Rocket and Fishstick's big adventure

We had quite a scare last night - both our cat and our dog escaped out the back door of our new home. While this may not seem like a big deal to most of you with yards and fences, neither of our animals have ever been outside on their own before (Fishstick has never been outside at all, and Rocket has only been out on a leash), so we didn't know if they would know how to get back, especially since we just moved to a new place a few days ago.

Here's what happened:

Fishstick feigned a fake escape out the back door, then during his getaway, Rocket slipped outside. When we realized Rocket was gone after about a half an hour or so, we went to look for her and that's when Fishstick made his real escape. I went to look for Fishstick in the morning and realized he had been outside the entire night, running around the park by our house. I think they were working together, those rascals!

We're just glad they came back - we would have felt terrible if we lost both our animals because we couldn't figure out how to properly shut the doors!

Mischievous cat...

And our funny/curious dog

By the way, I plan on writing a children's book with the title of this blog post someday.

- Krista

Move #4

I honestly can't believe we're now living in our fourth house in Amsterdam.

Yes, we moved this week... again. We've now lived in two temporary places (each for about a month), and two more permanent places.

When we last moved, we had absolutely no intention to move in Amsterdam ever again. But then, things changed. We got a dog, got sick of the five flights of stairs, and wanted to be a little closer to the city. So here we are, in our fourth Amsterdam home.

The move was interesting, to say the least. Unsurprisingly, not everything went as planned, and we had a few hangups with our new place. But, we're here, our old place is almost vacant, our new place only has one corner filled with our landlord's stuff, and so far as I can tell nothing is broken (except for a couple of legs on our TV stand...). Now on to the unpacking...

Here are a couple of photos of the move, more posts/photos/stories to come soon.

Boxes have been a major source of entertainment for the animals during this whole thing

Neither Brian or I understand how we've accumulated so much stuff... (it all had to go out that window!)

The elevator/ladder was 55 feet long, and barely made it to our window

Everything had to go on that little platform. Luckily nothing fell off!

- Krista

Acrophobia

Last weekend Brian convinced me to take a ride on the Ferris Wheel at the constantly reappearing Dam Square carnival. This was the view:
I guess it was pretty high up!

- Krista

The Dutch countryside

While on my way to drop off and pick up Rocket from her new kennel just south of Amsterdam, I walked through an incredibly gorgeous part of the Dutch countryside (I ended up doing a lot of walking on this trip, one of the downsides of not having a car).

Both times ended up being beautiful, slightly crisp, fall days, and it made me wonder what it would be like to live in the Dutch countryside. Everything seemed so luxurious - being able to have a car, a huge yard for our dog, an actual house - what a life!

But I know it's not right for us right now. We love to be able to walk and bike places too much, and even though these places weren't really that far out (it did take me 2 and a half hours to walk home, but it would be a much shorter bike ride), we still like being right in the middle of the city.

I can still visit though!

This bird was just sitting perfectly on an old bike... picturesque maybe?

This house seemed nice...

Rocket loved this long path by the river

- Krista

Paris

There's something exciting about saying "we're going to Paris" that just doesn't hold true with most other destinations.

We had been planning a Paris trip for a while as a late anniversary present to each other. The city didn't let us down!

Since we had both been there before, we didn't have to hit every single tourist destination, but we did go to the Eiffel Tower (our attempt at being romantic), the Arc de Triumph, Mont Martre, the Centre Pompidou, and a few other famous spots.

But we mostly just got to walk around the city (lots and lots of walking) and take in the Parisian sights and culture. It was beautiful but a little overwhelming - I think Brian and I have gotten a little too used to small cities like Portland and Amsterdam and don't quite know how to function in a big city like Paris. But we did okay, aside from a few hangups.

And I seriously don't understand how Americans can think French people are rude... I have never had a bad experience with a French person in Paris! Sure, they might take a little warming up to once in a while, but that might take about two to five minutes and after that they're doing all they can to be friendly and helpful. If only Dutch people were the same (I still haven't figured out how to get Dutch people to warm up to me)!

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

In the city

Brian in front of the Arc de Triumph


Me on the second level of the Eiffel Tower, it was cold and windy and I was not dressed for it!

- Krista

And now on to autumn...

I'm having a hard time believing summer is over... I had a great summer, don't get me wrong, but it just went by too quickly as always. Since I've been back from the States nothing too exciting has happened (hence the lack of posts), although I did turn 23 and we recently gave notice on our apartment (more on that later).

I used to look forward to fall, though in my entire life I've never really wanted summer to end. But with fall brought change, a new class, a new college (sadly that's not a joke, I went to 5 colleges!), a new start. Now that I'm out of school, I have to sort of create my own new beginning every autumn, and that is much, much harder to do. But I have a lot of plans this fall... I'll let you know if any of them pan out.

Until then, I hope you find some comfort in the start of sweater/jacket season, in the first rainfall (or first snow, depending on where you are!), and in whatever change you may be experiencing this season.

We take off for Paris next Friday so there will be plenty to post after that. In the meantime, here's a few pictures of autumn in Amsterdam:

Brian and I at our favorite neighborhood park


Sunny Amsterdam


Rocket and I enjoying the nice fall day

- Krista