Dad's Birthday

One of our favorites too, Matt....he will do about anything for his grandkids.

Playing dart guns with his boys

Littel Marvin with his dad, mom, and brother Gene

THANKS FAMILY FOR ALL THE PHONE CALLS, SONGS, GOOD WISHES....

Thanks Lisa, Dan, John, Marrianne and grandkids for the great dinner celebration for grandpa's birthday. We had delicious barbequed chicken, green jello salad, green lettace salad, and a wonderful apple dessert...hmmmm was all sooooo good!

When is Brooke going to get her front teeth?

And when is Madison going to stop growing?

After good food it was time to open presents...

Sorry pictures are so small...phone camera.

AND THANK YOU FOR ALL THE "MEMORIES" sent by internet...he loved each one of them.

OK Joe...here's the 'orange coat' picture

THANK YOU STEVEN for the great song and you had great back up singing. No, really, thank you all for the wonderful song and happy birthday messages.

Great singing and thank you again for a fun Holland vacation. See you in October!

In honor of Marvin's birthday, Annika had to call and tell grandpa this joke that was on her DORA popcycle stick:

Why didn't they tell the joke to the window?

I don't know, why?

Because they were afraid that the window would CRACK-UP
Oh...and good singing too, Marylyn. Dad said all those Choir practices really did pay off.

WHILE IN HOLLAND WE HAD VISITORS

Matt and Heather experienced Europe with backpacks on their backs. They had such a good time and enjoyed their time visiting in Holland.
We went with them to the Anne Frank House & Museum....a very sad but amazing story!

We had such a good time visiting many sights with Matt & Heather in Amsterdam which also included the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijks Museum. We ended up on a "Gay Fair" which we passed quickly.

Just two days before we headed back home to the USA, Ben and Ruth's belongings finally came.

Ashley was so excited to see her slide, toys, books, clothes ...

Kate was especially happy to have her jumper/walker and toys.

Ashley thought it was Christmas all over again. She did not want to go 'touring' any more, just stay home and play with her toys and read books.

MORE PICTURES AND FUN IN HOLLAND

Ruth and Ben's Ward building. She was recently called to be the 1st counselor in Primary and Ben is the 1st counselor in Elder's Quorum...that should keep them busy! The have a wonderful ward full of happy, friendly people.
This is a picture of the park and waterfall located a little ways behind the temple which we enjoyed as we walked around with the children while Ruth and Ben were able to attend a session. Later Marv and I did a sealing session which was in German, Dutch, English, and French.

Den Haag [The Hague] Netherlands Temple.
We experienced Holland by visiting De Zaanse Schans...

Marv and Ben walking on stilts

Watching them make wooden clogs and yummmy cheese

Do you think this shoe is large enough????

Eating a very large pancake

Working windmills producing paint, oil, wood, mustard....we climbed up to the top
The girls enjoyed sight-seeing on wheels.

Our rented car for a week.

Ben's birthday gift to Ruth which the whole family is enjoying

QUEENS DAY everyone wears orange

CENTRAL STATION...We took the Metro to Central Station
And then we walked.....and walked....and walked. By the end of the day it was shoulder to shoulder.
As we walked over a bridge this is the first we saw as we crossed over the canal
This kid was probably about 15 years old....man could he play the drums.
Half way through the day Ben, Ruth and the children headed back home while Marv and I stayed. This is a concert we walked right in the middle of...you could feel their enthusiasm.
One of the highlights of the day was taking a canal cruise which should have lasted 75 minutes, but because of Queens day and all the boats on the canal, it lasted a couple hours. We were delighted! People on other boats would talk with us, wave, dance, sing, play musical instruments.



Another concert outside the Hard Rock Cafe as we waited for our number to be called. As we stood there two young ladies came up to us and gave us hugs..."I like you". They continued to stand very close and talk....we kept our personal items very close thinking they might be pick pocketers. Dad said "oh, are number is ready so we need to go in...by". Wew...quite an experience. Then when we went in side to wait another gentleman came over and told us about the tragedy where a man tried to hit the queens bus with his car and killed several pedestrians.

We ended our day at the Hard Rock Cafe! We split a meal and nachos...delicious and the waiter was very friendly as we talked about foot ball teams....and BYU. He was originally from Oregon.

First few days in Holland

We had a comfortable trip to Holland. The plane was not full so they let us pick our seats after the plane had taken off. Marv found a great seat next to a lady and her baby with LOTS of leg room. They brought us drinks, dinner, snacks, more drinks, more snacks, and ended with breakfast. Each meal was served with a nice warm towel.
Ben had told us to head for the "rental car" area, out the door and he would be there waiting for us....and he was. Thanks Ben!
John had told us to be sure and stay awake...so Ben and Ruth took us on our first "metro" ride to their mall. The station is just around the corner from where they live.
There was a young lady on the metro with a bunch of flowers. I commented to her on how pretty they were...she said "here, take them". "Oh, no, I was just commenting on how pretty your flowers are". She then explained that she was a dance teacher and had just completed a recital. Her pupils had given her all these flowers...and she was going on a trip tomorrow and would have to throw them away. We kept the bouquet of roses and mums and did a "pay forward" activity with the long stem red roses. As we walked through the mall we would see some one we thought would enjoy a rose and gave them one. It was way fun.
This is a picture of the canal between their home and the metro station...canals everywhere. When a child enters school they have to have swimming lessons. Once they know how to swim they have to pass a test with all their clothes on, shoes, back pack, coat....then are throw in the water and have to swim to safety.On the 28th we celebrated Ruth's birthday and many other April birthdays!


We brought Ben a case of Vines...the best!

FINALLY the notice came that their license was approved for their car.
This is a picture of the little, tiny car Ben and Marv had to drive to pick up their car.

They are sooooooo very HAPPY to finally have their own car from the states.