Amsterdam Spring 2013

This was at the Airport and we thought it was cool!

For Spring Break this year both Jon and I were blessed to have the time off of work.  We vowed that we were going to take the kids somewhere fun for Spring Break.  A few years back we spent the money on getting the kids their passports for traveling.  We never used them and well they are going to expire in October of this year so we thought we better put them to good use before that happened. 

Well I will spare all of you the details on how we decided upon Amsterdam but that is where we ended up going and we all had a BLAST! 

We left on Easter Sunday night and we arrived on Monday in Amsterdam at 10 AM local time.  We all managed a few zzzz's on the plane and decided it was time to go exploring.  We headed to City Central and we caught a Canal Boat to take a tour.  It was very fun to see the city from the Canals and I was impressed to learn that Amsterdam has more waterways through its city than Venice Italy. 

AEK off on our adventure

After our boat tour we found something to eat as we were all hungry.  We had Italian and well we learned that Margaretta Pizza is just like cheese and that Pepperoni Pizza is like ham.  It was very good and it filled our bellies.  We then headed out for some more site seeing.

Jon and the kids in the Park

We had to get the famous Shoe Picture

That night we had some dinner in the hotel bar where we sat and played games and ate dinner it was a fun day. We were all wiped out and headed to bed. 

Tuesday we did not even wake up until 10:30 AM.  K jumped out of bed and shouted that we all needed to get up as we had some site seeing to do and it was already 10:30 AM!  Once we got moving we explored the neighborhood where the hotel was and found some lunch.  We did a little grocery shopping as well and it was great to see the prices of the food in Amsterdam.

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Once we were done with lunch and shopping we headed to the NEMO science museum.  What a great place for all of us.  It was very interactive and the kids loved it.  It was a very cool building with a roof top that was huge.  We closed the place down and we probably could have spent another two hours there.

AEK and I outside the Entrance to the Anne Frank House

After the NEMO we headed to the Anne Frank House.  The line was long but we decided to get in it anyway.  We met some very nice people in line and since we were talking with them the line moved quick.  It was interesting to see the house and hear the stories of Anne Frank and her family.  The kids and I had read a book the day before that was all about Anne Frank so that helped them to understand the Museum.

 

After, we were done at the Museum we headed out for some Pancakes.  We did not have to go far and the kids LOVED them.  Jon not so much but he settled on an omelet.  It was fun to see the city at night. It is very pretty with all the lights.

 

The next day after we all got up around 10 AM we packed up our room and put our stuff in storage at the hotel. We then headed back to the City Center and we hopped on a street car and headed to the Museum district. We visited the diamond museum where we learned all about diamonds and Jon was tempted to buy me one tax free! (Ya right!) Jon and K were bored but the girls enjoyed it. We were then going to go to the museum of purse and hand bags but we decided to spare the boys so we by passed!

On the Canal Boat Ride

After the museum we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. This is the first place we went to eat that had a kids menu! The kids were in high heaven with their chicken nuggets and French fries. However, K did order a chicken sandwich so he may be getting more worldly with his food choices!

After lunch we walked through Vondel park which is similar to NYC Central Park. It was fun to see but we were all cold. So we walked over to the Van Gough museum but it was closed for construction. Bummer! We then walked around a bit more but decided soon there after to head back to Central Station so we could do our souvenir shopping.

The girls each got a sweatshirt and K got a fut ball. They are all happy with their purchases. After we got the shuttle back to the hotel to pick up our bags. We were going to grab a cab to the other hotel but we were encouraged to take the train as taxis are very expensive! So we headed back to Central Station with all our luggage and walked to the train part. We became very comfortable with the mass transportation here! We were proud of ourselves.

Taking the Train!

 
We thought before we went to Amsterdam that we would get to see the tulips in bloom.  However, they are experiencing the coldest spring in 60 years so the tulips were not in bloom.  It was disappointing but we did have a wonderful time.  It was a great trip!