Amsterdam - the first few days

We made it! 

The train ride was so pretty, but we were SO HAPPY to be in Amsterdam!

I'd flown into and out of Amsterdam on my way to and from Portland for my sister's wedding, and just what I saw from the airport I'd adored! I really, really wanted to come back and visit for a bit before we headed back to the States, and I'm so glad we were able to make it happen.

I pretty much fell in love with Amsterdam. 

I kept asking David "don't they need ESL teachers here? Can't we just live here?" and he kept replying "Kendra, why are you choosing to ignore that everyone here already speaks English?" 

Because I was willing it to be so.

Anyways.

Well we may not get to live there, it sure was a fabulous five days.

We rented an Airbnb right near downtown, and it had a lovely little play area directly in front of our door...

The kids thought this was pretty fantastic...

There was a houseboat (with rooftop patio!) and crane blocking our view of the canal from our front door...

But you could easily walk over and peak at it...

The place was super cute...

...and we settled in quickly =)

It had a living room, kitchen, and half bath upstairs, and then down the spiral staircase to two bedrooms and a bathroom...

the world's tiniest bathroom sink ...

Okay, so you're gonna need to brace yourself for 8472 pictures of canals, boats and rowhouses. Just accept it. It's happening.

Amsterdam was just so lovely.

I could not help myself.

We decided to take a walk around and explore downtown...

I could not get over how seriously adorable these tiny little cars were! 

And that teeny spare tire? I die!

And when you're in Holland, you must drink Heineken...

 



 



 

 

 

 (she was pretending to be a kitty cat asleep up here...she's not sad or in trouble or anything ;) )

Our second evening there, after the kids were in bed for the night, I sat on the windowsill with a glass of wine and watched the sunset over the canal...

I remember this so vividly.
I was thinking about how beautiful Amsterdam was, and how lucky I felt to be able to spend five days there with my family. And how we'd just been in lovely Paris with great friends. And how we were headed to see Iceland soon. And how we'd survived - and eventually, thrived, - spending two years living in the Middle East together.

I looked over at David and told him in that moment, it'd all been worth it. Every single moment. Even with the challenges and hard times and medical scares and just all of it, I still felt just so incredibly blessed to be sitting there, slowly sipping a glass of wine, watching nighttime appear over the nearby canal, having spent the day wondering around Amsterdam.

On to Amsterdam!

We got in late from Disneyland, and Tuesday morning when our friends came into their living room, we looked like this:

Those are four exhausted people, not awoken by the sunlight streaming in, or the person entering the room.

We got up, said our goodbyes, and they left for school/work while we finished our packing and caught our taxi to take us to the train station...

This next picture is so funny, because the taxi driver had told us to beware of pick-pockets while we were in the train station. So Brother is valiantly guarding our luggage here, as he was SURE that gentleman next to him was a pick-pocket...

I was crazy proud of our kids during this time. 

We had four good sized suitcases, a carry-on suitcase, my giant bag, four backpacks, my large purse, and a partridge in a pear tree.

It was not easy navigating all of that luggage through a narrow train station.

But our kids really owned the problem with us and each pulled a suitcase and wore a backpack, all while (mostly) keeping up and (mostly) not complaining...

TROOPERS!

Finally, we were on our high-speed train and headed to Amsterdam!

The high-speed train was really cool! We enjoyed the views between Paris and Amsterdam a lot. 

Next up, Amsterdam!