July 3, 2025
We woke up to say goodbye to Bri and get her an Uber to the airport at 7AM. The boys stayed asleep through the sendoff but were sad to know she was gone when they finally woke up.
We started our final day on our houseboat with a full home school session. Lenny and I continued our book about how to catch a unicorn and he didn’t enjoy me telling him he wasn’t trying hard enough to sound out the words. Ollie struggled through a letter to Meme but got it done in his normal 45-60 minute time frame. Math continues to be both boys preference.
Once school was complete my parents came over, this was their final day before heading home. Kayleen took Bri’s rental e-bike back to the shop and then headed to the pharmacy to look for medicine. Her allergies have turned into a more uncomfortable sinus issue.
The boys surprise from Grandma yesterday were small Lego sets. Lenny and Grandma stayed on the boat to work on his while Ollie, Nonno, and I went outside to do another bike lesson. The road near the boat is fairly quiet so we practiced there instead of taking the hike back to the park where our first lesson was. Ollie’s balance is definitely getting better but we are still waiting on the moment it all clicks. He has done a really good job not getting frustrated, at points better than me! The promise of an iPad app if he has a good attitude all week while learning has him on point.
Kayleen and I both really like this city. Every street is interesting and a bit different with the canals, bridges, flowers, and bikes. We would be happy spending a full day biking or walking around just looking at the different parts of the city. On her walk back from the bike return she found a darker part of the city’s history. There are plaques in the sidewalk in front of homes that Jewish residents were taken from during the Holocaust.
My parents, the boys, and I went to lunch after Ollie’s bike lesson at a Mediterranean restaurant. Kayleen took the chance to rest on the boat hoping a nap would speed up her recovery.
The restaurant ended up being really good. Once we sat down I was concerned that we had walked into a trap after seeing the prices on the menu but those ended up being fancy dinner entrees. We ordered a bunch of different small plates and there was endless bread which the boys loved. Ollie continues to enjoy stuffed grape leaves and Lenny a bowl of hummus. Lunch came with a small scoop of chocolate mousse which the boys got a double serving of as Grandma and Nonno gave up theirs.
We returned to the boat and it was Ollie’s turn to work on his Lego with Grandma while Lenny got his first shot at the bike. The bike is a bit too big for Lenny but he managed and was surprisingly into it. His balance is not as good as Ollie but he is far ahead of where Ollie was at 4.5 years old. He mastered putting his feet down when stopping and then swinging his leg over to stand on one side of the bike before putting the kickstand down. When went back inside the boat we discovered Ollie on his iPad as he had requested a “break” from the Legos shortly after it was started…
Lenny was quick to grab his iPad after seeing Ollie but we had promised Grandma one game of Uno before she left and made good on the promise. Nonno napped while the four of us played. Lenny was the winner with Grandma one turn behind him in second. Ollie desperately tried to quit the game, instead of playing for 3rd place with me, to get his iPad back but I made him finish. He was half in tears at the idea Lenny would get 5 minutes more iPad time than him, totally forgetting he had snaked a solid 45 minutes of iPad during Lenny’s bike riding.
We said goodbye to Grandma and Nonno as they headed back to their apartment to pack for their flight tomorrow morning. It was nice having them for 2 weeks and the boys loved the extra attention plus Grandma’s surprises. Getting a few nice evenings out was a bonus for Kayleen and I!
The four of us took the small boat out on the canals to do a recon mission of our next apartment. We were hoping to use the boat to move all our stuff, otherwise it will involve multiple taxi trips to get all our stuff plus all the rental bikes to the next apartment. Before we even started our adventure the boys were feeding pretzels to a bird that lives near our boat. The bird quickly jumped onto our boat, showing off his terrifying looking feet. It made a hissing/squawking sound and I told the boys to throw a pretzel in the water to get him off. They did and it worked but some people watching from another house boat got a good laugh out of the whole ordeal.
We ended up doing a big loop, getting to our new apartment one way and coming back a different way. Both ways took about 45 minutes and it was a fun way to see a lot of the city. The boys were mostly good except for a few little fights and asking to look for Pokemon. We found a good place to unload our stuff tomorrow morning and just need to make sure we bring a ladder to climb out of the boat to the street. The plan is officially to migrate by boat!
Having this little boat has been a real bonus we had not expected. We all really enjoyed the rides and moments of adventure that came with it. It will be sad to move on from our houseboat, which had been more comfortable than we expected. It will definitely be a memorable part of this trip.
