• HOME
  • photography
  • Life
  • Adventures
  • decorate
  • shop
  • craft

Mrs. Midcoast

Mom Blogger - Musings from the Heart of America

Adventures

Europe Trip Stop 1: The Netherlands – Tulip Fields of Lisse Holland

May 1, 2018

May 1-2, 2018 – Kansas City to The Netherlandsthe netherlands tulip fields
Lindsay (my best friend in the whole world) moved to the Netherlands a few years ago and I have wanted to visit her ever since. She has a daughter named Mila that is exactly 3 month younger than my daughter Eloise. The girls FaceTime and get along surprisingly well considering they only see each other once, maybe twice a year. They pick up right where they left off.

So, I happened to not be pregnant or nursing a baby. My husband told me I better go visit her while I have the chance. I did not hesitate!  And I had to take Eloise because she wanted to visit Mila. So my awesome husband stayed home and held down the fort.

I didn’t just go visit her though.  I mean we went there, but first we planned the most spectacularly amazing European Castle road trip we could imagine….that we could get done in 12 days. Because, you know, I have four kids, I can’t be gone longer than 12 days even if I am taking the most difficult one of them with me.

12 days, 9 countries, 2 moms, 2 four year old girls, a dad(/photographer/driver/body guard) and a dog……..here we go!

**Side note, I did not take my big camera on this trip. 99% of my photos where taken on my iPhone because it was easier, more convenient and I just wanted to enjoy my time and have memories without worrying about hauling my giant camera and arsenal of lenses around. 

We flew from Kansas City to Chicago first. I made sure we flew out of the closest city to KC and the latest flight so that we could just hop on the international flight and go right to sleep. We left Chicago at 7:00pm slept on the plane and woke up at 9:20am in Amsterdam (2:20am Kansas City time). Tired, but not exhausted. I’m glad we had the one long 8 hour flight instead of two 4 hour flights. that way we could get a longer period of sleep in.

When we arrived we went straight to the airport bathroom, changed clothes, grabbed Starbucks and left straight for the tulip fields of Holland. It was May 2nd and the tulips were starting to get chopped!  They have big machines that go in and take off the heads of the tulips before they are fully dead. It is crazy to see because it looks like they are just chopping down a field of beautiful flowers. I guess that is what they have to do though because they are growing them for the bulbs, not the flowers.

Lindsay and Mila picked us up in their car and we left from Amsterdam airport and headed for Lisse, Netherlands which is the place to be for tulips. In Lisse seeing tulip fields during the season is like soy bean or corn fields in Kansas. They are all over the place and you can just pull the car over and run through the fields! We drove along some beautiful scenic roads and would stop whenever we saw a new color of tulips to run through. It was pretty windy that day too, reminded me a lot of Kansas.  Except instead of the long fences along the fields, they have canals to separate the land. The tulip fields only bloom for 3-4 weeks out of the year though so you have to time it just perfectly. And we did! If we would have shown up 2 days later we wouldn’t have seen any tulip fields in bloom.

Lisse, Netherlands Tulip Fields

The tulips are such a bucket list thing to do and have to be hit at the right time, chances are we won’t get to see them again.

lisse netherlands tulip fields

It was so neat when we flew in to Amsterdam to look out the airplane window and see the massive fields of tulips!  A great first impression of The Netherlands.

And of course some videos and “outtakes” of our windy tulip field visit.

Keukenhof Garden
After running around the tulip fields we decided to go visit Keukenhof Gardens

Keukenhof  in Dutch or “Kitchen garden” in English also known as the Garden of Europe, is one of the world’s largest flower gardens, situated in Lisse, South Holland, Netherlands. Approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted annually in the park, which covers an area of 79 acres. The park is open from mid-March through mid-May each year.

Keukenhof garden dutch tulip fields

Nijntje “Miffy” the Bunny

This is also where we learned about Miffy the sweet little bunny who is pretty much the mascot of the Netherlands. Everywhere we would go we would look for Miffy.

Miffy (Dutch: Nijntje) is a small female rabbit in a series of picture books drawn and written by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. The original Dutch name, “Nijntje”, is a shortening of  konijntje, “little rabbit”. The first Miffy book was produced in 1955, and almost 30 others have followed. In total they have sold over 85 million copies

We also tried our first stroopwafel (literally “syrup waffle”) is a waffle made from two thin layers of baked dough with a caramel syrup filling in the middle. It is a favorite Dutch treat.

