AMS

This last weekend, Josh and I took our much anticipated kid-free trip.  Christine was getting married in Amsterdam, so we thought this would be a perfect way to have a little time away by ourselves in a city that we love with people that we love!  It was a great weekend.  A few things that I learned/took away from the weekend:

• Traveling overseas without an infant in your lap is (to be honest) far more enjoyable than having one your lap.  You are able to: a) eat; b) drink (free wine!); c) watch movies (Bridesmaid is pretty freaking funny for those of you who haven't seen it); d) spend $12 on the "All My Children" finale special PEOPLE magazine and actually read it; e) when you are done reading that, you can read the other "normal" PEOPLE magazine as well as the US magazine - both of which have the same stories and the same pictures, but you don't care because you don't have an infant on your lap while reading them; f) sleep!!!!; g) sleep!!!!!; h) sleep!!!!
• It is pretty freaking cold in Amsterdam when you land on September 22 at 5:30 AM.  Highly recommend NOT wearing shorts or a skirt and flip flops.  Or, if you choose to, take a taxi vs. taking the bus and then walking 8 blocks to your hotel.  All of that said, it was a refreshing walk, which was welcomed after only sleeping for 3 hours.
• Consider yourself to be VERY lucky when arriving at the hotel only to find that your room is in fact available because really, what the hell would you have done if it weren't????  We're glad that we didn't need to figure this out.
• When you are eating lunch at your favorite Tapas restaurant and the waiter mentions that the amount of food that you just ordered is normal for dinner time, what he is really saying is "you are typical fat Americans..."

• If you go to Amsterdam, be sure to invite us, because we apparently bring the sun.  It has never been bad weather when we have been there.  And, this time was no exception - high 60's and sunny the entire time, which was especially great as most of the wedding was outside.  Christine was thrilled, to say the least. 
• Taking a boat ride on the canal really is as cool as it looks.  One of Friso's friends had a boat and we all went on it one day.  We were FINALLY one of those people in a boat who I've always envied.

Although, little did I know that, really all we ever needed to do was to tie a picnic table to 2 things that float and we could have had our own boat all along when my parents lived there...

• There are quite a few differences between weddings in Holland and weddings in the states:
• First of all, the bride doesn't need to worry about a thing.  ALL of the details are taken care of by the wedding party.  AND, the "ceremony master" takes care of the organization of everything - making sure everyone is where they need to be at the right times, making sure everyone has their own allotted time to give speeches, etc.  It is truly amazing.  I'm not sure brides in America could handle not having that much control.  I'd like to think that I could have, but who am I kidding?
• The "rehearsal dinner" is held on Thursdays.  Not sure this is how it is for all weddings in Holland, but it was that way for Christine's.  And, let me tell you, I'm glad it was on Thursday because, as it turns out, drinking approximately 57 bottles of wine in one night results in a pretty horrible hangover the following day.  One that you wouldn't want to have on the day of a wedding.
• Also, at the rehearsal dinner, there are a significant number of speeches and, speeches in Holland?  Pages.  Numerous pages long.  That said, of the ones that were in English, they were pretty freaking funny and entertaining and I have to assume by the amount of laughter that the ones in Dutch were as well.  I did give a speech (after only 2 of the 57 bottles of wine) which ended with everyone in the room (including myself) crying.  Not sure if that was a good thing or a bad?

• On the day of the wedding, there is a get together which includes the wedding party and the bride and the groom.  We all come together and get to witness the bride making her grand entrance and the groom seeing her for the first time.  This was pretty cool.  Quite romantic, I have to say.

• When they say that you need to wear a hat, don't stress about it.  As it turns out, as with all weddings, people show up in a variety of outfits, some of which will include a hat and some of which won't. However, if you have brought your hat all of the way to Amsterdam, wear it and wear it with pride! I mean, really - how many times are you going to get to wear a hat in your lifetime (unless of course you are from somewhere like England, Scotland, Holland, etc). But, for us in the states? Not many.

• Wedding days in Holland tend to be long.  Long in a good way, but long nonetheless.  That whole presentation thing?  That started at 11:30.  Then, the ceremony was at 2:30.  Then, the cocktail hour was from 4-6pm.  Then, dinner from 630-800 (which only included some of the guests, which is another difference between the states and Holland).  Then, dancing from 8 until lord knows when.  Point being - GREAT day, but long.  Needless to say, the "how do we all stay looking (and smelling) fresh for over 12 hours?" crossed all of our minds.  Then again, by the time the party started, we were already 8 bottles of wine into it, so we could have cared less. 
• The Dutch know how to party.  Holy crap.  I mean, weddings in the states are fun.  Don't get me wrong.  But, in Holland?  Wow.  Unfortunately, my camera battery died prior to the reception so I have no pictures to prove it, but let's just say that there were numerous times throughout the night when the groom and all of his friends had their shirts off and had the uncanny ability of taking them off all while jumping up and down (consistently) to techno music.  Enough said.  
• Something about the way sororities work in the US works.  Not really sure how dragging us out of bed at 6 am to run 3 miles with one another every day (after keeping us up all night yelling at us) creates life long friendships, but it does.  I hadn't seen Leslye and Nancy for over 10 years and yet it was just like we had seen each other yesterday. It was great catching up with them and hanging out with them for the weekend. 

• You truly do start to miss your kids after being gone from them for that long.  We were lucky enough to have Opa and Grandma fly out to stay with them while we were gone, so we didn't have anything to worry about.  They had a great time with the kids and the kids loved having them there.  But, man!  It is a good reminder of how much you miss them when you are away for 4 days.  And, if it wasn't enough to come home to 2 kids (and 2 grandparents, but for different reasons!) who were thrilled to see you, we got to come home to this...

Yep - Josh and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on the day that we flew home.  We couldn't have asked for a better anniversary weekend and I'm thrilled to have been able to share it with such an amazing couple.  Christine and Friso - thanks for everything!  We had a great time!