Maurithuis and Amsterdam

This was yet another fun week in the Netherlands, even though it was so cold! We finally made it to Maurithuis, thanks to Chad getting off work a little early on Thursday. Chad was able to be a recording secretary for some fancy treaty conference which is apparently a big deal! Go Chad! While Chad was being awesome, Emily was home with the kiddos making them look ridiculous, er... I mean cute! Here they are wearing headbands Emily configured from a pair of leggings she made Zalie that got holes in.  Haha. Lincoln loved that headband so much he refused to take it off before his nap and it stayed on his head his whole nap.

Zalie really likes when Lincoln wears headbands, too!

Maurithuis was a small art museum and perfect for our rambunctious toddler. We were able to see a lot of art in a short amount of time. Lincoln had taught us how to sort of fast-forward through galleries. He runs and we follow him, glancing at famous artworks as we go.

Can you hand me a light?

For example: The Girl With the Pearl Earring. We would have LOVED to stay and just look at this painting, because it was just stunning in real life, but toddler man just would not have it. :)  We sure love that little guy though.

He did like this painting of the huge cows, though. We had fun looking for all the hidden animals and different features of this painting.

"That guy is sleeping. He took his clothes off.
He's sleeping with his belly?"
"Um... Yes, Lincoln"
Thanks, Rembrandt

On Saturday we traveled to Amsterdam! We've been in the Hague for over 2 months and finally took the time to see Amsterdam.

Both Chad and Emily read the Anne Frank book before traveling overseas, so we really wanted to see the Anne Frank Huis (naturally). We were a bit bummed that the line to see the museum was about a two and a half hour wait outside in the cold and rain. We decided we could go see other things. We're pretty sure that would have been child abuse making Lincoln wait that long.

So, instead we waited one hour to go to the Van Gogh Museum, and it was so worth it! Emily loves Van Gogh's style so much. It was beautiful to see the art with its bold brushstrokes. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed so we only have pics from outside and in the atelier where...

...Lincoln and Chad painted a picture! There was a free workshop in the atelier of the museum where you could take a stab at imitating some of the still life paintings seen in the Van Gogh Museum. Chad and Lincoln were supposed to paint "A crab on its back", but Lincoln wanted to paint a car that "goes fast." (The end result is, appropriately, at the end of this post).

We stood in front of the I Amsterdam sign, with the Rijksmuseum in the background. Chad really wanted to climb on top of the letters, but it was really wet and slippery so he decided not to chance it.

We then did probably the most cliché thing we could do in Amsterdam and took a canal cruise around the city. The canals in the cities here in the Netherlands are very pretty. Lincoln loved being on a boat, of course.

We had a fun day in Amsterdam and then headed back to the Hague. For those of you who like the Best Two Years, you'll be interested to note that the train station in the movie is Amsterdam Centraal.

Lincoln is so proud of his painting and calls it his "pretty picture." He wanted to take it to Church with him today (which we didn't let him do) and he loved showing it to Grandpa and Grandma on Skype. What a kid!