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.

Heineken Brewery

July 17th--We all hung around the apartment this morning waiting for Brent to arrive in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, by noon, he had not arrived yet so Shanda suggested that we all leave and then they would meet up with us later. So, we got on the tram and went to the City Market. We walked along the street doing a little booth shopping before stopping at the Restaurant Bazaar for lunch. The restaurant served a middle eastern cuisine. We all had a wonderful meal before walking to the Heineken Brewery. The Heineken Brewery offered a wonderful tour. We got to see the process of making the beer, ride Brew U where we felt what it was like to be a bottle of Heineken beer, bottle our own Heineken, and enjoy the Innovation Station. We were actually in the brewery way longer than we had anticipated so we had to rush back to the apartment. We had contacted the nanny of the family we were renting the apartment from to watch the kids for the night. We got back a little after 5:00 and quickly fed and bathed the kids. The nanny, Fiona, arrived about 6:00. We said goodbye to the children around 6:30 to head out for our night without the kiddos. We took the tram to the Dam square, near the Red Light District. We did a little wandering, gawking, and laughing before finding a Mexican food restaurant for dinner. It was "ok" tex-mex...but not great, and definitely not La Hacienda. It was great having some adult time to catch up and share some laughs.

Van Gogh Museum

July 16th--We took our time leaving the apartment today. We caught up on laundry, blogging, and pictures. It was after lunch before we headed out to the Van Gogh Museum. The museum was remarkable and featured many works by the Dutch artist. It had a nice flow to it, so, it was easy to go through and it didn't take us very long. The museum included over 200 paintings that had been owned by Van Gogh's brother, Theo. I particularly liked the Sunflowers painting done in 1888. After leaving the museum, we got on a tram to the train station. My sister (Lisa), brother-in-law (Gabe), and nephews (Chance & Cole) were arriving from Stuttgart. They are coming to be with us in Amsterdam and then will go to Paris with us for a few days. We arrived at the train station just as they were getting off the train so our timing was perfect. We all got on the tram and headed back to the apartment. Once we got their stuff in the apartment and everyone was settled, Lisa and I left the guys and kids at the apartment playing and went to the grocery store to get food for dinner. We all wanted to grill out so it was BBQ chicken, sausage, baked potatoes, corn, and broccoli. We had so much food. Right about the time we were finishing up our dinner, Shanda and the girls arrived back from Belgium. So, we visited with her the remainder of the evening about her time in Brussels.

Zaanse Schans

July 15th--Today we all headed to the train station around 9:30. We got Shanda and the girls on a train to Brussels to visit some friends of theirs for the night. We then got on a short 15 minute train ride to then Koog-Zaandijk station. Upon arriving at the train station, we walked toward the ferry and took it over to the town of Zaandik, where the Zaanse Schans open-air museum is located. When we arrived here, it was lunch time so we ate a traditional Dutch pancake. We had combinations of cheese/bacon, salami/cheese, ham/cheese, and apples with cinnamon sugar. They were all very good. After our bellies were full, we went to the wooden shoe workshop. The kids tried on a lot of pairs of wooden shoes, but couldn't decide which pair they wanted. So, we told them we would come back. We walked around this cute, little Dutch town. We experienced a cheese farm where we got the opportunity to sample many different cheeses and even bought our favorite: pepper cheese. Then, we went inside a real working windmill where they were grinding dyes.. It was definitely a "climb at your own risk" tour because the stairs were really steep (like attic stairs), but we got to see all the parts of the windmill working. It was neat. We also toured a Dutch clock museum. This clocks were very unique, but unfortunately weren't for sale....we wanted to buy one. We made our way back to the wooden shoe museum and got there in time to see a demonstration. It is truly amazing how what starts off as a piece of wood ends up being a shoe. After the demonstration, Abby and Austin tried on more shoes and decided on the pair they wanted to buy. The cutest thing was Abby saying "Once I outgrow them, I'll put them up on my wall in my room." We thought that was the best idea. We headed back to Amsterdam about 4:30 and arrived at the train station about 5:00 where we went to the ticket counter to buy our tickets to Paris. We took a number in line and were number 934...they were only on 890 and there was only 2 desks open. I finally decided to head back to the apartment with the kids because it was going to be a long wait. The kids and I went by the grocery store before heading back to the apartment though. I fed them dinner and gave baths while we were waiting on Mike. He finally returned about 7:30...2 1/2 hours after we left him. He had a long wait, but it was a success because he got our tickets to Paris. We spent the rest of the night doing some things around the apartment getting ready for Lisa, Gabe and the boys to arrive tomorrow. They are going to spend a couple of nights with all of us in Amsterdam before traveling with us and the Jaye's to Paris.

Slow days in Amsterdam

Shanda and the girls have been trying to get over jetlag, so we have taken it easy the first couple of days in Amsterdam.

