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  • Amsterdam
    Day 5

    Home

    April 7 in England ⋅ 🌬 54 °F

    5am (4am UK time) Uber was waiting for us when we got down stairs. No bikes to dodge this morning and airport was empty. Flight was smooth and then a 1hr drive home to find our own taste of Holland that Joce and Hudson planted last fall. Looking forward to a nap but Amsterdam lived up to the hype!Read more

  • Amsterdam
    Day 4

    Last Day in Amsterdam 😪

    April 6 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    No sleeping in Amsterdam! Up early to hit the Rijksmuseum. The audio tours were down so we were a bit on our own today. We saw the highlights almost had a Deja vu of losing a kid (Hudson) like we did in Cinderella’s castle this past summer (Elliot). He somehow worked out how to find a restroom 2 floors down. We spent about 2 hours there (enjoying the museum, not looking for H) and went off in search of a fabulous Indonesian lunch (Indonesia = Netherlands like India=England). We found a great spot and Tige, H and I had a rice table that included 12 delicious meat/fish/veg dishes. Other kiddos had a bright, brothy chicken soup.
    So yummy! Happy they let me go for it. Next we went through the bloomenmarket and saw so many flowers, and souvenirs. We crossed off the magnets and wooden shoe items and headed to try the delicious homemade Stroopwafels. Two thin waffles with caramel between, dipped in chocolate and Oreo, caramel cubes, blueberries. They made them fresh in front of you which was pretty cool. We tried them all and all were delicious. Next we shopped around the 9 streets and headed eventually to Vondelpark. Imagine the first 75 degree day in any cold midwestern city. Everyone outside on blankets and playing and enjoying the day. Found a sweet playground, did a crossword and had some Heinekens and relaxed. We went back to a yummy Mediterranean place we saw yesterday for dinner and walked back and packed up. Headed back tomorrow very early, need to be in the Uber at 5am.    Read more

  • Amsterdam
    Day 3

    Walking tour, canal ride and Van Gogh

    April 5 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Today was a full day. Still not fully recovered from our late night arrival on day 1, we ate in and took the tram to central Amsterdam for our walking tour. It was wet and windy and cool today but we had a good guide. We got to see the crooked/sinking houses, Anne Frank’s house, a 500 year old wooden house painted black and the beautiful canals and even a boat fishing bikes out of them. We also learned that the ‘XXX’ that is everywhere in Amsterdam is actually three crosses. We ended at a coffee shop which the boys fortunately didn’t seem to understand. We then made our way to lunch - Joce found a delicious Dutch place called the Pantry with an amazing pea soup and pork chop and delicious sausage and mash. After lunch, our boat tour was slightly delayed because of the weather but it ended up being the highlight of the day. Not only did we have SUN! but also a great guide and snacks and drinks were included. While Joce and I enjoyed Heineken and wine, the kids all got two sodas and so much Gouda that they almost ran out. We even got to see the bridge and houseboat from Ted Lasso. It was a good afternoon. After the canal tour, we had reservations at the Van Gogh museum. There was a treasure hunt for the kids which they always enjoy. The museum was large and it was a nice break from the wind. We spent two hours before making our way back home in the evening. We dropped the kids off before picking up pizza from across the street and eating in while watching Mission Impossible. Showers and bed - we are all tired. Looking forward to some beautiful weather forecasted for tomorrow.Read more

  • Amsterdam
    1
    Day 2

    Keukenhof and Zaanse Schans

    April 4 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    Today was a super fun day outside of Amsterdam. Tige had the great idea to rent a car for the day and got up early to tram over to get it while I went to the market and handled breakfast. Our place is so cute and the kitchen is one of the best stocked that we have ever stayed in. He picked us up and we headed to Keukenhof (the amazing tulip/flower farm about 45 min away). It is the 75th anniversary this year and each year the gardens start in October and plant 7 million bulbs over 3 months. They get 8 weeks of flowers. They did not disappoint! Absolutely gorgeous. Pavilions filled with roses and orchids and more varieties of tulips than I ever thought possible. Kids love it too. Also had a cool playground, the most delicious mini Dutch pancakes with powdered sugar and Nutella, a maze (girls rule, boys drool) and beautiful lambs and baby goats to pet. We had a great food truck lunch of croquettes, pasta and fries (w/mayo of course) before heading out.

