Holland two springs ago...

...we enjoyed England, Scotland and Wales so much (we didn't make it to Ireland - sigh!) that we didn't travel Europe very often. We did visit Holland in the Spring though - we were so glad we did. Its hard to describe or show with photographs just what acres of tulips look like to the eye - or how they delight the soul. I am very thankful that we have the memories tucked away in our minds and hearts. A very small taste of heaven.


Our favorite visit was to Corrie ten Boom's home at the ten Boom watch shop in Rotterdam. Her family helped as many Jewish people as they could before they themselves were sent to Nazi concentration camps. I'll put together a separate post describing this experience.


Our second favorite experience was to see and walk amongst fields and fields of flowers.


Thirdly, the girls and I spent 2+ hours in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.


Fourth, there is a cathedral near the ten Boom home which has the most amazing, beautiful organ we've ever seen.


Fifth, we watched the annual flower parade.


Sixth, we got to explore some windmills.


Seventh, we enjoyed our bed and breakfast with soft boiled eggs and toast for breakfast (and many other wonderful foods) and the children enjoyed playing in the back garden with the proprietors grand daughters.

Eighth, we all crammed into a small cabin on the overnight ferry and I fretted all night that I would fall from my very narrow, high bunk and fall on my boys on the floor! It was a very fun experience despite my falling fears :-)



Street signs for bikes were just as common as for vehicles. Families riding for miles to get somewhere together was a common site. In Rotterdam I saw woman with a small child in a seat behind her, another small child on the handlebars, and an umbrells stroller slung across the mom's back so they could switch to walking when need be.
A pretty nice view for these Hollanders we saw riding their bikes! Daffodils!

We ate lots of cheese whilst in Rotterdam - yum!






Uh, Daddy, our highway seems to be lifting up!





Exploring the field of tulips up close.
















Some big shoes to fill :-)

No matter the weather, we visit the local beach wherever we go.


Flower parade!




A tribute to Rembrandt


Selling flower bulbs...

Not all of the beautiful colors were from flowers...


One of the windmills we explored was used to grind up powders for paints.

LOVE these colors too! Yum!

A visit to Ferry Farm on Wednesday...

...George Washington's childhood home. George lived here from about age six (1738) until he moved to Mt Vernon as a young man in 1752 (after his brother Lawrence, who owned Mt Vernon, died). George's father died suddenly when George was 11 years old. George's mother, who never remarried, stayed at Ferry Farm until she was 64 and then moved into a home in nearby Fredricksurg. Ferry Farm is about 40 minutes from our home, on the Rappahanock River. The legend of the cherry tree most likely did not happen, but if it had it would have been here at Ferry Farm.

There is an active archeological dig at Ferry Farm from May through August to, among other things, search for evidence of the Washington farmhouse. We, of course, are hoping to participate this summer.


Colonial era games. The "darts" are very cleverly made out of corn cobs with goose quills stuck into one end.




The checkers are made out of "sliced" corn cobs. The darker checkers look to be burnt on top with a candle. The checker board and table are half of a barrel.



George Washington in known to have thrown a rock across the Rappahanock River! The River was much wider than it was now, too. It is now narrower due to dredging and other works on it during the Civil War. The Union troops camped here and bombarded the city during the Battle of Fredricksburg. Later, the Army of the Potomac built a pontoon bridge on the site of the ferry. There are quotes from some of the soldiers indicating that they knew the significance of the land they were camping on - that it was the childhood home of their first President: "First in War, First in Peace, and First in the hearts of his countrymen. "

BTW, none of our rocks made it quite across the river. On G. Washington's birthday, Ferry Farm has a contest to see who CAN throw a rock across the river. We were told that one or two local high school baseball players usually make it each year.

Fery Farm gets its name from a public ferry which crossed the Rappahanock River from the farm over to Fredricksburg during George's boyhood. There is still evidence of the public ferry road going through the farm.

We ended our visit with a nice walk through the forest along the river. The children stayed in a line playing a new game they invented called "Bee Patrol". They'd have to tell you all of the rules!

Share the Fun

The Prince William County 4-H held their annual Share the Fun in early March. It was really a great night of watching different 4-Hers share their gifts. There were puppet shows, scenes from well known plays, several instruments, recitations, dances, etc.

Faith performed two Irish Dances - one a soft shoe reel and the other a hard shoe hornpipe. Christy performed a soft shoe jig, a hard shoe hornpipe, and also recited the Gettysburg address & several of her favorite bible verses. Jonathan also recited two poems by Robert Louis Stevenson - "Bed in Summer" and "The Swing". We took video on our camera of the girls' dances but sadly we didn't get the recitations.

