And yes, we thought it would be a little bit hard - being out of our routine, time changes, suddenly feeling very cold (vs our normal sunny lives here on the island of Mauritius), and just basically travelling and getting around with 2 kids, (one who needs to be carried often or else he will cause serious damage or run in front of a car and one who wants to be carried often because he is just so tired from all the emotions he experiences daily)... and 3 big suitcases, a stroller, a camping cot, 2 small travel suitcases for each kid, a nappy bag, a backpack, laptop and camera.
It was rough. It was crazy. We seriously doubted ourselves for doing it half the time. Would we do it all over again?
Yes off course :)
Let's start at the beginning...
The flight:
It was 6 and a half hour flight with a stop-over in Dubai and then another 7 hour flight to Schiphol, Amsterdam. The first flight was okay. We had this amazing air-hostess that fell in love with the boys and overloaded them with Emirates gifts and holiday related gifts and even took some polaroid pictures (not the ones shown above) of us which are very funny and you can just see how tired Jaco and I am). Liam eventually (after all the excitement) fell asleep and had quite a good few hours of rest. Xander on the other hand watched movies and couldn't sleep until half-an hour before we landed in Dubai. Me and Jaco got little to no sleep.
The stopover:
This was by far the worst for me... It was probably around 2 AM Mauritius time for us. We haven't gotten much sleep and we had about 3 hours to kill with two very busy boys. I needed coffee and good coffee. We went to Costa which I guess is like a bit of a rip-off of Starbucks and ordered a flat white. It came in the biggest mug I had ever seen with so much milk that you really had to guess whether there was coffee inside. So bad. Eventually I just got an espresso and just tried to get that in my body and then discovered why the coffee has to be covered with so much milk - it really was not very tasty. No sleep, no coffee, no smiles at this stage...
The last bit:
The last 7 hours was the easiest as we were pretty tired and managed to get some sleep in. And use some of the activities I packed for the kids in their bags.
Finally we arrived in Amsterdam. The airport bits and administration are the worst with kids. Everyone is tired and irritated and just want to be done with all this for now, but after the plane landed you usually still have an hour of two left before you get to where you will stay.
Luckily my brother met us after we arrived and got our luggage. We haven't seen him in a year and it was a happy reunion. And since he is one of the most chill people on earth, we could first get our coffee fix, give the kids some snacks, rearrange some things for easier moving around before we went outside to get the bus to where they stay in Hoofddorp. The weather was pretty miserable when we arrived, cold with a sleeting rain making us and all our luggage pretty wet. But the excitement of seeing my brother and sis-in-law and finally settling in to their beautiful and warm little home, quickly made me forget about that.
We took some time to sort ourselves out. Giving hugs, presents and the kids getting rid of some of their cropped up energy. We moved into our room and set up the camping cot and then put Liam down for a nap. Xander was so exhausted that he fell asleep while watching a story and we had 2 hours of blissful chatting and catching-up and even exploring the local supermarket to stock up on some snacks before they woke up again.
Then we decided to go explore Amsterdam. It was quite an adjustment to our systems that by 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it is completely dark and it felt like we were going way past the kids bedtime. But we loved every minute of it. It felt like we were suddenly swept off to a magical land of twinkling lights, Christmas cheer and sounds and marvellous smells all around us.
If the shoe fits
We walked around Amsterdam Centraal, towards Dam Square and then took the tram to Museumplein. There is a big ice-skating rink in front of the Rijksmuseum, where people big and small (and some with the support of chairs) were ice-skating on and that just contributed to the magical feels. We found a spot next to the rink where we had some drinks (and hot chocolate "chocomel" for the little ones) and Bitter Balls (new favourite) and Friete (french fries). The perfect end to our first day in Netherlands if you ask me...
Day 2:
We decided to have a very chilled first day, as we were all still so tired from travelling and suffering from jet lag. Off course our almost-two year old decided to wake up at 5AM. So that is 3 hours of a busy little man locked inside the house before it even starts getting light. So thankful for an amazing husband who took him for the the first bit and Xander and I had a sleep-in, until it seemed more normal to get up.