Keukenhof south holland Garden

Leave a Comment 
0
decorate photography

Annual Pictures of the Kids around the Christmas Tree

November 16, 2017

I’ve been taking this picture with the kids around the Christmas tree since 2013, I wish I would have started sooner! If you want to take pictures of your kids like this around the tree here are a few tips and how I do it.

  • Lots of lights, like really a ton of them. There are at least 1,000 lights on our tree.
  • Classic Christmas Tree lights (NOT led).  The LED lights don’t photograph as well.
  • Lens – I used the Canon 35mm 1.4L this year, but I’ve used the 50mm 1.2L in years past
  • wrapped presents under the tree
  • Christmas Jammies – our color scheme this year was red, green and pink

Our tree is real. We have a  tradition of going and picking out a real tree as a family each year.  I love all things vintage so I went on the hunt for a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree.  I found it at  Soil Service Garden Center in Kansas City.  After we pick out our tree we always go to Waldo Pizza which has the BEST St. Louis style pizza ever and is a great family atmosphere.

The next step is to order canvas prints of my pictures. I switch out canvas at my house A LOT!  I like to change them with the seasons, kids birthday months, and of course when we have a new family member. So I don’t like to spend a lot of money on the fancy canvas prints. There are a ton of websites for ordering canvas and some are clearly better quality than others. For these prints though I’m not looking for heirloom quality since they are only going to be up for a little over a month. For speed I had these printed at Walgreens (same day service for canvas). They usually always have a 50% off special on canvas. So I can literally do the photoshoot in the evening, edit them that night, upload and order from Walgreens online and pick them up the next day. Less than 24 hours from photo taking to hanging canvas on my wall is pretty fantastic.

If I have more time or want a greater option for canvas sizes I use canvasdiscount.com which is a decent quality for the price.

kids around the christmas tree photographykids around the christmas tree photographykids around the christmas tree photography

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
1
Uncategorized

Garage Locker Cubbies for Kids DIY Ikea Billy Bookcase

October 25, 2017

We love our garage locker cubbies for the kids. We did have 3 of them and just recently added the 4th one for baby Liam.

The cubbies are so easy to build….it took me all of an hour to put the first 3 together.  You just build the Ikea Billy Bookcases as the instructions say and when you are done you just screw them into each other and then into the wall behind them.

 

Supplies

  • Ikea Billy Bookcase
  • Bins or storage cubes (these ones are from Target)
  • Hooks (I used both metal permanent ones and command hooks to hang backpacks and coats inside the cubbies)
  • Bin labels (I got mine in the paper section at Hobby Lobby. They are mini chalkboards tags)

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
0
photography Uncategorized

Family Photography – What to Wear Fall & Winter 2017 Family Photos

October 20, 2017

I love planing for family photos. Sometimes it’s hard to choose what to wear for your family photos especially if you have a larger family because there is more to have to coordinate. My three rules of thumb for family photography:

  1. Choose all neutral colors and ONE pop color
    • Neutral Colors: Black, white, tan, Ivory, gray, navy, khaki, denim
    • Pop Colors: Pink, Green, Blue, Yellow, Purple, Red, Teal,  basically any color that is not a neutral
  2. Choose Classic clothing, you don’t want to look back on your photos wearing something too trendy because you will for sure say “What was I thinking???”
  3. Start with YOUR outfit. YOU are the hardest person to dress (everyone else will just wear what you tell them to). So Pick your outfit and whatever that color/pattern happens to be…..plan everyone else’s outfit around that. If you start with the kids then you will have to find something for you to match them which could leave you on the hunt for weeks attempting to find something that you think looks good on you AND matches the kids. Trust me, pick your outfit first!

Stay tuned as I will update each season change with a new What to Wear for Family Portraits post!

All of these outfits are available from either Gap, Old Navy, Target or Nordstrom (women).

**Fall trend VELVET*** I love the velvet trend this season so I snuck in some velvet dresses. I think as long as you keep the velvet a neutral or subtle color and don’t pair it with any other trends then you should be good for not being “too trendy”.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
0
Adventures

Our First Road Trip with Four Kids to Colorado

August 15, 2017

maroon bells aspen coloradoWow, our first long road trip with 4 kids! I thought it would be bad, but it actually went surprisingly well which is fantastic considering it is not exactly cheap to fly a family of 6 anywhere! We wanted to do a test road trip to see if we could handle a longer one because we just love our adventures.

My favorite thing about the road trip was getting to talk to my husband. Being in the car for over 24 hours total with little to do in the front seat we had some amazing conversation. The kids were busy with their activities (coloring, audio books, movies, games or sleeping) so we got quite a bit of quiet time in. Yes, there were a few tantrums along the way, but for the most part the kids were good.

