Amsterdam, the Netherlands

 After visiting Keukenhof last month, we got excited about the Netherlands and wanted to visit Amsterdam.

 We didn't make too many plans for Amsterdam.  We really just wanted to walk around and explore.

 The canals were really cool!

 My only real plan was to visit Anne Frank's house.  It was the highlight of the day for all four of us!  Lincoln has already asked if we can read it together!  He really loved the house and all the pictures.

We took the tram over to the museum area and found the famous Amsterdam letters.

 Right next to the letters was the Van Gogh museum.  

 One of the museum ladies gave the boys a scavenger hunt.  Ethan had a blast!  

It really gave Nate and I time to look at the paintings.

 The Irises

 The Bedroom

 The Sunflowers.  It was really cool to see so many paintings that you recognize.

 The boys LOVED getting their picture taken with the wood shoes.  These shoes were big.

 These shoes were even bigger!  We bought some yummy cheese!

 This was the biggest shoe!

We only had one mishap yesterday.  On the way back to the Central Train Station, we decided to hop off and walk part of they way.  Ethan and I jumped off the tram.  We turned around and Link and Nate were riding off.  They weren't able to get off the tram.  A lady had blocked the door.  Ethan I decided to stay put and wait for them to come back.  Apparently, Nate and Link decided to get off at the next stop and stay put, waiting for us.  Neither of us budged for 10-15 minutes.  Finally, Ethan and I decided to hop on the next train and cross our fingers that they were at the next stop.  They were! We now have a plan for if this happens again!  Surprisingly, Ethan and Lincoln were very calm.  

I expected Ethan to freak out, but he didn't!  

 We stayed in Leiden (about 30 minutes out).  I thought Amsterdam was full of bikes, but I was mistaken.  They were EVERYWHERE in Leiden.  This is bike parking at the train station.

 More bike parking.

 EVEN more bike parking!

 We stayed about 10 minutes from the North Sea.  So, we drove over to run on the sand!

We were planning on going to Kinderdijk to see the windmills today, but it was raining.  We decided to stop by next year when we see the tulips again!  It has been a great "end of the school year" weekend!