A Real Dutch Halloween...

Since I wasn’t too impressed with our Halloween experience two years ago in Wassenaar, I wasn’t too thrilled about taking the girls trick or treating in Marlot, the neighborhood where we house-sat when we first arrived in Holland. After Jimmy reminded me that Halloween wasn’t all about me, I agreed that us girls would meet him at Sherri’s house. Turns out that it was a lot of fun. The neighborhood association hired a callopie to lead a costume parade of dozens of kids (about 60% Dutch and 40% expats) winding through the streets. After the parade, the girls went trick or treating while we went back to Sherri’s for happy hour. If you’re having a tough time figuring out the girls’ costumes, Ashlynn is a mermaid and Veronica is a blonde Sarah Palin despite not having $150,000 clothing budget (just for the record, it was her idea).

Reflections on Our 3rd Year - Part 2

We’re happy that our list of highs for our 3rd year in Holland is considerably longer than our lows:

• Travel: Bosnia - hanging out in Mostar; Croatia - our tin can cruise with Darlene and Mike; Finland - above the Artic Circle in Lapland to see the Northern Lights, sleep in a glass igloo and go dog sledding; France - romantic reunion in Strasbourg and Easter with friends at the Chateau; Germany - skiing and hiking in the snow; Holland - roller coasters at Efteling; Italy - girl’s weekend in Milan; Portugal - sipping port in Porto; Slovenia - couples massage; Switzerland - first visit to the Alps, Klettersteig, ropes course and hiking; US - girls flying solo for the 1st time for an awesome visit with Grandpa and Grandma, and Jimmy seeing his sister and cousins at wedding in Jax and hanging with Marc in DC
• Jimmy returning safe and sound from his long trip
• Visitors: Best buddies - Laykos from NC; family - Buddy; and new friends - Zoe and family
• Finding a new home with a great yard
• Dutch Nash Hash with toga party and Swiss Nash Hash with amazing fireworks over Rhine Falls
• Election breakfast with a happy ending and our 15-minutes of fame
• Making new friends and connecting with old friends while travelling - Zoe and family in Switzerland, Tom and Cissa in Croatia and Bill and Nina in Germany
• Jimmy: getting a new “car”- a real mountain bike; drafting first 5 chapters of a novel and not getting completely dissed by friends reviewing; making progress on remodelling dollhouse
• Melissa: co-editing a newcomer’s book, discovering Facebook, scrapping with Darlene
• Veronica: going to middle school and remembering locker combo; MVP at Jr National Ultimate Frisbee Championships; singing duet as Bride of Frankenstein in school musical; Grandpa teaching piano; Young Americans workshops and performance
• Ashlynn: changing classes away from problem boys, Roman Day

Reflections on Our 3rd Year - Part 1

November 22nd marked our 3rd anniversary of living in Holland. I’m happy to say that it’s still true--time sure flies when we’re having fun! Our trek out to Scheveningen to go to the Italian restaurant where we dined our first night in Holland was unlike previous years since there was a wintry mix of hail and sleet falling. As part of our tradition, we reflected on the highs and lows of our 3rd year. Luckily our list of lows was short and Veronica didn’t have any personal lows:

• Missing Jimmy during his extended business trip
• Our landlord selling our house--very sad to leave Leiden and the river!
  
• Jimmy: missing our trip to Lapland and Buddy’s visit, bringing home a nasty souvenir from my trip (an intestinal ailment), no chance to paraglide (life-long goal)
  
• Melissa: not being mentally or technically prepared for all the hard work on the newcomer’s book, falling off the back of the dog sled and watching the girls fly away from me
• Ashlynn: growing pains, fantastic 3rd grade teacher hurting her neck and being away for weeks
  

Making Friends... in Switzerland?

When Ashlynn played in Switzerland this summer with Zoe (an Aussie-American living in Brussels), she had no idea if they’d see each other again. She was thrilled when Zoe’s mom Jane contacted me and said she’d like to bring her three kids to see The Hague. Having faith that my daughter didn’t make friends with ax murderers, I invited the family to stay with us for two nights as our first guests in our new house. We had a great time getting to know each other and showing them some museums, the beach and Leiden. Now we’re looking forward to visiting them in Brussels. Guess you never know when you meet someone if they’re going to be in your life for just minutes, months, years or forever.

No Mistaking this for Disney...

We’d heard good things from friends about Efteling, but still didn’t really know what to expect. We were happy to see that it wasn’t just a imitation of Disney World. It definitely had its own style and sense of humor. The above ride was called Monsieur Cannibal who sings “Come along if you dare for I will stew you until you are done.” The nude troll shown here was from the great animatronic ride Dream Flight, which mostly featured lovely fairies. We got a great laugh out of the goose parade, which consisted of a lady with a whistle, a man with a drum and a dozen real geese marching around the park. And, apparently the speaking trash bins which say “Papier hier” have been famous since 1958.

