Quick Visit to Holland for the Youth LDS Temple Trip!

It still feels surreal to me that we can take a spontaneous quick and easy trip to another country on a whim!

Nick serves in our church with the youth and there was a quarterly schedule trip up to the temple in the Netherlands so we decided to join him! We booked an air b&b near Leidon and drive up Friday afternoon. (if you want a discount on your AirBNB stay, click here!)

With little to no plans, it’s easy for a trip to be successful! I wanted to venture up to Amsterdam but it was dark, 34 degrees, and a trip on the train to a new place would be no fun for the kids in that condition.

So we just enjoyed the evening in our cute little apartment!! Air B&Bs are our new favorite thing.

The Netherlands is are new favorite place! I loved the vibe there. Everyone was so kind about speaking English which was a refreshing change from Belgium.

What I’ll remember most about Holland was all the water everywhere and the insane about of bicyclists! Wow! EVERYONE had a bike, all kinds of bikes I’d never seen before! I think we saw every way you could possibly carry groceries, children, or musical instruments on a bicycle. It was so much fun! And so cold! These people are serious about their biking…

After we wandered around the streets of Lieden for a while, we made our way over to the LDS Temple. It was just beautiful!

Since I had the kids, I couldn’t go help with the youth baptisms for the dead, but they did have a nice little room downstairs for us to wait in. They had some wonderful toys and we brought snacks. The kids were quite entertained and didn’t want to leave when it was time! The temple is a special place and we always love being there, even if we don’t get to participate in the ways we want. Life with kids brings new challenges and a new season to life. We do what we can and the Lord always blesses us for our efforts.

When we left the temple, we could see a windmill in the distance so we decided to check it out!

It was an actual flour mill and they had all kinds of flour and baking supplies for sale! It was the cutest little place. We got some whole grain flour and a package of speculoos to make for the holidays!

Holland is a really beautiful place and I can’t wait to visit again! I’d love to go in the spring and because I bet it’s breath taking. Sooo much water, animals, rural farms, and friendly people. This was one of our most relaxing and easy trips yet.