July 13th--Mike, the kids and I went the grocery store this morning while Shanda and the girls got ready. After lunch, we all headed out and took our first tram ride since being here. We went to Vondelpark, the huge central park named after the poet Vondel. We walked around this beautiful nature park for a little while until finally asking someone if there was a playground around. Their answer was "no". Not exactly what we wanted to hear as the kids were hoping for a playground. Mike and I hadn't eaten lunch yet so Shanda offered to take the kids on a nature walk while we grabbed a quick sandwich. After finishing up lunch, and Shanda and the kids having not returned, Mike went looking for them. He found them at a playground not far from where we were. So much for asking someone if there was a playground! So, we all spent the remainder of the afternoon at the playground, which also had a restaurant connected to it. It was a great area, and I'm sure we'll be back. We headed back to the apartment just in time for dinner. We cooked tacos and just relaxed the rest of the evening.

July 14th--Today, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. The kids are really enjoying going to all the Hard Rocks throughout Europe and can actually point out the Hard Rock signs now. After lunch, we walked around Leidseplein,the lively square in southwest Amsterdam. Shanda bought all the kids wooden tulips. They are really cute! We walked up Leidsestraat looking for a Christmas Shop that I had found on the internet. Well, upon arriving at the address, it was no longer a Christmas Shop, but a coffee store now. The lady was nice enough to tell me where a Christmas store was though and it was located in the flower market. So, we hopped on a train this time (tired of walking) back to the flower market. I say back because we had already passed this particular market walking earlier. We found the Christmas Store and it was another successful Santa search for me. From here, we got ice cream for the kids and caught the tram over to the Anne Frank House. The line was a little long to get in so Mike decided to take Austin back to the apartment. The girls stayed to go inside the house. The line ended up not being that bad. We waited about 20 minutes and then walked through the house which took us about 45 minutes. It was very interesting and surreal to walk through the apartment that 8 people lived in for 2 years. We couldn't even possibly imagine ourselves doing that. At the end of the tour, there was a preserved copy of one of Anne Frank's diaries. I now want to go back and read the book again. We took the tram back to the apartment and arrived back a little after 7:00. It was definitely dinner time, bath time and bedtime before we knew it.

Travel to Amsterdam

July 12th - We got up this morning and said good-bye to Gabe, Lisa and all the kiddos. Anne-Marie drove us to the Leonberg train station for our 9:15 am train. We had a short 20 minute ride on the S-Bahhn (above ground subway) into Stuttgart with only 9 minutes to get from the subway stop to the train platform. We made it with a couple of minutes to spare and were able to get another compartment to ourselves. We only had about an hour on this train before we arrived in Frankfurt for a train change. After getting off the train in Frankfurt, we found our platform for the next train. Mike and Abby went to get us some food while Austin and I stayed back to play with cars and trucks. We had about 30 minutes in Frankfurt before our next train left. Our train to Amsterdam left about 11:45, and we were lucky enough again to have a compartment to ourselves. We love Germany trains! We ate our lunch, watched movies, and took naps. We arrived in Amsterdam around 3:30 and took a taxi to the apartment. We were greeted by Shanda and the girls at the apartment. Their plane had arrived earlier this morning from Seattle. The Jaye's are our friends from Texas that now live in Seattle. They are spending part of their summer vacation with us. Once the Jaye's arrived in Amsterdam, Brent continued on for a business trip to India. He will be back on Friday and then we will all travel to Paris for a week. The house we are staying in is the private residence of a couple that rents out their house during their summer holiday. They have 3 small children, so the house is perfect for the kids, with toys and children's rooms. It even has a rooftop terrace with a playhouse and slide. We are enjoying our "house" accommodations. It is a nice break in the middle of our travels. We all got settled in and enjoyed the rest of the day visiting and catching up.

Welcome Gabe!

July 11th - We welcomed Uncle Gabe “home” from Afghanistan today. Lisa had received a call from Gabe yesterday saying he was in Kuwait and would be arriving into Stuttgart around 8:30 this morning. Lisa and the boys went to pick him up from the airport while the rest of us went to Panzer to get ready for the Run to Remember. Lisa, Gabe and the boys met us there. Anne-Marie had brought some small American flags and so all the "cousins" lined up to greet Uncle Gabe as he arrived. It was good to see him and he was equally excited to see everyone. The race began at 10:30. It was a ½ marathon and 5K. Lisa ran the 5K and finished second in her age bracket. We were so proud of her. She received a medal which will probably be her best souvenir of the trip. After the race, there was lunch provided along with some activities. We all ate lunch and then the kids enjoyed throwing the ball at the dunking booth. We left base about 1:00 to go home to put kids down for naps. While kids were resting, we enjoyed our time catching up with Gabe. After naps, we walked about a 100 yards to the very top of the hill by Anne-Marie’s house to some Leonberg German festival. It was located in a clearing in the trees and there was a stage for the band, long tables, and a food building. The adults enjoyed great conversation while the kids played. We brought a wagon for the kids and they found a small hill and where using the wagon like a roller-coaster ride down the hill. They did this over and over, entertaining themselves for the night. It was a great night of music, food and company.