Baby at the Beach: Marbella

The Durneys are loving sunny Southern Spain! Opa and Oma generously gave us one of their timeshare weeks, which we exchanged for the Marriott Marbella Beach Resort. I had been searching exchange availability for Pete's holiday week for Southern Spain and was mostly finding smaller hotels, set off the beach. I felt so fortunate to search again one evening and see a unit available at the Marriott. After quickly skimming the trip advisor reviews, I knew we should act quickly and book it. It is really a beautiful resort with all of the amenities we could want. We can see a sliver of the Mediterranean from the balcony of our one bedroom unit and we have direct access to the beach.  

It was a joy to bring Jude down there on our first day to let him explore the sand and dip his toes in the water. He went charging in until he realized how cold it was! 

When Canals Freeze Over?

Remember the video link on my very first post on this blog? It was a series called Holland: The Original Cool. Well, they are at it again. This time with a winter themed promo video.

Ice skating between towns sounds pretty cool and the images captured in this other Youtube video below make it seem dreamy (also, it looks like Bugaboo has a special iceskating attachment to their stroller??).

That being said, as I see friends from the East Coast sharing pictures and news clips of the polar vortex and snow debauchery, I do not miss it! I am glad that it wasn't cold enough this winter in Amsterdam for the canals to freeze over. I did get to see some snow on the ground a few mornings and that was good enough for me!

Snow in De Braak, melted quickly by the sun

We are currently on Pete's "crocus" break. When I first saw his school schedule and this holiday week posted I thought, "how strange to have a break named for one of the plagues." Then I was informed that crocus is not the same as locust. My bad! And sure enough, crocuses (now that I know what they are!) were in bloom all over our neighborhood as we left for the break. I hear that spring will be waiting for us when we return home and I hope that is true! In the meantime, we are on the Costa del Sol in Spain, which is living up to its reputation! For everyone back home, think warm thoughts! Spring will be here soon! 

Me gusta! 

Adventures in London

Earlier this week, Jude and I traveled to London to see friend Sarah and her daughter Isabel in North Kensington. Ever since their visit to Amsterdam this fall, I had planned to visit them in London and when our mutual friend Laura announced she was coming over in February, I decided to join the girls' trip. Traveling alone with Jude is getting easier each time I do it. It helps that people in the airport are super accommodating to us- strangers helping to carry my bags, security officers bumping us to the front of lines and helping me take off my shoes (!), and immigration officials chatting Jude up and smiling the whole time! It is actually a pleasant way to fly! 

There was no room for toys in my luggage as I carried on everything Jude and I would need for 3 days (minus the stroller, diapers and food, which Sarah graciously provided!). So we improvised on the flight. When I handed Jude my empty plastic wine bottle (yes, wine is mandatory when traveling solo with baby), he had a blast with it! The nice man next to us encouraged me to take a photo.

Mother of the Year

On Monday, Sarah's nanny agreed to watch both babies so we could have a girls' day out. This was the first time I've left Jude alone for that long of a period of time during the day and also with someone who isn't family. The pics of the babies watching us leave kills me! Of course, Jude was fine and I loved the daytime "me" time.

These two are so London!

On the mommas' day out agenda: lunch and a movie. Not any old movie. 50 Shades of Gray at the Electric theater, where leather seats and bottles of wine helped us forget how awful the movie was! 

None of us had read the book and I don't think any of us knew it was a trilogy. Thank goodness for the wine!

On Tuesday, we all went to Isabel's music class, where she was the clear star of the show. Girl loves some music! The babes had fun being in their own band at home, too.

Baby band!

We took advantage of the gorgeous weather and took a long stroll through Notting Hill, Hyde Park and Kensington, passing sights along the way.

Found my future home!

Kensington Palace. Prince George turned down Jude's playdate invitation. Too bad, they could have been great chums!

Laura and I *enjoyed* a pint while watching the munchkins at a Notting Hill pub. I do not know how mothers of twins do it!

Put your money where your mouth is, kiddos!

'Til next time, friends!

