Amsterdam Part II

In the middle of downtown Amsterdam, they have these big, fun letters that spell out "iamsterdam." The kids had fun playing on them, and we got some cute pictures.  

We spent our second afternoon in Amsterdam walking around and shopping, and then we finished up with a delicious dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. It's always fun to eat good American food, and to be in a restaurant that is loud enough that I don't have to worry about my kids being too noisy! We left the next morning to head to the States, and we'll pick up that story another day, because right now we need to share one other story from our time in Amsterdam. We've decided to let you hear this story from two sources; you decide for yourself which version is more accurate.

Jason says:

Here's what happened:  Beth and Ashlie and I left their house one morning to take the kids out to see Holland. We stopped at a grocery store for some snacks/lunch stuff and Beth and Ashlie left me in the car with all 14 kids. Maybe 16. It was hard to count because they wouldn’t quit squirming around. They were in that store for 6 or 8 hours, when we started getting hungry. So, in order to distract the large horde of hungry little ones, I started telling stories about the people we saw in the parking lot and playing pretend. I told the kids to pretend that all of the people on bicycles were “bad guys.” So, we got into telling funny stories about the bad guys stealing things and chasing people. The bigger kids thought it was great fun: “Look! That bad guy is going into that house over there!! He’s going to steal all their furniture and take it home on the back of his bike!!”  And “Look! There goes a bad guy getting off his bike to go into that store!” There are an inordinate number of people riding bicycles in Amsterdam, so there was no shortage of material for our stories.  

It was just good, clean fun. Then, after apparently looking at every item in this large grocery store multiple times, Beth and Ashlie finally came back out toward the car. A harmless-looking older guy was walking behind them as they approached, so I told the kids, “Look! There’s a bad guy walking behind the Mommies! He’s going to get them!” The bigger kids played along and thought it all pretty funny. Poor little Whit, however, wasn’t so sure. He grew a little concerned that his Mommy might be abducted by the Bad Guy. So he simply said, “I’m not happy,” and pleasantly requested that we change the subject. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Beth says:

Here’s what really happened: My dear, sweet friend Ashlie was kind enough to volunteer to take our whole family of five PLUS her three small children to a Dutch tourist spot, even though her husband Chad had other responsibilities and couldn’t go with us that morning. She suggested that we take a picnic, but said that we would need to run by the grocery store to pick up a few things on our way out of their neighborhood. After getting all six kiddos strapped in the car, we left their house and drove to the grocery store a few blocks away. When we pulled in the parking lot, Ashlie asked Jason if he would be okay waiting with the kids for a few minutes while she and I ran in the store. He questioned the wisdom of that plan (I guess he thought it would be quicker for him to go shopping by himself in the Dutch grocery store that he had never been in before?), but reluctantly agreed. 

We walked quickly into the store, went straight to the aisles we needed, paid, and hurried back to the car. We could not possibly have been gone more than 10 minutes. When we got back to the car and opened the door, poor little three-year-old Whit was crying hysterically for his mama. It didn’t take us long to find out that he was afraid for her life because of the terrible “bad guy” that was just about to get her. Of course he believed it--Mr. Jason said he was a bad guy! Obviously Whit had not spent as much time with Mr. Jason as my kids have. They know to check with Mom before they believe any far-fetched tales from their Daddy.  

After Ashlie had spent the next several minutes calming her son down and assuring him that her life was not in danger, we headed out to see the city. The rest of the day was delightful, and by the time we left, Whit seemed to be okay being in the same room with Mr. Jason again.  

We report, you decide.