Home Again, Home Again!

I made it home and the kids were very happy that I came bearing gifts.  I got each of my girls an adorable miniature Delft pottery set.  It was a huge hit.

 Lia is serving tea to her kitty cat.

I struggled a bit with what to bring home for David... till I found this "Delft" patterned rubber duck for the bath.  And oh yes, it lights up in all the colors of the rainbow.  I asked him if he would have wanted a tea set... and he said, "Oh no, Mommy... I love this duck!"  Do you see the Netherlands flag?  Duck is holding it.

Good to be home!

Amsterdam, History Museum Day

Our last full day we decided to check out the history museum.  It is an ultra-modern museum with flat screen video displays you access with a DNA card to play in the correct language.  Of course it took me about 30 minutes to figure out how to use them... but that's just because I'm a little slow.  It is a great museum and I enjoyed learning about how the city was built on wood pilings and their evolution to concrete.  This 'I amsterdam' sculpture is a miniature version of the one in the Museum Plein. 

We also found time to ride the free ferry behind the train station across the canal to the North Side.  It is literally a 3 minute ride across the canal and when we were asking a local some questions, she was very confused as to why we would want to ride the ferry across and then just come back again.  Oh well... it was free.  And it was an adventure.  I had to take a picture of the bike garage.  The biking in Amsterdam is just a little insane.  I cannot imagine how you could remember where you left your bike and then find it again.

After our free ferry adventure, I was able to take a little self guided tour inside St. Nicholas Catholic Church.  It was spectacular.  Catholicism was banned in Amsterdam till the 1800s so there were no big churches like this one before that.  Amsterdam was tolerent thought and Catholics worshipped in secret... like in people's attics.  I didn't get to visit Amstelkring and the secret upstairs chapel (Our Dear Lord in the Attic) but would like to if I ever make it back.

This little lizard garden was near our hotel in Leidsplein.  I just thought it was cute.

And on our last night we were able to stop at a Croissanterie... a cute little French bakery and I ordered this adorable chocolate mousse boat with the Netherlands flag on it.  I had to take a picture before I ate it and I knew David would love the little flag so I saved it for him.

Amsterdam, Rijks Museum and Outdoor Market

My Mom and I utilized our time in Amsterdam very well.  We hit the "top tourist" destinations and walked the entire city center from all directions.  It has been a month since our trip so I realize I need to write about these things because the details are already getting hazy. 

Here is the high level:

Friday:  Arrival, Canal Orientation Tour 

Saturday:  Van Gogh Museum

Sunday:  Church and Anne Frank House

Monday:  Rijksmuseum, Outdoor Market

Tuesday:  History Museum

After my visit to the Rijksmuseum, I can now say with an air of snootiness... that absolutely nothing compares to seeing an original Rembrandt or Vermeer.  These paintings are amazing in person.  No reproduction can capture their beauty.   My favorites are below:

After the museum, we checked out the Albert Cuypmarkt... an outdoor market.  It was really neat to see cheese being sold outdoors.  We were able to score some delicious smoothies here too for about 1.5 Euro.

And a nice picture of me and my Mom exploring the city.

Amsterdam, Mass and Anne Frank House

I was happy to be able to attend mass on Sunday.  I found a Catholic Church in the Begijnhof area where mass was said in French.  Considering my only other options were Dutch and Latin... I thought this was the best option for me since I studied a little French in high school and my Mom knew quite a bit as well!  I don't know if I would have found out about this place if I had not been looking for a mass to attend, but I am very glad I did.  The Begijnhof is a couryard of private residences set apart from the hustle and bustle of the city by gates.  It was founded in the late 1300's as a convent at the time and is a wonderful and quiet oasis from the craziness of the city.  There is also one of the city's oldest wooden houses dating from the early 1500s here. 

On the way to the Anne Frank house, we passed the narrowest house in Amsterdam.  You can see it below.  It is the red short house and the width is not much more than the width of the door.  Apparently, the amount of property you have fronting the canal determines how much you pay in tases so many of the homes have narrow fronts and somehow make up for space in the back.

