Center Parcs anywhere in Europe come with rules. Tenants can only check in at 3 p.m and check-outs need to be done strictly by 10 a.m.

If you think about it, there really isn’t much time to dilly-dally in the morning prior to departure. We can’t just leave the cottage as it is, but tenants are expected to clean up everything – bed-sheets and pillow cases need to be cleared and be placed into pillow cases which double up as duffel bags,  trash to be disposed off accordingly and dishes to be cleaned and put back into their original place. The cottage should be left spic and span just like the day we came in, unlike hotels.

The morning prior to check-out will always be scramble time with breakfast and the last bits of stuff to pack, even though the major packing would have been done the night prior. With 2 little tots bouncing off the walls, sometimes, maintaining a cool head could be quite a challenge!

Spud and Squirt were at it again before the final lock-up, and as soon as they got into the car, they started another mayhem. They were screaming, albeit jokingly, at each other, teasing, and swatting one another, and making all sorts of distracting loud noises that even as a non-driver, I found it hard to concentrate. Let alone for SilverBullet being the driver.

A screech of the car and a royal scolding later, they both fell back in line. We we continued our journey back and made our way out from Belgium in almost no time at all.

 It took us almost 4 hours to get home as we decided to take a detour on our way back with some really picturesque drive to feast our eyes on. After being greeted by fields after fields of colourful tulips, we stopped by a rather large, privately owned tulip field in Wervershoof for the kids to wander about. It is the area where Silver Bullet once grew up.

They were so very excited to see the many beds of tulips while trying really, really hard not to touch any of them as the walked along the beds. So many different colours. So many different variety.

They were in awe, as I was. (And, it was only polite to ask permission first from the men on the farm before we did the little meandering in their fields and take some pictures)

We didn’t even have to go to Keukenhof! Tulip fields can easily be found almost right in Silver Bullet’s parents’ backyard – as, there, just less then 20 minutes away from their home, tulip fields were sprouting in full galore.

Kids (and me) were having a field day! The weather was great, too! Windy but great. The sun was also out. Oh what joy!

We have been lucky with the tulips in being able to see them in full bloom before the flowers were all being hacked off. And what a pretty sight they all were!

 This little detour trip has earned its place in my happy memory books. I love new, happy memories.

Do you still remember the last time you made yours? 🙂

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Update: tagging this post to Tiny Expat’s #ShowYourWorld blog event with the following guideline:

• tell us about an interesting place – it can be somewhere in your home country or a destination that you visited
• instead of just giving us facts about this location, use your words to show it to us as well – the way it looks, sounds, smells, conveying its atmosphere