The Apartment

Here are some pictures of the apartment we stayed in. It is owned by the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolosky. They own a 5-star hotel right in the center of Dam Square. They also own these apartments that are at the back of the hotel and around the corner. The apartments are just on the edge of the Red Light District, so there are a few DVD/video cabins across the street from the apartment, but nothing major. We like the apartments because we have access to all of the hotel services (concierge, cleaning service, room service, etc), but we have a full apartment all to ourselves.

This apartment was advertised as a 2 bedroom apartment, so we thought we would have the ground floor apartment that we had last Novemeber, but they gave us this one instead (for the same price!) This one was on the 3rd floor and had a big living room, dining room, kitchen, large hallway, master bedroom, 2nd living room area, 2nd bedroom, and a loft. It also had two water closets (extremely small bathroom with a toilet and small sink) and a big utility room with a gigantic bath-tub, 2 sinks, a shower, and the washer and dryer.






Jeff and Justice enjoyed playing video games on the laptop while watching BBC World news footage and documentaries.



Journey and Jagger were coloring some picures at the dining room table.



The master bedroom.



The long hallway with a small stair that I ALWAYS forgot was there!



Justice's bedroom with a staircase leading to the loft.







Journey really liked the loft bedroom, except for the scratchy carpet!

We're home!

The trip back was pretty smooth. The flight from Amsterdam to Newark went well. The kids were entertained by the seatback TVs and video games that Continental has. They watched "Fantastic Four", ate some dinner and we all napped. The kids have become really good at flying. They know the routine at the airports - how to get through security and be responsible for their own items, how to read the monitors to know our gate and flight status, and how to STAY WITH US!

The little tow-truck like thing that pulls the airplane to the gate wasn't functioning right when we landed in Newark so we had to wait while they got a new one out to us. Turns out that the one that was broken pulled us in at the wrong angle so they had to back the plane up and then pull us forward over and over and over again to get us to the gate the right way. It took awhile and everyone on the plane was getting quite irritated.

Newark airport just sucks! Everytime we have a layover there it is so chaotic! For the last trip we rented a car and just drove home (about 3 hours), but Jeff and I were both too tired to drive and knew that traffic would be bad after Thanksgiving, so we waited the 3 hours and 40 minutes for our connection flight. Of course we had to collect our luggage and go through immigration and customs and then recheck our luggage for our domestic flight, so that took some time.

Our flight to BWI took only 37 minutes (in the air) and they kids couldn't believe how small the plane was or how quick the flight was. Journey sat next to a really sweet elderly lady who kept doting over him. She was asking him all sorts of questions and showing him things out the window. I thought I overheard her saying "SHE" when she was talking to Jeff about Journey and Jeff told her that Journey was a boy, but she didn't hear him! I told Journey to tell her that he was a boy, but he didn't want to. I guess the long hair doesn't bother him that much!

When Journey crunched into his little baggie of airline pretzels he finally lost his 2nd front tooth! It had been haning by a thread for days. He was very excited and he looks adorable! I found a little baggie in my purse to keep it in, unlike the other front tooth that I put in a plastic bag on the counter and probably threw away - thank goodness he forgot about it!

The pet sitter was phenomenal! She came twice a day - morning and evening. She sent me a couple emails while we were there to let me know how the dog, cat, and bird were doing. And she left a log on the kitchen counter with the dates and times she was here and what they did - cute details about how the dog and cat snuggled with her, the walks they went on, what sweater she put on Lily in the cold weather, etc.

The kids were up around 6 am yesterday morning and we all went to bed around 7:30 pm. This morning the kids had to go back to school. Journey was awake at 5am and couldn't sleep any longer. Jagger and I were up at 7, Justice got up at 7:30 and Jeff slept in until 7:45. I think it's going to be a *long* day for the kids, especially Journey! He will probably be ready for bed when he gets home from school!

I still have lots of pictures to post, so I plan to do a couple each day - keep checking back!

Weather

It never fails....we come to Amsterdam and this weird abnormal weather pattern begins.

