Antwerpen Belgium

27-5-07

It is another long weekend here in Holland. Amy tells me that this will be the last one until Christmas, but for some reason I don't believe her. The Dutch (and Europe for that matter) like to take their vacation seriously. The average person in Holland has 25 days of vacation and has 9 holidays...not bad.

On Saturday we biked around Amsterdam and explored more of the city. On Sunday we woke up and looked at the house and decided that there was to much to do so we decided to go on a road trip. Two hours later we ended up in Antwerpen (Antwerp), Belgium. It felt like we were driving from Crown Point (where we grew up) to Indianapolis, IN. Flat, straight highways, and instead of corn fields there were grass fields. The cows and sheep were the same. The only other thing that was different was the fact you see a random boat in the middle of the field. What you don't see is the canal it sits in. The canals are laid out like their own highway here. Cool.

Antwerp is a great town. Old meets new. Great waffles, beer, and chocolate!!!! I think Abigail and I could have eaten chocolate for a week (we know where Abigail got her love of sweets). Amy doesn't like chocolate but I think she is on the fence now. The chocolate melts in your mouth and is to die for. There are lots of sidewalk cafes and street music.

Abigail loves the music. We listened to one guy play Mozart on the violin and then latter we danced in the street to some type of native Indian music. She's just like Amy and made up her own words to the music and was happy to sing them to us.















Abigail decided that she loved the horses that shuttled the tourist around. We chased them all over the town. They even stopped for a picture.

Amy has decided she would like to return on a week day or a Saturday when it is sunny and warm. The sunny and warm thing is understandable but I had to ask why on a week day or Saturday. I should have known, that's when the diamond houses are open. She reminded me that next year is our 20th anniversary of us starting to date. I guess I know what she wants for a gift next August!

Abigail - The football natural

Abigail seems to be much happier now that our items have arrived. She woke up today had a ride on her rocking horse, did several puzzles, had breakfast and got dressed. She told me that she liked the music player and at one point we were dancing in the living room while Abigail was singing to me. How sweet. Days like today make the stay at home care taker well worth the frustrations.

One of the items in our shipment was a soccer ball. She started to show interest in soccer balls when she was about 18 months. Since we have been here she sees everyone with footballs and asks where her ball is. We went to meseumplien to kick the ball around. There were two pick up games of football there so we sat and watched for a short time and then Abigail looked at me and said "I want to play". You could see in her eyes that she really thought she had the concept and could go out there and play with the big kids. Look at the concentration in her eyes. She was good at dribbling the ball. She only tripped on the ball twice. I don't think I was that coordinated when I was her age!!! I am barely that coordinated now. We kicked the ball around for almost an hour until she was tired and wanted to go get Lucas. She wants Lucas to be Air Bud and play ball with her but he has no desire

What a day - A good one like today makes all the bad ones worth while.

Our shipment has arrived

We have good news to report, our shipment has finally made it through customs!! They told us to expect 8 to 10 weeks for delivery. They finally made a time line. It was only 9 weeks. We are happy to say nothing was broken and everything is working that we have tried. Now the real fun begins....were do we put all of our 'stuff' in our new Dutch doll house? Lot's of creative storage needed, which means lots of trips for Greg to his favorite new store, Ikea.

We were able to unpack most everything in one day. The best was to see Amy's face when we started to unpack her shoes and clothes. Our room doesn't have dressers. It has 16 foot of closets that are divided up into shelves and hanger areas. Let's just say Amy has 12 feet and I have 4 feet. If you know me, I am happy about this because this means Amy can't go shopping any more because there isn't any more room.

It was like Amy found a long lost friend when she went through the shoe boxes and separated the summer and winter shoes. It sure did make her happy and feel like we were making this our home. That is the best thing.

Abigail was really excited to see all of her toys and stuff from our house in Portland. Seems like there are a lot of boxes labeled 'toys' and 'shoes'....humm, who packed us for this move? When her rocking horse (Nay) came in the door, she about exploded with excitement. She was riding it and saying Uncle Mike gave me this. Thanks Mike!!! She was also excited to see her care bears. She gave them a big hug and told us that Uncle Timmy gave them to her. Timmy, you are her favorite uncle right now. After this it was all overload for her. She couldn't spend more than 20 seconds with anything until she saw something else she wanted to play with. Amy and I are not sure if we are exhausted from unpacking or trying to keep up with her.

