Rainy day and beautiful night

July 18th--We woke up this morning to a rainy day (sorry folks back in Texas). So, most of us took it fairly easy this morning except for the Jayes. They headed out mid morning for a day of windmills and museums. Around noon, the rest of us walked down the block to the hole in the wall restaurant where we ate the first night. They have wonderful croquettes. So, we all loaded up on some food and brought it back to the apartment to eat since it started raining. After lunch, the boys went down for a nap so Mike stayed back with all the kids for the afternoon. I took Lisa and Gabe out to walk around the town and do some shopping. We took the tram to Leidseplein which is a popular square in Amsterdam. We walked up the street from there toward the Flower Market. We went through many shops along the way and finally found some wooden shoes for Chance and Cole at the very end of the market. By now it was almost 5:00, so we headed back to the apartment. We decided to take advantage of having a nanny so she was coming back tonight at 7:00 tonight. We had plenty of time to get the kids and us ready. Luckily, the rain had moved out during the afternoon and had left a beautiful, cool night. We all left the apartment about 7:30 and headed back to the Leidseplein area. After walking around for a while, we decided on an Italian restaurant that had outdoor seating. The food and company was excellent. After dinner, Mike, Brent, Shanda, and I went back to the apartment while Lisa and Gabe came shortly behind us after looking for a t-shirt for Gabe. We all then stayed up a while talking until we realized how late it was and went to bed.