Here we are standing in line for the Anne Frank House.  It wasn't bad... only 20 minutes around 1:00 in the afternoon.  I did notice that it stays open till 7:00 at night and there is no line at all in the late afternoon.

Look how clever I was taking a picture of the front window and getting the reflection in the back.  :-)

This was the only picture I took once I got inside the Anne Frank House.  It is a 3D image on the wall with the Anne Frank house highlighted.  I was told not to take any more pictures... but I'm glad I got this one.  I read the Diary of a Young Girl in preparation for this trip because I knew I would want to visit this place.  I read it in school but was glad to read it again as an adult.  The house itself was fairly spacious till you think that 8 people lived there for 2 years and could never leave.  The part that struck me the most on the tour was the glimpse into the attic space where you could see the blue sky.  In Anne Frank's diary, she longed to be outside and the best she could get was the window that looked to the sky in the attic.  I loved that the Hollywood stars were still pinned up in her room just as she had left them.  It was very sad... but I'm glad I got to visit it in person and I plan to read her diary again with the knowledge that I have been there.

The New Church... if I remember correctly.  There is a blue crown on top.  It is very unique and the burial place of Rembrandt.

And another pretty canal... with swans!

Amsterdam!

Last summer, Chris came up with this incredibly sweet offer to send my Mom and I to Amsterdam for vacation.  He had enough points to cover our flight and hotel stay and really wanted us to go and have a great time.  And yes, he was willing to take off work and stay with our kids so we could go!  So we did... and I have the pictures to prove it.  :-)

We arrived on September 30th and stayed till October 5th.  Normally, the weather would be cool... and I hear the typical Amsterdam sky is gray... but as you can see, it was anything but gray and cool.  We were treated to very warm days and sunny blue skies.  Apparently, it was the hottest, most bizarre weather they had received on record for October and we were happy to enjoy it!  These pictures were taken along the many many canals.  I loved the different styles of gables and was amazed at how many rings and rings of canals there were... the master-plan of it all.

On Day 1, we visited the famous Van Gogh museum and spent quite a bit of time just walking around the city.  We found we could cross the city in about 30 minutes on foot.  Since the weather was so nice, we could easily walk everywhere and felt very safe.  It is a great city to explore.

Pre-School for Lia

I bought this new pre-school curriculum for Lia called the Catholic ABC's and Emily got her hands on it the day it arrived.  She read through it non-stop for about 3 days and then insisted that we start because, "Lia is 3 now... and she has a lot to learn!"  The book has a unit for each letter, with a fun craft to reinforce Catholic themes.  There are songs to sing, learning games, and as you can see below, fun snack ideas.  So I told Emily to get it all together and we'd hold pre-school on the weekends.  She was so motivated and excited about this that I would not be surprised if she decides to be a pre-school teacher later in life.  It was very sweet to see her want to make this happen for her sister.



Mass for Nonna, Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept 15)

After Nonna died, some incredibly sweet friends of ours arranged for a mass to be said for the repose of her soul.  (Thank you so much, Beverly and Gordon!)  We were able to attend the mass on September 15 and were honored to bring up the gifts.  When I was planning lessons, I noticed this day was the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.  This was very appropriate for the day and I incorporated a lesson and craft for the children after mass.

For the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, we made a ribbon of Mary's seven sorrows and discussed the sorrows in her life.  We also took some time to discuss our own sorrows... such as losing Nonna and our hopes that she is in a better place.  Now that it is November, I can honestly say this lesson stuck in my son's mind.  When we were reading the bible and got to the Flight of Egypt, he reminded me that it was one of Mary's sorrows and I was very proud of his memory!

Since I entered the faith kind of later in life... I have really enjoyed learning along side my children.  Mary's seven sorrows are:  The Prophecy of Simeon, The Flight into Egypt, The Loss of the Child Jesus in Jerusalem (Lia likes to say... he wasn't lost... he was just in church!), The Meeting of Our Lord on the way to Calvary, The Standing at the Foot of the Cross, The Taking Down of Our Lord from the Cross, and The Burial of our Lord.  I knew of these sorrows from praying the rosary and from the stations of the cross... but I was not aware of the details of this feast day and was very happy to learn something new.