Amsterdam

We are headed home from our trip to Amsterdam, and we had such a fun experience. We rented a car and made the six-hour drive quite easily. We ran into a little traffic once we got into the Netherlands, but we arrived at our hotel with enough time to head downtown, grab some dinner and look around. Our hotel was great - a bit outside the city-center, but it was clean and quiet.

We walked around for a bit in search of the perfect spot for dinner. We wanted something traditionally Dutch, and settled for a cute little pub. Vic ordered croquettes - which look like mozzarella cheese sticks, but are filled with gravy and meat. The waitress talked me into, hutspot, a mashed potato and meatball mix. It didn't sound appealing, but she swore that I would like it. Both meals were really good, and we washed them down with a couple pints of beer! Elliott stuck to his typical French fries, and the waitress kept sneaking him cookies.

There happened to be a fair going on, so we decided to hang out there, and keep the sightseeing for the next day. Elliott had a blast riding rides, and we found some amazing treats.

One of the many penis-shaped items we saw in our two days. Seriously, there were penises everywhere.

These were waffles covered in powdered sugar, whipped cream and strawberries. Vic has, very much, been missing American funnel cakes, and these did everything to beat his craving. He is still talking about how good they were.

We headed back in order to get a good night of sleep because we were planning on a very full day of sightseeing.

We had our second day pretty much planned out. We knew we wanted to tour the Heineken factory, and we wanted to do it early since we were dragging along a child. We actually ended up being one of the first people there when they opened the doors. The tour was really neat, and Elliott, actually, enjoyed himself. It was very interactive and self-guided ... and there was free beer, so everyone had a good time.

He had so much fun ...

Dancing in the "club" ...

Awesome light display ...

After the tour, we headed to a cute little brownstone restaurant right across the street. Vic ordered some more croquettes and I enjoyed some sort of strange ham sandwich. 

We jumped back onto the tram - in the search for Ann Frank's house. The public transportation in Amsterdam was too easy - it definitely ranks in the top few of the cities we have visited. Amsterdam does rank in the bottom as far as public restrooms. There was no bathroom access - unless you were a customer of an establishment. Even the train station didn't have public bathrooms. This certainly complicated things while toting around a two-year-old who has to pee every hour. They did have these caged in urinals for men to pee on the street, but we weren't brave enough to risk the germs in one of those. I really wish I would have taken a picture of one!

Even their statues are penis-shaped ...

Tickets to the Ann Frank house were sold out online, and the line to buy them at the actual museum wrapped around the block. I would have loved to tour the inside, but standing in line for hours with Elliott was just not going to happen. We settled for some photos outside and enjoyed some pretty views from the bank of the water across the street. I loved all the canals and boats.

Everyone told us that we had to, at least, walk through the Red Light District, and Elliott was napping, so it was the perfect opportunity. Obviously the prostitution was not in full-swing during the daylight, but it did not stop the marijuana smoking! It was pretty funny to see people sitting outside, enjoying their lunch, and smoking a big ol' joint ... haha. I was really expecting people to be acting crazy, but we only saw one guy who had, clearly, over-indulged on the drugs.

A "coffee shop" ;)

Drinking a beer in the red-light district. So fun to people watch ...

Amazing treats ... probably very much enjoyed by people who just smoked a whole bunch of weed ...

The city is very open a free about their tolerance of sex and drugs. You, literally, see drug and sex paraphernalia EVERYWHERE! The people were all so nice and laid-back though ... which makes sense to me!

Seriously, penises in a cute little pottery store ...

Penis street barricades ...

We spent the rest of our day just walking around and enjoying the atmosphere. We choose an Argentinian steakhouse for dinner, and it did not disappoint.

We headed back to the fair after dinner - mostly so Elliott could enjoy himself, and for more dessert. I tried the waffle creation again - this time I got it smothered in chocolate sauce. Oh my gosh ... so amazing.

He picked the tank again ...

Vic saw a great opportunity to win Elliott a prize, and, of course, he succeeded. There was a younger guy standing nearby (the guy in the right of the picture below) who was watching Vic in amazement. He couldn't believe that he had hit 12 straight targets. He went up to Vic to congratulate him and said, "yo man, are you a cop?" Haha ... he was so impressed. 

That was the end of our Amsterdam adventure. We headed back to the train station and made the trek back to our hotel.

Like always, I wish we had a few more days in this city. If we had more time here - it would definitely be a place we returned to. We have one more free weekend and then we're off on our week-long cruise!!

  

Cooties.

I wish I had more time to update this thing! Elliott woke up today with a little stomach virus, and I jumped at the opportunity to stay home for the day with hi. As much as I love that he has so much fun at daycare - I miss hanging out with him ... and, let's face it, I didn't want to go to work either.

Elliott was spoiled rotten with care packages last week from Nana Jen and Poppy and RaeRae. My mom sends so much stuff that Elliott is convinced that whenever he gets something new - it's from Nana. If Vic and I buy him a toy he'll say, "oh, Nana bought me dis?" Haha ... either way, he's spoiled rotten, but he definitely appreciated all the presents. This is the aftermath ...

I always mean to take some pictures of E and his friends at daycare, but by the time I get to work I'm rushing to drop him off in order to get to my classroom on time. I did have a brief moment the other day when they were sitting down to wait to brush their teeth. If I have learned anything from working in a daycare - it is what a sweet little angel he really is ...

This is how we found him when we went into his room to pick him up. Vic and I were dying laughing ... haha, we are going to try to grow out his hair a bit for winter, and we want to see if his curls are still around!

The other morning E had something shining out of his ear. I reached in to wipe it away, and it was his tube from over a year ago! So gross, but kind of cool. I called the doctor, and apparently there are no issues, and he isn't having any problems. Yuck ...

We headed down to Oktoberfest last weekend and had a great day. We really lucked out with the trip. We left early enough to miss the crazy traffic, and were actually able to find seats. We shared a train car with some pretty rowdy Germans who entertained us most of the way. We were not able to get into an actual tent once we got to the fest, but we found some great seats at a beer garden. I have some great pictures of us enjoying the "festivities", but I have to wait a couple more weeks to post them ... because of some Army rules ...

Our drindl and lederhosen were cute, but so uncomfortable!! I don't think we have ever been so relived to get home and changed ...

The whole group! So, Oktoberfest is really just a big fair with a ton of beer. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was a little surprised that people come from all of the world for this. I am certainly glad that we went, but I think three years in Germany had raised my expectations a little high on what we were going to encounter!

The boys winning us some prizes!

My favorite part of the day came on the train ride home. There was a soldier headed back to Grafenwoehr who was so obnoxiously drunk - talking so loud, cursing, and falling down. Everyone was annoyed with him, and he was making all of us Americans look bad. Anyway, when we got to our last stop he was playing around and falling down in his seat, and the train doors ended up closing in his face ... hilariously trapping him in the car and leaving him banging on the windows for his friends - who had made it off the train in time. It was a pretty funny sight as the train took off and the look of panic set in on his face. I'm not sure where the next stop was, or how he was going to find his way home in his drunken state, but it made for a pretty good laugh.

Elliott has learned so many new songs at daycare ... that he sings/annoys us with at home. This one is my favorite ...

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee ... won't my mama be so proud of me! I like the part when he tells me to stop singing ... haha. My big brother and I used to sing this all the time!