July 8, 2025
Our last full day in Amsterdam! We planned to go to the science museum in the afternoon so agreed to forego formal homeschool this morning. We instead let the boys watch an episode of All the Sharks on Netflix while Kyle and I got ready for the day. At this point in our stay, we didn’t have much food at the apartment so decided to go to brunch/ breakfast at a spot around the corner, The Breakfast Club. Ollie biked to the restaurant and Len took laps on the bike with Kyle around the block while waiting for our food.
Kyle then went with Ollie while he biked his kids’ bike back to the rental shop while me and Len went on a mission to find new hiking sneakers for Ollie. Me and Len went to a few sneaker shops but failed to find anything besides normal sneakers/trainers. Sad to admit that we are really missing Amazon for these types of purchases! On a bright note, we picked up a sweet new hat for Len and a few Tshirts to replace some of the boys shrunken and stained ones.
Kyle and Ollie walked back after returning the bike and met me and Len at the apartment. The long awaited moment had arrived where the boys were allowed to download one app due to their effort and good attitudes while learning to ride the bike during our time in Amsterdam. Ollie struggled to make a decision on which app to get while Len only had eyes for Paw Patrol.
We then got on our ebikes to return those to the rental shop as well, almost missing the deadline. At the shop, the boys picked out a rhino beetle shaped bike bell to add to our ride at home.
Our next stop was the Nemo science museum. We started on the roof with popsicles and pictures before heading down into the museum itself. We spent about 2.5 hours wandering the exhibits and could have probably spent even more time but we were fighting upstream against Len’s attention span. Some highlights were:
the human origins floor where there was an exhibit on human gestation and pregnancy showing the life-size growth of a fetus throughout the weeks of a pregnancy. A few times later in the afternoon, Ollie looked at me and said, “I can’t believe I was THIIIIIIIIIS small!” Holding his fingers pinched closely together
an experiment where Ollie and I had to use the scientific method to determine what a mysterious white powder was. It was potato starch!
putting Ollie in a bubble. “I’ve always wanted to know what it’d be like to be in a bubble!”
operating a big magnetic crane. Both boys independently found their way to the crane and noted it as a favorite
putting their arms into foam tongues and “french kissing”
a room where the kids constructed mouse trap-esque devices (Rube Goldberg machines). Though this activity devolved into fighting and chaos, there were bright spots, too
We then walked into city center to resume our search for hiking shoes for Ollie. Lenny was tired and sick of shopping for the day so the errand went just as expected. We again struck out on the shoe search and made our way to dinner– tacos once more at Ollie’s request. The tacos were good, but not as good as Tacos Lindo from the other night. We played Uno for the first time in a week or so and Len was fired up saying, “I’m gonna two plus everyone in this family!!”
On our walk home from the taco shop, we picked up a few things from the market for dessert and breakfast tomorrow morning. While picking out an ice cream flavor, Ollie dramatically says, “The only thing I care about in this world is cookie dough!”
The boys had a nightcap of cookie dough ice cream with sprinkles at home. We then watched the thrilling finale of All the Sharks before putting the boys the bed. After I walked out of their room, I could hear Lenny itching to get up and start his first of many marches to the bathroom but Ollie chimed in, “No, Lenny, we have such a big day tomorrow we need our rest.” I then heard them conversing back and forth, “I am so happy for you that you got your app today!”