Another great thing about Road Tripping is when the kids (Eloise) did have a meltdown we weren’t stuck on an airplane or in an airport. I didn’t feel the need to quickly shush her so that everyone around me could enjoy peace and quite.

kansas to colorado road tripThe Route (without stops):

  1. Lenexa, Kansas to Colorado Border Welcome Sign – 414 miles – 5 hours 42 minutes
  2. Colorado border to Glenwood Springs – 336 miles – 4 hours 57 minutes
  3. Glenwood Springs to Carbondale – 23.3 miles – 37 minutes
  4. Carbondale to Maroon Bells, Aspen – 42.8 miles – 1 hour
  5. Aspen to Independence Pass – 30.4 miles – 58 minutes
  6. Independence Pass to Garden of the Gods – 135 miles – 2 hours 36 minutes
  7. Garden of the Gods to Great Wolf Lodge Colorado Springs – 13 miles – 21 minutes
  8. Colorado Springs to Lenexa, Kansas –  574 miles – 8 hours 11 minutes

Accommodations:

  1. TeePee 1 night (Wednesday)
  2. Cabin 2 nights (Thursday & Friday)
  3. Great Wolfe Lodge 1 night (Saturday)

We did a big loop instead of stopping at one destination we wanted to explore a bunch of different places. It was pretty cool to go from the plains up into the mountains, down into a canyon, climbed up the canyon, hiked along the river, to the lake and past some waterfalls then across the continental divide and back out again. colorado-road-trip-map colorado-road-trip-map

Alright so here we go……on our adventure!

Day #1 : leave Kansas at 4:00 am

welcome-to-colorado-sign

First stop 5 hours 42 minutes from Kansas City. Welcome to Colorful Colorado Sign! Yes, we pulled over on the highway to take a picture. There is a decent amount of space to pull your car over, but you need to keep a look out for it or you could pass it by. We didn’t get the younger two out of the car cause we didn’t want to break our stride, but Rowan & Quinn were into it so they got a picture.

Destination #1: Carbondale, Colorado Crystal River KOA Teepee.

Yes, we slept in a teepee for a night….no heat or running water, but OMG it was fun! The kids had a blast. we cooked all of our meals over the fire pit. There was a queen sized bed, a full futon and two twin sized sleeping pads. We brought our sleeping bags and the pac n play for baby Liam. The teepee had turf on the floor. I don’t think I could do more than one night though without electricity and water with 4 kids, but it was fun to “rough it” for a night. The bathrooms were right across from the teepee and were super clean. The cleaning people came twice a day. I was amazed at how clean it was…..it was cleaner than the boys’ bathroom at my house! It really was a gorgeous campsite for RV’s tents, the teepee and multiple cabin options. They also had a basketball area, bean bag toss, some other games, a pool table and little shop. I mean it completely changed my view of “camping”. Highly recommended.

camping in a teepee colorado carbondale KOA
colorado crystal river KOA teepee

glenwood springs colorado road trip
There was a pool at the campground which was nice for the kids to jump in after a long day of driving in the car.

carbondale colorado camping

Day #2 We checked out of our Teepee and headed to Hanging Lake Trail for some hiking to the most beautiful little lake at the top of the Glenwood Canyon cliffs.

It was a straight up hike. We all made it 1/2 mile then Rowan and I hiked the rest of the way up the 1.8 mile trail. It was basically climbing rocks the whole way up. It was really fun and beautiful and steep. The whole trip took about 3 hours up and back down the trail.hanging lake glenwood springs colorado

Our cute little Cabin by the Crystal River

After our hike we went back to the Carbondale KOA and checked into our Cabin on the Crystal river at the same camp grounds as the TeePee. Heat & bathrooms, now we are talking luxury! As always we like to stay in “little houses” which is becoming harder to find little houses that allow us to cram 6 people in them. We just really like staying in little places on vacations. It makes me feel like a kid again in a fort playing house with my kids. colorado cabin on the river

Day #3 : Aspen to hike the Maroon Bells Trail

This place is so beautiful and no wonder it is the “most photographed mountain in North America”.  There was a moose sighting while we were there, but unfortunately, we did not see the moose. Quinn carried his stick to “fight off the moose” in case it was necessary.

The lakes in the mountains are so clear and the wildflowers so pretty and the Aspen trees are just unreal. We saw a beaver dam, but no beaver……Quinn had his stick though just in case a beaver tried to attack us.

