Which one of you sent the snow over here???

It has been snowing non-stop since last night!! Amsterdam does not usually receive much snow and when it does get the occasional storm the snow doesn't accumulate.

Right now there is about 5 inches of snow on the ground and everything is a mess! According to the news channel, they have 60 salt trucks for the whole state and they are out of salt. Everyone (including natives) is walking around taking pictures because they know this will not happen again soon.

I bundled Jagger up this evening and took him for a really long walk. He was covered with the plastic stroller rain cover so he had a good view and was nice and warm. It was quite a workout to push an umbrella stroller with a 35 lb kid in it through the slush and snow, but I needed some exercise. I was quite impressed with the Silver Cross Micro's performance, especially since I was pushing it to it's limits. I think the bigger wheels are what made the difference.

The tram stops were swamped with people waiting for a ride home from work. The trams usually come every few minutes, but tonight there are very few of them because they are running into ice jams on the tracks in the areas further out of town. As Jagger and I walked past a group of people we heard them cheering when a tram came into view. The cheers turned to boos when the tram went right past them because it was full of people!

We have been watching the people out the window and counting the number of people that fall down! Is that terrible or what? It's unbelieveable to see all of these people trying to ride their bikes in this snow, but I guess they need to get them home somehow! We have even watched a few snowball battles and saw a car full of young guys stop on the bridge and make a bunch of snowballs that they put back into the car. Wonder what they were gonna do?

Yesterday we all went for a long walk to Dam Square. The courtyard in front of the Royal Palace had a little festival. They had a merry-go-round, street performers, lots of food booths, and a temporary ice skating rink. The kids each got some Sucre Spin (sugar spin = cotton candy) and then we came home and dealt with the sugar meltdowns!

We haven't been out to do much yet, as the temperature has been cold and the kids still seem to be getting used to the time change. Jagger slept for 16 hours a few nights ago! Hopefully we will be able to find an indoor activity for tomorrow.