Farewell to Winfried Kramer

One of our good friends and co-workers Winfried Kramer who has been with NHR Amsterdam for almost 6 years decided it was time to take some time off and do some traveling and something else with his career. We had a fun little farewell get together in his honor. He received this T-shirt as a memory of time spent at NHR. We had a lot of fun with Winfried, he was always the life of the party. We have some great memories of Winfried when he first started and he spent two weeks in Santa Barbara for training, our trip to Cabo in Mexico, many annual company parties in SB, and most recently our time with him during our year in Amsterdam. He will be missed at work and we wish him the best and lots of happiness!

Ice Skating again in Amsterdam

Ice Skating again in Amsterdam

The day Grandma Paula arrived we decided to go Ice Skating again in Museumplein. This was the last few days it would be here before they closed down until next winter. The kids had a fun time with their Grandma's on the ice. Madison is our little dare devil and will do anything. She loved it! Tyler did it for a few minutes and said it was too hard and he didn't like it. He'd rather just play with the ice and snow. My Mom and I even put on skates and gave it a little try.

Grandma Paula arrives

As if we were not spoiled enough with one Grandma in town, we got 2! After Grandma Jackie was in town for 4 days Grandma Paula arrived. We were happy to see her and the kids were so happy they didnt know what to think or what was going on. Two Grandma's at our house in Amsterdam, who could ask for more? I'm sure Grandma Jackie was happy to see her as well since we left her with the kids for 3 out of her 4 first days here...who needs time to get over jet lag? it's overrated! :) And we were leaving again for the weekend.

Plane Crash at Schiphol Airport

This was a scary day...a little too close to home. Schiphol is our home airport in Amsterdam and on this day a plane coming in from Turkey crashed during landing just a few miles away from the airport and our work office. To make things scarier we were flying home from Italy on this morning, we were 10 minutes from landing when we were told the airport was closed and we had to land in Belgium. Of course as soon as we landed we got on our phones to see what was wrong and we learned of the crash. We then had to buy train tickets to get home from Belgium to Amsterdam. It was a long day of traveling, over 12 hours total by the time we got home. Thankfully many people survived the crash!

Trip to Italy - Island of Sardegna

We took a quick and very last minute trip to Italy, to the Island of Sardegna. We were in the town of Cagliari. Wes had to go for work for 2 days so I tagged along with him while Grandma Jackie was here. We left on a Monday morning and came back on Wednesday. It was quick and last minute because we didn't go anyplace we really want to in Italy, we didn't stay long, and Wes had meetings most of the time. I just hung out, did a little sightseeing, relaxed by reading, sleeping and watching movies. The hotel didn't even have Intenet connection in the rooms so I didn't even get on the computer...so I really relaxed! The weather wasn't that good, it rained the first day and night. The island was pretty slow and dead since it was still winter. But you can tell by pictures, and beaches on the sea that this is a very nice place to be during the summer months when it's nice and hot. My goal is to go back to Italy 2 or 3 more times before we leave! There's so much to see.

Italy - Island of Sardegna

Kids having fun

After Grandma Jackie arrived we set up an air mattress downstairs and the kids had a fun time pretending it was their bed.

Grandma Jackie brought them a new pop-up tent and for a week they had a great time with it up in the middle of the family room. They even got Grandma to go in it with them!

Grandma Jackie arrives

Today was a happy day...Grandma Jackie arrived from California and she's here for two weeks to visit. The kids were so happy to see her. She brought lots of goodies with her and Tyler kept saying, "Mom it's like Christmas again." So cute! Let's see what all we can do and plan in the next two weeks. Lots more to follow.

Adding a new addition to the Clanton Family

We have decided to add a new addition to the Clanton Family in Amsterdam; we are getting a little kitten! We haven't picked him up yet, he's still too little. But we'll have him soon. Here are a few pictures of him. We haven't named him yet; still thinking about that.

Supper Club Restaurant in Amsterdam

We went to the Supper Club Restaurant in Amsterdam with a great group of friends while Lauren was in town visiting from Singapore. We had a great time. It's a chic fun atmosphere, with a DJ, dancers, entertainment, and a 5-course meal served on little tables or your lap while sitting on couches/beds.

Supper Club Restaurant in Amsterdam

Madison and Kaia Photoshoot

Madison and Kaia Photoshoot

Madison and her good friend Kaia had two mini photoshoots. We had a good time chasing the girls around and trying to get a good picture of them both. The reason being their 2nd Birthday party. We ordered a cake with a picture of the girls on it; it turned out really cute.

Dinner at the Clanton's

Home cooked meal at our house for Lauren and Jude and a small group of friends. We always love to have people over...but our little home here in Amsterdam just doesn't compare to what we have back home in the states, however, we find a way to manage. I always say good company with friends is better than none so we deal with what we have. Sometimes just hanging out at home is nicer than going out. We all had a great time with eachother. We had a really fun time with Lauren and Jude while they were here for a week...come back soon!