November is normally the rainiest month here. We knew that. Up until now it has been sunny every morning and then starts to drizzle around 2-3pm. It usually drizzles on and off for the rest of the day. It's really not that bad because it's not a heavy rain and we all brought our waterproof coats, gloves, hats, etc.

This afternoon the air turned VERY cold, the wind became VERY strong and it was a complete downpour! It has been raining pretty heavy since then (almost 8 pm now). The streets here are not equipped to deal with the heavy rain - not a good drainage system, mainly because they don't usually need one. So many of the streets are accumulating water. The bike-riders (millions of them) don't want to ride through the big puddles of water so they have taken to walking their bikes on the alread-crowded sidewalks. It's a mess!

Now we just heard on the news that it is supposed to SNOW tomorrow! Light dustings are typical here, but accumulation is not. We'll see what happens now that we're here!

Dam Square

I won't be taking any nice pictures of the queen's palace this trip. Every winter they build an ice-skating rink in Dam Square in front of the palace. It's kind of a neat idea - go ice skating in the winter in such a unique setting. It's especially nice since it has been quite a number of years since the canal water has been cold enough to freeze for skating.

The problem is not the ice skating rink itself, but the JUNK around it. They also put up a number of food booths (mostly baked goods and meat stands), some junky carnival rides, a suiker-spin (cotton candy) booth, some junk booths where people sell cheap jewelry and hats and scarfs, and even some port-a-potties. Basically, Dam Square looks like CRAP!

I've been reading the newspaper editorials and many people are complaining. Dam Square has always been for the people. It is a place for people to meet, play, and in the typical Dutch style, demonstrate against the latest perceived governmental injustice! It has been filled with junk for too long and the people want it to end! So while I think the ice skating rink is neat, this might be the last year for it. I don't understand why they can't do the rink and none of the other stuff!

Justice is frustrated because the pigeons no longer hang out there like they did before. He was really looking forward to feeding them and holding them....but I'm kind of glad he can't....we don't really need to be exposed to the bird flu, do we?

~FOOD!~

It is so neat to go grocery shopping here- you never know what you will find!

Journey has decided that he prefers the European trend of eating mayonaisse on his fries instead of ketchup. So when we were grocery shopping the other day, Jeff took him up to the produce section to get a bag of aardapples (pre-peeled potatoes cut into neat little shapes) while I headed for the condiment section. I was surprised when I found these tubes of mayo that looked exactly like tubes of toothpaste! (no, I'm NOT crazy, they were right next to the jars of mayo and bottles of ketchup - I'm not gonna make my kid eat mint toothpaste on his aardapples!) The best part was that each tube of mayo was only E.29 - yep - TWENTY-NINE CENTS! Journey thought it was so cool....

They make these awesome little fruit crackers here - cracker layers filled with dried fruits. Our favorite was the berry flavor - chunks of dried strawberries, blueberries and raspberries - YUMMY! Well, now they have teamed up with the YOGO people and put a layer of sweet yogurt on top of each craker to create a granola-bar-like snack. We have gone through waaaayyyy too many boxes!

Jagger absoloutely loves the drinkable yogurts here - not the sugar-filled Danimal/Dannon ones back home, but the real yogurt fruit-sweetened ones. They make one kind that comes in a foil-like pouch (similar to the Capri Sun foil pouches, except this has a drink spout at the top) called Breaker. They come in different flavors like cherry, raspberry, strawberry, peach,etc. And all of them contain sunflower seeds! Seriously, as you are drinking the yogurt you get these pieces of soft sunflower seeds in your mouth and have to chew them up (sunflower seeds are normally pretty crunchy, but they lose some of the crunch after soaking in the yogurt for awhile).

Jeff loves the liverwurst/braunschweiger here. It is soft and spreads onto the bread. I can't get past the nasty smell of the stuff, let alone taste it. He pairs it with rye bread and this thin goat cheese with rye seeds in it. YUCK! But it satisfies his late-night munchies!

I guess the Dutch think that hot dogs don't have enough additives - throw some aluminum in there! They have all varieties of canned hot dogs! Yes, I bought a can the other night. Jagger loves hot dogs and these were only E.59 so I thought we'd give them a try. He and Journey seemed to really like them, but I don't think I'll buy them too often!

