Staycation and Vacation

A few weeks ago, Michael de Groot from the Deseret News in Salt Lake City contacted Niels about our staycation post. The article was posted online this week...while we are on vacation in the Netherlands! Talk about irony! You can read the article here.

A year ago, we were nearly moved in to the dream house and preparing for Marissa's arrival.  We regularly save for (nearly) annual visits to the Netherlands to spend time with Niels' family, but the extra costs of building a home, taking a loss on the sale of our previous house, and all the expenses of moving and moving in to a new house ate up our travel budget so we had a staycation instead.

This year, our travel plans are back on track, and I am writing this post from my in-law's home in the Netherlands. I'm hoping to post a few travel-related photos in the upcoming days but I'm sure you'll understand that I'll be spending most of my time catching up with Niels' family and practicing my Dutch!

Here are a few photos from our first few days in the Netherlands, where we visited the local market.

Streets full of fresh produce

Green and red peppers

Back home, we can only find green and (occasionally) purple asparagus. In the Netherlands, white asparagus is more common.

The largest beans I've ever seen! Note the regular-sized carrots in the background.

Can't be a Dutch market without cheese. The sign says: "Old Helmond. Old cheese with a royal taste." 

I was very happy to see the fabric vendor. And I was proud of myself for having a conversation with the vendor in Dutch. Unfortunately, the fabric I wanted was back at the store. 

Gorgeous purple flowers. 

I can never get over how inexpensive flowers are in the Netherlands.

One of the older buildings in Helmond. This one used to be a grocery store. 

The bike supply section at Hema, a convenience store similar to CVS or Rite Aid in the States.

A very common site in the Netherlands.

Tots Ziens! (See ya later!)