I loved getting my bike, leather chairs, and Bose Music Player. Having something fill the air that isn't Abigail's Disney movies is nice. I will be on a quest tomorrow to find an English news paper so that I can sit in my chair, listen to music and read the paper. How relaxing does that sound.

Other good news - we found antibiotics the other day in one of our bags we brought with us and Lucas has several days of meds in him now and he is feeling much better. Me on the other hand, I am on a second round of meds for my cough. The doctor says my lungs are clear but I definitely have a bad respiratory system. No exercise for me. Hard to do when your only means of transportation is a bike. Like I said before, I must go on. Amy still hasn't gotten sick yet. That a huge plus.

Our house is finally starting to feel like home. We can't wait to get it fully put together. The hot items to get are a TV, DVD player, and a couch. FYI to everyone - We do have a guest room set up. If anyone has vacation time coming up you are more than welcome to come. If you are really nice and special Abigail may let you sleep in the top bunk of her bed.

Trip to the Beach

We are getting the hang of the European vacation thing. This past Thursday was a national holiday, Ascension Day. When Jesus went to heaven. It is funny that a country where most of the inhabitants have not set foot in a church in many years, celebrates a day like this. Any ways - the country decides that Friday should be a day off as well. We spent Thursday and Friday exploring the city. There are lots of cool stores and out of the way markets to visit. By Saturday Abigail was done with the city and was not cooperating with anything we wanted to do. We thought - "Lets get in the car and drive to the beach. It will give us some peace and quiet since she loves to sleep in the car". The map makers here in Holland need to learn how to use a scale. Twenty minutes after we walked out the door we were at the beach. From looking at the map it should have taken at least an hour. Abigail had just fallen asleep so we stopped at the Dutch Target (IKEA) and Amy did some shopping while I sat in the car.

When we did finally make it to the beach we found one problem, unless you like getting sand blasted, you can't be on the beach more than 5 seconds. The walk from the sidewalk to the hard wet sand (you know, across the loose soft stuff) was painful. If you looked into the wind, your sun glasses suddenly became spotted with sand. Poor Abigail wasn't wearing anything so all you heard was "My eyes, My eyes.....". After a quick picture we decided that the sanctity of town may be the be best place for us. We were able to find Abigail some new pink crocks. Yes Amanda she is under 5 and we did not get any ourselves.

We sat down outside to enjoy the sun and and calmness of the town when out of the blue the crazies started to come out of the woodwork. Keep in mind that it is the start of the theatrical season here and the Dutch take their music and plays seriously. Abigail pointed down the sidewalk to a lady walking towards us. After a loud, ear drum piercing scream, Abigail was in Amy's lap like a leopard on the back end of an antelope. Full claws and all. The lady was wearing all white with her face painted black. She had a dead chicken on her head and a metal frame that supported bird nests protruding from her waist. She was making crowing sounds and feathers were being blown from her outfit. Real feathers from birds. Not the best thing to have flying around when you are trying to enjoy your meal.

This was the start of an hour long procession of people promoting their play. The outfits ranged from the simple all black and white to the crazy silverware sisters (see photos). The good thing was that we topped this all off with a giant ice cream cone then drove home.

On Sunday we headed to the zoo in our new cars. Abigail sure is Amy. I think she knows more animal sounds than mom. We don't even have to give her wine to bring them out. She just lets them roar. What a great weekend!!!!!!

Our First Movie in Amsterdam

As most of you know, Amy and I don't get to see many movies anymore since Abigail came into the picture. We thought we solved the issue here. I went and signed up at the local movie rental place. They told me that all the movies were English. We rented Babel tonight and if any of you have seen it, you know there are three different stories going on. One in Spanish, One in Japanese, and one in a mixture of English and some middle eastern language. This is all great but what the rental lady didn't tell me is the movie companies make the sub-titles all dutch. You can't change them. Needless to say with a movie like this, we only understand 1/3 of it. I guess we need to get used to this because I am sure it will not be the last time this happens.

Maybe Netflics will deliver to Amsterdam!!!

