Amsterdam Day 123: Black Friday

We also participated in the Black Friday festivities. As is expected, Black Friday is not really a thing in the Netherlands. The German Amazon.de does participate in the celebration, but I didn't bother looking for all that junk that we did not need. We found another fix to get all the junk we didn't need. 

It turns out that there was a local store that was going out of business on Friday. They were opening at 9, a very reasonable time for a Black Friday special. The deal was that they would give you a bag and everything you could fit into was €5 for the bag. By the time we arrived, most of the real useful stuff was gone, but that didn't stop us. Jaimee and I both filled out bags to the brim. 

We did get some important stuff, like cups for our Thanksgiving celebration the next day. But we also got all our celebration gear to celebrate the Dutch National Soccer Team, which failed to qualify for the World Cup (a travesty). We got shirts with capes, orange leggings, funny hats, mugs, side mirror covers for your car, boot covers, salad making lots,a giant clothes clip, phone tassels, a pair of boxer shorts (which Jannica picked up because she has heard they are so comfortable), balloons, picture frames, fake arm tattooes, and all manner of nonsense. We rung up all the junk which totaled €210. The cashier pushed a button and it switched to €10. Oh the joy and satisfaction in getting so much junk for so little. 

There was a purpose though. Jaimee's family has always done bingo games for thanksgiving. They always give out prizes for the winners, and eventually everyone. And these prizes are going to be amazing. 

Amsterdam Day 122: Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving day. I don't have work today since I still get American holidays. But the kids all still have school, since the Dutch don't celebrate Thanksgiving. So a big meal is not going to happen. No turkey. No mashed potatoes. No stuffing. No pilgrim plays. And no family. But no fear, we are having our expat "family" over on Saturday and we will enjoy all of the above. 

So what do you do on Thanksgiving day without most of the kids. We take Charlie to a fancy smancy Dutch art museum. We walked into the Mauritshuis Museum with Charlie and I immediately felt everyone's eyes on us and how dare we bring a three year old to this museum. After going through with him, I think they were right though. As we walked up the stairs to the first room, Charlie began to say, "Let's go find a tree frog."  Sure, why not. Let's go find a tree frog in a fancy smancy museum. 

The most famous piece in this museum is Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring."  I'm not much for art, but I do like this piece. There is something about the lighting and the her look that I just found amazing. 

Charlie was pretty impressed also. It might have been a different painting that he was impressed with though. He was laughing in the picture because of the picture below. 

This Rembrandt has people tickling a girls feet. That is pretty funny to a three year old, who then also had his feet tickled. 

And low and behold, what did we finally find in the art? The tree frog. Ok, maybe it wasn't in a tree, but it was a frog and we found it. Not pictured here is the amazing detail in the cow pie next to the cow. 

The Mauritshus museum is located in downtown Den Haag (The Hague). The view of the city looks pretty cool across from the canal. 

And as we were leaving the city back to our car, I couldn't get Charlie to follow. He saw the lights on the OPEN sign and went directly to it. I had to go over and pick him up to get him away, but not before I took a picture. Because I am that good of a parent. 

Amsterdam Day 120: Cameron Learned How to Say Hedgehog in Dutch

Jaimee went to pick up Cameron from school the other day.  He came outside with his stuffed animal hedgehog and he was describing the things that his hedgehog could do, but he was using the name of hedgehog in Dutch.

It turns out that the word for hedgehog is egel but sounds a lit different in Dutch (eh-hohl).  Jaimee had to go back inside the school to ask the teacher if she was understanding correctly.  We then went on a car ride where Cameron then proceeded to tell us all the things that his egel could do.  We could not stop laughing for about 15 minutes.  He asked us why we were laughing to which we just responded that I had said something funny.  And then he proceeded to tell us that his egel could do flips and that his egel could be hit.  Oh, the joys of learning a new language.

Amsterdam Day 119: Paris Day 4: Security

This is a picture of three military personnel with big guns paroling the grounds of the Eiffel Tower. This may be a common sight in third world countries, but it kind of sticks out in a civilized city like Paris. I so wanted to ask them to pose for a pic with the tower behind them, but I didn't think that was a great idea. I was even a bit scared to take this from behind. 

We saw patrols like this walking around all the major sights. This one happened to be three police officers walking around the Chrisfmas market. There were four military personnel at each of the entrances to the Christmas market. Additionally, there were so many patrol cars going throughout the city with their lights blazing. It made you feel like nothing bad could happen. 

Warning: Soap Box Moment

Several people have questioned our sanity for taking our children to Paris during these times. They ask why we aren't worried about what could happen. My first thought is that I have five of them, so I have some to spare. That is a joke and not a very funny one at that. But I think it helps to think rationally and to do some basic risk management. Is Paris really less safe than it was two weeks ago? Of course not. It may just not have been as safe as many believed. In fact, with all the security in place, Paris may be one of the safest big cities in the world right now. And it's probably safer now than going anywhere around my home town of Amsterdam. 

