Okay, so we are ½ way through this European adventure of ours! Brandon and I turned to each other at one point tonight when discussing this and gave each other this look. The look could be described as something along the lines of “wow, we are totally crazy but somehow managing.” That really is what this has been. The days before we left I kept telling B how maybe this wasn’t the best idea. I was wrong. It is the best idea. No, not every day has been perfect, and no, it isn’t really vacation. But, no day is perfect, and there is no such thing as vacation with kids anyways. However, the memories are worth every second. B has to work so the boys and I are on our own during the day. We tend to stroll the squares, sometimes grab a waffle, and still dedicate time every day to be back at the hotel for the boys’ naps. We brought a lot of toys and books from home. With a trip of this length it was important to keep things fairly normal. So every day we do puzzles, color, read “brown bear, brown bear” a few hundred times, and obviously we play trains. Theo is so into Hank and watches his every move.
Some highlights of our trip so far:
Amsterdam. Our whole family just adores this city. The canals have us all enchanted, the people are all so friendly, and our hotel there is super luxurious. We rented a pedal boat this time and hit the water. It was super fun, well, until it wasn’t fun anymore. The last 15 minutes both kids lost it, a certain mom or dad (no comment) had gotten the boat a little lost, and after an hour of pedaling without a break, we were all ready to be “all done” like Hank was signing.
Food. Oh, the food. While I actually love cooking, there is something so lovely about not having to grocery shop, meal plan, and actually cook with a nursing baby in the ergo and a toddler signing “hungry” the whole time. The fact that Europe has a ridiculous amount of restaurants every five feet and they all taste better than the last is just a bonus.
An immensely delicious bonus.
Trains. This goes on the list because my little engineer, Hank, is enamored by each and every one he sees. Luckily for him there plenty of trolleys over here. Our hotels have all had awesome views and Hank just hangs out at the window watching the trains. We go for a walk and he points them all out. His favorite place for trains was Antwerp, Belgium, because we stayed at hotel directly across the central station. Trains 24/7 = a Hank-worthy trip.
Paris. Okay, so I am not at all a fan of this city. It doesn't do it for me (the nutella crepes are not included in this statement of dislike - I love me some Parisian street crepes). It was nice to get that token family shot in front of the Eiffel tower and Hank was a big fan of the light show! We also took the boys to Euro Disney just outside of Paris. It was definitely cool, but not nearly as nice as WDW in Orlando, Florida, USA. Why is everything so dirty in/around Paris?!!
This weekend we are off to Luxembourg! None of us have been to this tiny country before, so that is pretty cool. This weekend was planned as an R&R weekend - as in we didn't plan much.
We are staying at a castle in the country and hope to eat, rest, go for a bike ride, and just hang out together! I am pretty excited for the downtime!
What is your favorite place in Europe or a place you would like to visit?
Leave a comment and let me know!
Thanks for reading,
Amanda
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