Olympics and Olympos

Yesterday we also saw these ruins. They are for a temple to Zeus. He was king of the gods.



After walking around we stopped and I got some ice-cream. It was chocolate and there were chocolate chips on the bottom. And it was good.



Today I went to McDonald's for lunch. The toy was a bunny rabbit from Ice Age and it had a fish skeleton for a sword. I think it might be a sword fish. Ha ha ha.


And now we are in Neoi Pori. It is near the beach and Mount Olympos. I got to go to the beach. And now I am going to get in the shower and am watching Olympics. Now I am playing with a balloon that my mom blew up for me.

I'll keep you posted!

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The 2 days I was in Athens

Yesterday we got into a taxi in Brussels and rode to the airport. And then we got on an airplane and flew to Athens.

I had my first Greek dinner yesterday. It was called souvlaki and it was grilled chicken. It was fine.


And I had ice-cream for dessert!

I slept in a tiny bed last night and this morning it was super hot. And we went to see some ancient ruins.


And the ancient ruin that we saw is called the Parthenon. And now we just had a lunch. And now it's rest time.

I'll keep you posted!

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My day in two countries

I'm on the barge for the last time and I took a picture with all my cousins that were with me. And then we got off the barge and went to a train station.



And I watched the iPad most of the way from Amsterdam to Brussels.



And we got to our hotel and then I went to a carnival with my dad, and then after that I went to a cafe.

And then I went back to our hotel. And then we went out to dinner and saw this peeing boy statue. We also saw a peeing girl statue.

We were here with Robert and his friend Karine.

I'll keep you posted. And we will be back tomorrow from Athens.

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The day my dad tricked me into eating fish

My dad tricked me into eating fish. He said it was chicken but it turned out I was eating fish. It was called kibbeling.



And this is what my tag-a-long looks like. I got a medal for being such a good rider.



I biked more than 100km this week.



And I had lunch here (Marken). And we got to feed swans and ducks. And the swans were hissing.

I'll keep you posted!

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The time that was the time of my life

Today I had the time of my lifetime (at the Zuiderzee Museum). And I went with my Schoon cousins. I made a name plate with a forge and I painted a wooden shoe that I get to take home with me.



You can see the wooden shoe and name plate when I get home.

And I saw some people smoking fish (dramatic music).



And there was this place where I could turn this thing (auger) and water would come up and then go back down. It was hard to turn it. Good thing a windmill can do this for us.



My cousin Jacob tied me up with rope they made there.

I'll keep you posted! And we'll be back on the Jon blog, probably tomorrow.

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The day with the chocolate shop

Today I went to a chocolate shop and we got some chocolate and it was delicioso. There was a chocolate lollie, and my sister and I had it. And my mom got some special bon bons.



We went swimming again, this time in the Ijssel river, and it had a strong current.

I'll keep you posted! And we'll be back on the Jon blog, probably tomorrow.

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When I'm getting caught up

Yesterday I went to Zutphen and we biked around there and I had two flat tires and my chain came off.

And I went swimming in the canal with my cousin Caleb and my cousin Zach and my cousin Jacob.




Today we biked through lovely farmland. We found a house where my great great grandfather used to live in. It was in Neede.

We stopped and swam at a little lake near Borculo. And we swam in the canal again.




And tonight we had dinner and dessert outside and that is a dog name Jippy and he is going to be with us the rest of our bike and barge trip.

I'll keep you posted. Bye! And we'll be back on the Jon blog.

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When I went to the art museum

I went to this cool art museum and I went up and got a picture on this wall but before I got a picture I didn't know that this play area was here.

I got this bat before I came to the art museum. His name is Squeaky and he tried to fly for the first time at the art museum and he did well.

We went on a really long bike ride today and I road on a tag-a-long for the second time. I tripped and fell and scraped myself and there was blood and I needed a band aid at the art museum. But I'm fine now.

I had a new dessert for the first time and it was really good. It was called marscapone.