Thrill Rides in Holland...

Fall break was the perfect time to visit an amusement park. Unfortunately, Jimmy couldn’t get away from work, so it was just us girls for an awesome overnight trip to the Dutch park Efteling. Not only were we lucky that it didn’t rain, but the sky was beautifully blue and it wasn’t windy. The girls were quite adventurous and they went on a few rides that made me dizzy just to watch. Together we tried all four roller coasters, including the one with a double loop and double corkscrew. Their favorite was the one above with the giant bird which was mostly in the pitch dark. They really had fun telling Jimmy that I loved Bob, which happened to be the name of the bobsled coaster. The park was refreshingly uncommercial. The fairytale forest, beautiful with leaves that had changed colors, dates back to the 50’s and had some unusual characters.

Writing to Help Others...

For the last three years, I’ve been writing in hopes of my friend’s actually reading what I have say. Now after all this time of keeping up my blog, I’ve fallen behind. It’s not that I haven’t been writing. It’s just that I haven’t been writing for fun. Wish I could say I’ve been writing for money, but that isn’t the case either. Instead I’ve been helping edit the American Women’s Club of The Hague’s 11th edition of their book for newcomers At Home in Holland. When my friend asked me to share the job of co-editor with her, I thought it would take a few hours a week. I had no idea that I’d get obsessed with correcting errors and trying to add new information. I’m now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as we turn over our chapters to the publisher next week. Back to blogging...

A Family Who Rocks Together...

...stays together. Jimmy made sure he was at the record shop early enough to be at near the front of the line to buy Coldplay tickets (we were too chicken to try to buy tickets online on a Dutch site). In less than 15 minutes, the concert sold out. Lucky for him, a second concert was added and it was on a Friday night, so he was able to get four tickets for prime seats. We started the night with a special treat of all-you-can-eat sushi in Rotterdam, then headed to the Ahoy theater for our first rock concert in Holland. The opening band was forgettable, but Coldplay was awesome. The crowd sang along with most of the songs, the light show was amazing, and the band didn’t stay still, playing on catwalks and in the back of the arena for a few songs. The most memorable moment, however, happened after the concert was over and we were walking to the metro. Someone started chanting the ending of Viva La Vida and soon the entire crowd of thousands was chanting along.

Girls’ Weekend in Milan

I was excited to finally get to go away on a girls’ weekend. I tagged along with Camilla and some ladies from her book club to Milan to visit a mutual friend. I flew down on a Friday morning in late September and hung out with Snigdha and her family. The ladies were thrilled that I had prosecco (Italian sparkling wine) chilled and waiting for them when they arrived at midnight. We shared a suite so there was plenty of room for the six of us. Jimmy was disappointed that we stayed up late talking about U.S. politics rather than having a pajama party. We took a walking tour on Saturday; we especially enjoyed seeing a ballet rehearsal at the amazing opera house. The Duomo above was also very impressive and made a beautiful view during lunch. The weekend was over too quickly, but we had time to have some great Italian food, did lots of window shopping, saw some art and had some deep discussions.

Safety in the Science Lab...

Veronica’s first project in middle school was to produce a poster about safety in the science lab. She got frustrated trying to figure out how to draw kids doing things dangerously, so I suggested she use her camera instead. With a little help from her daddy planning the photo shoot and a very cooperative model, she was able to do a great poster.

Instead of posting that, I thought you’d enjoy seeing the best photos of Brooke, the “bad student who never follows the rules.”

First Day of School...

Just two days after returning from California, it was time to head back to school. There were a lot of changes for all of us. Veronica cycled off to middle school to start 6th grade. She was worried about having to remember her locker combination, but otherwise loved her first day. Her intense weekly schedule includes the usual courses plus geography, food technology, design technology, art, music, Dutch, French and German. She has a lot more homework, but so far is able to stay organized. I cycled along with Ashlynn in the opposite direction as she started 3rd grade. It’s a 25-minute ride if it isn’t too windy; quite a change from taking the train and tram. She likes her new teacher because she’s funny and doesn’t yell.

Homeward Bound...

The day after we returned from Croatia, we headed back to the airport to pick up the girls. It was so exciting when those doors opened and we saw their smiling faces (especially since we weren’t 100% sure that Ashlynn was returning). Instead of doing traditional “Welcome Home” signs, Jimmy made “Wanted” posters which he hung up on a pillar in the arrivals hall. The attendant that accompanied them was disappointed when we didn’t give her the reward money. The girls said the flight was long, but they enjoyed sitting in the pilot’s seat of the 747 after they landed. And this time they didn’t get in trouble for smuggling an Apple, although this time they technically did since they had our new Ipod with them.