Category Archives: Family Fun

A Sunny Weekend (Finally!)

April 30, 2018

Before we headed to Bordeaux we had the first weekend of real Spring weather here in Amsterdam. KC’s mom was here visiting and we decided to take advantage of the sun and spend some time outside. We ended up hosting a last-minute barbecue for our friends, spending time out on our back deck on a picnic blanket, and heading a little out of the city to see the tulips at the Keukenhof (post on that coming up!)First off, if you’re wondering whether I am the mom who takes infinite pleasure in putting her girls in matching dresses, um, yes, yes I am. These sweet little numbers were in their Easter baskets, which were actually just these little straw totes, since I have yet to purchase legit Easter baskets for them. We were in Stockholm on Easter, so their haul was minimal — just the totes, dresses and three very tiny chocolate eggs (of which they only ended up eating one). They were still thrilled on Easter morning, proving once again that kids really don’t need tons of things to have a nice holiday. Next year I do hope to have a little egg hunt though, as I suspect these two would have quite a good time running around looking for hidden treats. Prim is one long lean kiddo and always has been, but that belly of hers just makes me so, so happy. And my little Larky Lou seems to be turning more into a toddler every day. It’s very bittersweet for this mama heart of mine. The weather has since returned to being very rainy and in the mid-50s, so we’re sitting tight and waiting for more of the summery warm weather, whenever it decides to show itself again. Having so many months of cold weather has really made me appreciate the nice days so much more here, because honestly, the days I don’t have to turn on the heat in this big old house of ours feels like the most amazing victory.

Family Fun / Life Abroad / Travel

Our Trip to Sweden

April 9, 2018

We recently returned from a trip to Stockholm and I finally got our photos organized from the trip, so I figured it was time for a post! We spent five nights there, staying at a house outside the city in the suburb of Saltjö-Boo. This was another home exchange for us — our sixth (though we have actually hosted home exchange guests seven times now because one of our exchanges is a non-simultaneous exchange) and it was extra fun because KC’s sister happened to be on spring break and flew out from California to join us! Taking pictures with a 1 year old and almost-3 year old is a real dream.

In case you can’t tell from the number of layers we’re wearing in these pictures, it was pretty darn cold during our stay. The high was generally in the low-30s (around 0°C), but with the wind chill it regularly felt like low-20s. We are fairly well-equipped for cold weather now (hi down jacket, iloveyou) but I suspect that exploring Stockholm in the summer might be a tiny bit more enjoyable. We had a good time exploring the city, but this was not our most successful trip, by far. Things kind of went south on our way to Stockholm when we discovered that Lark had a stomach bug which resulted in her puking in the Uber going to the airport, at Schiphol while we were waiting in line to check our bags, on the plane while landing, and in our rental car. I have perfected my puking-baby positioning skills after the numerous stomach bugs/car sickness episodes, so I am proud to say that I managed to “redirect” or catch all the vomit during the six (yep, SIX) separate episodes, aside from when we were on the plane, because the landing was especially bumpy. This meant that Lark was not only melting down because she was puking (in front of everyone on the plane!) but she also barfed all over me and on Prim in the process, which of course resulted in Prim flipping out for a moment as well.

Basically that landing was us looking like every parent’s worst nightmare. Covered in puke with two screaming children. What a dream!Really just killing it at this whole “motherhood” thing, guys. Of course after Lark was sick the first day, Prim got it — puking and a fever of 103.1 on Easter Sunday. Luckily KC, Lark and KC’s sister were able to go out and explore a bit while I was home on sick duty. Happy Easter! With a puke bucket. To make matters worse, while hauling Easter baskets down the slippery wooden stairs the night before (stupidly, in wool socks) I managed to fall down about 6 stairs, bruising myself fairly well in the process.

But honestly, with the number of trips we have taken and still have planned, it’s not surprising that at least one of them would be less than ideal. And really, KC and I have been so tired from the insanity of the holidays, busy season, our trip to California and prepping for our move back to the states, it was nice to have some down time where we just hung out together and did nothing.So lest you think we have nothing but amazing trips with these wonderfully-behaved, well-traveled children of ours, let me assure you that it doesn’t all go according to plan. That picture above is from our flight back to Amsterdam, when 20 minutes prior to landing Lark decided that she was just OVER IT and had a full-blown, category 5 meltdown (yes, even nursing beyond a year doesn’t solve all meltdowns at this age! Yayyy…)

Hoo, well… We’ve had better trips, guys. For sure. But we’re off to Bordeaux next week! No rest for us, apparently, haha. At least Bordeaux will have ALL THE WINE to temper those tough moments. That really makes parenting on vacation infinitely more palatable. It was real, Stockholm. I’ll give you that.

Family Fun / Life Abroad / Travel

Our Trip to Rome

January 25, 2018

It’s been a couple of weeks now since we’ve returned from Rome, but between coming down from the high of the holidays and all of our vacations and trying to get the kids back on a schedule over here, there hasn’t been much downtime for posting. Add to that that Prim got the flu that’s been going around and had a super high fever for three days while KC was out of the country on business… hoo, well it’s been a week over here, guys.

