I have lots of beautiful photo’s of my kids.  I love them!  But I also have some awesome shots of the wildlife at Beekse Bergen over Easter Break.  My favorite, of course, are the giraffes, I still get giggly like a schoolgirl when I look at those images.  I also have a beautiful one of a lioness up close, and separated by a foot of glass, several zebra shots and baby camel shots that are Tess’ favorite.

Despite all the exotic animals we saw, the ones that brought our whole family the most joy were the ducks outside our Jungalow.  We were blessed with a zebra-striped junglalow right on the waters edge, and starting with our first morning, had the enormous pleasure of feeding the ducks all our delicious, fresh-baked bread.

I’d gotten up bright and early, and even without coffee I had no trouble getting dressed and out the door.  One of my favorite things in life is grocery shopping in another country.  Granted, Holland is my favorite, there is nothing like going home, but I like any foreign grocery store.  I love trying new things, tasting new tastes, smelling new smells.  For me, it’s really what travel is all about in a nutshell (or a nut).

Cole and I had bought several of my favorite “puntbroodjes” (soft rolls) for breakfast as well as dutch cheeses, hams, and other meats.  Not to mention nutella, speculoos (spreadable gingerbread-like cookie spread) and hagelslag (dutch chocolate sprinkles we eat on bread with butter).  I had at least 4 rolls planned I wanted to eat between breakfast & lunch.  The best part of our early-morning excursion was Cole insisting on speaking Dutch when ordering the bread, and paying the cashier.  He did beautifully.

We got back to the Jungalow, both of us in great moods, and I immediately set about making coffee and spreading broodjes.  Of course I noticed that everyone else gathered at the big glass window, and I really noticed when they opened the sliding door and went outside (early April is very chilly in Holland) but I didn’t notice they were feeding all my precious, fresh-baked, broodjes to the ducks until I went to make a second one and the bag was empty!

Honestly, I completely forgave my family when I saw the smiles, heard the giggles and, finally, noticed the flock of ducks invading our little terrace.  The next morning(s) I bought three bags of puntbroodjes so we could feed the ducks and enjoy a little ourselves.