AMSTERDAM!

Back in February, we had a great deal pop up for a flight to Amsterdam for $300! We ordered the tickets within twenty minutes. The next, we tried to recruit anyone and everyone and ended up convincing Megan and her husband (Josh) and Pita and her husband (Gabe). We were so stoked! 

It ended up being the best quick little trip! We spent one full day together and then did our own thing the rest of the trip. Amsterdam is an absolute dream and I'm still trying to convince Dan that we should retire in a little town just outside of Amsterdam. 

The first day was a little rough with the jet lag. We got in early around eleven their time (which felt like the middle of the night for us) and it was so stressful trying to find the trams to get to our airbnb. Dan and I were already at each other haha. We ended up waiting like an hour before we realized the tram we needed wasn't coming and had to take a different route. When we got to our airbnb, we were so exhausted, we passed out for like four hours. We stayed in a family's house, so it was a little loud with all of the kids, not to mention the busy street right outside our window! We must have been tired. When we finally woke up, we had missed most of the day, so we ended up finding a little Thai restaurant (The Golden Brown Bar), which was super yummy! Then we just spent the night walking around the city. So beautiful!! I loved just walking around the quiet streets with Daniel. We found the yummiest crepes churros that night too with Nutella. I'm dreaming of them now. 

The next day we were so tired, but had to buckle down and enjoy the trip! Dan went and found yummy toasted sandwiches and brought them back to eat while we got ready, then we ventured out to the city. We had some time to walk around and look at some shops before we met up with our friends. It was nice to just walk the streets. We found this cute little gift shop with some very interesting mugs... I'll post a picture below. We got to to the heart of Amsterdam and see the palace and the birds flocked all over people. 

We absolutely loved the Anne Frank House! It was so amazing to learn about all of the details of her story and get to actually walk through the house they stayed in for so long. We loved getting to do this with the friends! It was nice to see some familiar faces in a big new city. After that, we did the canal tour. It was so cool to see the city from a different perspective. We got to cozy up with blankets and just relax and enjoy the view for a while! Dan convinced everyone to go to De Japanner that night for dinner, which he was pumped out of his mind about. It was basically all you can eat Japanese food. It was good, but wouldn't have been my pick. Dan and Gabe sure enjoyed themselves. Meg and Josh ended up heading out early and went to find some other food. The rest of us went to get ice cream after and the cutest little place and then took a looooong walk back to our airbnb. It was a beautiful night!! We loved walking through Vondel Park. 

Lots of time spent under these waiting for the trams...

Saturday we woke up to a very rainy and wet day, so we decided to do as many indoor things as we could! We started off trying the Pancake House, but we weren't big fans. They were basically giant pancakes with random pieces of meat or banana in them. I could have made it back when I was five years old. Then we were off to the Rembrandt House, which we thought was so cool! It was amazing being able to walk through an artist's house and see all of his paintings and learn about his life. Also, we got to keep dry, so that was a plus. We were pretty starving after that so dan found the yummiest fish and chips place. That was probably our favorite meal! It was just so yummy and a cute little place to stop and relax. The rest of the evening was spent doing the Heineken Museum tour and walking around souvenir shops to find the rest of the souvenirs we wanted. Dan even got me to walk through the Red Light District... very interesting. It was not nearly as bad as I was expecting though. We finished off the night at the cutest little Italian restaurant called This Amore. We loved the atmosphere there and it was a great end to our night. 

Our very last day was our favorite. We decided to get out of the city and go to a more quiet part. So we hopped on a train that morning and went far out to a little windmill town called Zaanse Schans. It was so peaceful and quiet. I'm glad we went early because we beat the crowds. We spent most of the morning riding bikes around the most quiet and beautiful streets of the little town. The smell of chocolate made it even better. I just wanted to stay in that moment forever. After our bike ride, we bought some chocolate and found the cutest little cafe to eat at. So actually, this was our favorite place to eat. It was TO DIE FOR. I had the yummiest sandwich and Dan had a burger. It was just so dang cozy. That's the town I want to retire in. After that, we hopped on another train to take us to Muiderslot Castle. It was amazing! What was even more amazing than touring the castle, were the beautiful grounds with barely anyone on them. We just got to walk around and talk and it was magical. 

We finally had to head back and we stopped at the World of Food food court and both got some yummy food. I had asian food and I can't remember what Dan had... I think he got food from a couple places because he just couldn't decide. Now here's the crazy part... so we headed back on the train and got all the way back to the city only to realize my wallet was missing. I had left it at the food court. We got back on the train, ran back to the food court (this all took at least thirty minutes) and got back there to find the nicest guys just sitting with my wallet. They said they had seen us get up and walk away and then noticed the wallet, so they just sat with it until we came back. What a blessing!! 

We spent the rest of that night playing mini pool with Pita and Gabe. We had to head out early the next morning to go home! Sad day, but what an amazing trip!! 

 Our adventure wasn't quite over yet... when we got to our layover in Chicago, there was a giant snow storm, so we spent the night at the airport!!! What a crazy night it was. We barely slept. We got out on an early flight the next day. Made for some great memories though. 

Traveling is so good for the soul. My heart needed this trip. Can't wait to go back again one day! 