Dinner at the Clanton's

Weather - A Little Snow

We still have a little cold weather here in Amsterdam. It didn't seem that cold anymore and then one morning we woke up and there was snow. Not a ton, but enough to stick. These pictures are from work. You can see the parking lot and grass area have snow all over them. I think the winter is almost over...only one month left. I cannot wait for Spring to come!

The Kids having fun dressing in Dad's Clothes

I love these new pictures of the kids. They were having a fun time dressing up in Dad's clothes. Tyler is wearing Wes' sweater and Madison is wearing his scarve. They were so happy and the pictures are adorable!

Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day we went out to dinner to La Oliva, a great little Spanish tapas restaurant with a group of 10 of us. We had a great time and the food was delicious. After dinner we headed to Werk, a fun club on Prinsengracht. We met up with our great friend Lauren (from Santa Barbara) who is currently living in Singapore and visiting for the week, she arrived that day with her boyfriend. It was so nice to see her and hang out.

Valentine's Day

Ballorig

We started off Valentine's Day by taking the kids to Ballorig in the morning. It's an indoor playzone...lots of jumpy things, ball pits, rides, etc. It's in Amsterdam, near the Arena about a 15 minute drive from us. The kids had a great time here and Tyler keeps saying how he wants to go back. I'll include some more pictures and a video. In the video Madison is on a giant trampoline and wasn't sure exactly what to do. Tyler and I are in the background, he's riding a police bumber car around a track.

Ballorig

Fort with the Kids

McDonald's

Family night eating McDonald's...how special! But I thought it was note worthy because it's the first time we have eaten fast food for dinner since moving here and I never buy it for the kids. But they were in heaven with chicken nuggets and french fries (at least they still had applesauce and milk with it). It was a fun and special treat for them after giving up their pacifier and bottle.

Chicken Pox

On Sunday Tyler broke out with a very mild case of the Chicken Poxs. He got the vaccine for them in the States, but it's been over 2.5 years and they don't vaccine here in Holland. Everyone still gets them and it's not a big deal. So it's going around his school and he got them. It's really hard to see them in these pictures, I did my best. He only have about 20 poxs total and they stayed fairly small and barely pussed and scabbed over. He really only itched for 2 days and then he was fine. It's been 6 days and they are all just bumps with scabs on them. He did good and was actually sort of proud to say he had the Chicken Pox. He wanted to show everyone them. I think he did better than I did. After 5 days of being stuck in the house with the kids and not going out I was ready to go crazy! Thankfully it was just a mild case. And to top it all off he got the flu on Monday night as well and was throwing up. Fun times.

No More Pacifier and Bottle

This picture is from the last night with these two little precious items. The kids were sitting together pouting, wondering what they would do without their paci and baba's. Tyler is 3.5 and still slept with is pacifier at naps and night and Madison is almost 2 and still HAD to have her bottle with milk mainly for sleep, but she'd demand it all he time. Demand you say, a 2 year old can't do that...but I beg to differ. They easily control your life. Now I did continue to have lots of excuses; oh he has a new baby sister so he still needs it, we are moving to Amsterdam so they still need them, they are sick so they still need them, we are going on a flight so they still need them...and bottom line is, it just made my life easier. No fighting or crying and an it's always an easy fix. But I knew eventually I had to do the right thing...just take them away! It's like I needed therapy, saying it was much easier to do than doing it. But we were strong and last Saturday night we did it! Yeah for Wes and Heather! :) It's been one week and we have no issues. Ty may ask for it every once in a while and try to get away with it but he's done great. They have both done great. Pacifiers and Bottles are now gone, we freed from them. Now it's on to diapers!

Kids being kids

Tyler after face painting at school
Playing tools and fixing the table

Bath time fun

Standing the same way watching TV

Weather

The weather hasn't been too bad. It's nothing like California and it's a huge change to us. But luckily in the past month we haven't had much rain. Just very cold, with some icy and snowy days. Our average temperature is in the 30's. That's why I'm happy to have that car option! :)

Super Bowl

Game time was 12:30am! Brian Ralston came over from London and Wes and him went with a group of a few guys to watch the game at the Satellite Bar Cafe in Leidseplein. I tried staying up to watch a little of it from home but I got tired and didn't see the point. I knew I wouldn't last through the whole game so I read a book and went to bed. However, the boys toughed it out. They stayed and watched the entire game and got home at 4:30am. Wes was sure glad he watched it, as he says it was one of the best Super Bowl games he's seen in a long time. Our brother-in-law, Dan Lepore is a huge Steeler fan so we were rooting for his team to win! Thank god they pulled it through in the end. Hopefully next year our 49ers will do a little better!