Nothing but Sick

Since we have arrived the entire family has been sick off and on. Abigail spent the entire first two weeks with fevers and on medicine for bronchitis. Lucas didn't seem to mind since it gave him a sleeping partner. I am not sure who's bed it really is. Abigail is much better now and is full of energy and wants to be out and about all the time.

I went to the doctor today because I have been hacking up a lung for three weeks and found out I have a bad case of bronchitis. I wonder if I will be able to spend quality time with Lucas like this. Somehow I don't think so since Abigail is healthy. Oh well - I must push on.


Lucas - well now this is a bit more difficult to deal with. He started this week with nasty stuff coming out of his eyes and a little cough. Yes, he is sick as well. I haven't found him a Vet yet because here, you must register the dog, pay taxes on him, and wait until he gets in the system before you can take him to the Vet. It looks like I will be on quest tomorrow to figure out how to get him registered. Wish me luck.


If you are keeping count - three down, one more to go. Amy is running on borrowed time. We are just waiting for her turn.....More to follow.

My New Car

I bought my new car today. It is a black beauty and it is a convertible!!! It has two horse power and has room for two but the passenger can't weigh any more than 30 kilos or 60 pounds. It has a trunk in the front that can handle another 40 kilos or 80 pounds. The transmission is a single speed and it only has rear brakes. I haven't found out what the top speed is but I am sure it's not that fast.

We also bought Amy a used bike. She doesn't plan on riding much more than the weekend since she is a bit intimidated by the chaos that is the road system here. You have to play chicken with the cars, trains, taxis, people, and thousands of other bikers. No one stops. It is like if your feet touch the ground when you ride, the bike police will come and take you to jail.

Buying a bike in Amsterdam can be quite intimidating because it is the main mode of transportation for most of the Dutch and they take them seriously. We finally talked to someone that told us the truth and what it boils down to is it rains so much here that it doesn't matter how much you spend on one, it will rust. The more gadgets (gears, hand breaks, shocks) you have on the bike, the more it becomes a target for getting stolen. The other problem is that the more you put on it, the more damage you have to deal with. There are so many bikes that you have to park them on top of each other and the cables get caught and damaged. It is best to buy a simple bike that doesn't cost allot and plan on replacing it every three to four years.

Queens Day - April 30th, 2007

We survived our first Queens Day in Amsterdam. For those of you that don't know what it is - it was originally a celebration of the Queens birthday. Now it is mainly known for free market (vrijmarkt) which is the one day of the year when everyone is allowed to sell anything on the street without paying any taxes.

Everyone wears orange because it refers to the name of the royal family "The House of Orange".

Amy describes the day as St. Patrick's Day only everyone wears orange. My take on it is a bit different. Imagine Time Square on New Years Eave with everyone wearing orange, all buzzing about with all the drugs and sex you could ever imagine. The center of Amsterdam gets closed down to cars some of the trains even stop running. The pubs, coffee shops, restaurants, fields, parks, streets, and you name it are full with people. The water ways are full with boats. Everything is orange. Orange balloons, streamers, flags, and more. I think you get the picture.

The entire family went to Vondell Park to shop in the worlds largest garage sale. There are miles of people out trying to sell you the things that they cleaned out of the garage for the last year. Back when the event started (and still holds true for the most part), the intent was for the kids to go out to the park and sell their items they didn't want any more. It was a way for them to make money to buy new things they wanted. It is neat to see the kids working it to get as much as they can for their toys, books, clothes, and junk. Some of the kids play their instruments for donations. I told Amy that it was the parents way to prepare them for the life of a starving artist. Some of the kids bake cookies and make fresh lemonade and sell it. Then there are the opportunist who come with their business and sell everything you could imagine. They take away from the charm, but once you look past them, it is a great event. Abigail was able to buy several new books in English, a new play kitchen complete with cook ware and plastic food, Dutch wood puzzles, a top that make noise when in motion, and a large floor puzzle. This has been a life saver as these are the toys that she is playing with.

There was a free concert across the street from the house. There must of been several thousand people there. We could sit on our balcony and listen to the music. The strangest thing was when one of the techno songs would come on, the house would start to shake. It felt like an earthquake. A little un-settling when you think about the age of the building and you see how they build things here.

Amy and I decided that if you are single or don't have kids, this is one party not to miss.