Tuesday, 29 May 2012

Camping Expedition

As we hit the open road on Saturday morning towards the Province of Drenthe at 8:30am, Tam made it 15 minutes outside of Deventer when she fell asleep. She woke up when we reached our destination. Our campsite was very nice, surrounded by trees and had International events within the campsite. We set up camp and enjoyed lunch before heading out to tour around the area. We headed to Borger to look at the Hunebed. A hunebed is a old burial chamber and there are 54 located within Holland, Germany and Scandinavia. They were pretty interesting monuments. We then continued to Exloo where there was a Sheep Shearing Competition going on within the town. While we were at the large festival there was also Traditional Dutch Dancing going on and what an amazing experience. The men, women and children in their wooden shoes dancing around :) Tam loved it!
The Hunebed at Borger

On the 27th, Adri and Monique headed back to Deventer as Monique had to sing at church that morning so Patrick and I stayed back to "hold down the fort."  When Adri and Monique returned we went on a 5km Walking Tour in the forest around our campsite. We made a pit-stop at the Tea House to enjoy a couple of drinks before carrying back towards our campsite as we were heading to the Spanish evening put on by the campsite. You got to enjoy chicken or seafood paella and sangria. The meal was delicious and while eating a band started to play Spanish music. After we headed back to the campsite and had a good visit.
The Spanish Band

Our last day of camping and what great weather we had! After breakfast we packed up the tent and did it in record time! We then set out on the scenic route towards home. We stopped at a hidden hunebed just outside of Odoorn. It was very small and had fallen over with aging over the years. We then went to the Boomkroonpad which is a walkway up in the years and we were on the hunt for 2 Geocaches in the area. Patrick found the first one and we also got to witness a very mini bambi, what an amazing sight! Tam found her first one and was sure excited about it! And she continued to find 2 more along our path home, one is Klijndik and one is a garden. We then stopped in Coevorden to find a cache which was located near the castle which is the only castle located in the Province of Drenthe. We stopped at a local restaurant before carrying on to the Sahara, the dutch desert. We found our last cache in a parking area on our way home. We found a total of 8 Caches! Then we stopped at a Pannenkoekenhuis where Tam ordered her pancake all by herself in DUTCH! Go Tam go! We arrived home and unpacked the car! We enjoyed a visit down by the fire and we both said the same "What an amazing end to a perfect weekend." Thanks to Adri and Monique it was absolutely wonderful!
Us in front of D19 Hunebed on the way to Boomkroonpad


Love From
P&T in Drenthe, Holland

Friday, 25 May 2012

4 Day March with Colin

Yesterday we were invited to go with Colin on his final day of the 4 Day March. What an exciting thing to be a part of; all the noises, kids running around and the people cheering the crowd on as we walked to the finish. Patrick was apart of this when he was in Holland but Tam had seen anything like this. She really enjoyed the 4-5km walk unlike the real 4 Day March which Frank, Patty's dad has participated in and the distance is a lot LONGER. You can choose between 30, 40 and 50kms and you do that every day!! That is a pretty big goal to overcome! But we did about 10 total, 2km to Dennis, Angelique and Colin's place, 5kms in the March and 2km home to Adri and Monique's. But we wanted to say congrats to Colin on completing his 2nd- 4 Day March and thank you for letting us be a part of it.
Love From,
P&T in Deventer, Holland
Colin, Tam and Patty at the 4 Day March
 Patty, Angelique and Colin
Colin carrying his school flag

Wednesday, 23 May 2012

Back to Home Base :)

We have made it!! We are back in Deventer at Monique and Adri's home and does it ever feel good to be back! We had an amazing sleep and have even got to enjoy the nice warm weather. This weekend we are going camping with Adri and Monique and are pretty excited about it! It really will be an amazing time and adventure spent with Adri and Monique. Hopefully we will head to Denmark next week to spend some time with Papa Frank's best friend, Dick who has invited us to stay with them for a bit. And even head to LEGOLAND which both of us are really excited about! Who could guess that Lego is our favorite toy ever! Of course Tam will be taking lots of pictures for her little buddy Jordan who LOVES lego!
      On another note Tam is getting excited as it is 52 days until her Mom, Sandy arrives in Ireland. She has been busy asking Monique and Adri some nice places to see in Ireland and has been reading some books. There is talk that Tam may even get her International License so we can drive to places within Ireland! Plans are really starting to come together. :)
Love From
P&T in Deventer, Holland

