Our Week with Ni & Mayan

To leave off from before, we arrived home from Switzerland on Tuesday, July 22. The rest of that week was spent cleaning and catching up on life in Amsterdam to prepare for the arrival of our first guests, Nick & Megan!!

Greg met Nick & Megan at Central Station in the afternoon on Sunday, July 27. I stayed home with Ben who was napping, but he must have known they were on their way because he woke up a few minutes before they made it home. Ben was a little shy at first, but very quickly warmed up to "Ni" and "Mayan". They had already been traveling for about 10 days - to Barcelona and on a Mediterranean cruise, so they looked quite tan and relaxed. Also, they must have brought all the warm weather with them because it was crazy hot the whole time they were here! That evening, we gave them the "lay of the land", which for us means a walk down the Prinsengracht, a peek at Leidseplein, and a quick stroll in Vondel Park. We took the very hot and crowded tram back home, grabbed some pizza for dinner, and hit the hay.

Monday was a fairly lazy day - a little sightseeing and shopping in the morning. I played "tourist" as well and snapped some shots of Dam Square and Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Later that afternoon we took Ben to the little wading pool (aka 'glorified drainage ditch' - but very clean) at WesterPark to cool off a little. He loved splashing around in the water with Megan.

Tuesday brought much excitement to our little sauna...err, I mean home. Greg was getting ready to leave for work, and Ben and I had just come back from a run. Megan picked Ben up and said "Now Ben will be able to call me Aunt Megan!" That's right, Nick and Megan are engaged!! Poor girl had to keep it quiet since Monday night (us old folks go to bed before midnight, so we were sawing logs when they got back). They had gone out to have dinner and see a comedy show in the Leidseplein area, and as they were walking back along the Prinsengracht, Nick proposed in front of the Westerkerk - very beautiful at night with the tower all lit up. How wonderful! No wedding date just yet, but we are assuming that we will have a very good reason to visit the States next summer!! Congrats Nick & Megan!

But wait, the excitement doesn't end there. We were planning on going to get pannekoeken (dutch pancakes) around noon, and before we left, Ben slipped off the couch and nailed his forehead on the wall. He had quite the shiner, and it swelled up pretty bad. I tried to call the doctor, but got a recording. So, I called our relocation consultant to see if she was available and could translate. She called and found out the doctor is on holiday (he must be with chicken man, black bean man, and pizza man), but there was a backup doctor we could call. After about 20 minutes of trying, I finally got through to the backup doctor. Long story short, he is fine, but a week later, is still sporting quite a lovely bruise, but thankfully no more bump. (By the way, I prefer the engagement excitement over the 1 year old injury excitement - who's with me?) No worries though, we still made it out for pannekoeken!! By the end of the week, we had a little pancake addict on our hands - no, not Ben - Megan! I think she managed to have at least one every day!

Tuesday night was 'date night' for Greg and me. Within the first 10 minutes of their arrival on Sunday, Nick and Megan offered to watch Ben for an evening. God bless them! Really, we were very grateful to have an evening out for ourselves, and my favorite part (besides the handsome man across the table) was getting to order whatever I wanted (instead of looking at the menu and trying to figure out what Ben and I could share)!! We had a nice time, and we hope that Uncle Nick and Aunt Megan enjoyed the bathtime and bedtime routine with their nephew.

It's Wednesday now and still hot, hot, hot! So, we hit the beach! Zandvoort beach on the North Sea is a 30 minute train ride from Amsterdam. The sand was soft and the water was cold! Ben didn't care, he LOVED it! His favorite part was "freeing" all of the shells back into the water. That night, Nick and Megan enjoyed a candlelight canalboat cruise on us.

Thursday was another slow, relaxing day. Nick and Megan climbed the tower of the Westerkerk for an amazing view of Amsterdam. It was a gorgeous, (hot) clear day, so her photos were really great! Makes me excited to go up - but we'll have to do that when our next round of visitors arrive as little ones under 5 are not allowed. Megan, Ben, and I took a walk that afternoon and found ourselves in the Jordino gelato shop. How did that happen? :) We felt guilty for not having the Zabikow boys with us, but a little banana coconut gelato melted all that guilt away. So yummy! Megan's friend from WIU (who now lives in London), Hillary, arrived on Thursday night. How many Leathernecks can we fit into one small (and did I mention that it was hot?) apartment?? :) Really though, we were glad that it worked out that she could come and visit.

Megan and Hillary went to the Anne Frank House (and had pancakes) on Friday morning, while Nick & Greg went to visit the Ajax Stadium. Ajax is the name of Amsterdam's "football" club. Greg got some photos of the stadium during their tour. Later that afternoon, Nick, Megan, and Hillary went to see the Red Light District. And, they finished up the day with some Leidseplein nightlife.

The weather cooled off a little on Saturday (finally!), which was nice. We couldn't help but hear all of the festivities for Gay Pride week, as there was a boat parade down the Prinsengracht. We watched the parade for a bit before heading back to the apartment for our guests to pack up.

We all walked to Central Station around 4 p.m. for everyone to catch their trains. Hillary was headed to the airport, and Nick and Megan were headed by train for Frankfurt, Germany where they were catching their flight on Sunday morning. It was hard saying goodbye, we loved having them here. Ben will miss his girlfriends, Megan and Hillary, and his Uncle Nick SO MUCH. Now he is back to playing soccer and reading Dr. Seuss with just Mom and Dad. And, he was pretty confused Sunday when he woke up to no one on the couch and asked about "Ni" most of the day.
Getting to Know Amsterdam:

I thought that since the pannekoeken were such a big hit this week, I would share a little Dutch insight into the pancake. The Dutch pancakes are larger and thinner than the typical American pancake, sort of like a crepe. But, the Dutch don't consider pancakes breakfast food, as you can tell by the ingredients that are commonly found in them. And, many of the pancake houses don't even open until noon, more for lunch and dinner. Here are some of the choices Megan had to choose from:

• chorizo & cheese
• ham, cheese, & pineapple (right up Nick's alley)
• spinach, cheese, & cashew nuts
• chicken, bell pepper, sweet corn, & guacamole
• tomato, onions, mushrooms, mozzerella, pesto, & basil
• deer, onions, carrots, and cabbage (um, no thanks)

For all our upcoming visitors, don't fear. They have plenty of yummy sweet ones too!

Tot ziens for now!