Happy New Year's Eve!

 

Joaquin and I are spending the day together at home today.  Dave took Rachel, Gabe and Michael on a walkabout.  I have been catching up with some laundry and just picking up around the apartment and Joaquin is having fun not “shopping” and getting to play games on the computer.  We took a little walk down to get some groceries since everything will be closed for a couple of days for the holiday.  Joaquin found SpongeBob SquarePants pasta so Grammi made him Mac and Cheese for lunch.  So while eating he is watching a Goofy movie in Dutch on TV!  I said don’t you want me to find something in English and he said, “No Grammi, this is fine.”!  I asked him if any of the words were like German (since he is learning that in school) and he said “No.”  I said, “Well you can’t understand it.”  He said, “That’s why I like it.”???  He is so funny.  He makes me smile!

We have been having fun showing Rachel and Joaquin around the city all week.  Gabriel and Michael went to Germany for a couple of days to visit Michael’s family there.  Rachel is loving the food and shopping.  Her dad keeps trying to get her to go to the museums but that’s just not her thing.  And besides this week Amsterdam is packed with visitors and the lines are around the block to get into the museums.  We went to one of the markets on Monday and Rachel got the find of the century that she absolutely loves – black, leather, lace-up knee-high boots for 20 euros.  She was very excited.  After the market Joaquin got tired and cold so Dave took him home while Rachel and I kept going.  We were hungry and found a delightful Dutch restaurant that has the best traditional food.  Rach got the tomato soup with a honey goat cheese salad and I got the traditional Dutch meatballs with gravy and a small salad.  Both were delish and entirely homemade – no pre-cooked food here!  So a couple days later she told her dad she had to take him to it so we went again.  Dave ordered the traditional Dutch dish called Stamppot which is mashed potatoes mixed with vegetables and served with meat.  Dave had the sauerkraut version which is mashed potatoes with sauerkraut mixed in served with a meatball, a sausage and some bacon.  Sounds unusual but was scrumptious and he enjoyed it!  And of course, since I love food, I appreciated going back again.  I have a feeling she may have gotten dad to go there again today so her brother and Michael can enjoy it!  I found out later that it is a very popular traditional Dutch restaurant that was named after Lady Haesje Claes who in the 1500s was the founder of the Amsterdam orphanage located across the street which is currently the Amsterdam Historical Museum.  The restaurant extends over six different, interconnected buildings and the interior is comprised of paintings depicting scenes from the orphanage and color schemes of the restaurant also date back to this time period.  As you can see it has quickly become one of our family’s favorites.

Yesterday we went out to the new Taylor facility to show Rachel and Joaquin.  On the drive back to the apartment we stopped by the Amsterdam Animal Rescue facility and looked at the dogs and cats.  And we also found a traditional Holland windmill and got out to take a few pictures.  After dropping the car off at the apartment we headed over to the NEMO museum which is a children’s science museum.  We spent all afternoon there and Joaquin had a great time!

Tonight there is a huge festival down at the Museumplein which is the large grassy park in front of the Rijks Museum.  At midnight there will be fireworks with the museum in the background which should be beautiful.  We are planning on going down so hoping we stay awake.  We will need to bundle up because it is a little rainy and still very cold.

Happy New Year to all my friends and family!

Big Hugs to All!