Amsterdam

In October this year we visited Amsterdam.  I have a new obsession at the moment, Airbnb, and we found a great apartment just 20 minutes walk from central station.  Having had a few experiences in hotels with young children we find apartments easier.

 We were in Amsterdam to meet up with an old friend of ours from the Glasgow years.  We had not seen him in 10 years, he lives in New Zealand, which seems like a long time now I have put it in writing!  It was lovely to get a weekend break and also get to catch up with him.

We visited Amsterdam around 11 years ago, way before kids and any kind of responsibility.  It was a slightly different experience coming here with the boys, no late night drinking and more early morning coffee / breakfast with a view over the canals.

After arriving on the Friday, we headed out to a steak house to have some dinner.  The boys had a great time, keeping the waitress entertained with their dancing.

The next day we were up and out early, we wandered the streets surrounding Central Station until we stumbled upon the boat canal cruises.  The kids love boats so we decided to spend an hour seeing the sights from the water.  The boys, mesmerised by the experience, actually sat still for an hour for the cruise.  The boat trip didn't just provide beautiful scenery but we also had a tour guide who told us all about the area and the things to look out for.  After a conversation earlier in the day about how many people accidentally drive into the canal, the tour guide helpfully told us it was 1 a week.  Quite a high number.  I do wonder if that number is even higher for wasted pedestrians!

After the boat trip and lunch, the boys were getting a bit grumpy and we were a little fed up with negotiating a double buggy around the small, busy pavements.  So we headed back to a soft play area, TunFun, so we could all burn of some steam.  What we hadn't quite expected was the size of the place, it was massive like a soft play village.

I have to admit I am not a huge fan of soft play, I am sure when the kids are older and they can go on everything themselves then I will enjoy going more.  As it stands I find it tiring and frustrating crawling, climbing and jumping after a hyper three-year-old trying to make sure they don't get stuck, while the whole time realising that if anyone is going to get stuck it will probably be me!

 What I loved about this place was that there were different areas for a range of ages.  Which meant I still had to embarrass myself by 'helping' Bob L on the larger play areas (we tag-team by the way, in case you wondered why I am only talk about helping one child) but it also meant there were a couple of climbing frames that they could go on 'all by self', as Bob D would say. This was great and meant I only had to wait at the bottom of the slide, to catch Bob L who was so hyper he was throwing himself down head first.

After we left we were all tired and the afternoons activities meant Bob L and Bob D went straight to sleep that night.  This is rare on holiday, normally when they are in a new place, the boys are up and down like yo-yo's and I have to spend hours in the room with them convincing them that they are not missing out on anything.
That evening our friend arrived and we enjoyed a glass of wine and had a chat trying to remember what has gone on in the last ten years, which is quite a lot once you get started, 6 kids between us for a start!

The next day we went off wandering,  with our friend trying to stave of the jet-lag.  We visited a great cheese shop, one of many, and managed to purchase a great selection to bring home with  us.  We then had a lovely walk around a park and managed to get some lovely photos.

The weekend being over all too soon, Monday was soon upon us and we had to pack up the car, wish our friend farewell and head home.