Oue Weekend: Etiquette and Trains

Last night Bas and I went out for dinner with Bas's family. This was a dinner that was included in the prize his parents won last June from Princess appliances. Since the prize was about hospitality, the dinner was an etiquette dinner. The restaurant was a very nice one in the town where Bas grew up, Vijfhuizen. There was an etiquette expert we instructed us throughout the 5 course meal which was also accompanied by a wine with each course (yes, I was on my ... by the end of the evening). Being the American that I am, I of course ask"Are you ever allowed to ask the people smoking at the table next to you to stop?" I knew the answer but still had to ask as I think 90% of Amsterdammers smoke in restaurants.

As for Saturday, it was all about trains. Bas and Max played with Max's Thomas train for about 3 1/2 hours. I am amazed by Bas and also thankful since there is no way I could have done this. Bas loves to play with Max. Once again, the thought crosses my mind that God knew what he was doing when he gave us a boy.

My Amazing Husband

Bas came home from work on Monday night and I hit him with" I want to go home." For all of you who know me well, this doesn't mean Amsterdam. So he looks at me and says "OK". No questions about why I want to go or how much the tickets cost. Just "OK". Isn't he amazing? And he is only complaining just a bit about me taking his boy away from him for 2 weeks.
All of this translates to Max and I hopping on a KLM flight on April 3 and returning on April 16 with my mom(she's doing a cooking class in London with Deb Essenburg). When I called my mom up to tell her what the plan was, her first question was "Does this mean you won't come home this summer?" The absurdity...of course I'm still coming home this summer.

A Weekend with the van den Bergs

This weekend Bas's parents (whom I refer to as Oma and Opa) took the whole family away for a weekend in Noordwijk to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary. The boys did some swimming, we all went on a walk through the dunes along the North Sea and we enjoyed a very nice dinner together last night. It was a challenge for me as the chosen language of the weekend was Dutch. I did more communicating with the kids than the adults. In the photo above with Oma and Opa is Thijs(3) , Max (2), and Juliette(1). It was nice to have the whole family together as this doesn't happen very often.

Dogs...you all know how I feel about them

Last night I went out for dinner with my friend Heidi (she is my only Dutch friend by the way). We do this once a month, where we try new restaurants in Amsterdam. It's a fun way to get together with Heidi and catch up since she moved a half hour away.

Anyway last night started out normal with us hopping on our bikes (yes, I am sore today) and riding to the chosen restaurant in the Pijp. The restaurant was called Al A Ferma and it looked nice as we walked through the door. The evening proceeded nicely even though the food was no standout. Toward the end of the meal, there was this loud whine accompanied by some barking. A DOG!

Why do people take dogs with them to dinner, black labs no less, so we're not talking little Paris or Britney dogs here? I don't get it. And why do restaurant owners allow them in?

Needless to say, I couldn't wait for the dog to leave the restaurant and wouldn't relax until he did. Even when the dog owner walked by me and her purse bumped me, I thought it was the dog and about fell off my chair I jumped so high.

I may have lived in Europe for over 4 years now...but this is definitely one way in which I am not European...not at all.

A Saturday Afternoon Stroll

Since it was a partly sunny afternoon today, we decided to take a walk/ride around the island. As you can see by the pics, there were some British and Dutch navy boats parked across the canal from us. For those of you who have never been to visit, we live on an island in the old harbor of Amsterdam. There is a new more modern harbor built, but tourist boats such as cruise ships and riverboats still dock on our canal.After the "bootjes kijken" (looking at the boats), we visited a little park. I was a bit nervous but Max climbed up the slide just fine even though his favorite new saying is "Ik kan niet" meaning "I can't". As you might notice by all the Dutch on this blog, Max is speaking more and more of it. In fact, I think he's now speaking more Dutch than English...I'm screwed.After the park it was more biking for Max with me running after him trying to make sure he didn't fall into any of the canals and trying to make sure he didn't ride through any really deep puddles. But of course I was too slow and he seemed to be a magnet to the really deep ones. Sometimes I think I get these really clear glimpses of what Bas must have been like as a child...naughty.We ended the day by hopping in the car and going out for some Chinese. Max ate a meal (cashews and some rice)for the first time in 3 days. We were happy. On the way home, as we pull into the parking garage, Max loves to climb into the front seat and "drive". He is such a boy!

"Where Grandma Now?"

This is what Max said this morning after waking up, looking through the house, and Grandma was no where to be found. Grandma left this morning and we are already sad. We had such a good time during her visit. The long rainy Amsterdam days go by much faster when Grandma is here. Thankfully yesterday mom and I had a sunny day to do some shopping in city center while Max was at Pueterspeelzaal (literally play school).

But we can't be too sad, Grandma will be back for a visit in 6 weeks!

Vakantie in Dubai

Last week we went on vacation to Dubai. Located on the Persian Gulf, it is part of the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East. The city is growing tremendously. Right now it has 1/3 of the worlds building cranes in use. It is skyscraper after skyscraper under construction. But the country is still very Muslim and you are reminded of this when the person standing in front of you in line at Starbucks is a woman covered in head to toe black. The weather was beautiful as was the beach. We had a great time ...up until Max ended up in the hospital for a couple days. Not the ideal way to spend a vacation.