After the hike we stopped in at a pizza place in downtown Aspen, which is a super cute little town, but um it’s fancy. As we walked past the Louis Vuitton store Liam ran up and stuck his face against the window and licked it, he licked the window……eeewwww! (seriously, the LV employee dressed in a tuxedo thought it was funny and so did I,  but man I couldn’t get my kids out of that town fast enough). All I could think of was the Dumb and Dumber movie (which by the way is one of my all time favorites movies!!!). So after pizza we bolted before we broke something worth more than 900 Pesos (see Tulum, Mexico gift shop ordeal post about Eloise’s 3 legged jaguar).  The town of Aspen would be a super fun place to visit without 4 young children in tow.maroon bells scenic loop trail
maroon bells aspen colorado
At the end of our daily hikes it was fun to come back to our cute little cabin and chill. We were right on the river so we tried to fish, but did’t catch anything. Made a lot of s’mores though. The kids love any new place and have so much fun exploring.colorado cabin rental
Day #4 checked out of our cute little cabin and headed for the treacherous roads of Independence Pass!!! OMG, panic attack alert…..this road is only open October-May. It is steep and narrow, but beautiful!  When the speed limit says 10 miles an hour around the curves it MEANS 10 miles an hour! I was scared to even lean out the window to take a picture of the scary cliffs below.

We were dressed for summer down in Aspen, but when we got up to Independence Pass it was 43 degrees so I grabbed some sweaters for the kids and we jumped out of the car to look around. It was beautiful! Needless to say we didn’t get to stay long because we were freezing!! SO back in the car to continue on to Colorado Springs.independence pass colorado trip

That is one curvy road!independence pass independence pass

The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

We took a stroll through the oh so beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It seriously is super cool seeing these giant red rocks just sticking out of the ground with a city built up around them. The boys thought the “Kissing Camel Rocks” were gross!

I remember visiting the garden as a kid with my family and loved the adventure back then. So making new memories with my kids here was pretty awesome for me.

garden of the gods colorado springs

 

After the TeePee and Cabin we decided to stay a night at the Great Wolfe Lodge in Colorado Springs.

The kids were getting hiked out and the water park was a fun treat before heading back home.

We wanted to take the COG railway up to Pikes Peak, but it was a 3 hour trip and we had just gotten done with the cold of Independence Pass so we opted out on this trip. The kids would have just been too overwhelmed for it. Which is one of the most awesome things about road tripping….we didn’t have a set time schedule so we could change plans easily.

great wolf lodge colorado springs

Sunday morning we played at the water park until checkout time at 11:00 then loaded back in the car and drove back to Kansas.  We arrived home around 9pm, later than we wanted but we had to make 3 stops for bathroom breaks.

That’s a wrap!  It was a great adventure and now that we know we can do a road trip, I’m sure there will be many more in the future……stay tuned!

colorado road trip

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
0
Adventures Life shop

My Favorite Items for Traveling with Kids

August 1, 2017

Lightweight Car Seats

We have two of these super lightweight  car seats that we use just for traveling. They are light, slim and easy to install quickly in a rental car or on the airplane. I always use a car seat on the plane for kids ages 2-4 so they are contained. They like it better and can sleep easier on the plane. One time we did not take the car seat for my 4 year old and regretted it. She was buckling and unbuckling her seat belt, messing with the tray on the seat in front of her and kicking the seat in front of her. On the next trip back in her car seat she was calm and could not reach the tray table when buckled in. I think she just felt more secure being in her seat.

Cosco Scenera NEXT Convertible Car Seat

Cosco Scenera Next convertible Car Seat – 7.6 Pounds – 17x22x23.5 inches

Car Seat Bags

We also have two of these Bebishi car seat bags. They are perfect for the lightweight car seats. I have found most other bags to be so bulky. These are super easy to throw the carseat, a lovey and blanket in and carry on the plane. Then just install the carseat on the plane and the bag folds up neatly into itself.

We use it to check car seats as well and the bag has held up on multiple flights for the last 7 years. Just make sure to tuck in the string after closing the bag so it doesn’t get caught on anything.

best travel car seat carrying bag

Lightweight Travel Double Stroller

The Zoe Double stroller is only 16 pounds and folds up super fast. It works really good for the Zoo, Disney World, Airports, or any other flat surface. It would not be good on grass or terrain. I love that I could customize my colors too…..super easy to find our stroller in the stroller parking at Disney World.best lightweight travel double stroller Zoe

Travel Booster Seat for Meals

We like to stay at houses when we travel so I’ve started bringing this little seat along for the toddler to sit up at the table with the big kids. It’s lightweight and durable. I can store stuff in it too.

