Living Big in the Big City...

Jimmy’s connection with the general manager of the Landmark Hotel in the Marylebone neighborhood of London paid off with a behind-the-scenes tour of this majestic hotel housed in what was once the national rail headquarters. Our tour included going up on the roof (unfortunately it was cold and sprinkling) and into the basement, including the kitchens and the laundry. We were especially impressed with the Presidential Suite, which we imagined must have been where Michelle Obama and daughters slept when they stayed there.

Future Thespians?

Quite a few of the acting exercises had us busting up with laughter. Nicolas brought his buddy David Hall, an ex-chemistry teacher turned Shakespearean actor, to help and he was hilarious. He was the first to recognize Richard Griffiths, who plays Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, in the actor’s cafeteria where we ate all our meals. Other than gawking, we left him in peace. While neither girl is likely to ever be a big star like that (and hopefully never that big!), it was fun learning acting skills in such a memorable place.

Our Little Actresses...

Here the girls are performing a scene from Oscar Wilde’s comedy The Importance of Being Earnest that they had prepared in advance. The rest of the two days were filled with acting exercises. Some were completely weird and involved crawling around on the ground. Others were really fun like “Quick Change Fast.” We partnered up and assigned each other a subject to talk about using a chosen emotion. Then our partner would shout out another emotion and we had to immediately switch gears, which resulted in some very funny speeches.

Our National Theatre Adventure...

In addition to meeting the hotel manager when taking the leadership course in London over the summer, Jimmy met Nicolas Chagrin, a British actor and former dancer (he was in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). He recruited Nicolas to put together a two-day drama course for the girls and then changed his mind and decided he and I would participate as well. Much to our delight, Nicolas arranged for our sessions to be held in a rehearsal room at the Royal National Theatre right along the Thames River. He couldn’t actually give us a tour of the three theaters themselves, so we took an official backstage tour, which was very interesting.

Happy to be Back in London...

On Boxing Day (otherwise known as December 26th), we took the train to Hoek van Holland to catch the overnight ferry to England. The girls were very excited about sleeping on a boat for the first time. Luckily we had calm seas so we all slept well. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and hit the streets of London. We stopped by the Christmas market at Hyde Park and Hamleys, London’s fanciest toy store where Jimmy couldn’t resist buying a remote control helicopter. The hotel manager, whom Jimmy had taken a leadership course with, invited us for high tea with his family. I might not drink tea, but I can still appreciate all those crustless sandwiches and yummy desserts. Afterwards we met some friends from The Hague in Chinatown for dinner; we all enjoyed the “flattened duck.”

Cool Interactive Art...

We happened upon the coolest art installation in the courtyard of the London Royal Academy of Arts by Mumbai-born artist Anish Kapoor, who specializes in public art. We didn’t visit the museum itself, but spent a long time staring into 76 beautiful steel silver balls that made up the 50-foot sculpture Tall Tree and the Eye, which infinitely repeated and reflected the surrounding architecture and visitors.

Our Big Snow Storm...

The snow arrived early this year in mid-December and while there was only an inch or two, the cycle paths became quite slippery. For the first time, we all managed to fall off our bikes on the same day, but luckily the only thing hurt was our pride. On December 22nd we had our biggest snow storm in our four years in Holland, which brought the total snowfall to 5 inches. Public transport came to a complete halt and the roads were a mess, but three crazy hashers still showed up since we were haring for the Hague H3. The girls built an ice bar in the yard to serve mulled wine after the trail.
The sky was beautiful that evening when the girls posed in the yard before making snow angels. On Christmas Eve we went to a friend’s in the village of Voorburg, which was beautifully lit by candles. We had a very mellow Christmas playing games in our PJs.

A Farewell Celebration...

One of the benefits of expat life is getting to meet a lot of great people. One of the downsides is that good friends move at the whims of their companies. Darlene has been a very special friend over the last three years as we’ve spent hours baring our souls while scrapbooking and travelling together. As she and Mike prepared to move back to California, I spent every spare moment with her. We were thrilled they could join us for the first night of Hanukkah for kugel (noodle casserole) and latkes (potato pancakes). Our final celebration was the following evening for a gourmet meal at their hotel. I’m really going to miss her, but am happy that she lives near my dad so I know our paths will cross frequently.
No, we weren’t doing something we didn’t want the girls to see. Darlene and Mike gave them airline business class packs and a cool candle holder for Hanukkah. They were happy to get to spend two last evenings with Lance, who they’ll miss dogsitting.

