Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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Flanders WWI Sites

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June 14, 2017 By Jennifer Lambert 18 Comments

We visited Flanders Fields.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to see.

We took a little trip to Bruges, Belgium…and saw the Flanders Fields WWI sites on the way back home to Germany.

It was emotional to see all the monuments and memorials to the Commonwealth soldiers.

The “Brooding Soldier” statue by Frederick Chapman Clemesha in the St. Julien Memorial was poignant and much taller than I expected.

We enjoyed the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917.

Open from Monday to Sunday, from 9:00 to 18:00. Last admission at 16:30. A museum visit lasts approximately two hours.

Adults: €6,5 or €10,5 with audioguide
Students: €4 or €7 with audioguide
Under 7 FREE

I read that it was a fun and interactive museum, but we were really blown away by how well put-together it is. We didn’t bother to get audio-guides. The plaques on each display were in English and we read every single one.

The kids loved the interactive exhibits, trying on body armor and helmets, gas masks, and cloaks.

The kids were excited to see a stuffed messenger pigeon like Cher Ami.

Cher Ami was a registered Blue Check Hen carrier pigeon, one of 600 birds owned and flown by the U.S. Army Signal Corps in France during World War I. Download the Cher Ami real story here.

The exhibits were really amazing.

We really experienced history in the replicated dugout and trenches.

There was a gorgeous park with lots of walking trails. We had a picnic lunch by the pond.

The Menin Gate was breathtaking.

I really wanted to see the Essex Farm Cemetery and Memorials.

John McCrae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields.

It was memorable to see all these World War I sites and I’m so glad the kids and I got to experience this history.

Also, here’s my World War I Unit Study.

On this day, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the Great War ends. At 5 a.m. that morning, Germany, bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with imminent invasion, signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside Compiegne, France.

Learn about WWI, Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, and American Veterans Day

Books:

  • DK Eyewitness Books: World War I by Simon Adams
  • World War I for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by R. Kent Rasmussen 
  • The War to End All Wars: World War I by Russell Freedman
  • Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood by Nathan Hale 
  • War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
  • All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  • A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway 
  • Silver Threads by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch
  • War Game: Village Green to No-Man’s-Land by Michael Foreman 
  • Truce by Jim Murphy 
  • Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
  • Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix
  • Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub 
  • Christmas Truce: A True Story of World War 1 by Aaron Shepard
  • Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax by Joseph E. Persico
  • Archie’s War by Marcia Williams
  • A Brave Soldier by Nicolas Debon 
  • Rags: Hero Dog of WWI: A True Story by Margot Theis Raven
  • Stubby the War Dog: The True Story of World War I’s Bravest Dog by Ann Bausum
  • Stubby the Dog Soldier: World War I Hero by Blake Hoena 
  • The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett
  • In Flanders Fields: The Story of the Poem by John McCrae by Linda Granfield 
  • The Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans by Barbara Walsh
  • Where Poppies Grow: A World War I Companion by Linda Granfield
  • A Poppy Is to Remember by Heather Patterson
  • Remembrance Poems & Readings: Reflection on Matters of War & Peace by David Roberts
  • Come On In, America: The United States in World War I by Linda Barrett Osborne
  • The Wall by Eve Bunting
  • America’s White Table by Margot Theis Raven

Movies:

  • Fly Boys
  • The Red Baron
  • The Great War in Color
  • Joyeux Noel
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Gallipoli
  • Legends of the Fall
  • The Trench
  • The Lost Battalion
  • Passchendaele

Activities and Printables:

  • Activity Village Remembrance Day
  • 51 Remembrance Day Poppy Craft Ideas from Everything Mom
  • French Remembrance Day Activities by For French Immersion
  • Remembrance Day from DLTK
  • 51 Remembrance Day Poppy Craft Ideas from Everything Mom
  • WWI from BBC
  • History of Veterans Day from History Channel
  • Lemon Poppy Sugar Cookies from The Endless Meal

Learn the difference: American Memorial Day

  • How to Memorial Day
  • Don’t say Thanks for Service
  • FREE Notebooking Pages
  • ABC Teach – Free Memorial Day printables
  • Home of Heroes – Medal of Honor resources
  • Raising Our Kids –  Memorial Day coloring pages
  • Homeschool Helper Online – Memorial Day resources
  • The Homeschool Mom – Memorial Lesson Plans
  • Homeschool Creations – Memorial Day Printables
  • Memorial Day Preschool Cutting Practice from 3 Boys and a Dog
  • How to Make a DIY Patriotic T-Shirt from Crafty Mama in ME
  • F is for Flag Handwriting Letter Mazes from Simple Fun for Kids
  • Memorial Day Penmanship Worksheet from Schooling a Monkey
  • Memorial Day Word Search from Something 2 Offer
  • Learning With My Boys – Memorial Day unit study

Lest we forget.

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Filed Under: Belgium, Europe, Military, Travel Tagged With: Belgium, Benelux, history, travel, World War I, WWI

Bruges with Kids

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June 14, 2017 By Jennifer Lambert 15 Comments

We left super early so we would arrive early.