Monday, 21 May 2012

Tour of Paris

As we started our day (May 18, 2012) we enjoy fresh baked baguettes from the bakery just down the street from our hotel. They were so delicious, that Tam is going to learn how to make them so she can make them fresh every day too. We began our Tour of Paris at the Notre Dame Cathedral, what an amazing and detailed building! No wonder Quasimodo from the Disney movie the Hunchback of Notre Dame lives there, what an interesting and beautiful building. As we carried on down near the Seine River we enjoyed the beautiful buildings throughout the city of Paris. We arrived at our next destination of the Musée du Louvre which is a glass pyramid that was constructed to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution. What an unique architectural building, absolutely gorgeous! We continued walking until we saw some very detailed statues standing outside of this amazing building which was the Musée d'Orsay. This museum was opened in the old railroad station which holds an outstanding art collection from 1848-1914. We awed over the statues and the beautiful weather outside before carrying on to the most famous building in Paris, Tour Eiffel. We walked up to it and Tam instantly said "Wow that is huge!" We enjoyed the amazing structure and took many pictures before carrying on to our last destination, Arc de Triomphe. This arc is located in the centre and only surrounded by one very busy ring road. It is magnificent and is detailed from the very bottom to the absolute top. The arc is 164 foot high and is now dedicated to the Unknown Soldier of WWI. After sitting and enjoying our day we continued back to our hotel where we sat and relaxed and back our bags to continue on our journey. So goodbye France and Hello next chapter to our adventure.
Love From,
P&T in Paris, France

Sunday, 20 May 2012

Euro Disney

Whoa!! Excitement intensifies as the day begins with Tam bouncing up and down "Were going to Disneyland, were going to Disneyland!" She had the bag packed and was ready to go before Patty could even open his eyes. We boarded the Underground and arrived at the Park at 10:20am, Tam was waiting "patiently" haha for the bag to be checked and to line up in the ticket line. It seemed as time went slowly and she grew impatient as she wanted to get in the park like a dirty shirt! Patty couldn't even keep up to Tam once the tickets were bought, Zoom, away she went :) We headed first to Frontierland to Big Thunder Mountain, where we only had to wait in line for 30 minutes. Tam sure made sure Patty was awake by screaming in his ears from the sharp corners and dark tunnels. But it was well worth it even for Patty. We continued to Adventureland to ride Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril where we had been waiting for 30 minutes. When we arrived to the front of the line, we saw the rollercoaster make a loop, and one little girls face turned priceless. Tam all of a sudden got very quiet and then "I can't do this, its too scary!" But Patty said we didn't wait in this line for 30 minutes for nothing so we're going and we did. We survived screams, the loop, and the tears afterwards. LOL! We continued throughout the Park and rode every ride we could get our hands on even Pirates of the Caribbean especially for Jonathan, Tam's brother. We ventured to Walt Disney Studios and created our own cartoon and where Tam developed a bruise the size of 2 golfballs from the entrance gates. Leave it up to Tam to be graceful! We finished off at Disneyland Park and watched Disney Dreams when the Park closed. What an amazing, magical show! Dreams DO really come true!
Love From
 Whoa Disneyland!!
 Where's Tam? Oh right she's gone!
Shooting Monsters with Buzz Lightyear!
P&T in EuroDisney, Paris, France

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Happy Mother´s Day!!

Today is our last night in Portugal as of tomorrow we will be heading to Paris, France. Today it is Mother's Day and we would like to say Happy Mother's Day to two very special ladies in our lives, Sandy (Tam's Mom) and Yvonne (Patrick's Mom). They have been very amazing ladies throughout our lives and have guided us towards living our dreams which also includes this trip of Europe. We may not be with them today but we would like to say thank you for being our shoulders to cry on, our ears for listening and our best friends and unconditional love they give us through our tough times and of course our good times! Happy Mother's Day! Goodbye Portugal and Hello France and EURO DISNEY!!
Love From,
P&T in Albufeira, Portugal

Thursday, 10 May 2012

A Day We Will Never Forget :)

Today we said goodbye to Gemma & Bert after an amazing couple of days with them in the Algarve. We continued on our journey to a small city named Albuferia, 40 minutes away from Faro. Our hotel is only 200m away from the beach. :) We got checked into our room and wandered towards the Old Square and the beach. Tam was in her glory today collecting as many big sea shells as she could and playing in the water with Patrick. After a good 2 hour walk along the beach we went and grabbed a bite to eat and have a few drinks. We came back to the hotel for a bit of a rest and then we would go find a place to eat, and where we can find a supermarket for tomorrow. After supper we went to the beach and walked hand and hand enjoying the beach all to ourselves. We visited, collected more sea shells and just enjoyed our time together. It is a night we will NEVER forget :)
Love From,
P&T in Alburferia, Portugal

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

A Day of Fun!

