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side·track (sīd´trăk): n. 1. A diversion from the main course. 2. A detour taken with children that you would never, ever take without them.

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Who:
Me, Jenny Jensen, and my children Max (6) and Annelies (4), my friends Lauri and Harry, their 12-month-old baby Joshua and their Italian au pair Laura.

What and Where:
The Keukenhof, the world’s largest flower garden. Lisse, the Netherlands.

Why:
My husband needed a quiet house on Sunday to work, and I had no plans to entertain the kids. Luckily my friends mentioned the day before that they were planning to visit this huge tulip park and that it had a great playground. I’m not actually all that into blooming bulbs, but the combo of the promise of a new playground and upping my adult-kid ratio for the day from 1-2 to 4-3 could not be passed up.

The High Points:
To my surprise, I really enjoyed the gardens. Seven million bulbs are planted each year, and the tulip blooms were at their peak. The kids enjoyed running through the paths and seeing who could be first to spot the inexplicably omnipresent Andy Warhol-style Statue of Liberty signs that were scatted along the paths.

The kid area wasn’t as busy as the flower trails and we could relax while the kids played at the very nice playground and visited the petting zoo. I had just as much fun as the kids in the maze (“just like Harry Potter!”).

The Low Point:
A 30 Euro pizza lunch (Laura’s take: “that’s not pizza- that’s bread with stuff on top”) and crowds, crowds, crowds. I had a few moments of terror that I was going to lose track of my kids. Remembering a Travel Savvy Mom post, I quickly wrote my cell phone number on their shoulders with a borrowed ball-point pen (I had only a pink marker in my pocket) and then felt much better.

The Kids’ Take:
Great zip-line, playground and maze, but they enjoyed driving past the rainbow fields of tulips on the way there just as much as the tulip trails in the park. After nearly 2 years of living in Holland, it was a treat to run into so many other American kids at the playground.

The kids were bemused by the Japanese tourists who wanted their photos taken with them. I wonder if it had something to do with the fact that my daughter was wearing her new Tinkerbell nightgown as a dress and had a butterfly temporary tattoo on her forehead?

The Bottom Line:
If you don’t mind crowds, it’s worth a visit even if you aren’t a flower fanatic. Next time I’ll pack my own lunch though.

May 14th, 2009 | by Jenny Jensen 3 comments