I'm still amazed at the number of products on the store shelves that contain Saccharin - gums, mints, candies - even the toothpaste!

Serious Mid-Life Crisis

I went to Albert Heijn last night. It is the grocery store behind the queen's palace. I arrived just as most people were stopping by after work so the lines were very long. As I stood there waiting to purchase my stuff, I was listening to the couple behind me. The man had a very THICK Boston accent. The woman was speaking English but definitely had a Dutch accent.

As I was bagging my groceries, I realized that the clerk had accidentally put the couples' milk on my side of the counter (the end of each check-out is divided so that the clerk can start ringing up the next order while the customer is still packing their groceries). I moved the milk over to their side and the man looked at me and said "Oh, thanks. I guess that is our cah-ton (carton) of milk!" But then he made a face and turned to the woman with him and said "I keep fah-gettin' the people he-ah don't undah-stand me!"

I looked at him, smiled, and said "What part of Boston are you from?" He looked shocked for a second and then asked how I knew where he was from! I told him we lived north of Boston for about 6 years.

He told me that he grew up in Foxboro, but moved to Peabody after college. And then he said "My wife and kids still live there!" The woman with him made a "Tsk Tsk" clicking-like noise and looked away.

He smiled and reached over to hug her and said "Yeah, yeah. My friends and family think I'm throwin' my life away, but I love this girl and I'm gonna marry her!"

I wished him good luck and walked off. But I couldn't stop thinking about it as I walked home. I bet this young girl went to college in Boston and they met there. He had an affair and left his poor wife and children to follow this woman half-way around the world. I felt like screaming - "GO BACK TO YOUR FAMILY MISTAH!!", but I didn't. He looked like he was in his mid-40's and she couldn't be more than 21. I wonder what will happen when she tires of him.....will his wife take him back?

My children.....

One of them was almost left on a tram in The Hague.

And the other two were almost tossed out the window on the sneltrain back from The Hague!!

We took a trip to Madurodam (pictures and description will be posted later) on Monday. The kids had a great time. We had to catch a city tram from Madurodam to get back to Den Haag Central Station, where we took a sneltrain (fast train) back to Amsterdam.

When we were getting off the tram, Justice and Journey stepped off and I told Jagger to go with his daddy. I had the big diaper bag (Skip Hop!) and the umbrella stroller slung over my shoulder so my hands were full. This is normally not a problem- Jagger likes to hang out with Jeff on trains, van, rides, etc. But this time he decided to be disagreeable. Jeff started to reach for Jagger's hand and Jagger flipped out and went running and screaming down the aisle of the tram - the opposite direction from the doors we were disembarking from!

Jeff was trying to get back up the train stairs to get to Jagger, but lots of people were trying to get OFF the train. Most of them probably had no idea what was happening and thought that he was just trying to be rude and push his way onto the train before they had a chance to get off.

Jeff pushed his way past the people and grabbed ahold of Jagger as he was starting to run further down the tram aisle. I stood there pressing the DOOR OPEN button so that the tram wouldn't start moving to the next stop.

Then as Jeff was almost off the train carrying a SCREAMING and KICKING child, Jagger grabbed ahold of one of the silver posts that commuters hold onto when they are riding while standing. Jeff literally had to pry his fingers off the bar and pull him away, Jagger screaming at the top of his lungs the entire time!

Keep in mind that spanking a child or any sort of physical punishment is against the law in the Netherlands. Give your child a smack on the bottom in public and you could go to jail! I kept thinking that someone was going to mis-interpret the situation and think that Jeff was harming Jagger or even kidnapping him! With the way that child was screaming you would think something was seriously wrong. But no, it was just a case of a nasty, rotten, almost-4-year-old.

