The last two weeks

Well, mom and Sean are on their way home after a great 2 weeks. We had such a good time with them here and are very sad that they had to leave. Sean did a great job updating the blog and Matt thinks we should outsource it to him! I seriously thought about it for about a minute and then decided that I will try to get back into the swing of regularly posting. It was such a nice day out yesterday so we left in the morning and went to the floating flower market and down Kalverstraat which is a huge shopping street and then to Dam Square which is were the Royal family lives and was the main square where people would do their buying and selling of goods. After that we went to lunch and then walked around again. The kids did great and it was a nice end to a great vacation. Sean has some pics that I will have to get from him and then post here.

Matt and I had a fantastic time in Cancun after a very tough first day with out the kids. It was SO HARD leaving them. Matt kept commenting on my "fragile emotional state." We were able to call home every other day which made being so far away much easier.

It was so nice to get away and spend time with Matt and I was so happy we could be at Jen and Jason's wedding. It was absolutely beautiful and they couldn't have asked for a better day. I was very surprised at the amount of strangers taking pictures and video- yes video of their wedding. I just am surprised that people would want pics and video of a wedding where they have never met the people!

We left Wednesday morning and arrived in Chicago around 1pm and then Bud and Jane met us for dinner. It was so nice to spend some time with them. It felt really strange to be in Chicago...so close to home. We spent the night in Chicago and left first thing Thursday morning for Cancun! We arrived 45 minutes early only to stand for 2 1/2 hours waiting to get through customs. Not so much fun.

We then took a shuttle to the hotel, checked in, found Jen, Jason, Kristy and Darren on the beach and that is pretty much where we spent the vacation! We went into town twice, took a day trip where we could snorkel and shop at a small island.

It was a great time (aside from Darren, Kristy and Jen getting food poisoning-NOT fun)!

View from our room

Vondel Park

Today we ventured out to Vondel Park! It was a beautiful day- The sun was out, no wind but a little chilly. We all bundled up and made the hike to the park. On the way there, I was very interested in seeing all of the different cars that they have here vs. what we have in America- personally- I love the cars here- just like the buildings- they have a little more "personality". While walking to the park, we crossed over a large bridge which was pretty neat to see. Then after the bridge, we walked through tunnel and I saw so many bikes parked-I couldn't believe it! Also in the picture of that, I got the other more common form of transport around here...The Tram! I also thought it was hilarious that their police cars are VW Golfs here-so I included a picture of that as well :)

   

     

Once we got into the park, it was really nice. The whole thing is kept up so well! With it even being the middle of winter here, they still had ground workers going around making sure everything was just right. Unfortunately there was nothing to really look at- plantwise because it IS winter here...

I really enjoyed the pond that they have in the park. It is really large and is home to a ton of bird life. It was really fun to see. We stopped off in a little alcove to watch the ducks and a flock of pigeons that greeted us looking for hand outs... Unfortunately we didn't have anything to give them. Mom tried making friends with one of the pigeons, but once he found out that she didn't have any food- he took off- haha

  

  

We then kept walking around the park and found a playground. We stopped to play but the equipment that was there was for older kids so Kaylin ended up just running around saying "Hi!' to every kid she saw. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that :( but I do have one of Shane while he was sitting in the stroller while Kaylin played. 

We then left the playground and the kids were starting to unravel so we headed home. The walk home was nice because we took a different way home than the way we took to the park. We got to see more city life, shops and so on- it was really fun. 

Finally we got home and the kids were relieved. They were ready for sight seeing to be done for the day. 

The rest of the day, we spent making dinner, playing with the kids and then having movie time before bed. Now Mom and I are sitting here watching "Little People Big World" I am very glad that we get some American channels here-You can only take so much of TV in dutch subtitled in English. Well thats it for today. Tomorrow brings a new day and more excitement!

One more thing...

So my sister thinks I am crazy...but I have to tell you all my thoughts about this- So there are seagulls here just like in America. They have the same coloring, same size and eat anything they can get their grubby little beaks on- the one difference I THINK is their squawking. I personally think that our lovely little seagulls squawk in America is ear piercing to the point of almost driving you insane. Here they have a lower decibel squawk that really is not annoying at all- sure they are still swarming around looking for food BUT their screeching is much more tollerable here than back in the states, which makes them not so annoying! Hmm... who would have thought seagulls not being annoying?!?...Just thought that was a funny little tid bit.  OH and when I said my sister thinks I am crazy- She doesn't hear the difference...but I think she has gotten so used to these pleasant gulls that she forgets how awful ours are! HAHA

or I could just be crazy...wait-no that can't be it.