Today we were up early so we could enjoy the glorious day!! It was plus 25 degrees outside! Bert took us to one of his favorite restaurants to taste wild boar and boy was it ever delicious! We drove through the Sierra and saw many beautiful views throughout the valleys and hills. We even stopped to take pictures of some of the bright beautiful colored flowers along the way. When we arrived home, we sat out and enjoyed the sun and decided to even have some fun in the swimming pool! :) I am pretty sure we are starting to get a little bit of a tan on because the sun sure is hot! We played in the pool for quite sometime and then called it a day! What fun we sure did have! Tomorrow is suppose to be even hotter so we can enjoy the outside climate even more. As of Thursday we will continue to a city, Albufeira, just outside of Faro where we will have no internet access for awhile. But we will have the beach, waves, and many other glorious sites. We might even head to the West Coast and try out surfing :) We are pretty excited for our next couple of days in Portugal before we head to Paris, France. We are even going to hit up Disneyland Paris, Tam sure is pretty excited! She's such a big kid at heart but so is Patrick so it will be an amazing time just "being kids." Your NEVER too old to be a kid :)
Love From
P&T in the Algarve, Portugal

Monday, 7 May 2012

Faro & the Algarve, Portugal

Well we arrived to Faro safe and sound as we flew in on May 5 around 3:20p, where Patrick's cousin Bert would be awaiting our arrival. Bert emailed us and said "Look for the tallest man in the airport." Well Bert wasn't lying! He was taller than Patrick so he was very easy to find and what a warm welcome we received. We put our bags in his car and headed 12km into the Algarve where their house is located. What an amazing view!! We can see the ocean from their front yard. Gemma & Bert have an amazing garden, consisting of lemon, orange, lime, almond, fig, mango, and a lot of other trees! Their flower beds are also filled with giant roses and many other beautiful plants. Gemma also has her own cactus garden too, watch where you step or OUCH! We have been enjoying the sun and have also been helping Bert and Gemma a little around the yard as Opa told Bert to put us to work. :) Tam's Mom will be impressed also as Tam is putting her 'green thumb' to work. Well we better get outside and enjoy the sun while we still can. We will write again soon!
Love From
P&T in the Algarve, Portugal

Thursday, 3 May 2012

A Day of Rest

Today was a day of rest for our little girl, Tam as she was feeling a little under the weather today. She had a very bad headache and a sore back so we laid down and fell asleep for a 2 hour nap. After we woke up Tam was still not feeling good, so we asked where a Pharmacy was so we could go find some pain killers for Tam's head. We found one near the Sant Antoni Hospital and the lady was very nice as she spoke English with us. She even got a glass of water so Tam could take 2 pain killers right at the Pharmacy, what an amazing lady! After we went to the Supermarket to grab some food and then came back, made supper and just relaxed. Hopefully Tam feels better tomorrow as we are going on a 2.5 hour Free Walking Tour of Porto and then will be heading out to see the castles after as we just rested today. Here's to a good night and a better feeling Tam tomorrow.
Love From
P&T in Porto, Portugal

Wednesday, 2 May 2012

Porto, Portugal

Well we arrived at Porto at 2:30pm as there is an hour time change from Rome Italy. It was raining, no it was down-pouring! We found our hostel with a little difficulty but 2 amazing Portugese people helped us find our way! We got checked into our room and even booked an extra night so we can see the culture of Porto and their famous port wine. The lady that works at our hostel is absolutely amazing! We have spent the last 1.5 hours visiting with her and asking her many questions about Portugal and we have shared our story of how we arrived in Europe and what we have seen. Tomorrow we are going to do a tour of the beach, castles and the port wine cellars and hopefully the weather will hold off for us tomorrow and give us some sunshine so we can enjoy Porto in daylight :) The people here are so amazing and really have time for you; they are interested in you and all say hello to you. We feel so welcome and we are so excited to start our journey here in Portugal! We will be in touch soon!
Love From
P&T in Porto, Portugal

Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Off to Portugal Tomorrow!

Well we arrived at our new hostel, Central Station Inn, and what an amazing difference! We can even watch the NBA playoffs!! So that is pretty exciting for us as we check on a daily basis the final scores as we have a pool of who is going to be in the final and such :) Can't take our basketball away from us even on our Euro-trip adventure! Tomorrow we are taking the bus from the train station to the airport which is only a 5 minute drive away as Tam has to get her passport stamped before we can board the plane. We are pretty excited to go to Portugal as we made contact with Bert and Gemma and are going to stay with them for a couple of days. Before we do that Bert gave us some advice on places to see on our way down to Faro which is in the Southern Part of Portugal and we land in Porto which is located more in the Northern Part of Portugal so we will make a couple stops and see some places along the way. So we are pretty excited to be heading out tomorrow to Portugal! Tam is going to be an experienced flyer and traveller by the time we get home :)
Lots of Love
P&T in Ciampino, Italy