Nanny McPhee No More!

The bad mom that I am, for the last few years I’ve been calling Ashlynn “Nanny McPhee,” after the buck toothed main character in a kiddie movie. The good news is that she’s grown so tired of this nickname that she actually looked forward to getting braces in mid-December. Because there’s only one tooth to move, she only needs braces on the four front teeth. She was shocked how fast and easy the whole process was. The worst part was the big pieces of cotton forcing her mouth open. The orthodontist said that we should see a big change by the end of the year and that she should have them off in six months.

Not Your Average Family Portrait...

It was funny seeing Veronica with her blonde hair poking out from under her black wig. She had so much fun hamming it up with her daddy and passing out gifts to dozens of little kids. And I had a great time following them around and taking dozens of photos of this crazy day.

Loving Those Zwarte Piets...

Ashlynn wanted to be a Zwarte Piet as well, but her size would have confused the many young believers at the party. She was disappointed, but enjoyed watching her dad and sister being so goofy. Jimmy was especially good at smooshing pepernoten (mini ginger cookies) in his colleague’s hair. Strangely, a few of the fellows didn’t even realize who he was.

Something Familiar about Those Zwarte Piets...

Recognize anything familiar about these Zwarte Piets (the Black Peters), Sinterklaas’ special helpers? Two years ago you might have seen photos when Jimmy helped out at his company’s Sinterklaas party. Last year, he and Veronica was supposed to help, but he had his days mixed up and they missed the party. They didn’t take any chances this year and arrived very early. I took our visitors so they could experience this very unique Dutch tradition. Click here to check out comedian David Sedaris’ take on this strange tradition.

Sharing Dutch Traditions...

Our girls were very excited about Jimmy’s cousin’s 20-year-old daughter visiting along with one of her friends. They both go to Jimmy’s alma mater Vanderbilt and are doing a semester abroad. Unfortunately, they missed the Thanksgiving Service at the Pieterskerk in Leiden since they didn’t arrive until late that night. I took them to Leiden the next day for the usual walking tour and a great visit to the American Pilgrim Museum. Saturday morning, the girls made them poffertjes, mini-pancakes with powdered sugar on top. After lunch, we headed to Jimmy’s office for a Sinterklaas party.
Ashlynn volunteered to go up on stage during the magic show. Here she is shooting a snake gun. Later, the magician produced a card that she’d written on within one of his balloons.

Entertaining Tudor-Style...

The 4th grade class play was done very differently this year as the students themselves wrote their lines. Each class performed one act depicting a feast in Tudor times. Ashlynn’s class even wrote their own song about preparing for the feast in the kitchen, which was surprisingly funny. Ashlynn was a baker who was fired for goofing around. She then set off to make her fortune as an entertainer. She helped provide continuity by having lines in each act. I might be biased, but she did a really great job.

History Comes to Life...

What better way to learn about history than by having it come to life? Tudor Day was broken into two main parts. The first consisted of stations to teach trades. Above, Ashlynn is learning to become a barber surgeon; in this case, she would pull the patient’s tooth, then cut her hair. She also learned how to make candles, herbal remedies and soap. In between trades, she made the mistake of begging and was arrested; luckily the King was lenient and she wasn’t thrown in the moat. In the afternoon, she played St. George in a play where she attempted to slay a dragon, then sat at the head table with the Royals at a feast. I was honored to share this special day with her.

Overdressed for the Tram?

Each year at primary school, there’s a dress-up day in conjunction with the subject being studied in history. The best is Tudor Day in 4th grade. I was thrilled to be able to volunteer and rented us very posh costumes. Ashlynn was excited about wearing her costume on the tram even though no proper lady would ever actually be this common.

Dressed to Kill...

Happy New Year! It might look liked we’re dressed up here for New Year’s Eve, but this was actually for the 234th Marine Corps Birthday Ball in November. We were thrilled that Terri and Chris were able to join us this year. It was her idea to rent dresses. I’d envisioned that I’d find a colorful ball gown, but instead both of us ended up in black satin. We’d worked together that afternoon at the Holiday Bazaar for the American Women’s Club, then went to her house to get ready. The opening ceremony was much more intense this year with a video highlighting two Marine heroes that died in Iraq while saving their entire platoon. Luckily, the rest of the evening was more lighthearted. Once again, Jimmy and I enjoyed wandering around the empty miniatures park after dinner. The music was much better this year, so we even did some dancing.