XOXO

Kenz

fall break

What an amazing fall break! We had a fun visit from Daniel's parents for the first weekend of my LONG fall break. We loved having them here with us. We went down to the bed and breakfast in Fairview for the boys to hunt. Anna and I always just relax at the airbnb, chat, eat, and read. This year we did a fun puzzle together and tried to plan a spontaneous Disney trip. The boys got a deer Sunday night, so we left after a yummy breakfast Pam made us on Monday morning. She makes us the best food! We had fun doing another puzzle with Dan's parents at our house before we left to NY. Daniel and I stayed up until 3:00 am Tuesday night trying to finish the puzzle. We got so close! It's fun to find out that we both actually really like puzzles. So we will be doing lots more of them from here on out! 

The next part of fall break was spent in New York. Oh, New York. I love you. I'm so grateful for someone who is as spontaneous as me. We bought these tickets on a whim like a month ago and I'm so glad we did. I randomly got this TEN DAY (did I already mention that?) fall break this year, so we had to go somewhere! I've always dreamt of going to NYC, so I knew we should go when we saw the good deal. Dang Flights From Home - you're going to be the death of our bank account. 

I loved exploring the big city with my guy. We had quite the experience trying to figure out the subway system. It caused a few arguments and Dan getting a little more upset than necessary (and then me getting upset with him for being upset), but it was a learning experience. Travel is not always perfect! I honestly find that to be the fun part about traveling - the unexpected. 

We took a flight through the night and arrived there Wednesday morning. It was pretty interesting first getting on the subway when we got there. Everyone was on their morning commute to work and we stuck out like a sore thumb with our brand new Costco suitcases. Everyone was only half awake on the subway. We had some time to kill, so we rolled around our very loud suitcases to find a coffee shop. We finally found one and got to sit down to some coffee and avocado toast. It felt so nice to finally sit down and not feel like I was about to get robbed! (hello, culture shock)

We were finally able to get to the airbnb around 9:00 am and decided to take a quick snooze before our Statue of Liberty tour. That was the best nap ever in our cute little Hamilton Heights airbnb. Although it was weird to get used to all of the street noise going outside! 

Once we woke up from our glorious nap, it was a mad rush on the subways to make it to our Statue of Liberty tour. That was so amazing, with some great views! 

The rest of our first day was spent walking all over town - quite literally. We walked eleven miles that day. We stopped at the 9/11 memorial, which was so cool! We regret not doing the museum though. We walked over to Little Italy and Chinatown where we sat outside and had a delicious Italian meal right on the street. After dinner, we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the highlight of our whole trip. We loved standing there as the crazy city happened around us as the sun went down. It was unreal. That night we spent time trying to find an Irish pub that Dan was desperate to find and then we went to witness Times Square at night. So cool! It was crazier than I imagined. All the lights, people, so much overstimulation. We also enjoyed some yummy cheesecake and a strawberry milkshake at Junior's right in the middle of Times Square. What a day! We were completely dead by the end of it. 

We spent Thursday morning and afternoon trying to find some yummy breakfast. We ended up settling and I got a cheese danish (which turned out delish) and Dan settled for a salad. It was fun sitting in the middle of the city just eating and taking in all of the people. We had an Empire State tour after that. We loved getting to go all the way to the top of the Empire State to see the view. It was quite amazing! It was also quiet up there, which was really nice. We took a quick stop at Grand Central and found some yummy pizza after that. We went back to the airbnb to get ready, but ended up taking a quick nap because we were dying. Best decision ever! The rest of Thursday was spent eating the best pizza ever at Gotham's and seeing Wicked on Broadway (so amazing - chills the entire time) and then eating cereal milk ice cream. WHAT? Yeah, Daniel found it for me and surprised me with it because he knows how much I love cereal. So cute. 

Our last day was spent sleeping in a little (we needed it!) and then booking it to Wall Street, which ended up being so cool. We found some cute souvenirs there and got some hot dogs and Dan got some Thai food at a cart. After that, we stopped and walked the NY High Line for a little while and then made our way to Central Park. Central Park was beautiful. We loved just sitting on the bench people watching for a couple hours. We had some pretty yummy ramen after that and then we did our night cruise, which turned out SO amazing! We saw so many cool sights. It was awesome to be able to see New Jersey, New York City, and Brooklyn all fro the water at night. It was chilly, but so cozy at the same time. After that, we realized we were out of time on our trip, so we quickly got more pizza and found a flight of ice cream. So yummy!

We had to be up early the next morning. It was pretty crazy running all over trying to catch subways and trains to get to the airport on time. We at one point ended up on a train and hadn't even bought a ticket, so that was embarrassing. Overall, it was an awesome trip. Definitely not a relaxing vacation by any means, but one that I'll remember forever. New York is so different from where we live. Life is faster and crazier and I even had to remind Daniel a million times to slow down and enjoy it. But it was cool to see how people live over there and how they solely rely on public transit and their own two feet to get around. We will definitely be back someday! 

The rest of fall break was spent having our annual Halloween party on Saturday. Dan dressed up as one of the guys from BASEketball and wanted me to do a complete photoshoot of him (the only time that has ever happened). I was just an alien. Can you tell who loves Halloween the most? It was a fun night, but I'm getting old and ready to just start having a more chill Halloween party... next year. 

It was so nice and much needed to relax all day Sunday. Plus, I had Monday off to get all of my to do's done! So grateful for a break. It was much needed and so good for the soul. 

Next stop... Amsterdam! We leave in eight days! Can you tell we have the travel bug?

xx Kenz