As it was a Monday, my brother and sister-in-law was off to work, and we were flying solo for our adventures.
The first few days looked quite similar in terms of mornings. We waited until Liam looked tired enough for a nap. Then when he woke up we would have joint shower sessions and get dressed in 3 - 4 layers of clothes, make sure the kids were fed and that we packed everything we thought we might need + extra, before eventually leaving the house at 2 (by day 2 it was 13h00 and by day 3 it was 12h30).
Today our number one mission was this: getting the best (Vlaamse) Friete in the city at MannekinPis. Xander fell asleep on the way and we only had one kid to run around after for a little while...
Waiting for the train to Amsterdam Centraal
Sometimes life is rough when you are not yet 2 years old and already a jet-setter...
Found it and totally worth it!
A few other things that happened that day...
- A big pancake with banana and Nutella that made the boys very happy
- The discovery that a "coffee shop" in Amsterdam is not a place where you can get coffee, but instead a place where people get together to smoke weed.
- Having to change a diaper on the floor of a really skeevy bathroom in a Starbucks.
- Having a Starbucks flat white with almond milk and a few minutes of peace with the boys that we really needed.
- Seeing the entrance to a Cannabis Museum
- Seeing two questionable ladies displayed in a window and being closer to the Red District and Walletjies Straat then we intended to be.
- Just walking and taking in the night life and reminiscing about our travel adventures before kids (while the kids are whining that we had done enough walking now;)
We wanted to do something nice with the kids and researched a few things, and settled on the Nemo Science museum in the end. Our morning was pretty chaotic as usual and we almost decided to rather stay at home after a few meltdowns (kids and adults) before 10 in the morning. We finally got it together and decided to embrace the chaos and enter the cold.
Hoofddorp is really nice and you walk past this pretty stream on your way to the busstop where we were also greeted every morning by a gaggle of geese (how cool is the collective noun for geese?).
We decided to walk to the Museum which is about 3 kilometres (seems more like 10 with kids) from the station, and this gave me some time to take photos with my camera, as Xander was so excited about the museum he had more motivation for walking than usual and Liam was admiring everything from his stroller. It was shiveringly cold, and we walked right next to the water and saw all the houseboats and it was all really beautiful.
Here are some of my favourite photos of our walk:
*Two other things that happened on our way to the museum...
Lighting a candle for my grandmother in the beautiful Basilica of Saint Nicolas.
Walking past a nonchalant display of space cakes in the little supermarket on our way. Still can't get used to it being such a chill thing here.* No spacecakes were tested during the making of these Amsterdam Adventures...
We finally reached the museum and were happy for a bit of warmth (and clean bathrooms) and started exploring. It is definitely a fantastic place for kids with lots of experiments to do and gadgets to try and buttons to press. I must admit, that it will probably be best for kids that are slightly older and that can do a bit more reading and need less parental input with everything, but it was still really cool and Xander had lots of fun and Liam enjoyed it too even though he really could not do much. The bubbles were their favourite activity (sadly most pictures and videos again was on my phone and thus lost).
We had a nice late lunch/early supper at the restaurant at the top of the museum and I had the best gluten-free bread I have ever had. And off course Jaco and I had a well-deserved "biertje". It was dark now and the restaurant walked out on a beautiful roof terrace. Even thought it was freezing outside, we had to go and look at the twinkling view greeting us as the city lights up.
We decided to get an Uber back to the station and then jumped on the metro back to Hoofddorp. My brother picked us up at the station and we were happy to skip the last bus trip and walk to their house.
In between the chaos every evening of getting kids fed, calmed down and into bed, we also had some really good times with my brother and sis-in-law, listening to vinyls, drinking wine and laughing together. They are both great with the kids and helped us so much during our stay there. They also gave us great tips on where to go and how to get around in the easiest way. Having family and friends scattered around the world is not always easy, but it is pretty cool to travel to a place where someone that you love stay and seeing life there from their perspective...
