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.

Creative Kids...

The girls were thrilled to have two whole days to hang out with Zoe and Patrick. After a lot of random imagination games and some board games, Sophie focused their attention on learning lines for her version of Cinderella. All the kids did a great job, but Patrick was especially funny as the Godmother. It was hard to say good-bye as we have no idea when we’ll see each other again. With dreams of visiting them in Australia and hiking together in New Zealand, we’re confident that our paths will cross again someday.

Back to Brussels...

As our Aussie friends were soon to move back Down Under, we went back down to Brussels to spend a final weekend with them there. We stopped for dinner before heading to their house and came across some snow, which was an unusual sight since it was a clear fall night. Turned out that a fast food commercial was being filmed and the snow was actually soap bubbles. It was funny watching the main actor take a bite of a burger, then spit it out over and over.
The next morning, Jane took us to an open house at the Cantillon Brewery, founded in 1900. It specializes in brewing organic lambics utilizing methods from days long gone by. We took a morning tour, so we missed seeing the beer piped into this copper tray in the attic where the yeasts in the air will naturally ferment the brew. Although I normally like Kriek, a fruity lambic, I wasn’t fond of this one, but did enjoy learning about the process.

Another Halloween in Wassenaar...

The girls really wanted to get back from Cologne in time to go trick or treating in Wassenaar with friends, so we caught a morning train back. Veronica actually sewed both her Roman and Ashlynn’s medieval costumes. Jimmy’s was just a simple conversion of a toga from his 40th b’day party. Unfortunately, I had a fever, so I was stuck home alone. Veronica went to a sleepover at Ma’ayan’s and went out begging for candy with some classmates. Jimmy and Ashlynn went to a party at Jim and Nina’s. Ashlynn enjoyed helping pass out candy to the sugar-hungry masses after gathering a lot of treats herself.