I'll keep you posted! And we'll be back on the Jon blog.

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The barge and bike trip on the first day

We got on to a barge and after a little bit we took a biking trip. We saw lots of cows and sheep and a few horses and a goat.

We stopped at an ice-cream barn and I had chocolate ice-cream. Yummy!

Tonight we are going to go through some locks.

I'll keep you posted! And we'll be back on the Jon blog.

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The windmill

After I went to the cheese market I went to this cool windmill, and somebody lives in it. And we were thinking about living in a windmill and about getting fresh flour every day to make bread and cookies.

Later this afternoon we went to a village with Schoons in it. We visited a cemetery! And two churches and met some distant cousins.

I'll keep you posted! And we'll be back on the Jon blog.

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The cheese market

I went to a cheese market this morning in Alkmaar. And there was lots of cheese. And there was a wooden shoe that they turned into a bird feeder.

I got to see some people carrying cheese the old fashioned way. I didn't taste any cheese but my sister Emmy did. And my baby sister also tried a mini pancake.

I'll keep you posted. Bye! And we'll be back on the Jon blog.

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When I went to Madurodam

Yesterday I went to Madurodam. And I had a lot of fun. There is stuff that you can do with all kinds of buttons and levers.

There are tiny airplanes and pretend luggage. And stuff that's all around the Netherlands.

And I saw both a miniature and the real North Sea.



I saw the cheese market [in Gouda] today and there was lots of cheese because it's a cheese market of course.

I'm now in Alkmaar with my Schoon cousins.

I'll keep you posted!

[Typist's note: no post yesterday was due to a speck in my eye which resulted in a trip to the hospital to discover cornea damage. Meds are taking care of the issue.]

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My day

This morning I went to a big church and I saw these cool tiki heads and lanterns and stained glass windows.

And after rest time I went to a petting zoo with my cousin and my aunt and my grandma and my uncle. And we got to feed ducks and chickens corn.

For dinner we got to go to a pizza place. And now I'm going to go to bed.

I'll keep you posted! And that is all on Jon's blog today.

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My first new food

We went to a restaurant for dinner Monday night. It was on the Gouda town square. Me and Fafa sat outside in the middle of two heads on posts. And I ordered pasta but I didn't like it. And then tried a potato ball and it was yummy.

I'll keep you posted!

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The walk that I took

I got off the airplane and then I rode on a couple of trains. And we got into a hotel, and it was raining a lot. And it was about to get worse.

And then me and my dad took a walk, and then it rained again. We are in Gouda downtown. We saw a cheese museum and bought a cheese slicer for me and some cheese to cut.

I'll keep you posted. Bye! And we will be back with the Jon blog!

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When we were on the long moving sidewalk

We were on a long moving sidewalk. And there were lights above us that go on and off automatically.

After we got over the moving sidewalk we got to stay in a nice lounging place. And then my sister threw up.

We're on the airplane to Amsterdam now. I'll keep you posted!

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I'm going away for the rest of the summer

I'm at the Grand Rapids Airport. I'm going to be back when school starts.

We're going to the Netherlands first with my extended family.

We get to sleep on an airplane tonight. We will be in Amsterdam in the morning.

We just got through security. I'll keep you posted.

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The Toys I Picked to Go on the Trip

I picked these toys all today to go on my adventure. They're all Lego. My dad sorted these out for me. I'm taking Star Wars, Ninjago, super heroes, skeletons, aliens, random people, and normal and golden weapons.

And Indiana Jones and the Minotaur since we're going to Crete. And I'll keep you posted. Bye!

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Welcome

This blog is by Jon Tanis, who's going to spend six weeks of his summer traveling with his family through four countries (The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, and Bulgaria). His dad is helping set it up (and might help a little with typing along the way) but the rest is all Jon. Enjoy! (By the way, the above picture is from two years ago and was taken at the Windsor (England) Legoland.)