Day 8- The Holland Finale

Today was our day of rest after a long, rewarding week of soccer in Holland.  After having their first chance to sleep in we headed off for a tour of AJAX stadium without the crowd.  We all learned alot about the workings of the field and stadium and how to grow grass indoors.  We walked over to the eat our final bag lunch in the mall where a few girls and Deidre participated in a timed bed making contest.  The canal ride was next followed by the much anticipated "shopping hour" in Amsterdam.  The girls split into the hardcore clothes shoppers(hard to do in 1 hour, god bless Deidre), and the serious souvenirs shoppers.  Then down to the Flower market, here's hoping customs is nice to us.  We arrived back at the Hostel with plenty of "Stuff" and a small plane worth of Stroofwafels.
Our final Stay Okay supper was spent in the colorfully decorated dinner halls which was adorned with orange banners and soccer balls in anticipation of a big soccer match tomorrow and Queen's Day,(our equivalent of July 4th) on Monday.  Supper was followed by the groups' final Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down exercise.  This is where the girls get to share their best/worst experience of the day and in this case the trip.  It has truly been a privilege to share this trip with your daughters.  If you had any second thoughts about the sacrifices they and you have made as parents to provide them with this experience, their comments clearly indicate that this is a trip they will never forget.  
The girls are heading off to bed now (10:00 PM) in anticipation of a "wake-up" knock in about 6 hours. The girls (and the adults) are both excited and sad that this adventure is ending.  They will be tired, a bit smelly, and probably won't want to see bread or nutella for about a week.