In Bruges

Bruges!!

This weekend was our first European adventure. We left for Bruges Saturday morning and headed straight to Antwerp. Beautiful train station, a selfie was needed. Marion did great on the first leg of the trip.

Devon carried the backpack and pack and play and Valarie was in charge of the baby. We transferred in Antwerp and were on our way to Bruges... we thought. Our train stopped 20 minutes into the second leg and the announcer only spoke in Dutch. We were in for it. Thankfully, there was an American on the train that translated for us. Our train had de-coupled from the front train and it had left us behind. They came back but had trouble fixing it so they had to push us backward to the closest stop. Thankfully, we found a train to bring us to Bruges and Marion took a quick nap.

We were tired, but we made it and it was worth it! Bruges is beautiful. We couldn't wait for the beer, the chocolate, and the waffles.

Marion was mostly busy with her sticker book.

First stop was the beer. Devon got to try Westvleteren 12, so good its too cool for a label.

Marion loved the pub, the pub potentially didn't love all the stickers?

This is how they relax in Belgium!! 

 

 Roaming the streets!

More canals in Bruges! We very much enjoyed our walking tour.

The highlight of the trip for Marion was the horses. There are horse drawn carriages everywhere and when we saw one she was begging for more horses! (Highlight for Dad was beer, highlight for Mom was waffles... in case you were wondering).  

Next morning, we were up early and got the place to ourselves. We continued our walk throughout the city.

We love a canal and a selfie!

This is how we eat pasta at the local brewery.

 And then it was time to head home. Marion took another nap, We were happy to be home.

More park fun

This weekend we saddled up our bikes and headed out to another great park about a 20-minute bike ride from our house called Amstelpark. Unlike Vondelpark, bikes aren't allowed so I would imagine you would only see people walking around on foot. I have to imagine because of course we got there so early there was no one else in the park. Imagine that.

This is the bridge we crossed to get into the park, a very cool red bridge over a canal. Mama and Marion paused for a photo op.

After walking around for a while (and seeing no one else) we headed for the playground, or speelpark, to check it out. Man do the Dutch know how to do playgrounds. This one had a petting zoo, a carnival with bumper boats, crazy climbing structures, and a full-blown zipline! Of course Val and Dev both had to try it out. Wooooo!

Next we found a hedge maze that Val and Marion got lost in. Devon had to rescue them by going in through the exit to find them.

Then it started to rain, but before we left we stopped to grab a bite to eat at the cafe in the park. Val and Marion had something... doesn't matter what. Devon ordered a pannekoeken dame blanche - basically a giant pancake with ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream. Aww yea.

Parks and Rec

We've made quick work of identifying the all the nearby parks in our neighborhood and trying them out to see if they're any good. The Dutch certainly love a good park. 

We found ourselves a shady spot on a sunny afternoon in Vondelpark, which is by far Amsterdam's busiest and most well-known park. Here you can find couples lounging on blankets, crossfit groups swinging kettle bells, 40-year old dudes playing hacky-sack with a soccer ball, bachelorette parties playing a Swedish game called Kubb (look it up - it's the next cornhole), and a million other things all happening at once. But Marion didn't see any of that, she was busy hunting for a snack.

This little park is attached to a currently out-of-session Montessori school down the street from us and it is awesome. Trampolines, climbing walls, a cargo net... It's like Ninja Warrior for kids! So cool.

And this is Marion's new favorite park. It's small, but it's right around the corner from our house and it's got some great things to ride and climb. Yee-haw!

That's all for now. Tot ziens! (see you later!)

Bikes, pools, and De Pijp

We headed to a farmers market in De Pijp this morning, a near by neighborhood. We ended up getting hungry so we stopped for lunch and had to head home after for nap time. Originally, we thought that market was only open on Saturday, but turns out it is open everyday but Sunday :).

Also wanted to give a better visual for the bike situation, so included more pictures below. Dev and Val both have baby seats. Marion started off hating the bike, but has grown to love it and her helmet. She has even taken a few snoozes.

Yesterday, we found an amazing pool at a nearby park! Marion loved it, but doesn't understand that you can't drink the water so we had to leave before she made herself sick.

Our first week in Amsterdam

We arrived to Amsterdam and the rain greeted us. It was a welcome mist, we were all hot and stuffy from the plane ride. Our new house is amazing and all of our furniture was ready to go. Marion enjoyed her new digs immediately.

On our very first day in Amsterdam, Marion claimed the master bedroom. And a closet. 

She also began studying to become a CPA. What an overachiever.

First stop was Albert Hein, our friendly neighborhood grocery store (think Safeway Lite). We needed milk, eggs, butter, the essentials. We quickly learned that guessing what Dutch words mean doesn't end well. Instead of whole milk, we bough buttermilk (didn't go over well with Marion). We bought unsalted butter (didn't go over well with Dev). Thankfully, we were able to translate beer.

Valarie was determined to stay up during the day so we got to unpacking and was able to get through almost all of our boxes. Val and Dev were ready to sleep at 9, but Marion was not. She was wide awake from 9 pm to 1 am... gotta love jet lag.

Our trip across the pond

We headed out from San Francisco on a sunny Monday afternoon, Marion enjoyed telling stories with her felt board.

At some point she discovered the sticker book, and this happened...

And finally she fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

When we landed in Amsterdam, Dad of course was the pack mule and carried all the heavy stuff. Mom carried Marion. Oh and a bottle of water. 

Then we headed out into the wet and wild world of Amsterdam!

Prologue: The going-away party

The weekend before our big adventure began, we had one last party at the Toda house. Friends and family gathered together to eat and drink, play cornhole and splash in kiddie pools, laugh a little and even cry. Just another beautiful day in sunny California.