    Our next stop was Zaanse Schans museum of Dutch history, a Verkade chocolate factory exhibit complete with biscuits and games and a long walk through the 11 windmills along the path. We made it just in time to see the cheese house and tried many samples (but not the ones Hudson coughed on) and settled on a truffled cows milk cheese and a spicy chili cows milk cheese to take home (family agreement:).

    We drove to the next village and had a delicious Indian meal in a family run spot (other than looking over and seeing H crying because his chicken curry was too hot😬). We solved it with butter chicken and all was well. Headed home to the apartment and then Tige took the car back and we are in for the night. Looking forward to heading into the city tomorrow.    Read more

  • Amsterdam
    1
    Day 1

    Amsterdam!

    April 3 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☁️ 54 °F

    Joce and I skipped out of work early and picked the kids and luggage up at home before making the 90 min drive to Stansted airport. After parking and walking to the terminal, bag drop and security were a breeze and we had 2 hours to kill. Dinner at BK (Joce’s favourite) before making our way to the gate for our delayed flight. (Flashbacks to our last time here when we had to sprint through the airport on our first summer trip flight to Venice - much better this time around). An easy 40 min flight and then an Uber to our flat. The stairs to the 3rd floor were quite intimidating! The flat extends to a 4th floor with a beautiful sitting room and kitchen (and window rope swing!) and then to a rooftop deck. Looking forward to checking that out in the daylight. After midnight here so kids off to bed while we prepare for tomorrow - tulips await!Read more

  • Iceland
    Day 9

    Home

    February 17 in Iceland ⋅ 🌬 39 °F

    We made it home without issue (though a little scare when a passenger collapsed half way through the flight). Much warmer here. Sad our trip is over but looking forward to our own beds tonight! Lots of good times and can’t wait to go back in the summer.Read more

  • Iceland
    Day 8

    Last Day in Iceland

    February 16 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 36 °F

    We had a great last day in Reykjavik. Elliot and I went to the best bakery in town to get Snúður - the popular Icelandic cinnamon roll. The place was packed (a good sign) and we got a batch fresh from the oven... they lived up to the hype and didn't last long. Then we walked around Reykjavik and did some tourist shopping. I found an amazing raincoat at Reykjavik Raincoats which should come in handy back home. Jocelyn found an Icelandic wool sweater at the same shop before we get to a souvenir shop to score t-shirts, coffee mugs, sweatshirts and magnets to bring home. We decided to walk down to the sea to see the Sun Voyager - a beautiful Viking ship sculpture. That walk took us along the seafront to our lunch destination at the popular hot dog stand Baejarins Beztu Pylsur. Another long (and this time, much colder) line and, again, another hit. Fried and fresh onions along with a special sauce made it worth the wait. On our way back into town, we walked up the famous Rainbow Road (or Skólavörðustígur) on the way back to the church where we had parked. We then made the drive to the Blue Lagoon. This was the first thing we planned on the trip and one of the more popular destinations in Iceland but it has been closed for the last 10 days because of an eruption. Even after our AirBnB host recommended we not go because of the lava flows, we made the trip in about 75 minutes since we had to detour around closed roads from the lava. It was certainly a good decision as we had a great time. Everyone had face masks while soaking in the briny mix which has a strong light blue color from the algae and minerals. The place was enormous and even in 2.5 hours, we didn't explore the entire pool but we all had a drink from the bar and had a very relaxing afternoon in the steam clouds coming out of the pool. After the drive home, we were starving and immediately went to dinner. Unfortunately, our day ended on a sour note with probably the worst food on the trip. But we had a great and full day and now home to pack up for our flight tomorrow. No aurora expected tonight but we are so fortunate to have seen it on Tuesday. We had an amazing stay but all good times must come to an end and tomorrow we fly out early.Read more

