Amsterdam Day 393: Fresh Produce

The produce here is a lot fresher than standard in the US. Sure you can get fresh produce in the States but it is not standard. The downside to fresh stuff is that they have not added a bunch of preservatives to make stuff last longer. We have had bread that starts molding after a week. Beef will start to turn bad soon after purchase. And cheese starts to mold quickly. 

And there are snails on my lettuce right in the grocery store. 

Amsterdam Day 388: Bikes Are So Useful

We have lived here for one year now and so I've collected a few more pictures of weird things on bikes. 

I thought this one was hilarious. I've never thought of pulling your rollerboard behind your bike. I tried it once but you are two far from the ground. So the second person is necessary to split the difference between the pumper and the suitcase. Very clever. An taken without them noticing.

I'm not exactly sure why they thought this would be easier to do with a bike. Seems like it may have been easier to pick it up than use the bike to support it. But maybe they were not strong enough to walk it that far. Come to think of it, I probably should have stopped to ask I could help. Am I a bad person?

And we knew that this happened all the time, I just had not seen it. He is carrying a case of beer on the back of his bike. It took him a minute to get steady enough to take off. On second thought, he may have had a few drinks in him already because he was pretty wobbly. Much safer to drink and ride. 

Amsterdam Day 382: Aviodrome

We found this cool museum at a small airport about 45 minutes away. Think the Hill Aerospace Museum in Roy, UT or the National Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL but with an amazing aviation playground. In fact it took us an hour before we actually saw anything in the museum because the kids went straight to the playground. I wish I had taken a picture, but there was this big ballon type of thing, probably 20 feet wide, that Charlie jumped on for about 45 minutes. He was just as happy as could be. 

The kids loved that they were able to sit in the cockpit of the planes. You might not be able to see the big grin on Cameron's face, but it is there. 

Charlie had to be told many times by the museum staff, who were dressed as pilots, in Dutch and English, to stop touching the buttons. But he just could not stop himself. He'd look at me and then look at the buttons. Then his hand would go for it. And would then says, "CHARLIE" and he would pull his hand back. And then a second later look at me and then move his hand forward. That little stinker. 

Most importantly, Delta Air Lines was represented. Although it was by this small wooden plane in the shadows of a large actual plane that was in the shadows of a huge KLM 747.  Speaking of the large KLM 747, they let us go up into it and explore all around it.

The museum was just set up so cool and targeted to entertain the children (and me) so well. 

Amsterdam Day 395: More Advertisements

I have seen this advertisement on several friends Facebook accounts in addition to seeing them all over. And instead of taking my own picture, I stole this one from Sonja. It is for a radio station. That's all I've got to say about that. 

Amsterdam Day 372: Zouderzee Outdoor Museum

In Saturday, we went to the Zouderzee Outdoor Museum. Think Nauvoo or Colonial Williamsburg but only Dutch style. It's a fishing village rebuilt to represent Dutch life around the turn of last century. 

The favorite place was the dress ups where the children could dress up as Dutch people from 1904, complete with wooden shoes. 

Aren't those shoes cute. I was able to even borrow a pair and walk around for 30 minutes. Man, did it feel good to get my regular shoes back on. 

The place had all sorts of shops like an old time bakery, candle store, rope store, fishing net store, laundry, and my favorite, the Smoked Herring store. 

Generally, none of us are fans of the herring here. But that is because they eat it raw. And it doesn't taste good. Yet I keep trying just in case I am wrong. Well, I finally found the herring that tastes good. Smoked. Think a cross between beef jerky and fish. So good. 

There was also the obligatory windmill, but we have enough pictures of all those cute windmills, that we don't even bother anymore. It's just another adorable windmill. 

So much fun and I think we didn't even see the whole place. We will be returning. 

Amsterdam Day 365: 1 Year of Amsterdam

Today is day 365 making tomorrow our Amstiversary.  I thought I would ask the family about the last year and get their thoughts.  Here you go, unfiltered.

