was just 1 book 5000 times, I can't remember. We tried new foods. They laughed as we told them all of our embarrassing and frustrating (okay, funny) expat moments. And we loved every moment. To travel the world is an experience all its own, but to do so with your grandparents and their great-grandchild - at the risk of sounding cliche - was once in a lifetime.
So, here are the highlights from our 12 day GRANDtrip! We toured a few beautiful German cities: Wiesbaden, Cochem & Mainz and then took a little getaway to The Netherlands!
WIESBADEN: one of our favorite nearby cities! You've seen me post about it before! And before that!
COCHEM: on the Mosel river. Best known for it's castle, vineyards & Rieslings and charming village.
My grandparents were world travelers long before this trip. Because of their love for travel and my grandfather's job, they have been to all of the historical European spots, they've seen Alaska & even Antarctica. And the most beautiful of locations like Monaco & Brazil. But neither had been to The Netherlands! So as you know, J & I are big fans of Amsterdam and this was on the top of their list of places to see while visiting us. So we hopped in the car (that was packed full to the brim, but somehow we still found room for souvenirs) and road tripped to Holland!
We stopped to see the famous Holland windmills in Zaanse Schans - a little dutch village with functioning windmills and plenty of photo opportunities. Which - as you may have already noticed means EVERYTHING to both me and my camera-toting Poppy!
The next day gave us some nice spurts of sunshine, but it was a mostly chilly, windy, dutch weekend.
(PS. I'm obsessed with these high-waisted, button fly jeans...)
We took Mimi & Poppy to a few of our favorite spots, but we were able to do a bunch of things on this trip that we hadn't gotten to in previous Amsterdam excursions including the tour of the Anne Frank House and a boat tour through the canals.
We ended our trip to Amsterdam with a rainy day stroll & breakfast. And unfortunately, this meant that the countdown to the end of the GRANDtrip began....
Poppy took approximately 700 more pictures than I did, so hopefully this little highlight reel gives you guys an idea of just how HAPPY it made me to have my grandparents here. And if its possible, it made Asher even happier. The other day he kept saying Mimiii, Poppppy, Mimiii, Poppppppy. So we skyped them and he chatted for 10 mins straight. I think it's safe to say he has a little nook in his heart in the shape of Mimi & Poppy.
The only thing that made their leaving easier, was knowing that we have our next trip to the States planned! Christmas here.we.come!
Embrace the Wilde,
lindsey
