Amsterdam Day 12: Picnic

What a beautiful end to a sucky day.

We started the morning getting ready to meet new friends in the forest for biking and a picnic. I didn't have any food to pack a picnic, so we needed to stop at the store.

 We started out a couple minutes late. A few minutes into it I decided that we needed a new bike for Cam. Because he couldn't keep up and we were going to be doing a lot of riding.

So why not swing by the bike shop? I sent Jac for groceries (she got confused and went slow so I ended up shopping). I took the Littles and found a bike shop up the road. Things were getting dicey, so I called Kelly to come help. (He went to the wrong bike shop). We were hoping to find a bike for Cam, there were none, but they had one for Bev. It was a little large, but she was ok on it. Alas, the bike shop only takes cash, so I had to run back down to the grocery store for cash. (And get the groceries, and text the picnic date we were running late, and where is Kelly? !?!)

We all trekked back up and got Bev's bike. I put Cam on Bev's bike promising he would get a cool bike later. Charlie would not get back on my bike because He is the devil. 

We are all on and ready to go, and Bev starts freaking out. Because, she is Bev and she can't start and stop in the bike very well and she is scared. I got everyone across the street, Bev and Cam all stressed because they are on different bikes. 

At this point I got all snippy with Jac and then called the whole event off. We were an hour behind schedule. 

We turned around and headed home with me talking in my overly calm nurse voice. "You are doing great. You are so good at riding bikes. We are stopping soon. Get ready. Okay, it's time to go again. Ok just move the pedal forward. Take your time." Inside I am screaming "WHERE THE HELL IS KELLY?!?!?"

We made it home with Ryan crying because she missed out on a play date and is so homesick for friends. I cuddled her for a minute and we turned on The Sound of Music. That always helps. I told Jac i was sorry. I took Cam and we got a great bike for him. And Bev practiced biking with a little help from me. 

At 5 I had no plans or food for dinner. So, Jac stayed with the kids and I went for picnic supplies. I got home and everyone got on their bikes and we were off to find a picnic spot. We were so happy to find the cute spot you saw at the top. We enjoyed a tasty meal on croissants and sampled different sodas. Kelly got there later and we went for ice cream. 

Charlie slept in Bevs room that night instead of mine. HALLELUJAH!

There are some sharp learning curves here. Hunger = disaster is the one we are trying conquer. 

Please note the picture at the top was not staged. Tender mercies abound if I take time to notice them.

Amsterdam Day 10: Nudity

I'm really just using the title to pull in extra readers. We are really not going to discuss nudity in the way that you thought. There is a fountain in the mall by our house surrounded by all the restaurants. The kids love to play in it. It is much more acceptable for the children to play in the fountains naked here than in the U.S. And Charlie really doesn't like clothes right now. So, wallah. Naked Charlie in the fountain. 

Amsterdam Day 9: Office Space

I love our new office space in the KLM headquarters. We have moved from a cubicle farm in Atlanta to a much more open office. This is a bit easier since there are only 10 of us in this space. 

One of the best parts of the office is that we have windows that actually open. And right outside our window is the moat that runs around the building. It is complete with crocodiles and even a fire breathing dragon. Maybe not on those but we have seen several ducks swim by and a turtle hanging out in the lily pads.  My favorite part is the cute flowers (probably lilies?) growing on the lily pads. There is one duck that appears to be hanging out all the time every day. We have given her the name Little Bitterballen after the gravy balls that everyone here loves so much, but they are really nasty (the bitterballen since the duck would probably taste really good). 

Not pictured here, but we saw some crab legs on the window sill indicating that there are cute little crabs that crawl around or someone had seafood for lunch and didn't know where to put the legs. 

The canal does go around the building on three sides, and apparently connects to the bigger canals that connect into Amsterdam and into the river where all the shipping is done. I gues that means that I could get a canoe and boat into work everyday also if I wanted. I think it would take a lot longer though. 

Amsterdam Day 7: Actual Commute to Work

We are going to go with a vlog today. Enjoy!

Amsterdam Day 6: First Day of Work

I woke up today at 7am ready to go to work in the new office. I had a long commute by bike planned this morning so I wanted to have plenty of time in case I went the wrong direction. I left for work at 740am and after 5 grueling minutes I arrived at 745am. It took me another minute to lock up the bike and another to walk into the office. I think I could get used to this commute after my 30 minute drive into Atlanta. 

Most of the team was in place today so I took them all out for lunch. I thought it was hilarious that all 6 of us walked out together, unlocked our bikes, and rode the 5 minutes to the Chinese restaurant together. What a fun team activity to take a bike ride together. 

At about 5:30pm, I was ready for the long commute back home. After picking up the family, we went for a ride out to Jannica's and Ryan's new school. We wanted to figure out the best path with the least traffic for the girls to get to and from school. With Bev on her own bike, it took 12 minutes.  It should be less without Bev. Very doable for the girls on there own, although I am scared about Ryan doing it on her own without Jannica when Jannica has extra-curricular activities. We shall see how that works out in the future. 

We ordered pizza from a local Italian place called Domino's and went to go pick up the pizza. Here is the pic that describes how the delivery works.

Amsterdam Day 5 - Church

Today we woke up early to go to church. As far as we could tell, we had 2 options to get there. 1) take public transportation - about 1 hour away or 2) ride our bikes. We decided to do both. If we drove it, it would only take us about 20 minutes as it is only 12 kilometers away (you figure out how far that is in miles), but alas, we have no car, yet. So Jaimee took off with Cam and Bev and braved figuring out public transportation. Jannica, Ryan, Charlie and I took off on our bikes. Google maps estimated 34 minutes for the ride, but that must not be at the speed of a 9 year old. It ended up taking about an hour, but we still beat Jaimee by about 10 minutes. 

The ride to church takes us through a little bit of beautiful countryside and a beautiful little town on the Amstel river. There are cows, sheep, and horses along the way. There are few fences separating us from the livestock. They use little canals to keep the livestock on the property with little bridges with fences on them for the people to cross. I don't see how it really works to keep the cows in but then I'm not a cow (although Jaimee would argue that point). Further down the road are little farms, farmhouses, and windmills dotting the country side. It is an amazingly beautiful ride. And the best part is that it is all flat. 

Church goes from 10am to 1pm. We will have to describe church later as it is a true international affair with translation into English and Spanish. There were not a lot of people in attendance this week as all the Dutch take off 3 or 4 weeks at this time of year for vacation, or Holiday as the Brits say. After church, the young women get together for 30 minutes and chat over "Mormom Coffee". Jannica says that it is really gross and she is going to bring hot chocolate next week. It was a good time to chat and get to know each other. She was able to get the phone numbers from the other three girls that are her age so that she will have some friends here. 

The ride home from church was equally fun but with a bit more sun. My poor head got a sunburn from the ride. And poor little Charlie fell asleep on the way home. He had the hardest time getting comfortable leaning back and then laying his head on my back. But the bumps in the ride kept getting in the way of a good sleep. 

And by the way, we beat Jaimee home by about 15 minutes. I'm not sure if this public transport/biking only lifestyle is going to last long. I love how fit I feel, but this might be a bit excessive. I see a car, but only one, in our near future. 

Amsterdam Day 4: Cameron

We rode our bikes to the park today. We played in the water. They had a fountain. It made me feel good. I rode home cold and wet. 

We went climbing with a new friend. I hung upside down on this. This was great. 

We went for a long bike ride in the evening. But I don't want to talk about it. Because it wasn't fun. My legs were hurting. Because we went for a long ride.