Jude has proven yet again to be a total travel trooper. Prior to leaving for London, we learned that Isabel had come down with a stomach bug. Not wanting to miss the trip, I decided to take our chances. Sarah was next in line while we were there and poor Jude started with it in the car on the way to the airport (a very unfortunate incident!). Sarah and Laura jumped into action, pulling over and running to a local store to buy paper towels, wipes and plastic bags to clean up the scene in the car. All I kept thinking was, "How am I going to make it through the flight on my own?!" We made it to the airport, through security and onto the plane smoothly considering it all. I moved us to an empty, back row incase there was a repeat. I dressed Jude in plastic bags as a precaution (great idea, Sarah!) and off we went. Thank goodness the flight time is only 50 minutes from London to Amsterdam! We made it off the plane, through immigration and onto the bus home. With moments left 'til our transfer stop where Pete was meeting us, Jude, who I was wearing facing out in the front carrier, tossed his cookies all over everything- himself, me, our luggage, the bus. I stepped off the bus and saw Pete approaching us and have never felt so relieved! Jude is on the mend and we are waiting to see who it will strike next. Fingers crossed it is out of all of our systems by Sunday when we leave for our vacation week in Spain!!

All suited up for the flight home!

Valentine's Day at the Royal Palace

For Valentine's Day, we decided to visit the Royal Palace right in the center of Amsterdam off Dam square. It is only in the past few years that the palace has been open to visits for the public (on days when it is not in use by the royals of course). Dutch royals?! Yes, we have a king, queen and three princesses. King Willem-Alexander took over 2 years ago after his mother, Queen Beatrix abdicated the thrown. It was a beautiful building and we made it most of the way through the audio tour before Jude let it be known that he had had enough of the place. 

Central Hall that used to be a meeting place for the public back in the day.

Atlas

We toured many state rooms that are used by guests of the royal family. President Obama has stayed there on a visit.

On exhibition is a digital projection of Rembrandt's Claudius Civilis painting in one of the hall archways.

Lunch stop at de Bijenkorf with our little flirt

Heading home after a great day out! 

Friday the 13th

It's been an eventful week here for the Durneys so forgive me for being a bit behind. It all started last week on Friday, the 13th. 

It was a gorgeous day in Amsterdam and Jude and I were heading into the city to attend the birthday party of sweet Darcy. 

Stunning Amsterdam day

I met Darcy and her mom through the "Winter Babies" facebook group (formerly the "February/March" babies group). This group was started by a group of women, expats and locals, who met in pregnancy class and wanted to stay in touch. The group has expanded and I learned about it from another mother I met at a playgroup. It is a great resource for asking questions about the babes and for planning play groups. And now, as members of the group are turning 1, it is birthday party central! 

The party was wonderful and well attended by 13 babies and moms. We thought we'd get a baby group photo :)

Trying to get 13 mobile babies to sit together for the shot

Jude has an important question for the birthday girl

Pretty good shot, but where's Jude?

After the party, on a post-baby playdate high, we met up with college friend, Sean and his buddy who were traveling through Amsterdam. We were catching up over beer and tostis at a Dutch cafe and Jude was doing his usual routine of flirting with the wait staff and babbling away with the occasional screech. All of a sudden, a hideous woman at a neighboring table stood up and started yelling at us! Her exact words were lost on me as I was in a complete state of shock, but she essential yelled that Jude was bothering everyone in the restaurant, was clearly an unhappy baby and that we were ignoring him. The real zinger was when she said that you would not see Dutch children in cafes behaving that way (I beg to differ). She was shaking with anger towards us and I could not believe it! Sean's friend who was sitting closest to the table started to defend Jude and was yelled at by the women's partner to "lower his hands." Sorry, clearly you now know that we are American and we call it gesticulating! His friend then quickly asked for the bill so that we could get the heck out of there. We got sympathetic looks from the waitstaff, but they didn't say anything to the woman. As we were settling the bill, a Dutch man leaving the cafe turned to me and said, "Your baby was not bothering me." God bless him!

