Kids in Amsterdam

Josh's parents came to Saudi for a few days and then we were off to Amsterdam with them! We enjoyed having them in Saudi and Bahrain for a few days!

We loved making memories and of course seeing what was in their suitcases!!!=)

We had a whirlwind trip to Amsterdam with Josh's parents. We all had so much fun making sweet memories!

We took the Lufthansa red eye out of Dammam and had two great flights. The girls slept pretty much the whole 6 hour flight to Frankfurt.

Elise has been practicing her braiding skills on her dolls...

Claire was still sleepy when we got to Amsterdam.

Josh and I did not waste any time on getting our first official adult beverage!

Once we checked in to our hotel, we set out for the Anne Frank House. I had booked the tickets a few weeks in advance because it fills up quickly. 

We had a fabulous lunch at the Pancake restaurant that was right beside Anne Frank's house. 

Anne Frank's house was sad-as we expected it to be. I'm really glad we went. It was surreal to be in the same place as she was many years ago. They don't allow pictures inside the house. 

It was pretty cold the first few days we were there. 

We had a great dinner at an Italian Restaurant right by our hotel.

We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree and though the location was great, the service wasn't that great. Still, it was nice to be close to everything!

Our first official day we went to tour Keukenhoff Gardens with our awesome tour guide, Ray.

Driving up to Keukenoff was pretty breathtaking.

Claire was not a happy child this day, so Elise was my model in most of the pictures! We were both very cold!

Elise loved hopping on these walking stones in the middle of the pond.

Warming up with some hot chocolate!

They had an awesome kid area with a kiddie zip line, animals, and playground.

We had a fantastic lunch at Venneper Lodge. They had a cute playground outside so the kids could play while we ate.

We got to see a demonstration on how they make the wooden shoes.

We also ate an enormous amount of cheese.

Getting her name on her mini-shoes.

 Josh and I had a night out where we checked out the infamous Red Light District. We had a lot of fun people watching and exploring!

One of  their favorite parts is rushing to press the elevator button.

We wanted to get pictures in front of this famous landmark! There were so many people crowded all over.

We went over to Vondelpark where the girls loved playing and practicing their gymnastics.

We took a great canal cruise with Leemstar cruises. The boat was nice and we were able to bring our own food and drink on board. This is what the girls say was their favorite part of our trip!

There are tulips all over the city!

The hotel has this cute little play area for kids right by the lobby. It is a perfect location because they could play while we waited for our car.

We had a traditional Dutch meal at Moeders. The restaurant is covered in pictures with moms all over the world.

The next day we went off with Ray again for a countryside tour of Amsterdam. The views were really pretty and we got to walk through some quaint towns.

Ray and Elise playing My Little Pony

We were thrilled to see chocolate bunnies

Ray convinced Josh to eat raw fish like the Dutch do!

Our last day we went back to the park to let the kids play on the playground. It was a gorgeous day! We didn't need our jackets.

Granny and PawPaw took Claire back to the hotel for a nap so we spent the afternoon with Elise. We had a lot of fun!

We ate at a really neat restaurant our last  night called, Hanneke's Boom. It was right on the water and people were coming up on their boats to get beer and burgers.

Lots of tears were shed as we said goodbye and parted ways. We are counting down to June!