Day 3: Den Haag
The morning chaos was pretty much the same, but we were excited to share with the boys that we will be travelling on a train to go somewhere else than Amsterdam this time. Seeing that I started the tradition in 2018 of Advent Envelopes for the boys with little messages and activities for each day, and I bravely vowed to continue doing this even though we were not at home, I had to every morning once we decided what will happen that day, put the activity/surprise etc in the envelope. This was quite a hassle and they bugged me so much for the envelopes even when I had no time yet to think of something or find a sweet to put inside, but I am really glad we did it as this was the highlight of their day no matter how big or small the message/activity were.
So that morning we left home the earliest yet and we were off to Den Haag. Liam had no nap yet, but we hoped he would pass out in the stroller later. The train trip was slightly fun/slightly hectic with the small one having way too much energy and not sitting still for a moment and the bigger one sulking over something or other that we said no to. The scenery outside was beautiful and we did enjoy the ride.
Jaco either trying to work or figuring out at which station we have to get off...
Little Dreamer
When we got to Den Haag Centraal, we decided to just chill for a moment at the Starbucks. We got hot chocolate for the kids and coffee for us and I still remember this moment as being one of those really perfect moments. Christmas music was playing, cinnamon and nutmeg smells in the air and I looked at the kids sipping their hot chocolate all snuggly in their winter clothes and Jaco smiling at me and both of us thinking; "This is why we are doing it... for moments like these..." I took a mental picture and will treasure this moment in my heart forever.
We then got on a tram or bus and went to Madurodam, a miniature park with model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks and developments. This was incredible and enjoyable for the whole family. We loved strolling around and the kids could run around and find their favourite spots and return there as many times as they wanted. (Xander to the train station and Liam to the airport). It was a lot of fun and we spent about 2 hours there just loving every moment of it. Here are a few pics of the day...
After all of this exploring, we needed some food. We went back to Den Haag Central and found a lovely coffee shop with bread and soup and enough to keep us going for the next stretch. And Liam finally took a nap. Yay!
Then we just walked around in the streets of Den Haag a bit. It is a really nice city with charming buildings, quant little streets and tiny shops to explore. The only one we really went into was a big shop filled with vinyls. Me and Jaco got a bit lost in here (as lost as you can get with two kids who went slightly crazy in the confined space). We found a few vinyls we wanted to buy, but in the end just left everything and went outside to let the kids run around a bit in the street. We walked until we found this beautiful square with lots of inviting restaurants with people looking a lot more chilled than us, having drinks and solving the worlds problems I guess. We were still taking in the vibe and adoring the lights that creates this magical feeling, when we heard a cry that can bring people back from the dead. Xander somehow managed to get a bike (one of the many parked next to the road) fall on his tooth??? I still have no idea what happened, but his tooth definitely took a knock and you could see it being pushed backwards. It must have been very painful and it took a good 30 minutes to calm him down. We finally ended up with him in the stroller and carrying Liam and still walking around in the square while listening to some music to get us all calmed down again. It was beginning to get dark and really pretty with all the lights in the trees all around us. We saw the Mauritshouse and pictures of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and decided with an hour before the museum closed, that we are going to take a quick tour. With Liam out of his stroller this was off course an interesting endeavour. Hopefully no-one that enjoyed this painting and a few others (including Rembrandts) at the same time as us, were hoping for a time of quiet contemplation. Between the sudden outbursts of painful cries from Xander and Liam really acting like an energy bunny, we hid our faces and tried to take in what we can.
This was still a better experience than what we had at the Louvre and seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time, which was more like being in a mosh pit with crowds of people trying to take a selfie with her.
What I actually do love most about me and Jaco and our relationship is that we can find beauty even in the most chaotic moments. And this was one of those moments of finding beauty. These moments are unfortunately lost (on my phone) but forever in our memories.
Here are a few pictures of the magic lights that I could save from Instagram...
I guess this is a good place to stop with Part One. With magic and beauty and finding it all around you even in the most chaotic moments.