What is your favorite thing about living in Holland?
   Charlie: Is the computer closed?
   Beverly: Playing here with my friends
   Cameron: The new games  
   Ryan: Living in a more walkable city allows me to wander more on my own
   Mom: The many farms
   Dad: So many fun activities, events, and different attractions that are so close

What is your least favorite thing about living in Holland?
   Charlie: yes, I think it needs to be closed.  Is the computer closed?
   Beverly: Going to school
   Cameron: The bikes.  They are horrible.
   Ryan: Not having a lot of friends close by
   Mom: That everything is a lot harder to do
   Dad: Even though everyone "speaks" English, nothing is easy.  Making copies at the store takes 10 times as long

What do you miss the most about living in the U.S.?
   Charlie: Yea, you are wet.  I don't think so.
   Beverly: The pools and the beds
   Cameron: Pet stores
   Ryan: Chick-fil-a and my friends
   Mom: Convenience
   Dad: Easy access to fast food

What is the best thing here that the U.S. does not have?
   Charlie: unintelligable response
   Beverly: huh? dog and dollies
   Cameron: Albert Heijn (the main grocery store)
   Ryan: I have more international friends; best friends are from Italy, Japan, and New Zealand
   Mom: Fruits and vegetables are so much fresher and taste better
   Dad: I love the bike paths that connect everything and everywhere

What have you learned while living in Holland?
   Charlie: Ring around the rosie
   Beverly: Gymnastics, English and Dutch
   Cameron: Do not smoke
   Ryan: You have to be pushy to get on the buses
   Mom: The Dutch always tell you no first or that it is not possible, when it really is
   Dad: It is very difficult to learn Dutch, but I think part of that is that everyone speaks so much English

Where is your favorite place you have been?
   Charlie: I been to Starfall
   Beverly: I don't know.  Staying here
   Cameron: Italy, Canary Islands
   Ryan: Menorca, Paris, and Germany
   Mom: Menorca
   Dad: Menorca was pretty amazing for a family vacation, but I think my favorite place was Rome

How long should we live here?
   Charlie: All over the world.
   Beverly: 1 Day?
   Cameron: 1 Month
   Ryan: 2 years at the least
   Mom: Till they make us go home
   Dad: As long as we can because the U.S. is getting crazy

Where do you want to move next?
   Charlie: Next a tent
   Beverly: Atlanta
   Cameron: Back to Georgia
   Ryan: Mexico
   Mom: To a farm
   Dad: I'm pretty open.  I'd love to try another expat role or move back to Georgia

Who are some of your friends?
   Charlie:Will that be friends? Starfall.
   Beverly: Olivia, Lola, Brooks, Alessia
   Cameron: Alex
   Ryan: Indy, Carlotta, Hikari, Lucy
   Mom: Sonja, Zoe, Bonnie, Jennifer, and more
   Dad: Cary

Where is your favorite place to eat?
   Charlie: I eat strawberries.
   Beverly: The hot dog restaurant
   Cameron: Burger King, no, McDonalds
   Ryan: Home
   Mom: Dignita
   Dad: Buenos Aires Grill

What is your favorite Dutch food?
   Charlie: I think of food in a bowl
   Beverly: Ice Cream, cereal, apples, bananas and crackers
   Cameron: Cheese, no, oliballen
   Ryan: Oliballen
   Mom: Goat cheese and gouda
   Dad: Gouda cheese

What is your favorite Dutch tradition?
   Charlie: Tradition is a word
   Beverly: Playing and having fun together, and having a picnic with my friends
   Cameron: I don't know
   Ryan: I like King's Day, St. Maarten's Day, and Sinterklas
   Mom: St. Maarten's Day
   Dad: 2nd Christmas

Amsterdam Day 363: Menorca Day 5: Fiesta

More beaches, more sand, more fun. More of the same. Except in the evening we decided to drive 15 minutes to a town on the coast that was having a celebration of some sort, the Fiesta of Sant Jaume. We never did quite figure it out. But it revolves around horses some how.

As far as we could tell, there were two main parts while we were there. Apparently the party goes well into the night, but we with kids did not make it that long. This part is the cavalcade, where some people in horses march around the city. I'm sure they are important somehow. But it looks like people line the street, some in front of the horses, until the horse stands on its hind legs, and then people push the side of the horse to make sure it does not land on anyone. Athough it seems like those are the people to most likely be landed on. It might be a better idea to just stand back a little, but hey, what do I know. 

The other part of the party seems to be a "parade."  I say "parade" in quotes because there wasn't really people watching. They were more all apart of the parade marching along in front of, within, and following the giant figures. 