We spent two nights in Bruges.

We spent the whole afternoon and evening at de Haan BEACH!

It was just a short drive to de Haan and it was such a lovely beach.

The water was quite cold, even though it was a very warm day. No one was really in the water.

We walked along the strand, collecting shells, for about 3 mi, then back.

We got gelato. Of course.

There was a fun beach playground.

We had dinner on the boardwalk.

Goregous Trappist beer and moules frites. Fish and steak. Everyone was happy.

The next day, we walked around Bruges.

We ate breakfast at our apartment.

I used the walking tours in Rick Steves Belgium: Bruges, Brussels, Antwerp & Ghent.

We went straight to the Basilica of the Holy Blood. There’s a lovely chapel on the ground level.

We got to view the relic up close. It was just amazingly perfect timing. The annual festival was later that week too.

We paid to see the Michelangelo sculpture at the Church of Our Lady.

The whole city is just lovely with the canals and old houses.

We ate lunch at De Halve Maan. It was delicious.

Then we did the brewery tour. The kids loved it.

We learned about barley and hops and methods.

We got to taste more beer. The blonde beer tasting is included with the tour. We prefer the Dubbel or Tripel Zot and the Straffe Henrik.

We got chocolates at The Chocolate Line and Leonidas.

We saw lots of fun historical sites.

We bought dinner at Carrefour and cooked it in our cute little apartment. Alex was thrilled with the wild asparagus!

Our last day, we toured the Flanders WWI sites.

We ate breakfast in our apartment and packed up.

We saw “The Brooding Soldier” statue at St. Julien Memorial. Our favorite was the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917. We had a picnic lunch by the pond. We drove to Ypres to see The Menin Gate. We saw the Essex Farm cemetery and memorials.

We got takeout for dinner.

We got home pretty late, but it was worth it. It was a lovely trip.


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Filed Under: Belgium, Europe, Travel Tagged With: Belgium, Benelux, familytravel, travel

American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg

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October 5, 2015 By Jennifer Lambert 1 Comment

The American Military Cemetery Luxembourg is the resting place of 5,076 American service members.

American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg

We enjoyed studying these relief maps of Military Ops in Western Europe and the Ardennes Rhineland Campaign

Relief Maps of Western Europe and Ardennes

The Remembrance Chapel

Remembrance Chapel

The Altar and Stained Glass Window inside the Chapel

Chapel Altar

The Chapel Ceiling Mosaic

Chapel Ceiling Mosaic

There are 118 servicemen buried here of the Jewish faith, whose headstones are in the shape of a Star of David.

Jewish Grave
American Military Cemetery Luxembourg-Hamm

Four fountains represent the apostles and dolphins and turtles symbolize resurrection and everlasting life.

Fountains

General Patton was buried here on Christmas Eve, 1945, three days after he died in Heidelberg, Germany.

General Patton Grave

Kate wanted to find the grave of the Army nurse, the only female in the cemetery.

Army Nurse

Visiting Hours

The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed December 25 and January 1.

Information

About 1.5 hours from Ramstein and 45 minutes from Spangdahlem

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Filed Under: Europe, Luxembourg, Military, Travel Tagged With: Benelux, military, travel, WWII

Netherlands with Kids

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April 9, 2015 By Jennifer Lambert 3 Comments

We drove to the Netherlands for a long weekend.

It wasn’t that long of a drive from the KMC. It was about 4 hours for us.

Our Trip to the Netherlands

We stayed at this absolutely darling farm in Vreeland – De Willigen Logies. It was only about 30 minutes from downtown Amsterdam.
on the Vecht
Swans, storks, ducks, geese, sheep, cows, and a farm cat greeted us. It was magical.

We got to hold 5-day-old lambs, watch cows being milked, and pet the calves. They were all so adorable!

lambs

The storks were building a nest on a platform in a tree right next door.

Stork Building a Nest

We got the Holland Pass and it was worth it for the fast pass entrances, though we didn’t use all our tickets.

We ate breakfasts and dinners at our apartment. It was well-furnished and comfortable. We brought a grill pan and rice cooker with us, along with some basics. The village had an amazing grocery store where we stocked up a couple times.

Day 1: Downtown Amsterdam

We planned to drive to a train station, park the van, and take the train or Metro to downtown Amsterdam. We arrived quickly and easily to the parking area. When we found the train station, we learned that the electricity for the entire grid was down and might be hours before repair.

I had no intention of standing in the wind and cold in a train station, waiting for who knows how long, so we hiked back to the car, paid €3 for the parking that didn’t work out. Our train tickets were useless.

Driving downtown was an adventure with narrow roads, construction, cyclists everywhere, and no electricity. Trolleys were stranded and no traffic lights worked. We circled the museum district three times before we got the right configuration of one-way roads and constructions detours to pull into the parking garage.

The electricity came back on. Yay!

Then we rushed to the van Gogh Museum for the highlight of our trip. Photos are not allowed.

