Staycation: The Slow Start

Suddenly Saturday morning was upon us and although I had done plenty of planning for the week to come, I had somehow failed to plan anything for the weekend and was at a bit of a loss for the first day of staycation.

The view on the way to Niewe Meer was encouraging

One of the things we wanted to do was check out Niewe Meer, a beach nearby in Amsterdamse Bos.  Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Woods) is like a big state park back in the US.  It has great attractions:  a goat farm, a petting zoo, a paddling pool, some playgrounds and plenty of wilderness, all of which we had experienced before.  Niewe Meer would be something different.  We got a nice early start, hit our local favorite place for breakfast (um, not something new, but we were just starting out) and cycled toward Niewe Meer.

I only had basic directions on how to get there and we tried our best.  But since one of the road signs appeared to be missing we never did make it there.  However we had a great day cycling around the wilderness, playing at the kinderboerderij (petting zoo), and M even went swimming in a canal (although we opted against renting a paddle boat because of the ridiculous cost).  Then we went home and at pizza, the same old pizza we always eat.  It was the first day and already we were already ignoring our self-imposed guidelines.

While there was no swimming at Niewe Meer for us,
we did find a canalside recreation area that had a swimming area.

I started to think maybe staycation might turn into a bust.  Were we destined to fail in our attempts for adventure?  Would our intention to have new experiences give way to our proven inability to organize a piss-up in a brewery?  We still had 6 days, 6 better organized days, to determine if staycation would be a success.

One highlight was P on the zipline.

Mystery Vacation Revealed

When planning our family vacation this year we thought long and hard about what it was we wanted to get out of our vacation. Did we want to relax on the beach? Did we want to explore a new country?  Did we want to spend family time together?  Was it adventure or contemplation?  Was it pampering or learning?

First and foremost we wanted family time.   While we originally looked at warm weather resorts with "kids clubs," relaxing on beach wasn't really what we were looking for.  I love the idea of a kids club and certainly see many kids clubs in our future, but for this particular vacation we thought a kids club would cut into our desired family time.  M and I had already spent a month at the beach (and are still sporting our tans).  We were happy that Peter could join us there for a week.   The more we considered it, the more we thought that our ideal vacation this year would be one of exploration and adventure:  a "stay-cation:" a vacation in our home city of Amsterdam.

We prepared for this "trip" in a number of ways.  First we hyped the concept to M.  It was pretty easy to get him on board--staycation is a catchy title and he was pretty excited to have a week of exploration and learning, especially since Peter would be with us.  Next we made the decision to keep our holiday destination secret, mainly because we didn't want anyone judging our decision to stay put.  Finally we decided there were two rules to staycation:  (1) we had to do things we had not done before and (2) money wasn't an object, this was a vacation and a time to splash out.

Over the next few posts I'll detail the adventures we had during our week in Holland.

Sunday

I've been working on a joke for a while.  It goes something like this, "the English language Catholic church is a 40 minute cycle; I just learned that there's an English language Episcopal service across the canal from us.  Looks like we are now Episcopalian."

Of course, this was exaggerated for comic effect and before we actually attended said Episcopal service. We went today and it was just OK.  It was a prayer service (as opposed to a eucharistic service) which meant it wasn't the Catholic look-alike I was familiar with, but on a cold, rainy January day it just might do the trick.

This afternoon we headed into the city center to go to Marks and Spencer where my plan to reduce the amount of packaging we bring into the house lost out to crumpets and a prepared turkey dinner.  But I've had their turkey dinner before and I know it will be worth it.  Then we walked up to the main library (accidentally escorted by a Hare Krishna procession) and read a few books to M.

Circus!

The tent has been set up in the vacant lot in Buitenveldert, so last week M and I headed off to the circus!

The giant candy floss could have been the reason
M was a little antsy by the end of the show.

Farewell, Cape Cod!

A month on the cape has come and gone.  It was the summer of nostalgia, during which I connected with long neglected friends and family members.  I also had to buy those drugstore reading glasses. Maybe both are symptoms of getting older.  I am returning to the 'Dam a little more tan and a little less fit.

Summer Holiday!

Off to Cape Cod for a month! M is excited for camp and seeing his family.  I'm looking forward to seeing family and having some predictable weather.  I have already queried M's friends and have their days in Amsterdam plotted on a calendar, which should make socializing that much easier when we return.  There have been some rumblings of a summer family vacation for P, M and me, but nothing is booked yet.  Even if it doesn't happen I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun.

The boys at Amstelpark.  Gorgeous weather this weekend.  M was surprisingly good at steering his little motorbike, perhaps because of all his cycling practice? Sadly P couldn't go for a ride because he was too big!

The things you worry about and the things you don't

I've been a mother for almost 6 years now.  We knew we'd have one kid, and taking a cue from my friends with 2 kids I decided to actively skip the worried-all-the-time phase that first time moms go through and skip right to the relaxed-second-kid phase.  Mixed results.

One thing I don't need to worry about with M is eating.  He's a great eater, tries new things and has plenty of foods from all food groups that he will readily choose.  Plus, this list is expanding by the day.  When he was about 3 weeks old we finally trounced a rocky start and got him on the right track with breastfeeding. At age 4 he went through a picky phase which was combatted by my insistence that we don't comment on food, a refusal to make him special meals and a little brainwashing that he was a great lover of new foods.  Since then, smooth sailing.

Sleep has been another issue altogether, but lately he has been showing more independence with sleep.  Until very recently we laid down with him to go to sleep.  Bedtime was always a very vulnerable time which made having a babysitter very difficult.  A few months ago we decided to start the "Sleep Lady Shuffle" to get M to sleep on his own.  Within a few days we were sitting in the doorway of his room.  To our great shock, after a conversation about sleepovers ("the other kid's parents aren't going to shush you to sleep") and a visit to the homeopath, he asked us to sit on the couch outside his room, then a couple of days later asked us to keep his door shut (I think the light was bothering him).  Now he asks us to leave a self-serve breakfast out on weekend mornings and last night he couldn't wait for his sitter to turn up--and she was scheduled to put him to bed!  I feel like he has made more sleep progress in the past 5 weeks than he has in the past 5 years combined.