July 2016 and 2017 in tandem: Netherlands 2016

Somehow I let an entire year (July 2016 to July 2017) pass by without updating my blog. So much of our beautiful life was lived in the last year, and it seems such a shame not to share it. So, my new approach to the blog is to share highlights of our life and other musings from last year and from the present simultaneously. Should be interesting.

July 2016 was a busy month for our family. We traveled to the Netherlands with my parents on an unforgettable bike-and-barge holiday, then visited with Alan's family in England, and finished off with a visit from my brother's family in Indy. 

I was so anxious about how our family would get on in the Netherlands. We had never biked as far as we would in the weeklong holiday; our girls were 7 and 5 at the time, so we were not sure how well they would do being in a trailer or on a tagalong for hours in a day; and we were unsure of the weather. My concerns were unfounded. Everyone rose to the occasion beautifully. We overcame minor challenges that we encountered (broken trailer, super rainy day, misplaced luggage) and were rewarded with so many special moments together. It was such an exciting adventure; we learned collectively to take a few risks, enjoy the present moment, and push ourselves. I've done my best to capture those moments in the 20-minute video below. I know it seems long, but it was quite the effort to narrow down the more than 1000 photos and video clips we had of our adventure. Here's my favorite family photo from our adventure. It was after the rainy day of riding in a lovely village in North Holland called Medemblik.





I'll be back soon to share our family memories from visiting Nan, Grandad, Uncle Gav, and our extended family in the U.K. last year as well as highlights from our Boston and Cape Cod trip this year!

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