Spotting the Royals...

Jimmy and I managed to find a fairly good spot to watch the festivities. From our viewpoint, we could just barely spot King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima in the bleachers (front row center).

When the King and Queen made their exit, many of the people in our section disregarded a roped off area to get a closer view. How could we not follow along?

Afterwards, we thought we could escape the crowds by heading to Keizerstraat, but instead happened upon a festive street packed with folks in costumes. These ladies were happy to pose with a painting of the King.

And these ladies showed their loyalty to the King by trying to kiss his portrait.

200th Anniversary of the Netherlands...

On November 30, 2013, there was a re-enactment on the beach in Scheveningen of the Dutch victory over the French enabling the Netherlands to be declared an independent country. Several hundred people dressed in period costumes on this blustery morning.

Some of the actors really got into the fighting and the camera man was right in the fray of things.

The fellow in the front of the carriage is Prince Willem Frederick of Oranje. Unfortunately, his historic landing of 1813 couldn’t fully be re-enacted because the sea was too choppy. Afterwards, the Royal Navy celebrated their 200th anniversary with an amphibious landing.

Onto the Gold: Project Nepal...

The requirements to get a International Gold Award is much more complicated including a one-week residential trip plus a four-day expedition. The school sponsors a Gold trip to Kenya, but Veronica wasn’t chosen for that team. She was thrilled when she learned that the organizers of the Dutch International Award sponsor a trip to Nepal and that she could have a spot on the team along with five other BSN students and one Dutch student. On the far right is their team leader, Marieke, who made the trip last year for the first time.

Hard to believe that our little girl is grown up enough to go to Nepal for three weeks this summer without us. In order to prepare for her trip, she has to raise funds that will be used to support volunteer projects including giving English lessons at a deaf school and teaching HIV awareness at a maternity clinic. She also has to go on a practice expedition to learn additional skills in wilderness survival.

More International Award...

This was the largest group the school had ever had at an International Award Ceremony.

Luckily Veronica wore red so she stood out.

Here’s the group of girls on Veronica’s expedition and thus starring in her video. Not sure why they felt the need to bite their medals.

Internatonal Silver Award...

It was quite exciting to see Veronica’s name up on the big screen at the International Award Ceremony when she received her Silver Award.

It was even more exciting to watch her video with all the other participants and their parents. In case you missed seeing it, here it is again.

And here’s our smiling award recipient.

More Dutch Lawnmowers...

In September, the sheep were back in our neighborhood to mow the grass around the canals.

Veronica caught a better version than me, so it was her photo that we used for the cover of Going Dutch in October.

One night in November, Jimmy yelled that I needed to grab my camera and go outside. It’s not everyday that you see sheep walking down your street; luckily I managed to see them just before they turned the corner.

Sinterklaas Arrives in The Hague...

Ashlynn and I went to The Hague to go shopping and watch the Sinterklaas Parade, which made its way from Scheveningen to downtown. She hadn’t been to the parade in years and enjoyed it more than she expected.

As usual, there were mischievous Zwarte Piets using a wide variety of transportation.

The controversy of the politically incorrect Zwarte Piets continues to grow every year, but amazingly there were even black children dressed up as Sinterklaas’ helpers.

I usually fail to get a photo of Sinterklaas himself. After we watched the end of the parade, we headed to the bike parking lot to grab our bikes. The procession came to a halt right in front of us. When I walked over to take a photo of Sint, he was sweet to motion that I should stand in another spot to get a better angle.

238th Marine Corps Birthday Celebration...

Once again, after volunteering at the AWC Holiday Bazaar, it was time to get dressed up for the Marine Corps Ball, which was held at the Crowne Plaza.

Unfortunately, the speeches ran overtime, significantly cutting into our dancing time.

It was late when we finally posed with the Marines, so many of the AWC ladies had already left.

AWC Holiday Bazaar...

Early on an unusually warm Saturday morning in November, Veronica and I hopped on our bikes to cycle to The Hague to volunteer at the AWC Holiday Bazaar. Veronica couldn’t pass up the chance to pet a cow along the way.

