Cheekiemonkies in Netherlands: Day 2

The Friso Farm Experience Part 2

(Daddy recounts)

Day 2, and we were due to be back at the Farm for a final bout of filming. Not that I think the monkies minded one bit, for they were looking forward to the mingling with the farm animals and their new-found friends.

The weatherman had forecast thundery showers on this day, and he was right. We had a thunderstorm during our first night in Amsterdam but luckily for us, the skies cleared up when we were departing our hotel after breakfast. And what a magnificent sight greeted us as we were enroute to the farm.

In fact, we were all so enthralled with the scenic view that the tour bus had to make a stop for us to soak everything in.

Erm actually, it was because the film crew hit upon the idea of grabbing some shots of the cows grazing in the fields so as not to let the clear blue skies go to waste.

Not that I complained of course. For one, it gave me ample opportunities to coax some jump shots from my 3 monkies.

And they didn't disappoint.

The photo above is easily one of my fave shots of the trip. Everything - the jumps, the expressions, the backdrop - just seemed to fall into place at the right time.

Well, it looked so fun that I just had to give it a go myself.

Needless to say, we reached the farm in high spirits and the boys were naturally overjoyed to be able to play with their angmoh friends once again.

Compared to the previous day, there was anything too taxing for the kids, as we already viewed and filmed the operations of the farm. So it was more of conducting interviews with the Farmer & his family and us parents.

So the kids were left to their own devices, which largely involved traumatizing the farm animals. At least they tried to be nice and fed the house cat some fresh milk too.

As filming wrapped up,it was time to say our goodbyes. I could sense that Ash & Ayd were a tad reluctant to leave the farm, as well as their 2-day-old friends. In fact, the wifey & I couldn't bear to leave the farm too! She fantasied how it would be so idyllic to live on the farm, to which I concurred... but only on the condition that there is WiFi.

It had been a great 2 half-days out at the farm! It was refreshing and enriching to see how the entire milking process operates in a farm.

So now, I'm glad that my kids know that milk doesn't come from a tin, but fresh from a farm. Or that banana milk doesn't come from one of the four udders of the cow, and neither does strawberry milk come from a pink cow for that matter.

And with that, it was time to get down to something more serious - the touristy stuff!

And nothing comes close to touristy than a cruise along the Amsterdam canals.

Along the cruise, we came across this huge bicycle park. It was as much like our multi-storey carpark here in Singapore, but the entire complex was full with bicycles!

In fact, I think they have more bicycles in cars there... which shouldn't be that surprising as the roads have dedicated lanes for cyclists in the Netherlands.

It was definitely interesting to catch a glimpse of Amsterdam from a different view. As we cruised along the waters, we came across many houseboats that dot the banks of the canals which are actually all occupied. It sure makes for an interesting choice for a home!

But I reckon the one person who wouldn't be living in such a houseboat anytime soon would be Ash.

He got a teeny weeny seasick 20 minutes into the cruise! And how about Ayd? He was just feeling the after-effects of lunch.

As for Ale, she was displaying the symptoms of hyper-activity.

Just look at her taking a piggyback ride on her poor nauseous brother's back. LOL.

And when she wasn't getting any response from him, she decided to mimic her brother's actions too.

Fortunately, our canal cruise came to an end when we disembarked at a stop outside Gassan Diamonds - an Amsterdam-based diamond cutting factory.

We were given a guided tour of the factory, where we witnessed diamond cutters at work, and given a brief demonstration as to how diamonds are cut and polished.

Obviously, one could also stock up on diamonds at the shop after the tour. But our tour prematurely ended as Ash was still feeling a bit seasick, Ayd was getting woozy while Ale was plain cranky as the tiredness began to take its toll.

And so luckily for my wallet, the whole family left the factory and headed back to our hotel for a rest.

We met back up with the rest of the group for dinner, and this was how the skies looked at 9+ in the evening.

As Ayd would say, it's still too early to be sleeping!

And he was right. Luckily there was some free entertainment just in front of our hotel, on the streets of Dam Square.

Nothing like huge bubbles to keep the kids in a trance, if you ask me.

It was getting a bit cold to be standing in the streets soon after, so we all did the next best thing - shopping! Not that we had much time to shop though, because the shops close quite early in Amsterdam. But no matter, there would be ample chances to do so. Or least that was how I pacified the wifey.

And so, our Day 2 in Amsterdam has come to an end but our adventures had only just begun. For we would be putting our self-planned itinerary into action from then on!

See MORE photos of our Day 2 Adventures in our Awesome Amsterdam album on our Cheekiemonkies' Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.342800939133515.78313.110845722329039&type=1

Cheekiemonkies in Netherlands: Day 1

The Friso Farm Experience

(Daddy recounts)

As you would be probably know by now, our entire family was packed off to Amsterdam by the kind people at Friso Singapore about one and a half weeks ago. And as much as I embraced the idea of holidaying in Europe, I was far more apprehensive of the journey there for there can only be a fine line separating bliss and insanity during the 13-hour flight.

And if I may be brutally honest, the plane journey to Amsterdam was rather uneventful. The 2 boys were easy enough - as long as there was a suitable in-flight entertainment system. Ale, though, was a different story altogether.

I was half-expecting Ale to perpetuate the entire aircraft with her loud wails, while I readied myself to pull the barf bag over my head (if it fits) in shame. But prayers do get answered, and she slept for close to 9 hours! As an added bonus, she nodded off again in my arms just before landing. I have never felt so delighted to be cuddling a XL-sized sack of rice for close to 1.5 hours.