  • Iceland
    Day 7

    Reykjavík

    February 15 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 36 °F

    We woke up and had a delicious pancake breakfast, packed up and headed toward Reykjavík which was a 2 hour drive. We had tickets to an interactive museum called Perlan, which was actually very cool. They showed a cool planetarium film about the auroras and another about the volcanic eruptions of 2021 that lasted 6 months. We learned about wildlife and visited an ice cave that was surprisingly accurate. We learned about glacier formation and speed of changes. The latter was pretty sad actually as it highlighted how fast we are losing glaciers worldwide. We tried some Icelandic ice cream (delicious) for lunch. Next we went to the iconic Lutheran church Hallgrimskirkja. We made it just in time to see the tower and had amazing views of the city.

    After the church we went back to our AirBnb and checked in. It is right above a busy shopping area with plenty of places we planned to check out tomorrow. Tige surprised me with Icelandic cinnamon donut holes drizzled with honey and sesame seeds and a musical candle like one we had for a birthday that sang for weeks in the garage in Texas.

    We fixed dinner for the kids and went out for a delicious birthday dinner at the Icelandic restaurant called Kol. Super yummy tasing menu for the restaurant’s birthday, def recommend. After dinner we walked for a bit before we headed home. A memorable birthday for sure.    Read more

  • Iceland
    1
    Day 6

    Into the glacier

    February 14 in Iceland ⋅ ❄️ 32 °F

    Today we were up with the sunrise to get ready for our excursion for the day. We booked a tour called Into the Glacier and drove to a nearby town called Husafell to meet the group and get into our crazy big super jeep (it holds about 50 people and has enormous tires). We even met a woman from Texas who was from SA and lives in Spring Branch. We drove for about 1 hour and 15 minutes around the surface of the glacier Langjokull. There are 13 glaciers in Iceland (including offshoots 269 named glaciers). One glacier has already died in 2015. Langjokull is the second largest glacier in Europe. The drive up the surface of the glacier was breathtaking and we stopped halfway (it was a bathroom break but there was snow covering the building so only the boys could take advantage of the break:)

    The tour takes you to a man-made tunnel into the glacier. The tunnel is 900m long and at the deepest you are 50m under the ice. It was crazy to experience being inside the glacier and they even had different little rooms in various states of compression from the weight of the glacier as it changes. They asked for a volunteer to sing and Gid bravely sang a verse of Imagine Dragons’ I bet my life. This was followed by Happy Birthday for me, which was very sweet. The tour lasted about 4 hours.

    After the tour we went back to the house and had lunch. The kids played outside and we tried out the hot tub (which was so hot it was even too much for me) but I let the kids play with snow and that helped. Gideon is a snow bird for sure. We have to force him to come in every time. We just hung out playing games and watching movies, enjoying our last night. It was a good day.    Read more

  • Iceland
    Day 5

    Chill/travel day

    February 13 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 23 °F

    Today was a relaxing day. Had a good breakfast and packed up. Apparently all of the farm’s animals were going crazy, there were horses and cows out of their fences running on the road. We headed out to the Secret Lagoon (not going to be the weirdos taking photos at a small hot spring, so no pics). It is the oldest pool (hot spring) in Iceland, used since the 1940s. It is fed by a natural hot spring that is 80-100C. Super relaxing once we got through the hectic changing and shower rooms. We stayed for about an hour, showered again and started our drive toward our next bnb in Ysatmoar. We made lunch in the car on the drive, which was about 2.5 hours in total. We stopped in Borgarnes (which was beautiful but the shops were very simple). 45 minutes and tons of Icelandic horses later we found our next farmhouse. It is super cute and we unloaded just in time for an incredible sunset.

    Big adventure planned for tomorrow so after watching half of Top Gun Maverick we sent the kiddos to bed.

    Edited at 11p: massive northern lights display tonight. E and Connie with us. Hudson kept just covering himself back up and we dressed Gid sleeping and Tige carried him out without boots and he immediately asked to go in. Pics don’t do it justice. Nothing like this!    Read more

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