Canal Cruise

Great

This kind of puts a damper on our up-coming trip this weekend :(
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/25/turkish.plane.amsterdam/index.html

Walking, walking, and more walking

We started our day yesterday with a trip to the infamous red light district. The windows were full of almost nude women waving at passers-by. Not as exciting as I was expecting, but it was early afternoon, so I'm guessing it is a little more lively at night. They don't allow you to take pictures of the girls. The pimps are known to come out and smash your camera, or throw a bucket of water on you. So, no pics of the ladies. However, there were lots of places to buy marijuana seeds, so we snapped some pics.
We next ventured to The Dam, where my mom drug me into 30 million tourist shops. I was begging someone to shoot me in the head, but I don't think people carry guns here.
We then wandered over to the famous Anne Frank house. It was incredible to see. I felt like I had a tear in my eye the whole time though. They didn't allow pictures inside the house, unfortunately.
Sitting just outside the Anne Frank house.
We then walked to another tourist trap street, and on to central station for our ride home on the metro. Today we are going on a boat cruise of the canals. It is very tiring being a tourist.

Dinner

We went to dinner at Casa di David, on Singelgracht tonight. We thought the food was decent. We loved the atmosphere there! It was right overlooking the canal, just off the Spui. My mom and I both had pizza and Efe and Mason had pasta.

A little beer to go with our Italian food...
Mason took a picture of my mom and I while we were there. His hand was over the flash though, haha.
Sitting on a bench just outside the restaurant...

Our First Visitor

My mom is here! I will post updates of what we've been up to since she got here soon. Mason could not be happier.

Amstelveen

A nice suburb of Amsterdam. We enjoy the more laid back feel and a little breath from the city. I can't wait to see what it will look like in the Spring. I think it will be quite pretty with some leaves and flowers. I took this picture the other day because it isn't often that the sun is out.

The temperature here right now is fairly cold, but much warmer than what I'm used to in Indiana. Apparently, we are having one of the coldest winters that they have had in years and years here. It still is not as cold as what I'm used to though. Most days, the tempurature is high 30's to low 40's. Definitely warm enough to go out and walk around, but you aren't going to want to sit out and have a picnic (which Mason asked if we could do yesterday). It doesn't snow often, and when it does it is normally melted instantly on the ground. I am very happy for that because riding a bike in the snow is not fun at all. The locals here do not blink an eye over riding their bike miles in the cold. They just do it. I saw 3 people lugging a big screen television (in box) home on a bike one day!

This is one thing I find very peculiar, coming from a very cold state. There are flowers blooming in the winter. I have seen quite a few flowers. I took this picture yesterday, and you can see they are blooming, even though it is cold enough for a thin layer of ice to have formed over the canals.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Favorite Ice Cream

A couple conversations we have had over the past week...

From this morning...
Mason: "Mommy, can you guess which kind of ice cweam I like the best?"
Me: "Well, I think you like blueberry the best."
Mason: "No, I like cake the best (birthday cake flavor)."
Me: "Oh, I thought blueberry was your favorite."
Mason: "No (giving me a dirty look). Cake is the one I like the best, but bwueberry is my FAVORITE!"

Mason has 3 stuffed bunnies, Ruby, Max (who used to be named Emerald) and Emerald. Max is his favorite one.

Mason: "When Gwandma comes to visit, I'm going to let her have one of my bunnies."
Me: "Oh, that would be nice. Which one are you going to give her?"
Mason: "She can either have Wuby or Emewald."
Me: "What if Grandma wants to take Max?"
Mason: "No, she can't have Max because he would be weally scared."
Me: "Why would Max be scared?"
Mason: "Max is afraid of gwandmas. He doesn't like gwandmas, so he would be scared."

Indiana?

If you head to the country, it looks just like Indiana here. The only difference is that the grass is green during the winter because it seems to not get cold enough to kill it. Who knew?

My New Job Title:Stay at Home Mom

I was hoping my new life as a "lady of leisure" was going to include watching Soap Opera's and eating bon bons. Let's just say it hasn't been what I expected so far. I think this article pretty much sums it up.

Chocolate Fondue

Mason tried chocolate fondue this week for the first time. We went to a chocolate cafe downtown. It was sooooooo good. As you can see, Mason enjoyed it!

Trip outside the city

We went to visit the Muiden Castle this past Sunday. It was built in 1370. I find it so different that there are structures this old here. Last week, I went over to another expat's apartment. It is in the middle of the city, and was built 400 years ago. In the US, your house is old if it was built in 1930. Crazy. Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pictures.


They had a few activities for kids. One included this interactive game where the kids rode on this "horse" and tried to spear each other. Awesome.
My favorite part was walking on 700 year old stairs that were wobbly and looked like a broken neck waiting to happen.

Click here to view all of our photos.