Baby Carrier

So just to let you know I have tried literally EVERY. SINGLE. BABY. CARRIER. OUT. THERE! No, lie. The Lillebaby is my favorite because it is comfortable and it can be used from Newborn to Toddler without having to deal with a separate insert for the newborn. I prefer a neutral color baby carrier so that it looks ok with whatever outfit me and the little are wearing.

iPad Minis

I mean seriously, how did people travel with children before the iPad??? We did it, but that was so long ago I can’t even remember. Yes, each kid has their own mini iPad with colored case and matching headphones. This way I know who’s is what.  I almost always buy electronics for the kids refurbished off of Amazon and have never had a problem with them. It’s a good way to save some $$.

Let’s be honest, traveling with kids is never going to be a relaxing experience, but thanks to the iPad, the adults at least won’t go insane traveling with the littles. I will take coloring stuff too, but honestly, it’s such a pain dealing with “stuff” on airplanes. They eventually drop something and it rolls away and then they cry, and so on……so yeah, I don’t have a problem sticking them in front of a screen for a few hours. Once we get to our destination it is non stop adventure. And Eloise likes to dance to her own music constantly and I really don’t like listening to “Let it Go” on repeat so headphones are fantastic.

 

 

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

 

Feeding Baby on the Go

These baby food pouch toppers are the best for travel. Liam can feed himself without making a mess. No spoon needed. I can hand it to him in his carseat on road trips or on the plane for a quick easy snack.

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
0
Adventures

Disney World Art of Animation Resort Lion King Suite Room

July 14, 2017

We had a lot of fun at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort. The best part is that you never really leave the magic when staying here.

disney's art of animation resort The pink dot on the map below is where our room was in building #10. I definitely recommend requesting a room on this side of the building so that you can see Simba out the window and it is a quick walk to the lobby, food court, busses and pool. After a long day at disney you will want to minimize your walking at the resort and Disney’s resorts are massive.art of animation lion king suite room
art of animation memo pool and lion king room

The Nemo pool was good for the little kids. There is no water slide at the Art of Animation Resort so the older boys were bummed about that. There is a bar for drinks and snacks, but we would just bring our own stuff to the pool. Having a fridge, microwave and table in the room was priceless! We ordered grocery delivery to our room so that we didn’t have to make the walk to the food court for meals. Which saved money and was super convenient.lion king room tour at art of animation resort
disney world art of animation room pictures lion king suite.jpg
The suite had 2 bathrooms (one shower and one bath/shower combo) and a separate room to shut the door which was good for the sleeping baby. lion king suite art of animation resort disney world.jpg

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

Leave a Comment 
0
  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Next Page »

Hi! I'm Sarah, mom of four, living the dream in the MidCoast. This is my journey of moming, crafting, traveling, shoping, saving, living, loving, learning, etc. I'm really good at run-on sentences. I don't have time to proofread and I assume if you are here you are a busy mom as well, so you don't care. Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo,
Mrs. Midcoast

Categories

Featured Posts

Seabrook Washington Beach Cottage

White Sands New Mexico

Disneyland Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Photography Tips

family vacation in tulum mexico

Adventures in Tulum, Mexico

family on main street at magic kingdom

Our Epic Walt Disney World as a Family with Four Small Children Summer Adventure

family photography sanibel florida

Sanibel Island Florida Family Vacation

Disney World Art of Animation Resort Lion King Suite Room

My Favorite Items for Traveling with Kids

maroon bells aspen colorado

Our First Road Trip with Four Kids to Colorado

the netherlands tulip fields

Europe Trip Stop 1: The Netherlands – Tulip Fields of Lisse Holland

hotel with castle view Mosel cochem Germany

Europe Trip Stop 2: Cochem, Germany – Castle on the Mosel River

Burg Eltz Castle

Europe Trip Stop 3: Burg Eltz Castle – Wierschem, Germany

neuschwanstein castle Bavaria Germany

Europe Trip Stop 4: Neuschwanstein Castle – Schwangau, Germany

Europe Trip Stop 5: Principality of Liechtenstein

lauterbrunnen_switzerland_vacation

Europe Trip Stop 6: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland

eguisheim_fountain

Europe Trip Stop 7: Eguisheim, France

Europe Trip Stop 8: Colmar, France

Europe Trip Stop 9: Luxembourg

Europe Trip Stop 10: Zaanse Schans, Netherlands

Europe Trip Stop 11: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Europe Trip Stop 12: Chateau de Versailles – Versailles, France

Europe Trip Stop 13: Giverny, France – Claude Monet’s House and Gardens

Europe Trip Stop 14: Antwerp, Belgium

Spring Europe Road Trip: Netherlands, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium

Back to top