So then on the sneltrain back to Amsterdam (about a 45 min ride), Justice assumed his I'm-the-older-brother-and-I'm-tired-so-I'm going-to-be-as-bossy-as-possible role. Journey countered that with his I'm-the-younger-brother-so-I'm-going-to-be-as-picky-and-annoyinng-as-possible-role. These two children fought about who was sitting where, who was looking in which direction, who would be able to push the train faster, who could count higher, and the meaning of the word "infinity". Then Journey started with all the annoying songs and riddles he has learned since he started public school - God Bless my Underwear, Hi-Ho-Hi-Ho It's off to School we go....and some other lovely tunes. These didn't sit well with Justice, who was starting to close his eyes and doze off. He didn't use his "debugging skills" (a list of steps that the school teaches the children to deal with someone who is bothering them) and just resorted to KICKING his brother. Of course this brough LOUD screams and cries from Journey who acted like the innocent victim, even though he was told NUMEROUS times by his parents to be quiet and let the other passengers on the train rest.

The walk back from Amsterdam Central Station to the apartment was just as bad, as the children were hungry and we had to pass about 20 different restaurants, fast food joints and convenience stores. WHINE WHINE WHINE!!!

Jeff and I were LIVID when we got back to the apartment. We got the kids some sandwhiches and had a BIG family discussion!! We explained that when we are traveling in a foreign country, they are representing ALL American children. I know the people on the train were really annoyed with their behavior - you could see it on their faces and the way they shook their heads. One man even stomped out of our compartment between stops, probably on his way to sit somewhere quieter.

We explained the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behavior when in public and at home. We made them each tell us what they did wrong on the trip and how they could improve their behavior. Then we made them do chores in the apartment (just like at home). Justice had to vacuum the living room/dinig room/kitchen and empty all the trash cans. Journey had to make all the beds and switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Jagger was upset because he was not assigned a chore so he helped Justice turn the vacuum on and off as needed.

The kids were not allowed to watch TV the rest of the night and had to go to bed early (they were exhausted anyway!)

I'm happy to say that they behaved fairly well since then. I can tolerate a bit of whinning because their bodies are still adjusting to the time difference and they get tired out easily, but the disrespect and obnoxious behavior will not be tolerated AT ALL!

Pictures

WAAH! I'm tired! I can't believe that we only have a few more days here! Time is just FLYING by!

I have a TON of pictures to post, but I just haven't had the time to uplooad them to the computer and resize them. I really don't know if I will get to them before we leave on Sat. If I don't, I PROMISE I will get them up as soon as we get home!

I also still have some pics from our other trips here that I haven't gotten up yet!! I may even put up our pics from Turks and Caicos too and make this a general vacation journal. We're thinking that our next family trip will probably be to St Johns in the spring. We loved it there when we were in St Thomas for a friend's wedding. There is a great campground on St John that the kids would LOVE!

Shopping

I just love this little Tibetian store near Spuii square (near the house we rented for 5 weeks). The store has some of the neatest things. I'm a big fabric junkie - love the textures and colors and this store has so many neat bags, purses, coinpurses, tops and coats. I could spend forever in there!

When we were here in July, Jagger and I were in a bookstore and performed a very graceful stunt - I squatted down to look at a book on the bottom shelf and my knee got caught in my purse strap! I stumbled and fumbled and the strap ended up breaking. So I went over to the Tibetian store and paid E10 for a really cute brown purse that I have carried since then.

So yesterday I was telling Jeff that I wanted to stop by that store and then a few minutes later I was zippingmy purse shut and the zipper broke! I did NOT do it on purpose - I SWEAR!! I can fix it but I'll have to buy a new zipper and I'll need my sewing machine. I can't walk around a major tourist area with my purse hanging open (pickpockets!) so I went over to the Tibetian store and got a new one!

This one is really cute too and I love the style of it. I'm already planning on creating a pattern from it and making some myself. The style of it is too cute not to!

The guy at the Tibetian store remembered me from last time! He only charged me E8 instead of E10 for the new bag because they had been hanging in front of the store (they hang them outside for display) and was a little wet from the rain.

The Stroller Post

You knew it was coming - I can't come to Amsterdam without doing some serious stroller-watching!