She helped with crafts in the Kids’ Corner while I worked with Terri at the payment table.

Jimmy stopped by to help me spend some money on Polish pottery. He didn’t sit on Santa-Bob’s knee, but did pose for a photo.

Veronica couldn’t actually remember any entire Christmas song, but enjoyed attempting to add some holiday cheer.

A Doggy Ramp...

For over five months, Ashlynn slept on the guest bed so that Kati could sleep on the bed with her. Jimmy was determined that Ashlynn should sleep back in her own room, so started planning on how to build a doggy ramp up to Ashlynn’s loft bed. The girls helped Kati up the first few times.

Ashlynn was excited about moving back into her own room.

Jimmy used some carpet remnants to give the ramp some grip. It was surprising how quickly Kati got the hang of it.

She was quickly running up and down the ramp on her own.

Jimmy envisioned that Kati would sleep on the platform at the end of the bed, but she prefers to sleep next to Ashlynn.

A Haunted Workplace...

We got a last minute invite to join Jimmy at his office’s first Halloween party, so Veronica and I headed over while Ashlynn went to a party at Liv’s (the next night she went trick or treating with friends in Wassenaar). No surprise that Jimmy was the only one in costume, and it was a scary one at that.

The storage room in the basement was converted into a haunted house, which was very cleverly decorated. We especially enjoyed the laser tag, which we played in two big blow-up rooms similar to a bouncy castle. I was horrible at it, but it was very fun. No doubt the best party we’d ever been to at the agency.

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More Halloween Fun...

Before the party, Fiona came over to help decorate and carve pumpkins.

The girls made cute, but fairly normal pumpkins.

Jimmy, on the other hand, carved a rather goofy pumpkin. Ashlynn found the perfect piece to complete it.

Halloween at the White House...

Of course, we had to take some family photos at the Halloween party as well. I was happy that Jimmy and I still fit in our old wicked witch and good witch costumes from years ago.

Veronica Hosts a Halloween Party...

For the first time, Veronica hosted a Halloween party. Not for the first time, the focus of the party was to take cool photos. With some special film over the lights, the gray background turned a horror movie shade of red. Veronica was the perfect Gothic hostess in a gown that one of the ladies from the AWC gave her. Adelina took her role as Tuesday from the Addams Family very seriously.

The creepiest costume was this grinning clown. Remy managed to keep his mouth shut and everyone guessing who was under the mask for almost an hour, but he finally got hungry and had to reveal himself to eat.

Many of the boys came with ugly face make-up, although two of them were hilarious with much prettier make-up along with pantyhose to go with their dresses. The girls ranged from a witch to Harry Potter to a “cereal” killer. I joined the kids to watch Scary Movie, a parody of horror flicks, but stayed upstairs with most of the girls when they watched real horror movies.

Veronica was sweet to allow Ashlynn to invite Georgia and Lucy, both of whom had older brothers at the party.

More Abandoned Places in Belgium...

In mid-October, Jimmy and Veronica set off to Antwerp with their bikes along on the train for another day of urban exploration. This time they started outside an oil port facility. There were no fences, so the entrance was easy.

There wasn’t much to see, but Veronica still enjoyed taking some photos.

The next stop was more interesting: an all-girls secondary school. Here is what Veronica wrote in her article for Going Dutch about urbex:

The walls were being eaten by graffiti, and all that was left were the blackboards. Plants forced their way up through cracks in the floors and fell through the windows. Being in empty classrooms was a first for us, and immediately questions formed in our minds. Did the students know that it was the final day for this school? Did they say goodbye to the classrooms and teachers, or did they show up the next morning or at the start of the new term to find the windows boarded up? 

It’s hard to imagine yourself being in a situation where this happens, where you have to leave your house, workplace or school. Exploring these places that once meant something to someone makes me realize how much we take for granted. I have a hard time imagining my school with smashed windows and graffiti covering all the walls.