So everything turned out well in the end. We arrived bright and early at Schiphol Airport at 7.30am, with all of us having adequate rest. Phew!

We hopped onto the tour bus, which brought us to NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, a hotel at the heart of Dam Square - a very convenient location (read: shopping for the wifey).

Our travelling entourage has a total of 3 other toddlers, excluding our monkies. So while Ash & Ayd were the biggest kor-kors around, you can just about predict the amount of mayhem that all will inevitably unleash when put together.

And once the decibels caused by the kids began to exceed the bearable threshold, I decided to bring the boys out for some quick snaps of Dam Square. This is where it all began - the Dam derives its name from its original function which was a dam on the Amstel River, hence also the name of the city.

Once checked in, we had about 2 hours of recharge time before venturing out to the Friso farm. But not before pacifying our rumbling tummies!

We had lunch at a small restaurant opposite Sloten Windmill, which is Amsterdam's only windmill that is open to the public.

And then, we arrived at the farm soon after that.

I didn't know it before, but FrieslandCampina (Friso is one of the many brands it owns) is one of the world’s largest dairy co-operatives and has 15,300 member farmers in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

What this essentially means is that these member farmers own and supervise the company. Because when the farmers work hard to supply the best quality milk, the company benefits. And when FrieslandCampina performs well, the farmers benefit too.

So Friso had arranged for us to visit one such farm in Amsterdam, where the Farmer and his wife, together with their 3 kids, work and live on the farm.

And my word, it was such a gorgeous place. Besides an actual working cow farm and the dwelling home, there are tons of stuff that make it such a wholesome place to raise kids. And it is these stuff that my monkies  targeted immediately the moment they set their eyes on them.

Besides an awesome old-fashioned kind of playground, which came complete with a kick-ass tyre swing, there were many miniature farm vehicles like a tractor scattered around the farm premises. Oh, and not forgetting the trampoline which had all kids literally jumping for joy!

Ale, though had other plans. She was very taken in by the pets around the farm - and between the dog, rabbits and cats, I believe she found the house cat to be most endearing. So she showed her affection in the manner she knew best: by pursuing it relentlessly.

Then, our fun was cut shot. It was time to start work proper.

Yes, work. It wasn't all play and fun for us you know. The other purpose of the trip was because Friso Singapore will be filming an infomercial during our trip. And Cavin Soh, a Mediacorp artiste, together with his wife and 16-month-old cute son, joined us for the trip as well.

And we finally had the chance to come face to face with the stars of the farm.

The cattle herd, or moo-moo-cows as Ale puts it.

The 2 boys definitely had much fun interacting with the cows at such a close proximity. Even more so for Ale I reckoned, especially since she spent most of the time squatting down in front of the cows.

I do wonder what was going though her mind.

We were next invited indoors for a briefing by the Farmer, who would guide us through the daily functioning of the farm.

The first time I entered the barn, the smell of poop hit me like a ton of bricks. But amazingly, it wasn't as pungent as I had braced myself for. Even more amazing, I got pretty much used to the smell after spending 10 minutes inside. I think it was because the smell wasn't entirely that of dung. Rather, the stench was balanced by the smell of hay, grass and cow feed.

That's the handsome Farmer (that's what the wifey calls him) and his family. Can you believe that the Farmer's wife is 41 years old? There must be something about the air in the farms of Holland then. Heh.

Anyway, there was still the tour of the other parts of the farm yet to done and even though I half-expected the kiddos to be tired by now, they were still pumped up and raring to go.

It was cloudy and chilly when we we paying the cows a visit moments earlier, but the skies have cleared up as we exited the barn. Which was just perfect!

Mr. Handsome Farmer then showed us the ingredients that make up the cows' daily feed.

While the Farmer's twin boys and my 2 boys played together ever so wildly. And it's rather incredulous really, considering the fact that they could only speak Dutch while my 2 boys couldn't!

So when the language barrier isn't an issue, I guess there wasn't any stopping Ale then. Who was bent on shadowing her 2 brothers around.

Then came the highlight of the day - cow milking time!

It's an entirely automated process, so there was no need for any tiring hands to milk the cows.

It was here that Ayd made the startling discover of the century - that a cow doesn't give strawberry or chocolate milk!

Yup, all along he had the notion that since a cow has 4 udders, one udder gives strawberry milk, one gives chocolate milk while another gives vanilla milk. I then asked what about the last udder and he replied, 'Uhm, banana?'

All I can say is that I am eternally grateful for this farm trip!

And once the milking process was done, we couldn't leave the farm without tasting the freshest of the freshest milk could we?

And our verdict? I had never tasted milk this fresh, creamy and sweet! I think the wifey even had a second helping. Haha.

Our final errand of the day was a chance to feed the baby cows, or calves. And the Farmer's twin boys showed us all a sure-fire way to get our hands icky and filled with saliva - by sticking our entire hand into the calf's mouth!

EEW... but we all tried it! And it was undeniably fun AND ticklish!

And with that, it marked the end of our first day in Amsterdam. Though fun-packed, it was an extremely tiring day too as we still had to overcome the effects of jet lag. We would find ourselves back again at the farm the next morning to complete the filming.

Til then, it was a wrap for Day 1!

See MORE photos of our Day 1 Adventures in our Awesome Amsterdam album on our Cheekiemonkies' Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.342800939133515.78313.110845722329039&type=1