Again, thinking rationally about going to Paris, what is the real likelihood of being hit by a terrorist attack. I can say that it is infinitesimally smaller than my risk of dying in a car accident driving to Paris. But there are very few people that would question my sanity over risking my children's life's by taking them on a five hour car ride. 

Soap box over. 

Our friends had an experience in Paris while they were there which I thought was very appropriate to share. Stolen from Amber without her permission. 

"I wanted to share an interesting experience I had tonight. After we left the Eiffel Tower and were on the search for dinner, we climbed onto the metro and began talking about where to go next. A nice French business man was sitting next to Anika, and was listening to her talk. He said to her "Do you speak English?" She replied yes. He said "Are you American? Did you come here from America?" And she said yes again. He then put down his newspaper and said (looking at all of us) "Thank you for coming to Paris. Despite what happened. Thank you for coming to visit our city. We are a strong city. I hope you have a wonderful stay." 

Thank you random nice French guy! Your welcome! We are so glad to be here. We have noticed your strength, and we love your beautiful city. 🇷🇺"

Amsterdam Day 118: Paris Day 3

Last night, we took a stroll over to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. It is absolutely beautiful. I think there were more security personnel around it than tourists though, at least at this time of night. 

Today we started off on a journey with the kids to see the Eiffel Tower, but made a few stops on the way. But some accidental miracle, I was able to catch Cameron without him knowing I was taking a picture in front of Notre Dame. I had a perfect picture with the 4 kids before a pigeon tempted Charlie and he bolted to chase it. 

On the way back from the tower, Bev, Charlie and I took the long way back. Actually, a normal person would have done the walk from the subway in 12 minutes, but we took about 55. I'm sure that it was me though that slowed us down. It's not likely that it was the kid that was touching every brick on the walls and laying down on the ground for minutes at a time. At one point, I thought that people were going to start giving us money as we sat as beggars in the side of the sidewalk. 

Then I took Ryan, Anika, and Chloe out on the town. I took them to the Opera house and the mall with the great Chriatmas lights. We then went to the Place Vendome, which is a big square that was completely surrounded by lit up Christmas trees. The highlight of the night was taking a trip around the Ferris wheel, all lit up in the colors of the France flag. Anika admitted that she was scared. I asked her if I had ever led her wrong on something that turned out to be scary. It turns out I have. Apparently, I have a history with this girl. I made her go on a roller coaster once at Six Flags, and I scared her so bad that she still hates roller coasters. I also batted a ball into her face once when we were playing baseball. It was a softer type of fluffy ball though so it wasn't that bad. Thinking about it, I'm not sure why she would do anything with me let alone trust me that she will be fine on the Ferris Wheel. 

We finished the night by walking through the Christmas Village along the Champs-Elysees. The girls wanted to buy everything and I said no. Ryan really wanted a 40 Euro pair of earmuffs. No was all I said and I walked away. We did end up with another Nutella Crepe because those things are amazing. 

Amsterdam Day 117: My trip to Paris by Ryan

I went to Paris. I got to sleep over at Anika's hotel room we stayed up late the next day we went to h&m and herd a grenade go off near h&m. Then we went to the Eiffel Tower and got hot chocolate 

This is back to Kelly now. I have checked on the story about the grenade. Apparently, there was a suspicious package that the police exploded. So it was a controlled explosion by the police. 

At the Arc De Triumphe though, Cam and Bev had a ballon in the shape of a sword and a hat. At two different times, they popped. A lady told Jaimee that she needed to be careful with the balloons because everyone is jumpy right now. 

Amsterdam Day 116: Paris Day 1: Arc De Triumph

So you have a couple extra days off of work and our of school. What do you do?  Why not go to Paris. So we did. We started off on our 5 hour 30 minute drive tots the city of lights. 7 hours later, with one hour of the most horrendous Paris traffic that I have ever been in, we arrived at our flat for the long weekend. Of course, the very first thing we did was get some crepes at the creperie on the corner. Then dinner with our friends Amber and Lee who are also visiting Paris for the week. 

Our first day of sightseeing included a trip to the Arc de Triumphe including the hike to the top of its 271 steps. Jannica counted, but I think she missed some. 

Cameron was very excited to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. I'm not really sure what he was expecting, but he was pretty impressed. He was so impressed that he let me take his picture. He has gotten to the point where he does not like his picture taken and it can only be done a special occasions. I believe that he thinks the camera takes away his soul. 

The spiral staircase up and down the tower are pretty cool. Jannica and Bev looked up at me. I was a little afraid that I would drop my phone. And Cameron was hiding on the side so his picture would not accidentally be taken. 

Cameron is again hiding from the camera. That's alright though. I like these kids too. Ryan was off with Amber, Lee, Anika, and Chloe exploring some other part of the city. 

We also saw a cool park to the north of the main city called Parc Buttes Chaumont. It is a pretty cool looking setting. 

We also spent some time in Galleries Lafayette, a huge department store, that looks the opera house. The Christmas decorations are all over and it looks amazing.