The big giant people were pretty cool looking, especially when they turned and danced. It was definitely an experience. 

The parade route seemed to go throughout the whole town. Each block seemed to be decorated differently. And bars and restaurants had people hanging out of them partaking of the goods that were being sold. Music was everywhere from the bands in the parade or just blaring from the radio. 

Here is a small clip of our experience. 

Kind of a fun different experience. 

Amsterdam Day 362: Menorca Day 2: Beaches

We have explored some pretty great amazing beaches in Menorca. The kids favorite so far has been Binidalí. It is a really small beach set in the large cove area. The best part about this beach is that it has some great rocks right around the corner for catching hermit crabs. Another arguably good part, is because this is a smaller beach and more secluded, it has more topless women than other beaches we have seen. Ryan is the only one that seemed to notice. The rest of the kids couldn't be bothered to pay attention. There were hermit crabs to be caught.

The beach we visited today is Cala Galdana. It is a much larger beach but still almost surrounded completely by high cliffs. Not so great for Cameron though because there was no place to get hermit crabs. But a lot less topless women. Still many, but a lot less. We were able to rent a paddle boat with a slide on top. We took that for an hour and had a blast siding down it into the very deep bay. So much fun. And I'd say we have done an excellent job of protecting our children from the sun this trip. No major sunburns. I guess it helps when you reapply and use SPF50. 

The toplessness has been something that has surprised us quite a bit. When we were in the Canary Islands, we did see a bit of toplessness, but nowhere to the extend that we have on this trip. Here is a photo to show to those that may have not traveled to Spain and visited a beach. I'm guessing that there are quite a few people that will be a bit surprised

Of the five women in this picture, from three different groups of people, four of them are topless. And this was just the group that I could take a picture of without looking too creepy. But as I mentioned before, only Ryan noticed. And she made sure to tell us how disgusted she was. 

And just so you know that it is not limited to lying on the beach, here is a girl just walking by. The strangest one was a group of people with a paddle hitting a ball back and forth. But then not to be outdone, a little further out, we found three men completely nude. Thankfully Ryan only saw their backsides and she was absolutely completely disgusted. I on the other hand was not so lucky. And I got a full frontal view. Beaches in Spain are a little bit different. 

And now you know why we have been to Spain three times in the last 12 months. 

Amsterdam Day 361: Menorca Day 1: Our Place

We love Spain. We have lived in Europe for almost a year now and we have decided that we love to vacation in Spain. The language is easy, since I speak Spanish. It's cheap,

compared to the Netherlands. The architecture is amazing, compared to the States. The people are nice, compared to the French. And the beaches are almost as good as the Caribbean. So we found ourselves in Spain for the third time in the last 12 months. This time, the tiny island in the Mediterranean, Menorca. That is the lesser island next to Mallorca. But it has more beaches, less parties, and is much more laid back.

Airbnb is now our favorite booking tool for a place on Europe. Lots of hotels only have rooms for 2 people and charge a lot more for extra people. And I have a lot of extra people. The place we got turned out to be down this long country road. Cool rock walls lined the road. It turns out that when they were clearing the land for farms, they had to move a lot of volcanic rocks. And what do you do when you have a lot of volcanic rocks. You can either put them in a big pile or you can make a wall. So they made walls and walls and walls, all over the island. All made from this cool volcanic rock. 

We pulled up to the end of this country road to find this amazing house in the middle of this grand estate. We only got the bottom floor, but it is huge. And as you can see, it has a pool, and a pretty great one at that. 

And one of the best features is the jacuzzi in one room, next to the sauna. 

The owners live upstairs. And they have been great. There are two horses on the estate, and he let us ride them around a bit. I was excited about this cause it saved me a lot of money from having to go pay more for horse riding. And the kids can take over the leftover watermelon or apples and feed the horses. The peacocks are next to the horse stables. 

It turns out that our apartment was for the live-in workers of the estate when the people had real money. Now they just have good amounts of money and they cannot afford to have a full-time staff of 10 attend to the fields, gardens, stables, etc. The place still looks amazing, but you can tell that at its peak, it was "Count of Monte Cristo" amazing. 

