5 Cards Dealt to Amsterdam: The Next Two Weeks

We've had a lot going on since my last post-

The big news of course is that we finally got the "rest" of our stuff (except for our bed - currently we are still sleeping on a mattress on the floor)! The sea shipment arrived last Wednesday, which was a very big deal for all involved. Four movers showed up at 8:30 with a completely full box truck, an empty box truck, and an elevator of sorts on a trailer hitch. Amazingly enough, these guys were able to offload our entire inventory (to 4 floors plus a 5th floor terrace) before we ate lunch. I mentioned the empty truck... As the cardboard and paper came off, it went in there. By the time they left, it was stuffed pretty tightly. We had to have shipped 500 pounds in packing materials alone!

The lift reached all the way to the terrace, which is 5 floors up!

The lift was absolutely necessary in large part due to the Dutch stairs. There really is no way to adequately describe them - you really have to climb them to appreciate them. And descending is the real adventure. There is - like most everything Dutch - an absolutely good and practical reason for these incredibly steep stairs: They take up significantly less floor space than "our" staircases, and space is at a premium!

The stairs to the 4th floor and the terrace are winding, so they're even more steep at the center (but less so near the walls)!

There was quite a bit of work to do all day, including - most importantly - bike assembly. There were a couple of bent wheels and normal dings, but we finally got everything trued up and ready for the road.

How's that for product placement?

The day was harder on Eliza - too early of a start and too much excitement. She crashed in Lucy's new "alpaca" couch (we can hardly see Daisy when she naps on it).

In the end, we got everything inside and the place is looking great - at least the first floor and the deck - kudos to Holli! Before and after below - nowhere near finished, but good enough for one day. Eliza got her second wind and made it down to this couch with her newly-discovered toy.

Note Lilli relaxing on her bean bag with a book and probably a bracelet in progress.

We have all collected our residence cards, so we are official. Eliza did not get fingerprinted - she was terribly disappointed - but everyone else did. Apparently I am unusual in that all 10 of my prints were picked up by the machine. So much for my career as an international criminal... The same machine picked up only 3 or 4 of the girls' prints each (so they are still on track).

Lilli and Lucy have started making trips around the corner to the bakery and the local grocery chain (Albert Heijn). Very convenient for us as they are about a 1 minute walk, and very emancipating for them. They are getting big!

Lilli drinking hot chocolate and - surprising to no-one - reading a book at the expat center while we wait for our residence cards.

Daisy has been venturing out some as well, despite our admonishments to the contrary. We continually struggle with the garage door and keeping her from running into the street, but we have decided to let her have some rooftop freedom. Our apartment shares walls on three sides with other apartments. The roof of the one to the north is accessible, and she has made her way into some precarious spots.

Here she is sitting on a lead ridge cap that she likes to traverse.
No real danger here - the roof ends in buildings on each side.

That's her to the left of the center of the picture.
On a concrete block looking about 50 feet down ad concrete.
Seems very content despite the peril.

Late last week we decided to rent another car so that we could pick up some things and go check out some used cars for sale. We paid a little more for a Kia wagon this time around. It had much more room AND AC, and enough power to keep me from grumbling. It also had a fantastic navigation system (which included the current speed limit - very handy), and was all around a top-notch car. I was surprised, although I'm sure I shouldn't have been.

The Kia took us back to Praxis and IKEA. We did not leave IKEA unscathed this time around, but we did manage to avoid buying as much as we initially picked out. Now that we have all of our stuff from the US, however, I think that we will be going back to pick up a few more things. Lucy needs a desk (and she found one there that she really loved), everyone needs reading lamps, and the closets need some more shelves.

The Kia also took us out into the country to visit De Haar Castle. This was my first trip to a real castle, so I was as excited as the girls (maybe more so - Lucy wanted to visit the dolphinarium). We did not time the arrival so that we could take the children's tour, which is more focused on princesses, etc., but the girls did great and seemed to be very interested in everything. No photos allowed inside, but we got some great shots around the grounds.

I mentioned the flora in a previous post. Holli has an eye for beautiful things (obviously!) and is much better at framing shots that I; all of these are flowers that she has captured around the area, including some from the castle grounds:

We finally found a car last weekend and picked it up Friday. It was not the '95 Ferrari sitting on the lot, nor either of the Porsches or Jaguars. It was however a nice looking 2008 Audi Q7. Plenty of power to move the beast around, 7 seats, and air conditioning! What more could you want? Well, better gas mileage would be good... Gas was 1.90 Euro per liter when we filled up Sunday. That translates to over $10/gallon! But this has the 3.6l V6 as opposed to the V8, so it's not THAT bad. Right???

Not quite as much space as the Odyssey, but the girls and I were able to get home from IKEA today with a big haul!

Getting the car into the garage is a bit tricky. The road is not really wide, and there is a ton of foot and bicycle traffic that presents quite a hazard, but so far so good.
Our first family "road trip" was a 30-minute drive to the beach for some dinner Sunday night. We tried out IJmuiden aan Zee, which was quite interesting. Nice, huge beach with a short walk through some dunes, but when you are looking back towards the continent, the view is drastically different! Kind of reminds me of passing scenic Doe Valley lake in Brandenburg and then coming upon the chemical plant out of nowhere.

This is apparently a steel mill to the left - huge piles of coal, rock, etc.
I think I saw some boulder-sized chunks of iron in a pretty big pile too.

Here's a better shot of the beach from the dunes, without the black smoke and post-apocalyptic/ Mad Max vibe. The one below that is the Spanish tapas place where we had dinner. I could get used to living near the beach I guess.

The last big event of the last couple of weeks was Amsterdam's Gay Pride Parade, which took place right outside of our front windows in the Prinsengracht (canal). We filled up the photo stream with photos as there was plenty to see. Most was fit for a family blog, but not all! Reminded me a lot of the infield at the Derby, especially when the downpour came. That's when all the true madness begins!
I will give it to the Dutch - they like to have fun, and know how to do so!