The experience had me really shaken, though the shock prevented me from reacting until much later when I arrived home to Pete in tears.

Post cafe incident before the emotional breakdown :) 

That night I biked into the city to have dinner with my friend Tennae. I shared with her the drama of the day over Vietnamese food and then, all of a sudden, I got a splinter from the chopsticks. A splinter! From chopsticks! I looked up at her and that's when I realized, it was Friday the 13th!

Let's Get Real

2015 is going to be a busy year for the Durneys. I currently have 7 roundtrip flights booked and this in only through August. In case you can't tell from this blog, we are trying to make the most of our time in Europe and our list of places we'd like to visit is LONG (seemingly infinite!). Next week I'm headed to London for a few days to see friends and then Pete and I are off to Southern Spain the last week of February for his Crocus break from school.

I used to follow the blog of a woman in Brooklyn. Her blog consisted of renovation projects to her three story brownstone in Brooklyn and condo on the Jersey shore and photos from her 5-star vacations around the world with her husband. One reader asked the obvious question- how do you afford all of this? To which she replied that they were not rich and that they saved money by not buying designer jeans (I'm paraphrasing). Um, really?! So in an effort to be fully transparent, I'd like to take a minute to explain how all of this travel is (financially) possible. I don't want readers to have unrealistic expectations of the salary of a teacher in the Netherlands!

You may have heard how strong the dollar is against the euro right now (again, hint, hint- come visit!). This may seem like bad news since Pete is paid in euros, but it actually beneficial for us. You see, every month we spend all of the money that Pete brings in (and then some- we are working on this!). Saving euros while we are here is not a goal of ours (thank goodness). We weren't sure how it was going to be living on one income with a baby as our prior arrangement was two incomes and no baby (or, as our friends in NYC referred to it: DINKs- "Double Income No Kids"). So Pete and I decided that in the months leading up to our move, we would make an effort to live on just his income and save mine. We decided that the money saved would be our "travel fund" for our time here. So now we have a savings account dedicated to our travels that we can spend guilt free. And this fund is in dollars so keep rocking it America!

Still, our travel list is long and the funds do not run that deep. Thankfully, I am sort of a master budget trip planner. Self proclaimed. I intend to share all of my tips with you, so stay tuned!

Museum Monday

Mondays are pretty quiet around these parts. Typically my playdates and baby classes don't get underway until Tuesday and I take the day to unwind from the weekend, run errands or just do laundry. After feeling rather homebound last week, I decided to venture out this Monday despite the early morning snow showers. A recent article highlighted 40 top Amsterdam experiences and after reading the article I realized I have a lot yet to explore! High on the list were the Hermitage Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum, located around the corner from one another about 50 minutes away by bus and tram. 

I have never considered myself a "museum person." I tend to choose outdoor experiences and dining when we travel. With a baby though, museums here are wonderful! They are accessible, relatively quiet if Jude happens to be snoozing, have great baby changing facilities and nice cafes stocked with high chairs. More than once, I have popped into a museum in Amsterdam just to have a place to feed or change Jude. And of course, with the elements here, having indoor activities is key. 

This is all made possible by the Museumkaart (Museum card), which costs just 55 euros for the year. With most museum entrances around 15 euros a pop, this is a steal! It grants entry into the majority of museums in Amsterdam and many throughout the Netherlands. Pete was given a card by his school when he arrived. I purchased one for myself and two for friends and family to use when the visit (hint, hint). So far I've visited a dozen of the ~400 museums. I have my work cut out for me! 

Hermitage courtyard. I was shocked to see crocuses in bloom already!

"Portrait Gallery of the Golden Age" Exhibit- Guilds of well to do men in the 16th and 17th centuries paid large sums to have their portraits painted. 

Wintertime on the IJ River

Dining with the Tsars Exhibit showcasing table settings from the Russian Royalty

Post lunchtime play in the museum cafe

A most civil museum buddy

Rembrandt House Museum- photo of his studio where he completed his masterpieces.