Madurodam

Mini holland. We drove an hour and I thought it was included as a place to go on our museum cards...but it wasn't...and we drove an hour to get there so we paid the steep tourist price. It was neat and fun to see. The kids loved it and the weather was fantastic. Fun Saturday outing. :)

The had miniatures of the Muderslot castle we went to a while back and the media center museum as well. 

They had a fun playground that the kids enjoyed with a zip line and fun net swing.

Bike rack!!

Here, everyone rides bikes and has bags to carry things. I finally took my American bike in and they were able to add this rack... Now I just need to get some bags! Whoop whoop! :)

Sports day

8 weeks after arriving...

I can't believe it's been 8 weeks since we moved over. Time flies. They said it would take 2 weeks to get our residence cards, real verification from the govt that we are registered to live here. Well, as usual things took much longer than we were told. Shocking!? Ya right. Well, at least it's done and we can move on to the next thing. :)

We got the letters, so we skipped school, picked up our cards and played hookie the rest of the day. :) if you have to pay to go all the way into the city, €20, you might as well make a day of it, right?

(Clockwise) 

1) Waiting for the train to Amsterdam 

2)In Amsterdam near central station

3)Huge connect four on the roof of NEMO

4) In front of the walking bridge to NEMO (science museum)

Just out front with the water bucket wheel and a lesson on the Chaos theory :)

And the others are exploring inside

Roof top selfie, snack time, games on the roof and miss attitude 

Train ride back home

The weather was amazing, sunny and warm by the afternoon. It was a fun, successful trip into the city to get our business done and have done fun exploring a new museum. Can't wait to go back.

Ps everything at this museum was in Dutch and English, so it was SUPER fun to actually understand everything. Such a treat!!!! (Seriously!)

Organic farm field trip

Class field trip to an organic dairy/cheese farm today. The kids got to work at the farm and learn a lot about how the farm runs and things are produced. I am so glad I was able to go alone and see the excitement and joy in the kids faces as they spent the entire day outside having fun and learning. 

Playgrounds...very different than the US

back from 3/31. Just realized I never posted this. :)

Everything is bigger in the US. Here, playgrounds are so much simpler. The might have just a couple of swings, a "doughnut" like in the photo below and if you are SUPER lucky a bit of a climbing thing like in the background. The kids are dealing with it, to put it nicely. The more we explore, the more options we find. This one is part of a local public school that is not a far walk from our new place. Its adequate, and I am sure children find things to do...like run around, play ball, other things. Its all part of the adjustment. I have heard there are massive playgrounds at amusement like parks here, so I am sure that will be a real treat when we find our way there.

Tiny fridges

tiny fridges...mean tiny sized containers. I get why people have to go to the market every day with these tiny things! :)

Piano lessons

Mother's Day outing

So blessed to be the mom to my kids. It was a great Mother's Day. Thank you to my hubs for making sure it was fun and special. Missed seeing my mom, gma and mother in law today...but the miles will do that! Love you all and thinking about you so much! 

We discovered an incredible train museum down in Utrecht ( thinking you would love it Dad and Jaymin) they had trains from forever ago including one from WWII that was used by Hitler to transport people... Incredible sight. It's so different to see pictures of these things when you live in the states, but to see them in person, it's so mind blowing and powerful. 

We even went on a train ride (of course, what kind of train museum visit would it be without that!)

So many more things inside (like a replica of an old station and village...sounds boring, but it was amazing!) that were hard to take pictures of. Great find!

Media park

Dutch museum time.... What an interesting place to discover the history of Dutch television... If only we spoke Dutch and could understand one word!! Cool building and the kids had fun...success! 

Amsterdam

Friday we went to Amsterdam. Took the train in and everything! We had some business to conduct at IND...not all that we were hoping for, but some was taken care of. Afterwards we got lunch, walked around and took a canal cruise. It was really fun. We took the train home and picked up pizza to enjoy at home on our walk back from the train station. (Bc the place had 5 tables, all previously reserved... Such a different way here!)

 smallest house in Amsterdam...3 meters across (white one)

 Amsterdam Central Station

 Train ride home

 

Family bike ride

14K bike ride today...at least. We stopped for Dutch pancakes in Lage Vuursche. We also stopped at a neat labrynth on the way home. I can't believe how far these kids can bike... Especially the littlest!