Nana and Pops' Fall Visit

We had a great week in Holland with Nana and Pops after France. With both kids in school now, we were able to accomplish to a lot, including volunteering in both of the kids' classes.

Our week in photos:

Showing Pops his invention game. 

On our way for Sunday pizza and boat cruise

Some extra delivery people were needed due to the large order.  

Post boat playtime at the home my mom now calls FAO Schwarz :)

On Monday, we toured around Central Station, marveling in the details of the mouse house at the Central Public Library. 

Taking in the city views from the library terrace. It was a blustery day!

On Tuesday we went in to cook tacos with the Hedgehogs. I was glad for the chance to see Maeve in action at school and to get to know the other children better. 

Daddy popped around to say hello

Pops taking a well deserved coffee break. It is exhausting working with two year olds! Hats off to all of the teachers! 

Wednesday was Halloween and volunteering in Jude's class.

Thursday, we took Jude to the embassy to renew his passport. He was very entertained by the advert outside of the Stadelijk museum. Oh, Amsterdam :)

Then I took Nana and Pops to Leiden for lunch. It had been a long time since I'd been to this charming little town! We toured de Valk windmill and learned a lot about the famous Dutch buildings.

On Friday, we drove to Hoge Veluewe National Park. It was my third visit, but Nana and Pops had never been and were excited to see the Kroller-Muller museum. We parked outside of the west entrance and used the free bikes to cycle 20 minutes to the museum.

My new favorite Van Gogh

On Saturday, our last day together, we biked to Amstel Park. Pops did great cycling with Jude on the back! The fall colors this year in Amsterdam have been so beautiful. Some relation to the warm and cold spells we've had maybe?

Jude was persistent! 

Girl just wanted to drop balls into the water features! 

That evening was the annual Museumnacht. I don't think I've blogged about it before, but this was my 3rd year going. On the first Saturday in November, all of the museums are open in the evening with special events, drinks, food, DJs and general merriment. While I adore it, Pete said he could take it or leave it so I let him stay in to babysit while I went around with Nana and Pops. With 56 museums open, you obviously can't make it to them all so you have to study the program a bit to decide which ones you want to try to see. As the night goes on, lines get longer for the big ones, which I learned the hard way last year (1 hour wait to get into the Rijks museum to see a DJ friends were excited about only to miss the performance). The Maritime museum was hosting the opening ceremony this year and I'd never been so we headed that way. There was free beer, a large brass band, a strange performance with a mermaid and a glass of water and opening remarks by the new Mayor of Amsterdam. Then some costumed figures danced their way through the crowds before opening the museum. It was a lot of fun! We went to the replica trading ship that is in the harbor and being some of the first on board, were able to play a game of shuffleboard on the deck.

The Mayor, the mermaid and the band. 

Shuffleboard on the deck. 

Then we went to the Portuguese Synagogue, which I'd visited our first museum night and was so impressed with the 1001 candles that lit the large building, I wanted my parents to see it. We were there in time to hear one of the classical concerts being performed.

Our last stop was the Hermitage. We saw the new Classical Beauties Italian exhibit along with the Dutch Masters mainstay. We could have kept going, but it was a long week (see above), so we called it a night. There's always next Museumnacht!

Thank you for the long visit, Nana and Pops. The kids loved it and we loved it. Glad we got to see and do so much together! See you in a few short weeks!