Amsterdam

Last weekend, we enjoyed a beautiful weekend in Amsterdam. We wanted to see the tulips at Keukenhof (post coming soon) before the garden closes on 18 May, and since Jason was awarded a 3-day weekend, we decided to add Amsterdam, which is only 30 minutes away.

We stayed at a wonderful bed and breakfast in a residential area on a street connected to Vondel Park. Since we planned this trip at the last minute, it took me two days to find lodging. I wasn't confident that I was going to like where we were staying. Turns out, the Lord blessed us beyond measure and this was the best place we've stayed in all of our European travels!

Our host, Els, was so hospitable. She is a widow of about 7 years, has two teenage boys, and runs a catering service. She owns the entire building and her family occupies the ground floor and the second floor. She rents out two rooms on the first floor and they are beautiful and quite spacious for what you normally get in Europe. Every morning, she brought us fresh bread, rolls and croissants along with homemade blackberry jam. Yum! What made our stay even more special...we were her very first customers! Here is a photo of the outside of her home and another of the room we stayed in.
Vondelkerkstraat, 12:

We arrived Saturday morning. Once we got settled, we walked to the end our our street and entered the park for a stroll to the museums. Along the way, we found a large play area with lots of children. It was lovely seeing families lounging on benches or enjoying lunches or naps on blankets in the grass. There were many children running around completely naked! Most of them were toddlers, but there were a few 5 or 6 year-olds enjoying the fountain and wet sand without any clothes on. We wanted Jackson to enjoy himself, so we took him over to play. After being in the sand for five minutes, I understood why so many children were without clothes. Here are a few photos of Jackson enjoying the sand:

This ball goes wherever we go. It's a very important ball!

Everything must go into the mouth!

Checking out the other boy's ball: Do I need to mention that he loves balls?!

After some fun in the sand, we went to the Van Gogh museum. Jackson had fallen asleep in the stroller, and we were excited to tour the museum in peace. Not even 30 minutes after we started our tour, our little man woke up. Very quickly, we decided that museums were not an option for us at this point in our lives. Jackson doesn't enjoy them and we don't either because we get so stressed just trying to keep him quiet.

Boat tours, on the other hand, work nicely. This wasn't the most spectacular tour, (sorry Rick Steves'), but it did give our legs a rest. Jackson enjoyed looking out the window and flipping through our travel book. We tried to keep him (and anything he touched) inside the boat. There was a family sitting across from us. I'd like to think that they kept staring at us because they thought Jackson was so cute; however, I'm afraid they thought we were irresponsible parents for allowing our 17-month-old to sit on the table so close to the open window. I can promise you that if our hands weren't touching him, they were no more than two inches from him. There is no way we would let our precious joy fall out of the boat!

We didn't take many photos of the city. Carrying around the camera and travel book while juggling the tired toddler can really take the fun out of the vacation. We wanted to enjoy ourselves more than capture memories.

Royal Palace:

Anne Frank House:

The Anne Frank House was our favorite sight in the city. The tour of the "Secret Annex" with the photos, videos, and explanations is put together excellently and breaks your heart over what the Frank family and so many others experienced during the Holocaust.

After Anne Frank, we had a fulfilling and relaxing lunch at the Pancake Bakery.

One of my favorite things about this city is their use of bicycles. In my ideal world, I would not have a car and would bike or walk everywhere. I love it! It's the best way to get around this city. Our host's boyfriend, Andre, blessed us with his bike and Els's son's bike so that we could enjoy the city on bike. (We had planned to rent bikes, but once we finished site-seeing, there wasn't much time to make it to the rental place.) This was the highlight of my trip!

I told Jason that he should just find a job in Holland. Then, I could get one of these:

The parking garage for bikes:

Sunday evening, Jackson enjoyed more fun at the park. I have never seen a park as crowded as this one. Monday was their country's liberation day, so people were out enjoying holiday festivities. I didn't get photos of it because we were biking, but there were people everywhere! Near this play area, it wasn't nearly as crowded.
Jackson calls most things, "This." That is what he's saying in this photo:

Pouring sand down his shirt...

So we took the clothes off...

Pouring sand on his head:

Kicking the ball (the precious) with daddy:

We had so much fun at Vondel Park because we love watching Jackers have fun. Thank you, Lord, for giving us a wonderful place to stay so close to the park!

The next morning, we headed to Keukenhof and then made a spontaneous trip to the North Sea for Jackson's first experience at the beach. Those posts will come as soon as I get more time!