Every so many years the Hendersons do an “adults-only” trip.  It happened to land on this spring, which wasn’t fantastic timing for us with a brand new baby.  But with 16 adults and everyone’s crazy schedule, it was bound to be inconvenient for many.  Since I am still exclusively nursing Cal, we took him along.  We originally told the Hendersons to do the trip without us – because the thought of taking a new baby to Europe [more specifically the long international flight] totally freaked me out.  But they insisted EVERYONE went or nobody went.  And now that I look back at it all, I’m so very glad we went.  So – party of 17 including Calvin – started prepping for our biggest trip yet as a family.  In years past we have done Hawaii and Costa Rica – but this year was to Europe – specifically the Netherlands – to do a European River cruise to see the tulips [a long-time dream of my mother-in-law].  We’ve known about the trip since Calvin was the size of a blueberry, so luckily I had plenty of time to prepare.  Beforehand I did a disgusting amount of research on what to bring and how to prepare to conquer Europe with a 4-month-old.  I even managed to fit all my swag in one smallish suitcase.  Including 4 pairs of shoes.  Yes, I am a freak and print out our itineraries and all of the clothes I have so I never have to pick out what to wear each day.  It saves time, even though it sounds ridiculous.

Calvin’s belongings all managed to be crammed into a carry-on, which really helped Zach and I due to the fact that we had one small bag and two average sized bags.  It was totally manageable.  When it came down to the week before our departure I had all of us packed and I figured if I could get through the flight there – all would fall into place.

Thanks to blessings from above (I’m serious about this – I prayed every night for weeks that he would do well on this 9+ hour flight) Calvin totally crushed his first international flight.  He slept 7 out of the 9 hours and only woke up briefly to be changed and nursed.  He was a total champ.  Zach and I were the only adults who didn’t take sleeping pills.  We flew KLM on the direct flight from SLC – AMS, and it left at 9 pm.  Everyone had planned to sleep to be fresh the next day when we arrived in Amsterdam, but with a nursing baby that was out the question for me.  Plus I told Zach if he took a sleeping pill he would no longer have a wife once we arrived in Amsterdam [please refer to our flight to Africa where he vomited all over himself due to a sleeping pill].  I knew I didn’t have it in me to babysit two children on that flight.  Some slept better than others.  In fact, I know for certain Calvin slept better than my SIL Gina, who was seated next to me.

She woke up 3.5 hours into the flight thinking we were only moments away – and was incredibly disappointed when she found out we hadn’t even reached the Atlantic yet.

I bought a bouncer insert that had a head positioner that I could fit in my carry-on for Cal to sleep on.  He was safe that way from rolling so I didn’t have to hold him the entire flight and could relax a little bit.

It was honestly a life saver.  The best $20 I spent in preparation for the trip, hands down. 

Once we arrived it was 2 pm in Amsterdam.  Since we were taking a river cruise, we never checked into a hotel – only onto our boat.  It was so convenient to never have to haul our bags from city to city – packing and repacking to your next destination.

After we got settled we showered and went to dinner at a nearby Italian place.

Then we walked over to the central canal for a private canal tour of the city.  By the end I could barely keep my eyes open, but it was so beautiful to see the city as the sun went down.

And there was on-vessel entertainment by Gina.  Who couldn’t resist dancing to Prince’s Kiss.
Car seats are pretty rare in Amsterdam [most people don’t have cars – only bikes] and I did get a few awkward stares, but Cal went on his first boat ride of many and loved it.

Afterwards we walked back to the boat – with a gorgeous view of the city at night.

The next morning Zach and I explored the city together.  A lot of the tours and excursions that his family went on we couldn’t do with a baby [mostly biking tours] so Zach was a great sport and stayed back with Cal and I.  I went to Amsterdam years ago, when I was 19, and so taking Zach around for his first time was so fun.  We shopped, got a couple of fresh stroopwafels, and walked around.

Later that evening we met up with the rest of Zach’s family to head on over to the Van Gogh Museum.

This is the museum that Zach was the most excited for – it’s the only artist he is familiar with.  He did the audio tour while I walked around with Calvin.  Cal had impeccable timing and had a little meltdown right in the middle of the silent museum.  The time change had caught up to him and he had absolutely had it.  Once I got him settled down and to sleep we were able to walk around. 

We took an Uber back to our boat and put Cal to sleep and enjoyed some treats back at our room.  One major plus of the cruise line we were on were the amenities and little perks.  Our fridge was constantly stocked with Cokes and Coke Lights.  Not to mention the freshly baked cookies, fruit, and other snacks in the main entry way.  We were assigned our own Butler, Igor, who was constantly bringing us food.  Mid afternoon on the daily they brought you a snack.  Sometimes it was fresh fruit, sometimes a shrimp cocktail, and even cheese and crackers.  And it was all beautiful.

You could also order food to your room at any time – which we took advantage of way too much.  The boat left for the next city late that night – so it cruised while we all slept.  Calvin crashed hard and slept for 10 straight hours.  They had a card in your room that you could fill out what you wanted for breakfast and what time you wanted it to be delivered to your room the next morning.  So Zach and I had breakfast sent to our room the following morning [and almost every morning] before heading out for the day.  One of the most depressing parts of coming home was not having a hot egg white, spinach, and mushroom omelet delivered at 8 am sharp.

When we woke up the next morning we were in the dreamiest town called Hoorn.  Zach went on an E-Bike tour with his family that morning while Calvin and I walked around the city exploring.

We walked around along the water looking at all the gorgeous boats and homes.

We went back to the boat to have lunch so Cal could stretch out and I could enjoy the buffet.  We sat by the window and watched the boats go in and out of the harbor.

Then we met up with the rest of the group to go and explore the city center.

We got ice cream and walked back to the boat.  It was departing for our next city, and we had a special dinner that night.  It was Gina’s 40th birthday and we had a “Shell-ebration” dinner for her.  Lori planned the whole thing.  There were decorations, a carrot cake (her favorite) served on seashell plates, and she gave everyone scarves and eye patches – to dress like pirates.  She also brought along an outfit for Gina – mermaid pants and a shirt adorned with shells with a 4-0 on them.  My favorite part I forgot to mention is that throughout the day we all gave Gina a little gift 40 minutes after the hour.  Zach and I had 5:40 and 8:40 pm.  It was so hilarious watching the other cruisers and the looks they would give our rowdy crowd in the restaurant at the dinner.  We all wrote her notes saying what we “treasure” about her and she got to read them while we ate.

During our meal we made our way to the next city, Rotterdam.