Anyway, back to Rome! We went to Rome with my sister’s family and my brother over New Year’s after they had traveled to Amsterdam along with my parents for Christmas. My sister’s kids are really close in age to Prim and Lark, which is awesome; her oldest is about 7 months older than Prim and her youngest is about 7 months older than Lark. (No, we didn’t intentionally plan it that way, it was just a nice coincidence!) We rented this giant house through Airbnb which was a little outside the center, and it accommodated all nine of us really well. Everyday we would head into the center for sightseeing and (the real reason you go to Rome) eating. And since my brother was traveling with us, we were able to go out to dinner a few nights after the kids went to bed, which was heaven. We had so much delicious pasta and so much good cheap wine… it was a dream. If there’s anything more attractive than a man wearing a baby while pushing a stroller, I certainly haven’t seen it. We had all been to Rome before (Alexis and I studied there in law school), but this was KC’s first trip to Italy. We hit most of the major sites, including the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, the Colusseum, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. Larky thought the Colusseum was riveting. (Also those cheeks and those little lips! I love her.) KC originally wanted to take that top photo of us from underneath so he could get the giant hole in the roof of the Pantheon in the picture. I quickly informed him that nobody needs to be shot from the angle of under-chin up. No one. Primrose the party animal finds fun wherever she goes. And a city where she gets to have gelato more days than not? Well, let’s just say that we’ve been back for three weeks and we’re still talking about the gelato almost daily. (I asked her what her favorite food was the other day — her response: “Um… ice cream.” Me: “What flavor?” Prim: “Gelato.” Noted.) The weather was much warmer than Amsterdam — in the 50’s most days — which felt like a real vacation. Walking all over the place and not having my feet freeze was so, so nice. I mean, eating all the pasta, pizza, and gelato everyday? How can you not love Italy! Let me tell you, it was a rude awakening to come back home and have to start cooking again and stop having wine at lunch. (PS: wine at lunch makes parenting on vacation infinitely more enjoyable. INFINITELY.)We’ll be back again, Rome! Three visits just isn’t enough for one lifetime.

Family Fun / Life Abroad / Winter

The Snowy Day

December 21, 2017

The weekend we were in Croatia was the first snow in Amsterdam. And usually the first snow here isn’t much to write home about — just a few flurries with nothing sticking to the ground, but this year the first snow was a full weekend of flakes with so much snow that we had a hefty pile left over when we returned from our trip.

I have to admit that I was really bummed to miss the first snow here, but seeing these girls out on the deck playing in what was left from the storm did make up for my FOMO a little. This was Lark’s first real experience with snow. It snowed while we were in Berlin and Croatia, but not enough to really have any snow on the ground that stuck. When KC’s mom first brought Lark outside and put her down in the snow, Prim turned to her and said, “This is snow, Lark!” And if you look at Lark’s face in those pictures, you can see exactly how she feels about Prim (and why I’m always telling KC that we need to have 16 more babies, immediately). Come back soon, snow! (Maybe for Christmas???)

Family Fun / Life Abroad / Travel

Our Trip to Berlin

December 7, 2017

We just returned from a quick trip to Berlin to visit the Christmas markets, and tomorrow we’re off to Zagreb, Croatia for more! I figured I would try to sit down and write a quick post about our trip before we dive head-first into our next trip and slide directly into Christmas in the days following.

Berlin was the first home exchange we arranged after we joined the site. A nice family contacted us about swapping, and knowing how wonderful Germany is at Christmastime, I jumped at the chance to set up an exchange for December.

It was cold in Berlin, so the kids were forced to be all bundled up for our exploring. Lark was unsure of the number of layers we were requiring her to wear. We visited the remains of the Berlin wall (yes, America, let’s all take a moment to remember how great that wall was, shall we?) We visited many a brauhaus and the girls tried (and loved!) Bavarian sausage. (The numerous pretzels and fries we consumed were also a hit, go figure.) There were a couple points where we had both kids sleeping — one in the carrier and one in the stroller — which always feels like the biggest win and most relaxing part of vacation. That last photo above included two sleeping children and hot chocolate with Baileys so… WIN/WIN/WIN. A couple of the Christmas markets had little rides which Prim got to partake in. It was a big moment for her and probably the beginning of her begging to ride every sad, lonely plastic horse stationed outside a supermarket. (Hooray.) Prim insisted on riding on the front of the stroller at multiple points during the trip so she could “talk to Larky.” It keeps Lark happy and we get a few minutes of freedom from having to tell Prim to keep walking, so the fact that it may ultimately result in our travel stroller collapsing is a relatively minor concern. We walked all over Berlin, even though it was really cold (it even snowed while we were there!) I thought we might not walk as much during these winter trips due to the weather, but we managed to clock in over 6 miles one day and over 9 miles another, and between 4 and 5 miles on both of our travel days, so clearly the cold isn’t hindering our exploring much.
Trying to take a decent photo with a 2 year old… it’s a challenge, guys. Just nursing a baby on a German train, like usual. Germany, your delicious beers and carbs are proof that I was meant to be German. I can’t wait to return someday soon!