Making' It Rain

Finally, Jude is starting to pull his own weight around here! Once a freeloading baby, he is now an active financial contributor to our family! His first Dutch Child Allowance was deposited into our bank account today from the government. He was approved for a quarterly allowance of €191.65. Time to switch to the deluxe diapers! Just another benefit of a socialized government.

Not that we don't actually pay for it though. Taxes here are out of control. Apart from the 21% "value added tax" added to most items, income is taxed heavily, up to 50% is normal. In order to attract foreign companies to the Netherlands given the high taxes, the Dutch grant a "30% tax ruling" to "highly skilled migrants" moving to the Netherlands for specific jobs. This means that before income taxes are applied, 30% of Pete's salary is removed, thus taxing us at a lower effective rate. Currently, a foreign worker can have the 30% ruling for 8 years and then will get taxed normally. For that reason, many expats leave after the 8 years. 

On a totally unrelated note, after 6 months of battling my US insurance company for incorrect charges applied to my midwife's out of network services, I have prevailed! Three appeals attempts later, the charges have been overturned! A good lesson in perseverance. I had to deal with insurance companies every day at my former job so there was no way I was letting them bamboozle me! Now, time to plan that Adriatic cruise :)

Happy Tuesday and happy 6 months to our little guy!

That time again, Bear? High five!

Ouderkerk

Pete's brother, Matt and his wife, Krista were in town visiting from Tuesday until yesterday so there has been a bit of radio silence on the blog. While I wait to compile all of the photos from their visit for a proper post, I will share some photos from our afternoon outing yesterday to Ouderkerk Aan de Amstel. In between catching up on some school work, doing laundry and Facetiming/Google Hangouting with our families, we made the 15 minute cycle to Ouderkerk (translation: Old Church), which is scenically located along the Amstel river. A number of faculty from ISA live in this charming town and we also considered finding a rental there before deciding that it would be a bit too isolating for me.

Entering town after crossing the Amstel.

Lots of little cafes and restaurants lining the river. 

This woman hand cranked the bridge open for boats to pass! 

Maybe the last wear out of his monster jammies :( Big boy is 6 months old tomorrow!

Napping baby

Fall on the Amstel

Dutch Wine

Yes, that title is correct. It turns out that they can grow grapes in the Netherlands! We heard about a vineyard in our neighborhood from our local wine bar and decided we had to try it out. We don't consider ourselves wine snobs by any means, but we were still skeptical about the quality of the wine. Normally open by appointment only on the weekends, De Amsteltuin had a small festival this past weekend. We made the 15 minute cycle and met up with another new couple to ISA from Scotland. The vineyard makes three main wines, a white, sparkling rose and a cabernet. The gentlemen selling the wines enjoyed telling us in English that the red wine "has balls." The wines were really great! I loved the sparking rose the best. They are a very small scale production, so the wine is not cheap, but it will make great special occasion wine for visitors.

Delft

Warning: This post is photo-heavy. Hope you don't mind! 

After last weekend's failure to make it to Delft, we were determined to try again. We made the hour and a half trip by bus and train on Saturday. The town, home to Vermeer (Girl with the Pearl Earring) and Delftware pottery, oozes with charm and beautiful, old buildings and churches. The town was incredibly busy with a flea market taking over the canals, a farmers market in one square and a massive traveling carnival in the main square. 

Traveling around Europe with a baby is different in many ways from our previous trips as a family of two. For starters, everything is on "Jude-time." I really don't want to jinx it, but Jude is coming on a week straight of consistent hour and a half morning naps in his crib. This is wonderful, except for when you want to get out the door to do something (daytrip to Delft for example!). So Pete and I were all packed and ready to go and just waiting on Jude to wake up! Once in Delft, it continued to be about Jude's timing. Due to all of the town's activities, it was very noisy in the streets for napping and also difficult to maneuver the stroller. As a result, we ended up spending a lot of time in the churches Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk, but I didn't mind. They were beautiful! And the stained glass! I could have stared at it for for hours! Churches also make great places to nurse. It was easy to find a corner pew to have some privacy. Alas, what goes in, must come out and unfortunately there was "an incident" in Nieuwe Kerk. Gives new meaning to the phrase, "Clean-up in Aisle 9!" 

As we settle into life in Amsterdam, the day-to-day seems so normal that I often forget that we are in Europe. But then we take a day trip to a place like this and I am instantly reminded of where we are and how fortunate we are to be here! 

Oude Kerk

Vermeer is buried here

It was no Sagrada Familia, but the stained glass was still incredible.

And the light shines in!

I can't get enough of it! 

Last photo of the stained glass I promise (until the next church....)

I felt awful rolling the stroller over the tombs, not to mention the noise it made bumping over the beautiful stone carvings!

Back outside wandering the canals. Love the fall colors. 

Hard to sit and eat lunch with a squirmy 5 month old. Pete's brilliant idea to get stand-up food from the fried fish vendor!

Nieuwe kerk 

And waffle with hot chocolate sauce for dessert!

Maria van Jessekerk.

Inside Nieuwe kerk. All of the Dutch Royalty are entombed here, starting with the first, Willem van Oranje, who led the revolt from the Spanish in the 1500s.  

Willem van Oranje's mausoleum.

Pete and Jude after "the incident." Luckily, Jude had a change of clothes. Poor Pete did not. 

Carnival in the square.

Stadhuis (Cityhall)

Nieuwe kerk: The leaning tower of Delft. Note the blackened part of the tower from a fire in 1536.

xoxo