Openluchtmuseum

The Dutch vacation schedule is quite different from any of the US ones I've experienced. The Dutch like to spread out their vacation time, in order to have a relatively short summer break of 6 weeks. This is a sanity saver for me. Those 3 long summer months in the US just about brake my spirit. Of course the school year is still about the same length, so vacation gets spread out. The kids had a week off in March, and another 2 weeks right now. Last week we recovered from my Hamburg trip, and this week we are visiting some of my old friends. I spent my teenage years in the Apeldoorn area, so naturally my friends live around here. Even though Apeldoorn is only about 70 miles from Zoetermeer, for Dutch standards it's on the other side of the country (super high gas prices don't help that perception). With our Museum cards, we visited the National Openluchtmuseum (open air museum). It's several acres of land with almost 100 buildings. Different types of farms for different regions in Holland, several windmills, buildings with information on crafts such as weaving, cheese making, laundry, etc. All sorts on information on how things used to be done. We spent all day there, and still only managed to see less than half.

There's a Dutch nursery song that goes

Twee emmertjes water halen (get 2 buckets of water)

Twee emmertjes pompen (pump 2 buckets)

De meisjes op de klompen (girl in wooden shoes)

Meisjes op hun houten been (girls on their wooden leg)

Je mag niet door mijn straatje heen (you can't go through my street)

All that's missing are the klompen
How long do you think Winter would do laundry this way, with a smile on her face, if that's the only way of doing laundry?

Ginger got to help the farmer to feed the animals, plant bean seeds, and pet brand new lambs. She was so at home, and it made me miss our own farm

Winter picked this peat moss house as the house she would pick out off all the different farms in the museum.
The first time I've ever seen the under side of a tram

pulling our little boat across the pond
This bike was surprisingly hard to ride, since the pedals are connected to the wheel
The kids made their own ropes in the old fashioned way
Although this museum is far from our house, I'd love to come back and see the rest of it some day!