With two long months until we would all be together in Kyiv and a long weekend in August when I would have a few days off Ukrainian, Randy and I decided to use our miles and meet in Amsterdam for a weekend without kids. The last time we were in Amsterdam was in 2008 and it was really nice to be back. We stayed at a beautiful hotel on a canal, the Pulitzer ,which had this amazing view and flowers everywhere.
I arrived early Friday and had a few hours before Randy arrived to have lunch, sit at a coffee shop and read and shop a bit.
Then I took a nap, because look at this comfy room and red eye flight and all.
Randy arrived right in time to take me out to Cecconis for a drink. Randy and I got married in London at City Hall two weeks before our wedding in Greece and we celebrated with brunch at Cecconis with our friends after so it was sweet to be back after all those years.
Here is a throwback from that day. how is it is almost 10 years ago!
Then we had a yummy dinner at new tasting menu restaurant. The food was amazing and we were able to stop and take pictures on the way back to the hotel.
The next day we walked around and explored Amsterdam until it was time for another yummy dinner.
The sheer bliss of having this beautiful big window open up to the canal and be able to enjoy it wide open with no worries of children being near it.
No kids means we can stop whenever we want for a selfie
The next day we woke up early and took a train to Leiden, a small town Randy lived in for a summer in law school when was working at the Hague. We had gone there back in 2008 and it was just as cute this time. There was a farmers market and we picked up some yummy fruits, veggies and cheese and headed out for a boat trip. If we lived here I would buy flowers every week!
Now when Randy told me he had a boat rented in my mind this meant someone would be driving the boat….but that someone was actually me. I was of course nervous about crashing into some Dutch person and worried about it the entire time. I have been on boats my whole life with my dad and I couldn’t begin to tell you where this nervousness came from…but in the end we survived 🙂
Can you tell I’m nervous…
After our boat trip, we decided we both deserved a canal break.
We headed back to Amsterdam to freshen up for another awesome dinner at a super nice restaurant.
The next day we had some time before our flight and were able to walk around a whole museum, pretty heavenly.
Followed by a long lazy lunch, who are we- museum and a long lunch 🙂
some stroopwaffles…
and a walk and some cuddles on the canal before we left for our respective houses.
After that I had to say goodbye to Randy but I was lucky enough to go back to these three faces and celebrate the first day of Kindergarten for Malcolm and second grade for Adam!
Thank you Grandma and Ate Maria for watching my babies and giving me just the short break and the time I needed before I headed into my last month of non stop Ukrainian studying, packing, consultations and saying goodbyes to friends and family before heading out to our Kyiv!
The boys had a great first day of school! I can’t believe I have a second grader and a kindergartner. I am so proud of these two for a great first day. We celebrated after the first day with some ice-cream. I was so proud of these two.
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