rotterdam and the maritime museum plus the church that was closed

We got up early so we could make it to Rotterdam when the museum opened.  Finding parking was super stressful until we found a place right magically right in front of the museum!  That's always nice.  It was sunny but super cold outside so we zipped right to the museum without looking around much.

We went to the Maritime Museum which was amazing!  The kids played in this Professor Splash area which had sort of a soft play kind of area but boats to sail and submarines to explore and outside there were all these cool shipping containers and cranes to drive, etc.  Really well done children's area.  Tom hung out there with the boys while I took the girls down stairs to do an exhibit about different foods shipped on Dutch ships but it was tricky because there was no English translations anywhere.  We still liked it though.  Then we did an exhibit about cruise ships, "Sea Palaces" if you will and that also was tons of fun.

We hit the McDonalds across the street for lunch and then Tom took the kids back to the museum while Emma and I went to find the Sint Laurence Church because I just love a church but even though on the website it said the church was open...it wasn't.  So we just had a little walk around which was lovely!  It had warmed up some and we just enjoyed Rotterdam for a bit.

Back at the museum there was some more playing on the shipping playground and we only got them to leave without tears because we promised them a trip to the pool.  But we stopped at the beach on the way home too and I have to say, this was my first time on actually frozen sand!  It felt so weird but the kids loved running around and there is something just glorious about kids by the sea.

So, props to me, I went to the pool with my kids.  I really prefer not to swim when I don't have to but it was sort of a water park swim area so to take all 4 kids there needed to be two grown ups.  The biggest problem is I have this super weird sensory thing bout walking on wet tile.  I HATE IT.  Seriously, I hate it.  And no flip flops allowed.  I just did a shiver thinking about it.  So that was hard for me.  But I absolutely loved watching Connor and Bennett in the wave pool. They were "fighting" the waves doing lots of hi-yas and ninja chops.  It was glorious.

Getting everyone changed back into their clothes and out again was a bit of a nightmare because sometimes everyone only wants my help.  This is frustrating especially when Tom is right there willing to help.  But I made some spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and everyone went to bed nice.  A good day.