The Blacks are Back...

When Melissa and Pieter heard about the Dutch Tipple Crown Hash at the end of March (three back-to-back hashes organized by three different hash groups in one day), they couldn’t resist joining us. In addition to being thrilled to see them, we were excited about getting to spend more time with sweet little Norah.

Veronica was also home for Easter weekend, so she and Ashlynn were in charge of dinner for Friday night and decided to make homemade vegan ravioli...

...which were delicious.

At seven months old, Norah still wasn’t doing many tricks, such as rolling around, so she spent a lot of time sitting on the table during mealtimes and countertop when we were in the kitchen.

Gold Award Ceremony...

Like her big sister, Ashlynn had a special role at her International Gold Award Ceremony: she was one of a handful of speakers.

It was awesome to see her join her good friend Max at the podium to talk about their experiences in Kenya.

Ashlynn Receiving Her Gold Award

Ashlynn and Max

BSN Gold Award Recipients

Proud Parents

Jimmy’s Birthday...

After the protest, we went back to Derek and Abbie’s where they presented Jimmy with a birthday surprise. We’d never seen a birthday candle quite like that...

...and what a surprise when it opened up. Even better were the delicious desserts.

Afterwards, Bob and Lisa joined us for a walk along the Ij, where we saw this cool buidling...

...and a nice view of Amsterdam Centraal.

We eventually arrived at our destination: Meneer Nieges, a restaurant with a cool riverfront terrace.

We enjoyed drinking wine outside before heading to our final destination: an Italian restaurant for dinner.

Best Signs from March for Our Lives...

 These signs speak for themselves...

March for Our Lives...

We headed to Amsterdam on Jimmy’s birthday for a nice brunch at Derek and Abbie’s followed by the March for Our Lives, a student-led demonstration for tighter guns controls in the US after another mass school shooting. Derek wore his letterman jacket because there had been a shooting just four days earlier at his high school in Maryland.

While it felt a bit strange protesting about guns in a country that doesn’t have a gun problem, it felt good to participate in a global movement to show solidarity during one of the largest protests in American history.

Ashlynn was happy to meet up with Rebecca, a Brazilian/Italian friend from school who will be attending UC Berkeley in the fall.

The crowd wasn’t as large as the Women’s March the previous year, but it was well organized with both American and Dutch student speakers and musicians.

Veronica couldn’t be with us, but she marched in London. She couldn’t resist posing with a young girl with a matching poster.

Hats...

I was thrilled that Johanna spent a few nights with us in March while in town from Saudi Arabia for a conference. I went along with her when she ran a few errands, including picking up a custom fascinator she had commissioned as a donation for a fundraising night.

 I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the hat atelier in a house in The Hague.

Sadly, the handmade headpiece didn’t bring in the big bucks that Johanna had hoped.

More disappointing was that Johanna would soon be moving back to Houston after Frank received a job offer he couldn’t refuse.

Amsterdam Urban Trail...

After enjoying The Hague Urban Trail so much last year, we registered for Amsterdam’s first Urban Trail in mid-March. As much fun as it would have been fun to run through the historic center of the city, the entire trail took place in Amsterdam Noord since it is much less overrun with tourists. As this photo shows, it was a cold morning when we arrived at NDSM, a former shipyard converted into a cultural center, for the non-competitive 10K.

In general, the trail wasn’t as interesting as the one in The Hague, but the high point was super cool: the wave pool at Falk Safety Services, a training center for offshore, maritime and wind safety training.

 How cool to look into this lifeboat perched above the pool.

Jimmy and Ashlynn would have loved to have gone down this shoot into the water

It was funny to run past these old trams where Ashlynn did a photo shoot back in 2015.

St. Patty’s Day Hash...

For the first time, we went to Amsterdam for St. Patty’s Day. Inga and Steve hared a pub crawl for the Amsterdam Hash, which I opted to walk while Jimmy ran trail.

Lisa likes to take selfies along the way, this time with Jimmy and Reinhardt at the infamous Night Watch sculpture at Rembrantplein.

Needless to say, it was a crazy night. The bars were truly packed, but somehow we always managed to find space to squeeze in as a group.

Hashing in Brussels...

After getting some culture on Sunday morning and having a nice lunch, we headed to the Brussels Manneke Piss Hash starting point under the iconic Atomium, which our family visited in 2008. We were late, which wasn’t ideal, but luckily managed to catch up. 

It was a great 10K trail going through several parks, including one lovely wooded bit, and past some historic sites along the way.

Considering the massive size of the Atomium, we actually rarely spotted it from trail. This is the view heading down the last hill towards the beer break, which BMPH3 does within 1.5K of the end rather than around the midpoint like our Dutch hashes. 

Unfortunately, we visited while many of our BMPH3 friends were on a ski week, but Chris did a good job keeping us entertained during the circle. No doubt the most unusual part were the crickets from a local farm served by a new hasher; there were several different spiced options to choose from and they were oddly tasty.

As this was my fifth BMPH3 hash, I went ahead and paid an extra fee to “join.” As the sun started to set, it was time to head back to Holland.

A Wild Night in Brussels...

Chris definitely knew some fun places to drink Belgium beer. We started with sharing a few flights...

...which led to general silliness while walking around.

The Grand Place is impressive during the day...

...but truly spectacular at night (although my phone camera doesn’t do it justice). 

The Passage du Nord, a shopping arcade built in 1882, was also quite spectacular late at night. 

The high point was definitely our visit to Le Corbeau, which was a normal brasserie when we arrived. What a surprise at midnight when the tables are pushed up against the wall and folks jumped up on them to dance. Needless to say, we didn’t hesitate to dance on the tables. They were a bit wobbly, but we could brace against the wall to avoid falling off.