Another Sunday, Another Race...

We rented a Greenwheels car to take Ashlynn to a race since Sally, who usually takes her along with Andrew, was out of town. This circuit race was originally scheduled to be held in January, but was rescheduled due to potential ice. Ironically, there were snow flurries while we were driving to the race on March 31, but luckily it stopped and the sun came out as the race started.

For the first time, Ashlynn beat her Daddy. Perhaps she was extra speedy because she knew that Hannah was waiting for her at the finish line. Despite an untied shoe, she managed to come in 1st girl under 16 (the girl that usually beats her by several minutes must have been ill) and 4th woman for the 5.3K with a 22:03 (6:42 minutes per mile).

Baby, Remember My Name...

Once again the girls needed to come up with a plan for a performance for the school’s International Festival. Veronica suggested that they sing and dance to the theme song from the movie Fame.

I was impressed that Veronica opted to give the solos to Natalia and Lili because she thought their voices worked better with the song. She originally hoped to just voice project, but her mean mom insisted she needed to use a microphone so the audience could be sure to hear her over the backing track.

Lauren was again in charge of choreographing the dance with Ashlynn’s assistance. 

 
The entire show was really good this year with ten countries performing. Jimmy once again enjoyed playing professional photographer. Afterwards, we stuffed ourselves as we tried food and drinks from twenty countries.

Anger Management...

As part of Veronica’s Year 11 (10th grade) GCSE Drama exam, she had to act in a ten-minute scripted production. She and Sophie’s duet scene was of Lindsay Price’s Anger Mangement: Life in the afterworld sucks for Juliet and Ophelia. And they’re not afraid to tell you where to shove your decorative potholder.

It was funny hearing Veronica as Juliet say that she shouldn’t have killed herself for Romeo since he dumped her eons ago, “Loved him enough to knife myself in the stomach. Now, not so much. Now, I’d like to take his insides and pull them outside his body.” Unfortunately, Veronica had no luck uploading the video of their performance to YouTube, then her hard drive crashed, so you’ll just have to believe me that they did a great job. 

Making Chocolate...

While I avoid taking cooking classes, I decided to take a chance and go to a chocolate making class with the AWC. A large group of us gathered at a chocolate shop in Delft. Don’t we look cute in our aprons and blue caps?

I was a bit disappointed to learn that this place doesn’t actually make their own chocolate, but rather they just melt Belgian chocolate chips and add their own fillings or toppings. Of course, that didn’t stop me from enjoying plenty of samples. Jan, who planned the workshop, was a natural at making her chocolates into recognizable shapes such as circles, bunnies and ducks.

My chocolates, on the other hand, looked like they were made by a 4-year=old. The good news is that chocolate still tastes like chocolate even if it’s ugly.

My bon-bons looked a bit more normal as the bottoms were provided for us. I worked with a partner to make the ganache filling, made from butter, cream, chocolate and liqueur, in this case Frangelico made from hazelnuts. The top is then more melted chocolate. Yum! This was one class that my whole family benefited from.

Earth Hour...

After the International Festival, we had Sally, John, David and Andrew over for Earth Hour, a worldwide effort led by the WWF to encourage businesses and households to turn off non-essential lights at 8:30 p.m. on March 23. Veronica was very disappointed that we couldn’t make it to the Dutch celebration in Tilburg, so decided to host our own version.

The kids were funny because they weren’t sure what to do for the hour. They eventually started playing a game, which they enjoyed so much that they played by candlelight for two hours.

We also celebrated Sally and Jimmy’s birthdays, which are just one day apart. Ashlynn and Veronica made a delicious carrot cake with lemon frosting.

The Voorschoten Loop...

As the Voorschoten Loop is near the school, there were several of Ashlynn’s friends running. I was a bit worried that she’d prefer to run with them at a slower pace, but since this was part of the circuit that she’s running with Andrew, she opted to stick with him. Jimmy planned on running with them, but they took off into a sprint at the start and he wasn’t able to keep up with them. It was quite exciting that Ashlynn actually beat her daddy for the first time. Andrew’s GPS showed the course was actually 4.9K, which likely contributed to getting her best race time yet with a 20:07 (6:28 mile/minute pace). She came in 8th woman and 1st girl under 16.

A Very Sweet Versailles...

Ashlynn is studying the French Revolution in Year 8 (7th grade) history. As part of a group project, the kids needed to either draw or make a model of Versailles. Little did Ashlynn, Sophie and Rory realize what they were taking on when the decided to make a model out of sugar cubes. 

Check out Louis XIV made out of gummy bears.

After four working sessions at our house, many boxes of sugar cubes and lots of glue sticks for the hot glue gun, they had a completed model.

Running for a Good Cause...

Like last year, the girls had friends sponsor them for the race. And like last year, they managed to raise a lot of money with Ashlynn raising € 205 and Veronica raising € 105 for the World Wildlife Federation.

Fast Friends...

Just like last year, David and Max were neck and neck coming into the finish line with Max finishing just one second before David with a 6th place finish. Andrew was also impressive coming in 30th!

Love this shot of Sally

After the race, we looked for somewhere nearby to grab a quick lunch before Jimmy’s run start. The small portions at the tapas restaurant meant that it was easy for the girls to convince me they were still hungry enough to stop for cupcakes on the way to the train station. 

A Cold March Day for a 5K...

It was a surprisingly cold morning in March for The Hague’s largest race. Unlike last year when Jimmy joggled with Veronica, this year he registered for the half marathon. At least he got to watch the girls finish this year.

That little kid with the long legs came in 7th out of 2,087 women! Overall she was 75th out of 3,745 runners with a time of 21:25 (6:54 minutes per mile). This was especially impressive considering she’d been sick and hadn’t been running or playing hockey.

In addition to having a great run, Veronica also had a lot of fun. She looks so beautiful and happy that I can’t help but think this photo should be in a running magazine.

Jimmy’s race didn’t start until later in the day. He opted to start at the end of his section. Normally this strategy works OK for him, but this time it meant that his chip didn’t register when he started the race so his time was inaccurate. Regardless, he was pleased with his results. While we watched the start of the race, we didn’t stick around for the 1:36 because of the cold temps.

Karaoke Night at Edelweiss...

Thursday night was karaoke night at Zuggy’s. Here’s Veronica dancing with her biggest fan, Kaspar.

And here’s Jimmy rocking out (no idea where he learned how to play air guitar).

Veronica and Nate didn’t hesitate to get up and sing. They started with Twist and Shout, with Jimmy and Kaspar dancing along. Unfortunately, it was difficult to hear them since the sound system wasn’t set right (or perhaps it was set to protect the audience from bad singers).

For their second song, they sang Sk8ter Boi by Avril Lavigne. Of course, I always enjoy hearing Veronica sing and I was impressed that Nate joined her. After we got home, he dropped by her school for a tour and then asked her out on her first date.

Day of Sightseeing...

As much as I don’t typically enjoy guided tours, I booked myself on a tour of Linderhof Palace. No photos were allowed to be taken inside this small but spectacular palace built in 1876 for King Ludwig II of Bavaria. Much of the interior was fashioned after Versailles, including a Hall of Mirrors, as Mad Ludwig was obsessed with King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

The grounds and grotto are supposed to be quite beautiful, but were closed for the winter.

At least all that snow made for a scenic walk from the bus.

We stopped in Oberammergau for lunch. I was happy to be able to join a group of ladies from Frankfurt for lunch and some shopping. Afterwards, we stopped at Ettal Monastery, where we admired the frescoes under the dome and tasted the monk’s special cloister liqueur.