Amsterdam Day 359: Hoge Veluwe National Park and a Broken Arm

Hoge Veluwe National Park is in the middle of the Netherlands in a province called Gelderland. When I think of Gelderland, I think of the neighboring country in The Princes Bride. And Friesland is the province to the north. It also sound like it could be a country as a made up location in a book. 

The story about the national park is that a couple wanted some land. He wanted hunting ground. She wanted art and culture. So they made a huge land for hunting with an amazing art museum in the middle, which contains the second largest collection of Van Gogh's (after the actual Van Gogh Museum). 

When you arrive at the National Park, you park and then select your bikes for the journey through the park. All the adult bikes have a child seat behind them for storing a child or a purse. And there are plenty of kids bikes also. And we took off on our journey around the park. We first went to the sand dunes. That turned out to be pretty lame. So we then went to the hunting lodge, which looked cool but was also pretty lame. About five kilometers in we stopped at a field to sit. Cam started chasing butterflies (they turned out to just be a little too fast for him) and we made whistles out of long blades of grass. That was not lame.

We continued on to the main area with a restaurant and pretty cool playground. About 10 minutes playing at the playground, Ryan ran up to me to tell me that Cam had fallen from one of the toys and was screaming his head off. We decided that we would leave at this point and go home. But we still had to bike 3 kilometers to get back to the car with every moment Cam was in excruciating pain (or to him what is excruciating pain but is probably actually not much). Once we arrived home, Jaimee took a look (since she had not come along on this adventure) and determined that it needed an X-ray. And thus begins out first experience with a Dutch ER.

We were in an out in 2 hours 30 minutes with the cast in place. All in all not too bad. But the big problem was that we were about to head to Menorca, Spain for vacation. And a swimming holiday does not really work well with a caste. We will have to figure that one out later. 

In case anyone is keeping track, Cam is 6 and has had a broken leg and arm now, both the right ones. And stitches once. He's tracking to be as careless as my brother Daniel when he was young. 

Amsterdam Day 358: 14 Year Anniversary

Yesterday was our 14th Wedding Anniversary. It has been 14 years since I married the most wonderful woman in the world. I have no idea what I would do without her in my life. I don't think that she quite understands how she makes me whole and makes me a better person. I think the song A Woman Like You by Lee Brice pretty much sums up the way I feel. 

Last night out of the blue
Driftin' off to the evenin' news
She said "Honey, what would you do
"If you'd have never met me"

I just laughed, said "I don't know,
"But I could take a couple guesses though"
And then tried to dig real deep,
Said, "Darlin', honestly

"I'd do a lot more offshore fishin'
"Probably eat more drive-thru chicken
"Take a few strokes off my golf game
"If I'd a never known your name
"I'd still be drivin' that old yellow 'Nova
"I probably never would have heard of yoga
"Be a better football fan
"But if I was a single man
"Alone and out there on the loose
"I'd be lookin' for a woman like you"

Well, I could tell that got her attention
So I said, "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention
"I wouldn't trade a single day
"For a hundred years the other way"
She just smiled and rolled her eyes
'Cause she's heard all of my lines
I said, "C'mon on girl, seriously
"If I hadn't been so lucky

"I'd be shootin' pool in my bachelor pad
"Playin' bass in my cover band
"Restockin' up cold Bud Ligh
"For poker every Tuesday night, yeah
"I'd have a dirtbike in the shed
"And not one throw pillow on the bed
"I'd keep cash in a coffee can
"But if I was a single man
"Alone and out there on the loose
"I'd be looking for a woman like you"

She knows what a mess I'd be if I didn't have her here
But to be sure, I whispered in her ear

"You know I get sick deep-sea fishin'
"And you make the best fried chicken
"I got a hopeless golf game
"I love the sound of your name
"I might miss that old green 'Nova
"But I love watchin' you do yoga
"I'd take a gold band on my hand
"Over bein' a single man
"'Cause honestly, I don't know what I'd do
"If I'd never met a woman like you"

I love this woman so much. And I know that if she was not in my life, I'd be searching for a woman like her. I love you Jaimee Kartchner. So I guess I do know what is be doing if she wasn't in my life. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5aUKazZXI5I

Amsterdam Day 368: Awesome Farms

The Netherlands is home to some great interactive farms, which is wonderful. I am getting so many fun ideas!

