Rain, rain, and more rain!

Gosh this place is wet!! The rain usually starts the minute that Jeff puts his shoes on to go out. Seriously. It will be sunny and clear and the next minute there is a down pour!

We've been doing a lot of walking all of town, just taking in the sights. I found a cute little yarn shop on Oulde Leilestraat and I've started doing some more knitting. I suree do miss Michaels (crafts) and JoAnn fabrics though! The ladies at De Afstap are nice, but the selection and prices are not that of the super-chain stores in the US!

Journey, Jagger and I took a REALLY long walk to the south side of town on Wednesday. We ended up at the famous Albert Cuyp marketplace. It is a very long street that is full of street vendors - tables and tents full of pretty much anything you could ever want to buy. It was really fascinating because you never knew what you were going to see next! There were tables of fresh producs, fresh seafood on ice, clothing (leather coats and furs were popular items), lots of accessories (scarf are IN right now and they were everywhere!) We browsed for about an hour and a half and then went into a little cafe for some warm Chocomel. Chocomel is similar to Yoohoo - the canned chocolate drink - except that Chocomel also has some real milk in it. They sell this stuff everywhere - stores, bakeries, vending machines, etc. The kids were thrilled because the waitress at the cafe brought them lolipops to stir their warm Chocomel! After we warmed up we cruised along the rest of the street. We bought some fresh produce, a few pieces of home-made fudge, a pack of stroopwaffles, and I found a great deal on bulk yarn!

We took the kids out for Japanese last night. Jeff, Justice and Journey had Miso Soup. Journey and Jagger had steak and chicken skewers with roasted sesame seeds. Jeff, Justice and I had sushi. There was a young couple there that ran out on the bill while we were there! They were sitting there camly talking and then just bolted for the door (while laughing!) Such a shame! It was a nice little restaurant owned by a Japanese couple - really a pity that they took the time to make the food and treat them nicely only for the guests to run out on the bill!

This afternoon we went on another long walk through the rain. We walked through the Jordaan (pronounced YOR-DAHN). This is a area in the western part of Amsterdam that is really beautiful. It has recently become a popular area for young families and yuppies.

We ate a really sinful lunch at the Pankcake Bakery. They make these awesome thin pancakes (the consistency of crepes) with all sorts of bad-for-you toppings. I'm embarrassed to say that my pancake was the size of an enormous dinner plate and was topped with cherries, whipped cream, cherry liquer, and vanilla ice cream!!!!! Justice had the same thing with strawberries. Journey had pancakes with cherries and whipped cream and Jagger had a "car pancake" from the children's menu - a smaller pancake with powdered sugar, gummy candy shaped like cars, and a toy BMW replica. You should have seen his face when they brought his plate out with a shiny red metallic tinsel flag sticking out of his pancake!! Jeff saved us all from a sugar-induced-grouchfest by ordering himself french onion soup, french bread and coffee.

I'm working on uploading some great photos right now, but my camera is on it's last leg and isn't performing up to par. I may have to come home with a new one :(