Seth perfectly spectated and was a good sport watching for 2+ hours. It was a very fun evening and a good forum for the children to display some of their gifts which they work consistently put hard work into.

Each child is judged against a set criteria and not one another. 90 pts and above = blue ribbon 80pts and above = red ribbon, etc.

The judges also wrote down several helpful, constructive comments. I read all of the comments on our drive home - it was a very special time for the children.

An ovation for all of the participants after they are awarded their ribbons. The Nowlin 3 are in the front on the left hand side. Faith is in her dancing sweatshirt with a celtic cross on it.

Jonathan and his friend proudly display their green cloverbud participation ribbons. Ages 5-8 are cloverbuds and they all get the green ribbons. They do get constructive comments though. Niyah played two songs on his recorder - precious!

Waiting for Scotty to finish helping with the heavy lifting required to get the school auditorium put back together properly. Seth is in the background being the doorman for everyone - good man Seth!

Eggs to tadpoles and we hope to frogs...

While exploring the vernal pools, Faith spotted two different types of frog spawn. Our leaders told us there was an overpopulation of frogs in the area, so we were welcome to take it. Faith waded right in & collected both types - thankfully one of our leaders had a water bottle and a plastic jar to keep it in. We separated it into four jars initially:
1. Species A in distilled water
2. Species A in water from the vernal pool
3. Species B in water from the vernal pool
4. A few eggs in tap water










Faith has faithfully recorded her measurements and observations every few days in her journal.


They are hatching! Yikes! Time to get our 10 gallon tank ready for them.


Tap water. We have to let it sit out for a few days so the chlorine can evaporate out. The chlorine will kill the tadpoles within a day.


Our whole family has embraced the project


Putting live aquatic plants in the tank. They help put oxygen into the water so the tadpoles can breathe it in thru their gills.

They are now nearly 3 cm long! Here they are just a little over one cm.


Jonathan with his magnifying glass. He was the first one to notice the feathery gills.

There were still a few unhatched eggs when we put the tadpoles into the tank. Most hatched although a few didn't. The tadpoles feed off of their egg cases for a few days and then you need to feed them.

If you look back at the picture which shows Faith measuring the eggs in one of the four jars on her desk, the jars are no longer there. Now, that space and the floor around it is covered with transplanted tomato plant sprouts. Our friend Lynne gave us a tomato plant kit from Wal-Mart recently. Seth and I planted the seeds and put them in our window sill. Well, they sprouted as you can see above. Seth and I transplanted most of these little sprouts into larger containers the Saturday before Easter and they are doing very well. Except for the 3 sprouts the squirrels ate when I put them out on the deck to get some extra sun - bad squirrels!

A recent Nature Hike with our 4-H Junior Naturalist Club

Some members of our nature club spent a recent morning checking on some vernal pools to record possible spotted salamander visits. Vernal pools dry up for part of the year, thus they attract the spotted salamander. The salamander won't lay eggs where there are fish (they'd get eaten), so the vernal pool is the perfect place. There are no fish in a pool which dries up for part of the year!

Spotted salamanders are "mole" salamanders - they spend most of their lives burrowed under the ground. We thought we might see some of them as there was a recent thunderstorm and the noise and vibration of the thunder alerts them that there is water above the surface of the ground. They need the ground to be wet so they can make their trek along the ground to their vernal pools.

We visited several vernal pools. We didn't see any salamanders but we did see evidence on submerged dead leaves that the males had been there. In a few weeks, the females should visit and use the spermataphora left by the males to fertilize their eggs.


Seth checking the depth gauge to one of the vernal pools.

Looking for spermataphora on the leaves

Looking under a snake board. A board is placed on the ground deliberately. First, insects take up residence under the board. Then mice come to eat the insects. Then snakes, after about 6 months, come eat the mice.

We learned to place a coin by animal tracks, etc. so we can later maintain a sense of scale when looking at our pictures.

Evidence of leaf miners which burrow under the surface of the leaves.

Many of us journal, take pictures, etc of what we find on our nature hikes. Christy is holding a gall. I'd never heard of one unless it was associated with being cheeky or a bladder! This kind of gall is an abnormal outgrowth of plant tissue due to fungi, bacteria, insects, mites...hey, on second thought, maybe you ought to put that down now Christy! Once we learned what these were, we saw several on bushes and trees during our hike.





Our leader found some frog spawn. Faith found some frog spawn in a different vernal pool a few minutes later and thus began a family tadpole project!