And I have written this post 6 times, but blogger keeps shutting down. And I am not writing another dang thing. The pics are cute. We boated and rode horses and the goats ate our hair and if this feking thing doesn't save I am never writing about it and this blogger crap can go to he double hockey sticks. 

Amsterdam Day 349: Witches Weigh House

They have been weighed. They have been measured. And my children have been found to be witches.

Today we visited the Witches Weighhouse in Oudewater. 

Oudewater is famous for the Heksenwaag(Witches’ scales). This Weighing house, an official town building, became famous during the 16th century because people accused of witchcraft were offered an honest chance of proving their innocence. In many cities and countries such trials were usually rigged, resulting in the burning or drowning of hundreds of innocent people.

Many people accused of witchcraft from all over Europe (or at least, those who could afford the trip) made a head-over-heels trip to Oudewater to avoid being burned at a stake. After the weighing, they received an official certificate proclaiming them not a witch. Although nobody was ever found to be an actual witch in Oudewater, the weighings were still a public spectacle. Even today you can get a certificate that “your body weight is in proportion to your build.” The reasoning behind this is the old belief that a witch has no soul and therefore weighs significantly less than an ordinary person; this distinction allows the witch to fly on a broomstick.

So in medieval times when accusations of witchcraft (and resultant burnings) were prevalent, the town of Oudewater offered the accused a chance of proving his or her innocence. This was more special than it sounds. It is a sign of the growing power of a third force next to church and nobility, i.e. citizens. In a bid for total domination, the witchhunts were sanctioned by the church to break the power of the local herb doctors (especially the females). The citizens of Oudewater therefore were, simply by being honest, defying the church.

Officially, my children were all deemed to be the appropriate weight for their body proportions. But I still believe they are witches.

Amsterdam Day 341: Italy vs. Germany

One of Ryan's best friends, Carlotta, is Italian. Ryan loves soccer. When Ryan found out Italy was playing a big game in the Euros, Ryan wanted to watch the game. Also, Carlotta's cousin is staying with us for a month and she is also Italian. And apparently she is a big supporter of the Italian team. We had to go watch the game at an appropriate setting (not the actual game since that was far away in France). 

Forza Italia!

Ryan, Alessia, and I took of to a local bar/restaurant to watch the game. We walked in to find a 20" TV set in the corner. After a few minutes we started to discuss if we should find a new place to watch the game. Just as the discussion began, they lowered a giant screen right in front of us. 

Ryan was very excited. She asked if we were in a bar to which I responded yes but that we are on the restaurant side. She didn't care. She was excited to tell all her friends that she went to a bar to watch the Italy game. What a great dad!

The game started at 9pm so Ryan had already eaten and wasn't hungry. She ordered ice cream while I ordered soup and ribs for dinner. Then she ate my bread, my French fries, two of my ribs, and then started into some of Alessia's cheesecake. But she wasn't hungry.

It was 90 minutes of heaven for Ryan. Food, soccer, rowdy Italian supporters, and her best dad ever. But alas, the game went into overtime. This was about 11pm and Ryan wasn't going to make it much longer, so we jumped on our bikes to finish watching the game at home. 30 more minutes and still no winner, so on to penalties. Italy made a really good effort, but as the common saying goes "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." And the Germans won. That sucks. 

Amsterdam Day 342: Madurodam

Have you ever wanted to be the one to stop a leaking dyke by plugging the whole with your finger to save the village below. Well that is what we did this weekend. 

Madurodam is an attraction in The Hauge that has a ton of miniature replicas of the most famous landmarks in the Netherlands. Wait, wait. It is more exciting than it sounds so far. The place has a ton of interactive areas where the kids can learn and control the miniatures things. After saving the village from the leaking dyke, we dredged a river, put out a fire on an oil tanker, drove boats through the locks, became a DJ, played soccer, flew over the Netherlands, and we pumped water away from another village. 

Then we headed over to the airport to check out the operations. The Delta 747 was lodged and almost ready to go. I'm a little confused why the cargo plane was  placed to pick up passengers at the terminal. 

And then Godzilla came to destroy the town. At least he wanted to, but we led him away with some snacks. 

It turned out to be a fun attraction and much more interactive than I ever would have imagined. They do children entertainment well here.