On our first day we decided we needed to do something relatively peaceful, so after a slow start (that is taken as read while on holiday, all our starts were slow!), we headed out to the Amsterdamse Bos for the day, helped along by the fact that we had read rave reviews about a pancake restaurant there, so the children were instantly attracted by the idea!
We parked up at the top of the Bosbaan (university rowing lake), which was free – you could rent bikes there but we walked. It was about a km walk down through the park to Boerderij Meerzicht. The pancake house didn’t disappoint, it was great. In Argos style you picked up drinks, placed your order and then sat and watched for your ticket number to come up on the screen, then you could pick up your pancakes. The kids had pancakes covered in icing sugar and sprinkles, and theirs came with a toy and a box of sweets, which they ate throughout the afternoon. Our pancakes were fabulous too 
A big hit all round, and definitely recommended to anyone doing Amsterdam with children.
During the afternoon we had a long walk back through the wood, taking in a couple of play areas, paddling pools, and an ice cream stop at the end. Saw lots of interesting bikes while we were out, I was particularly interested in all the different child seat combinations! Spotted one bike with a baby seat at the front and twin toddler seats on the back – and everything through to bikes with big carrying trailers on the back, and back-to-front trikes (ie 2 wheels at the front, 1 at the back) with big carrying boxes on the front, big enough for 2 children to sit in – fascinating.
Back to the campsite for dinner and veg-out time