Shhh…we snapped a few of our favorites with our smartphone.

van Gogh Museum Favorites

We were starving and bought some hot dogs at a stand to hold us over.

Since it was right across the street from the van Gogh Museum, we rushed over to see some of the Rijksmuseum before walking to the Anne Frank House for our evening appointment.

iconic canal picture

On the way to the Anne Frank House, we stopped at Sara’s Pancake House. I got the chicken and onions and the waitress suggested caramel syrup since that’s her favorite. I never would have thought but it yum.

We had a few minutes until our ticket time, so we walked around the block and just enjoyed the scenery.

The view of the Westerkerk from the canal bridge was beautiful.

Westerkerk

We saw a few of these wheelbarrow benches in front of shops and had to try it out. Liz and Alex caught Tori unawares.

wheelbarrow bench

The statue of Anne Frank.

Anne Frank Statue

I highly recommend getting tickets online in advance to the Anne Frank House so you don’t have to wait in line. We rang the bell at a side door a few minutes before our appointment. They scanned our printed tickets and we walked on in. Perfect.

Alex did great all the through the house. He understood a lot more than I thought he would for a 5 year old! It really concerned him about the blacked-out windows. The museum-y part at the end was boring for him and he was tired. He just did awesome. No pictures allowed inside.

The canal boats docked early due to the wind and Alex was devastated. He cried the whole way back to the car. We had promised him a boat ride. We had boat tickets included with the Amsterdam Card.

I was upset too.

I wanted to cry and be carried to the car, but I’m a mom.

Day 2: Windmills and The Beach

We didn’t feel like going back downtown and figured we would explore Zaanse Schans. It was really close by.

I was worried it would be a tourist trap, but it was really quite delightful.

Zaanse Schans windmills

Each building has an educational demo or presentation.

Big Yellow Klompen

The kids loved the shoe building with klompen demo, the clock museum, and the chocolate history presentation.

Klompen Demonstration

We ate pancakes at the café at Zaanse Schans. I love cafés in Europe. Pancakes, soup, beer.

We were getting cold and wet and it was still too early to head back to our apartment, so we drove over to the beach at Zandvoort.

Alex was born in Hawaii, but we moved when he was still a baby so he doesn’t remember the ocean.

Big Ocean

We loved all the shells and sea stars!

seastar

We fell in love with Haarlem. The houses were gorgeous!

This would have been the logical time to see the Corrie ten Boom house, but I didn’t plan on that so we were probably like a block away and missed it.

Day 3: The Hague

We drove to the Maurtishuis for family day. The kids were ecstatic to do an art workshop and Aaron and I had a lovely lunch date in the museum cafe!

The last Sunday of every month is family day and kids workshops. I think it was €7 per child and well worth it! The workshop was in English and you can reserve a spot online but we just registered at the door for that afternoon (lucky!). They went on a tour looking for cloudy skies and then got to paint their own!

We saw The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. It really is that beautiful.

The Girl with the Pearl Earring

They also had a special exhibit from the Frick Collection.

The kids checked out the educational backpack and loved looking for the musical instruments in one room and food items in another room.

We ate at a darling little pizza place across the plaza. It was pouring rain. We drove around and looked at the pretty architecture. There was no one out on a Sunday.

Day 4: Keukenhof

We went to see flowers at Keukenhof!

It was amazing.

I wondered if it would compare to Callaway Gardens but it was so much lovelier.

Blossoming Trees

We first visited the building with the history of the tulip business. We loved reading about that. The word “tulip” comes from a Persian word, meaning “turban.” Carolus Clusius brought the first tulips to Holland in 1593.

I think we got there a tad early. Daffodils and crocuses were in bloom but not many tulips yet.

Pretty as Flowers

Luckily, there are several buildings with spectacular flower exhibits and we got our fill of tulips!

The floral love displays were fun for the kids!

My Loves
Gazebo

The kids wanted to cross the pond on these platforms
Stepping Stones in the Pond

Inside the main flower hall, there were these amazing flower walls that were perfect for photo backgrounds. There must have been every kind of tulip in there imaginable.

And daffodils, hyacinths, hydrangeas, begonias, and lots of other spring flowers.

Flower Walls

We spent too much money on a rather nice lunch. But we were starving.

Alex finally got to see a windmill up close and inside.

Windmill

We really like the insect gardens with beehives and houses for bugs and flowers to attract bees and butterflies. 
Insect Garden

The best part was the van Gogh flower exhibit!

There were stages and displays set up with flowers for many of his famous paintings.

We stood around and noticed all these other people climbing in for pictures.

And in Europe, there are no lines. People don’t know how to queue. They just jump in, shove past, and it seems rude to us.

van Gogh Cafe

The kids really loved looking at all the flowers. We spent the whole day at Keukenhof!

We really loved everything about the Netherlands. It was one of our favorite trips so far. We hope to go back to see more!

We loved the food, people, scenery, museums…maybe not so much the windy, cold weather.

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Filed Under: Europe, Netherlands, Travel Tagged With: Benelux, familytravel, Netherlands, travel

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