For our final full day in Amsterdam, we headed to the NEMO Science Museum.
We started the morning with yet another breakfast at the cute little eatery up the street from our place...
Then we walked over to the museum, enjoying the streets of Amsterdam along the way.
Even the area outside the museum was full of things to look at!
These two and their maps make me smile =)
The museum had several levels, including an entire sloping roof top area. We were all a little overwhelmed when we first went inside, and I kept making sure I could see both kids...I was extra nervous about losing a kiddo while we were traveling! I knew so little about the areas we were in! Our phones worked in every country we stayed in, and our kids know the numbers by heart, and nearly everyone spoke English in Paris, Amsterdam, and Iceland...but still, is it 911 in this country? I don't know. If we get separated, are the kids going to be able to communicate with someone to help them call us? I don't know.
(Welcome to my anxious momma heart. It's messy in there, huh? ;) )
So, it took me lots of some time to relax and really appreciate how cool this place was, but once I did, I was so thankful to get to experience visiting a Children's Museum in Holland!
Ok these pictures don't quite do justice how cool this little illusion area was...
This little crooked house that played tricks on perspective could have entertained me for hours.
The Dutch are much more liberated when it comes to sex and such things...and at times this felt like quite a shock after living in the Middle East for two years!
This was an exhibit on drug use. It identified different drugs, and showed you what the effects of each one were.
This was another one of those things that really stood out to me. Like, "we're just talking about this openly?! Wow!" because Kuwait was just so incredibly conservative about nearly everything.
I loved reading all about bilirubin lights.
What a neat thing.
My niece was a micro-preemie at birth, and I clearly remember seeing pics of her wrapped up in bumpers just like that while under those lights!
The view from the roof was really great!
I think Amsterdam is so, so pretty.
I think Amsterdam is so, so pretty.
The kids were making different fountains pop up at different times...
Dave and I kept saying to each other how thankful we were for this time in Europe.
We had packed up our family back in the summer of 2015 and headed to a place we'd never been to start a new life for two years. It had been quite an adventure, and to be really honest, we'd considered giving up and coming home that first spring...when I fractured my toe just eight weeks after emergency surgery...but we are both so very grateful we didn't. Things started to really turn around right after all that. We started to find our groove over there, and man am I so grateful we stuck it out because we made some amazing Forever Friends, and had some incredible experiences.
This time traveling around on vacation felt like the culmination of all of it.
And there was a slight sense of victory as well.
This time traveling around on vacation felt like the culmination of all of it.
And there was a slight sense of victory as well.
We DID it.
We've got mad selfie skills.
We walked back home and spent the rest of the afternoon playing out front...
And Dave and I took turns going for walks around the area sans kids...
Gah.
I mean, isn't Amsterdam so cool looking?!?
I just fell in love.
We all did.
Our only regret was we didn't have more time! When we'd planned the trip, we'd thought five nights would be plenty, but there was just so much to see and do, and I felt like we could have soaked it up for another month, at least.
I'm pretty sure I want to retire there =).