The park and shopping

Today we went off to Beatrixpark park today. Kaylin was excited at bedtime last night about going to the park today! This morning, she talked about going to the park and asked who was going with her...As soon as she and Shane were in the stroller right outside of the house- she was sleeping. She slept for most of the time going to the park and once we got there and actually found some playground equipment for her to play on- it was all soaked from the rain! Scratch that idea. Instead we just walked around and took in the scenery. There was a lot of bird life which Kaylin really enjoyed. Shane slept from the second we left just to just about 15 min. before we got home. It was a nice outing. After the park we made it over to the market. That was pretty fun- Kaylin helped pick out food that she thought we needed and was very helpful holding the bag while we packed up the groceries. Again...Shane slept. HAHA Once we got home, we made lunch and just hung out. Its been a fun day! 

Below is an area of the park that I thought would look really neat during the spring/summer- so I took a picture of it in the winter so when I get back here in May I will go back and see if I was right or not! Then there are a couple pics of Mom and the kids.

    

   

   

Then in the park I saw some ducks I havent seen before- not saying that they arent in America- but just incase they aren't- I included pictures of them :) OH and then when we were exiting the park, that is the sky line that we saw- again- look at the buildings! there is one in the middle that has the widows "cut" out making a design in the building- it looks so cool in person!

And thats it for today- Time to start making dinner because the stove takes a while to warm up :( OH WELL!

Rain.

So, I know that I have been told this- probably about a hundred times...It rains in The Netherlands during their winter months...Yeah I get it- but seriously...Its got to stop some time for us to get out and explore with out getting soaked! Ok enough of that- but still on that subject a little...We played in the house yesterday because it was raining! HAHA Mom was ambitious and went out down the way to the grocery store- but other than that, it was an uneventful day. 

We took the kids downstairs to the basement to play. That was hilarious. Shane was crawling all over, and Kaylin was showing me how she rides her horse. 

 

Kaylin first started riding her horse, then decided that it was time for it to have dinner, so she went around and picked out a bunch of play food to feed her horse. 

     

Then she got tired of that and went to find her picture book that Sarah and Matt made for her. This picture book had pictures of friends and family for her to look at while she was on the plane and so she could play with it here too.

The funny thing is-once she found this book, she decided that the horse NEEDED to see all of the pictures in the book. So she went one by one, telling the horse who was in the picture, and then patted the horse while showing it the picture- HILARIOUS!

 

Later that day we painted with water colors. That was pretty fun. We were trying to get Kaylin to paint pictures for Mom and Dad- or Grandma and Grandpa...but she only wanted to paint pictures for Bailey (my Moms Dog) Go figure!

   

Oh and did I mention that Kaylin thought it would be a good idea to start painting her face???

Luckily she only started on her cheek, chin and shirt...haha

I also have some pictures of Shane getting up from his nap...

He is such a happy baby!

   

And lastly, Here are some nice pics of Grandma and Kaylin reading stories-

   

Tomorrow weather.com says its supposed to be partly cloudy with NO RAIN!!! YAY! We are packing up and heading out for the whole day! So look for some great stories and pictures to follow!!!

Sean is taking over!!!!

Hello everyone- Its Sean. Sarah and Matt have left for their trip to Cancun and have left my Mother and me in charge! SO I will be updating the blog here until they return in one week. 

So far the trip has been awesome. Flying economy though was tough...I suggested to Mom that we move to 1st class...but was quickly shot down for that- it was only an extra $300 per person!? HAHA

Our first day here we spent time having a small Christmas gift exchange with Sarah, Matt and the kids. That was a lot of fun.

 Our second day here, we did a little exploring. We went downtown to the Rijksmuseum which was awesome to see. Everything here is so unique. All of the buildings have so much character and life- very refreshing to see. 

We also went and checked out where John Adams used to live while he had residency here in The Netherlands-

We have also gone out to dinner at a local corner restaurant which was delicious. We have also gone around our neighborhood area checking out where we will need to grocery shop and where else we would have to run errands. We are looking forward to taking the kids to as many parks as we can get to as well as just wander around the city. I will keep you updated!! I have to go for now...Nap time is over for Shane and Kaylin...haha