When you smell smoke...and don't live next to a coffee shop

You have all been on my mind while I've been going and going these last few days. Last Friday was a not so typical Amsterdam summer day and the temperature was somewhere in the 90's. Officially feeling big and a little more than wobbly from this pregnancy, I decided I needed to scope out a place to splash around in the water. After a little bit of Google searching, I decided to try out this public swimming pool called BadBuiten. This swimming pool is not any ordinary swimming pool, it is a floating swimming pool on the Amstel River! Pretty cool and a great place to cool off. I need to add, if it gets swim-worthy warm again and I go back I will be sure to be there right when the pool opens. I got there about an hour after and the place was packed. Since I was by myself and not concerned with getting a chair in the sun, it was fine. I found the perfect little semi-shaded place at the edge of the pool and made myself at home. I didn't take any photos myself that day but below is an image I stole from AmsterdamNow and if you are interested in learning more about this place you can check out this article. http://www.dearchitect.nl/projecten/2010/43/amsterdam-badbuiten-iou-architecture/amsterdam-badbuiten-iou-architecture.html

Saturday was the Gay Pride Canal Parade. Funny thing is that after 9 years in San Francisco, I never did make it to the parade. But tell me that the parade is made up of 80 different boats on the canal and I am there. I rode my bike to my friends house a little early and Prinsengracht was already buzzing with tons of people. The atmosphere was jolly and the weather was perfect. Since we didn't get there super early to claim our seat at the canal edge, we walked up and down a portion of the route and peeked in when we found an open spot. It was a super fun parade with amazing costumes, coordinated dance numbers, and great music. Next year I would love to plan ahead and get a spot on the water. The spectators along the edge in their boats seemed to really be having a good time. Unfortunately, none of them took much notice of me and invited me on their boat to join. This may be one of the instances that the pregnancy card doesn't get you very far. Below are some photos to give you any idea. 

The sailor is always a popular costume choice.

Sparkly mermaids

Bumblebees

Looking down towards the canal towards Westerkerk

If you want to check out more photos and some videos, check out the whole album here. 

On Monday the movers came with our container shipment. It was a whirlwind of action and I apologize beforehand that the guys were in and out so fast that I didn't take any photos of their setup. They are pretty clever here in Amsterdam. Instead of climbing the stairs +20 times to bring all of our boxes up, they set up an electric crate of sorts and load that. They then brought everything in through our little balcony doors off of the living room. Felipe came home around 2:00 PM and we unpacked boxes until midnight. Needless to say my feet were, and still are a little achy. When we moved into this place, I couldn't believe how much space we had. It's "huge" compared to our little 1-bedroom in San Francisco. However, I've concluded that while our San Francisco condo was small, it had amazing storage. I cannot say the same about this place. While this place has charm, character, and a great location, it lacks storage big time. So while we have unpacked all of the boxes, we are now trying to find a place to put everything and shaking our heads at some of the things we shipped over. Did we really need that?? So beware, everytime we have a visitor I may just pack you a bag of "goodies" to take home. :) 

Oh! I almost forgot. Last night when we were getting ready to crash for the night we thought we smelled fire. I sent Felipe up to the roof deck to make sure our place was not on fire first. On his way down, he looked out the window and noticed that the trash pile across the street was burning. It was quite close to a car so we, and numerous other neighbors that had walked outside to check out the action, we a little bit concerned. My next thought was, "where did we park the bikes?". Then we googled "Netherlands 911" and found that the number to call is 122 so we made a call to make sure the firetrucks were on their way. They assured us they were and about 2 minutes later they showed up and extinguished the fire. I still don't know what caused the fire, but it definitely caused some excitement in our night.

For the baby update, today I had my 31 week check up. He is still flipped head up but the midwife said there is still plenty of room for him to move around so no need to worry. He's still growing splendidly, while I am joining the growth train as well. I officially feel feel pregnant while we both fight for space in my torso. It's a good reminder to sit up straight. My feet are also feeling huge and I would be content in flip-flops at all times. I know that is not good so I try to wear "regular shoes" as much as possible. One pair of shoes that was shipped that I was excited to see were a pair of aqua Tom's with just a little sparkle that I received from my sister-in-law. I wore them to my appointment this morning and they were comfy. Thanks Camila!!! Below is a photo and as you will see, Optimus makes a guest appearance as well.

Okay, I better get back to tidying up. We are so excited that we have Rob and Sandy and their friend Brad coming in on Thursday for a long weekend. We will definitely be out and about exploring all things Dutch so look forward to a follow up post.