Amsterdam



Day 1: Thursday - Leaving Los Angeles:

   We arrived at the airport with the challenge of trying to arrange our seats so we could sit together as a family. Unfortunately, the airline was not too cooperative being able to put us together. So after some strategic "Tetris-like" seat manipulation and coercing other passengers to move we were able to sit together. I may have told the people in front of us that Brady has restless leg syndrome and they would be better off switching rows and sitting behind us. The kids did pretty well on the flight watching movies, playing video games and even got a few hours of sleep.

 

Day2: Friday - Arriving in Amsterdam

   We arrived in Amsterdam at about 10am.

 

First real passport stamp!!!

 

   We took a taxi to the Renaissance Hotel where Steve manages and had a special surprise waiting for us. He hooked us up with club lounge access and the Royal Suite!!! This also happens to be the very room that Salt-n-Pepa stayed in while in Amsterdam. Hard to beat that brush with fame. Exhausted from the 9 hour time change and lack of sleep on the plane, the family took a much needed nap. Tobey came to the hotel in the afternoon and took us for a nice little stroll through Amsterdam. If you're ever in Amsterdam with kids, don't go into souvenir shops. You can imagine what kind of "souvenirs" they might have in there. We utilized the club lounge for a fancy afternoon snack and a little free booze. Later we met up with Steve and had a nice dinner at one of their favorite Italian restaurants. On our walk back to the hotel we passed a couple of doors with red lights outside and oddly, girls in bikinis in the window. Fortunately the kids didn't pick up on this odd circumstance. Still exhausted from the jet lag the family went to bed early.



Lots of shoulder rides. Uncle Tobey's shoulders were their favorite to get a few inches higher.

 

World's largest bicycle parking lot!

Wonder what the mpg is on this car.

Day 3: Saturday
   We all woke up after what we thought was a full night's sleep only to realize that it was only 2am. The kid's first real experience with serious jet lag made for an interesting early morning watching ski jumping on TV. At 6am the whole family went down to the gym and worked out. It was pretty amusing watching the kids "workout" on the equipment that was way too big for them. Regardless, they had a blast and the trips to the gym became a routine and a bit of an obsession for Tyler. He even started tracking the number of calories he was burning. I wonder where he gets it...
   At 7am we decided we would go for a walk near the hotel to look for a nice breakfast place. We were informed by the concierge on our way out that people in Amsterdam are lazy and they don't eat breakfast until 9:30. We decided to see for ourselves anyway. Turns out he was right and being that sunrise wasn't until 8:30 it turned into a really weird experience. It was dark, very few people were out, mostly from being out all night, and nothing was open. It felt like 4am, except we had our kids with us. Maybe that was irresponsible parenting. We ended up back at the hotel eating a fantastic breakfast (free again...thanks Steve!).
   We walked to Tobey and Steve's apartment through the local street market where they do their weekly grocery shopping. The weather was cooperating so Tobey planned for all of us to go on a bike ride to a local park. We were able to rent a 3 person bike that Tobey rode with the kids while I rode Tobey's bike and Becky struggled to reach the pedals on Steve's bike. This turned out to be the highlight of our trip to Amsterdam. The kids absolutely loved it. Oh, and nobody wears helmets.










Awesome play structure in park we rode to

No pre-fabricated plastic play structures here

Walking home we went through a nighttime Christmas Market where they had some games for kids. They tried their hand at Robin Hood, an archery game trying to pop balloons with an arrow. Tyler did well and came really close, but Brady actually stepped up and popped a balloon on his second shot...of his life!

Nothing like a stuffed penguin to make it all worthwhile.

Day 4: Sunday
   We all slept in until 5:00. What a drastic improvement! After another of Tyler's workouts at the gym, Tobey and Peter took the train to pick up Mike and Betsy from the airport. After Mike and Betsy's much needed morning naps, that afternoon we took the ferry to De Pannenkoekenboot (pancake boat), all you can eat Dutch pancakes on a river cruise. They even had a giant ball pit in the basement of the boat. That was great until the end of the cruise after they closed the hatch to the ball pit. We couldn't find Brady and after a few anxious moments I decided to open the hatch to see if he might still be down there and thank goodness he was....very scared and upset. Hopefully there's no permanent post traumatic stress disorder.

De Pannenkoekenboot

A real house boat





Nap time on the pancake boat for Mike and Peter

That evening we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant of all places.

Day 5: Monday - Last full day in Amsterdam
   Another 5am awakening for all except Brady who we had to wake up at 7:45. Another trip to the gym for Tyler. Since Tobey and Steve had to work, we met Mike and Betsy at the Anne Frank house, waited in a very long line then had an interesting tour. Her story was really incredible and tragic. We were glad to better familiarize ourselves with it. We even learned that Anne was a Montessori student like Tyler and Brady!
   That afternoon Betsy, Mike and Peter went for a run while Becky and the kids went to a local park and hung out at Tobey and Steve's place. The boys made thank you cards then discovered how much fun it was to slide down their steep stairs.

Stair Sliding

 

View from the upstairs loft area.

   We all went to an Italian restaurant where the kids didn't exactly make it to the entrée portion of the dinner...

 

 

Nothing puts kids to sleep like adult conversation.

 

 

 

Mike and Betsy were nice enough to babysit the kids while the four of us took a brief tour of the Red Light District. It was certainly an eye opening (wide open) experience but also a bit depressing.

Day 6: Tuesday - Amsterdam to Paris
   We met at our hotel and the eight of us headed to the nearby train station to catch the high speed train to Paris.

 

Waiting for the train

Goodbye Amsterdam. We'll miss your canals, cycling culture, very tall people, tiny cars, wooden play structures, great food, real Heineken and especially that Salt-n-Pepa suite! Thank you Tobey and Steve for your hospitality and showing us around!