Our 9th Anniversary...

November 22, 2014 was our 9th anniversary in the Netherlands. It was also the day that Sinterklaas arrived in our little village. The girls could have cared less, but Jimmy and I took Kati for a walk so we could see Sinterklaas arrive on a boat.

Check out this cute little girl with her Sinterklaas doll and flag.

Sinterklaas went from his boat to a horse-drawn carriage. Apparently he paraded through the village, but we didn’t follow along.

That evening we headed to Scheveningen. Rather than go straight to La Lanterna, the Italian restaurant where we have our traditional anniversary dinner, we started with drinks at the Boulevard Hotel, where we first stayed when we arrived nine years ago. Then we went to the beach so Veronica and Jimmy could take this cool shot of steel wool set on fire.

You Can Dress Them Up...

...but you can’t take them out.

Marine Corps Ball...

This year’s Marine Corps Ball wasn’t in The Hague as usual. Rather it was at a posh hotel on the beach in Noordwijk (the same posh hotel in fact that President Obama and other world leaders stayed during the big Nuclear Security Conference) where we were also staying the night.

Terri and Chris weren’t there, but I got my usual photo with Jan...

and with Jimmy, of course.

The men all looked dashing in their penguin suits.

Roberta joined us when we posed with some of the Marines.

School Pics...

Veronica had her last BSN school photo taken in November.

Why is it that school photographers like to make Ashlynn tilt her head?

Back in January 2007, the girls had their only sibling photo taken while they were both at the junior school.

In November 2014, they had finally had a chance to have another sibling photo taken. Luckily Ashlynn had front teeth this time around.

Working with Other Models...

An extra cool aspect of this first Dutch shoot was that Ashlynn got to work with two other models: Daan, a 21-year-old full-time model, and Mara, a 17-year-old student who plans to model full-time after finishing high school.

I love these two shots!

Ashlynn learned an interesting lesson: in this industry there’s always another younger girl waiting to take your place. In this case she was that younger girl and her last-minute addition to the shoot impacted how much the other two girls were featured.

Duran Lantink Lookbook...

Justine captured this photo as Duran was helping Ashlynn get dressed. I left shortly afterwards and couldn’t wait to see the photos to see what other outfits she wore.

This was definitely the most unusual outfit in the collection.

The make-up was very simple. I thought Ashlynn looked amazing!

I got back around 4 p.m. and got to watch the last bits. It was a long day, especially considering this was an unpaid job, but Ashlynn really had a great time.

First Dutch Modeling Assignment...

In early November, Ashlynn and I met in The Hague with Jeni Rose from IMG Paris. She suggested that we meet with local Dutch agent Marjolein from Dune Agency, who we instantly liked when we met her three days later. The shocking thing was that Justine Leenarts, a photographer who shares a suite with Marjolein, asked Ashlynn if she was available the next day for a shoot: a lookbook (an online catalog) for local designer Duran Latink.

I brought Ashlynn to the studio that Saturday at 9:30 a.m. I promised her that I wouldn’t stay the entire day, but I did want to see her get into her first outfit. I enjoyed meeting Duran and finding out about his collection, all of which he’d sown himself. Check out the crazy high shoes he chose to go along with his clothes!

Ashlynn spent an hour in hair and make-up having her hair straightened for the first time.

Edinburgh...

The next morning, we met Ashlynn at the train station along with Marianne, Naomi and Patrick. After a great lunch near our apartment, we took a nice walk along Arthur’s Seat, a 823-foot peak on the edge of town. 

It would have been nice to try hiking to the top, but there weren’t enough hours of daylight left to keep going.

The views over downtown were really nice with the Edinburgh Castle in the background.

After our hike, we made our way to the Royal Mile. James and Marianne took the kids to the Camera Obscura, a house of illusions, while I roamed some second-hand shops.

It was so nice to see Marianne again after 3.5 years. Hopefully it won’t take as long for our paths to cross again. The following day we did some shopping, including buying a kilt for James and a new kilt for me, then caught our flight home.

Spooky Edinburgh...

After our tour at Stirling, we headed to Edinburgh. We were really pleased with the nice apartment that we were staying in for two nights. After dinner at a pub, we went on a Hidden Halloween Tour. The highlight of the tour was visiting the Edinburgh Vaults, a series of chambers completed in 1788. They were used for underground taverns, storage and even living space until they were eventually filled in with rubble. Now sections of the vaults have been cleared for ghost tours and to be used as nightclub and festival venues.

Our tour guide clearly loved her job of telling ghost stories. Apparently there are reports of paranormal activity, but we didn’t witness anything that night.

Stirling University...

While Ashlynn hung out with Naomi in Aberdeen, we went to an Open Day at Stirling University. It was a lovely fall day and we enjoyed walking next to the scenic lake separating the classrooms from the dorms.

There was also an excellent view from campus of the Wallace Monument, a tower built in 1869 in honor of 13th century hero Sir William Wallace. Although we were impressed with the campus, Veronica decided that the course wasn’t a good match for her.

Stirling Castle...

While Veronica was off visiting Lois, Jimmy and I headed to Stirling Castle where we had a late lunch before touring the castle. Built in 1503, the great hall was the largest banqueting hall built in medieval Scotland. In the 1800s, it was used as military barracks.

The Royal Palace was built in 1542 to celebrate James V’s wedding and consisted of his and hers apartments. This outer hall was quite impressive with colorful replicas of the Stirling Heads.

While the tapestries were all reproductions, they were lovely; I especially liked the unicorns.

The majority of the surviving buildings were built between 1490 and 1600.

Afterwards, we went to a pub for dinner and Veronica joined us for dessert. We couldn’t stay in the pub past 9 p.m. since Veronica’s under 18, so we missed the Halloween party. On our walk back to our inn, I saw this sign for the Dog Fouling Act: is that guy actually waiting with a scooper for his dog to poop?

The Falkirk Wheel...

The other site that Veronica visited was the Falkirk Wheel, the world’s only rotating boat lift.

There wasn’t time to take a boat ride to experience the lift, but she enjoyed seeing this engineering marvel.

Their visit was short and sweet. Next, they’re hoping to go camping together in Scotland this June.

The Kelpies...

The next morning, Jimmy had a blast behind the wheel as we drove through Galloway Forest Park with its amazing scenery. When we arrived in Stirling, we went to the train station to drop off the girls so they could visit their Scottish friends. Ashlynn boarded a train to Aberdeen to spend two nights with Naomi, and Veronica took a train to Falkirk to meet up with Lois, who she met at Outward Bound.

In addition to having dinner at Lois’ house, Veronica got to see Falkirk’s famous sites. These two 100-foot tall steel horses are called The Kelpies; the mythological creatures have the strength of ten horses. Scotland’s largest public artwork opened to the public in April 2014.