Bugaboos seem to be losing their popularity! I can't believe the number of QUinny Buzz's I've seen! Lots of Koelestras too. I LOVE the loooks of the Easy Walker, but the price tag is just toooooo high! We saw a tan Stokke Explory today - just looks ridiculous to me! And of course we have seen lots of old Gracos (one with an older child standing IN the basket) and Top Marks.

So what did I bring? Good question! I really wanted to bring the purple Baby Jogger Twinkle that I picked up for $20. I love the suspension on it and could it gliding over the cobblestones. It's narrow enough for tight areas too. But since it doesn't have a canopy and a rain cover is essential here it just wasn't practical. The fold would have been too big for the shuttles and when we're eating out too.

So I brought along our PURPLE Maclaren Triumph! The seat was the light blue allure color and Jagger and I died to a neat swirly purpley tie dye. Kind of cute! I added a black canopy and drink holder and it looks pretty cool! (Jagger is in a major purple phase right now!)

However......when we got off the plane there was a major downpour. I don't know how long the stroller sat outside while we waited for them to bring it in, but it was SOAKED!! Jagger had just woken up and he totally freaked out because he didn't want to sit in a wet stroller. Journey offered his coat and Jagger sat on that in the wet stroller. I felt bad for the people who had an infant with them. They had a Graco stroller and a Snugride infant carrier. I can't believe that they didn't bring the carrier on the plane or at least put some sort of cover over it - but they didn't and it sat in the rain too.

The airlines ended up cutting a slice into one of the foam handle grips on our Mac and the new canopy is broken. It still functions but the plastic strip that is inside the hood to help it keep it's form is cracked in one spot so the canopy kind of slumps at the back. Not a good enough excuse to get a new stroller, but still darn frustrating!

I'm going to try to get to the PreNatal store tomorrow and then the Baby Anco Plaza (where they have TONS of Teutonias) on Thursday.

This, that, and the other

Whew! You'd think we would be used to the time change thing by now....I even made a schedule of activities for us, making sure to give our bodies extra time to adjust.....I feel like we're the laziest tourists ever!

You won't believe the big fashion trend here - yes, anything knitted is still "in"- knitted scarves, shawls, ponchos, even purses - but now they have added LEG WARMERS! Gosh, I grit my teeth even when typing that! Leg warmers are everywhere - in all the colors, prints, textures and styles you can imagine. They are even in the souvenir shops!

Here AGAIN!

We just can't get enough of this place - so much to see and do!

We left on the 16th and it wasn't an easy trip! Our flight was supposed to leave BWI at 5:20 pm. We planned to take the kids out of school a little early and the shuttle was supposed to pick us up at 2:50. Around 11:30am Jeff got a call from Continental saying that our flight to Newark was cancelled! There were lots of strong winds that day and tons of airport delays. They decided they were going to send us to Newark on an Amtrak train to catch our flight to Amsterdam, but we had to get to BWI ASAP!!!

I called the shuttle company, who said they could be there in 25 minutes then ran to the school to get the kids. Jeff finished getting things settled around the house - locking doors, getting the luggage together, etc.

So we took the shuttle van to BWI where we checked in and took a bus to the Amtrak station. The train took us through Delaware and PA and then into New Jersey, where we got off at Newark airport. We rode the monorail to the terminals and then grabbed a bite to eat at a really nice steak house. When we arrived at the gate we were surprised to see that they were boarding the flight early. Got on the flight to find out that there was a 60-90 minute delay for take-off!! We sat on the runway for what seemed like forever!

The flight was relatively smooth -arrived in Amsterdam only an hour later than planned. The shuttle to the hotel was a load of fun - the driver drove quickly with lots of twists and turns and Jagger ended up puking! Poor guy!

The apartment is really neat. It's owned by the same hotel we stayed with before, but this time we are on a higher floor. It's nice because we have a good view of the canal and can watch the people in the streets. Of course since this is an old canal house there is no elevator and the stairs to get up here are STEEP and NARROW! I don't breathe until Jagger gets to the bottom!

Amsterdam is still the same as always - lots of interesting, colorful people, beautiful scenery, and lots to do!