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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

A Lesson In Dutch Culture


Last month, Mommy and I invited Amy, Big Jim, Avery and Evan to visit Dutch Wonderland with us. It is a great local amusement park with lots of rides for little kids like us. I was SO excited for a day of rides, food and fun.

Little did I know that Professor Big Jim would take the opportunity to teach us all about Dutch culture.

He had so much fun telling us about the Netherlands that we didn't mention to him that the Pennsylvania Dutch are actually descendants of German immigrants. He was having too much fun 'educating' us about the other kind of Dutch!!!


When we first arrived, we stood at the measuring post to see what rides we were tall enough for - Big Jim said that this kind of measuring tool is very common in Holland, and that they appear on every street corner.












We drove fun boats - Big Jim informed us that boats are a main form of transportation for the Dutch since their country borders the North Sea.



Big Jim and Evan had fun driving their very own Dutch boat shaped like a log.


Monster trucks are very popular in the Netherlands. They are used to drive between the windmills.


Holland is famous for its cheese, so of course milking the cow to get their special Dutch milk is an important job.


For those families who can't afford a monster truck, a horse and buggy is the next best thing!!!



We worked up quite the appetite learning about the Dutch, so Big Jim and Mommy stood in a loooong line for the yummy Dutch cuisine of pizza, sandwiches and macaroni bites!


Since the Netherlands is a very flat country, they build slides all over the country to give kids the chance to experience the fun of a hill.

I chose not to experience this part of Dutch culture. Mommy was not upset with my choice.


You thought Venice was the place to go for a gondola ride? You're wrong!!! The Netherlands is the place to go!!

Notice the orange seats. Big Jim had a very fun nugget of info - he asked if we knew why Dutch athletes many times wear orange when there is no orange in their flag? He told us that originally the flag did have orange, for William of Orange, but the orange dye turned red when left outside, so it was eventually changed to red. Sorry about that, William of Orange!! At least the athletes still pay tribute to you!!


Next we were off to Duke's Lagoon. Duke is a very famous dragon in Dutch legend. He would leave little gifts for children when they left out their clogs at night. They were usually gifts that involved water.


More slides to entertain the mountain-challenged citizens.


I'm not sure if this is a traditional Dutch pose, but it sure did make me laugh!!


Learning about Dutch culture is VERY tiring!!


















As always, we had a BLAST with Professor Big Jim, Amy, Avery and Evan (who is my knight in shining armor!!)

***While Professor Big Jim did share lots of educational stories about the Netherlands with us, some of the stories told in this blog entry might have been embellished a bit. After all, this trip was over a month ago, and we might not have paid as close attention as we should have. We love you, Professor Big Jim :)

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