This past weekend, my sister, mom, sister-in-law, and all our children made a little girls-day trip to Pella, IA for Tulip Time. I grew up in Iowa, so it’s pretty sad that I’ve never been to this huge Dutch festival!
My sis-in-law Carrie grew up in this predominantly Dutch town, and showed us around… our own personal tour guide! I ate my FIRST EVER Dutch Letter while the kids played in the fountain. Cypress had a little snack with me.
Being responsible for all three girls in a sea of people was a little disconcerting without Nick with me, but my mom and sister Anna helped out a lot. Spring must have come a little early this year, because there weren’t many tulips.
This is what I was expecting:
sourceAnd this was reality:
sourceStill pretty, no?
The girls looked forward to the parade all morning. Their first ever parade!
I was impressed, because they knew the names of almost all of the band instruments. Daniel Tiger for the win! I was a major band-geek in high school, so I was feeling pretty proud.
It ended up being about 100 degrees (partial exaggeration… but you get the point), and there was someone ‘narrating’ the parade over a loud speaker. We were pretty close to one of the speakers and it was SO LOUD. I was wearing Cypress, and she was so over-tired and over-stimulated. I ended up sneaking away with her in the middle of the parade. We found a tiny shady spot in the grass to lay together.
Nick is Dutch (he even knows the name of the obscure little colony his ancestors came from), so it’s cute to watch the girls learn a little about their heritage.
Although I don’t see them wearing wooden shoes anytime soon. New woodworking project for Nick? LOL!
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I live in West Michigan (near Holland MI). Many Hollanders here. My husband is actually a first generation American (his parents came over on the boat from the Netherlands). Here, a Dutch letter is all chocolate and we get them at Christmas. It’s fun to see this town in Iowa-it reminds me a little bit of the Netherlands.
Our Calif. poppy’s are not always impressive either lol. That must be where his height comes from. I’m Dutch/Danish decent and most of my family is tall but my daughter is 6’3″…..that’s crazy tall for a girl. Your girls,all 3,are adorable….love your creativeness.
Holy cow that IS tall for a girl. That’s awesome!
Pensilvania Dutch has nothing to do with the Dutch. They decent from the Germans…I guess the British got confused with Deutsch (German) and Dutch
A dutch letter!!! Yeah!!! I still have mine from Christmas… actually from 2 Christmases past (oopps…. better get on that!!). Did they have strop waffels or olibolen or croquet? I (obviously) come from Dutch stock (all 4 grandparents came from Holland in the 50’s) and tulips are our favourite flowers – it isn’t spring till the tulips come up. sorry to hear that you were a bit off for the timing to see the flowers – but I’m sure it was nice nonetheless. Glad that you were able to do that with your family… I’ll have to remember to see about going next year.
They have stroopwafels and poffertjes, but I’m not sure any booths actually sell olibolen or croquet. Stroopwafels are my favorite! I bought a bunch and store them in the freezer so I can enjoy them all year long. 🙂
And a Dutch Letter would be? I’m from PA so we have Pennsylvania Dutch here, but never heard of that before.
That makes me feel better Tara! I was feeling pretty foolish for never having experienced one… they’re pretty well known here in the Midwest apparently. Maybe from a different part of Holland than the Dutch that settled in Pennsylvania? ANYWAY, it’s a flaky almond-flavored pastry. Here’s a wiki article describing it if you’re really interested. 🙂
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banket_%28food%29
That makes me feel better Tara! I was feeling pretty foolish for never having experienced one… they’re pretty well known here in the Midwest apparently. Maybe from a different part of Holland than the Dutch that settled in Pennsylvania? ANYWAY, it’s a flaky almond-flavored pastry. Here’s a wiki article describing it if you’re really interested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banket_%28food%29
sounds like a great trip! The girls look darling in their tutus and my! Cypress has grown since I last saw her picture! I bet everyone had a fun time!