Off to Vienna...

When we found out that James would be away during the girls’ half term break, I asked a friend from book club if she’d like to join us in Austria. Betsy had been before, but was happy to go again to see some places she’d missed. We spent the night before in her lovely apartment in Amsterdam so we’d be near the airport for our early morning flight to Vienna. After a nap at the hotel (conveniently timed during a thunderstorm), we hit the town. Our first stop was the very impressive cathedral. I knew that I’d chosen a good travel partner when the first words out of Betsy’s mouth when she saw the ceiling was “Holy s*&%”; she’d failed to notice that she standing by a priest at the time. Here the girls are on the walk up to the clock tower. The city center of Vienna is quite beautiful with a lot of impressive buildings. We enjoyed watching a few minutes of a free symphonic concert before heading to the rose garden.

Before and After...

When Veronica was just two years old, we already knew that there was something wrong in her mouth. After one of her top incisors didn’t grow in, we took her to a dentist for x-rays. He broke the bad news that there were no adult incisors on either side and that we’d have to chose when she was bigger whether to put spacers in for later implants or braces to push everything together. It turned out that on one side a dwarf tooth grew in and it needed to be pulled in hopes that both sides would then balance out.
She was scared, but it wasn’t as horrible as she thought it would be and she was able to head back to school. Now we just need to allow nature to take its course in hopes that she might not even need braces.

The Improved Cary House...

When it came time to give the final approval to Jon Provost, the contractor for the rebuilding of our house in Cary, it was time for Jimmy to fly out there. I would have liked to have seen how all my decisions turned out, but I had to be satisfied with seeing the photos. Luckily, he loved the whole place and was really impressed with what a great job Jon did. Most exciting is how the master bedroom and bathroom turned out as we took the opportunity to move walls around making the bedroom smaller, but the bathroom and closet larger. We just hope our new tenants will appreciate it and take good care of the place.

Playing Wilderness Photographer...

One morning when we cycled around to take Andrew to school, Sally mentioned that they were distracted by a hawk eating a pigeon. I just happened to have my camera with me, so I went around to see it. I wish I could say that I captured this amazing sight all on my own as a real wilderness photographer would have.
However, since the killing happened on Sally’s driveway, it was easy to just keep taking shots until I got a really good one. Apparently after having a nice meal, the bird left a mess behind, but he came back later in the day to finish it off. Unfortunately, the three baby owls living in their backyard didn’t make an appearance while I had my camera with me.

No More Single Digits...

Ashlynn enjoyed a weekend-long celebration for her big 10th birthday. On Saturday we had a party in the yard complete with roasted marshmallows. Unlike most families, we don’t just have parents drop their kids off, but invite the entire family so we can all get to know each other. Then on Sunday we had all-you-can-eat sushi for lunch and played a round at Glow Golf, which is an indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf course.

Lilac Mountain with Darlene...

Darlene and Mike’s first visit back to Holland since they moved in December was slightly interrupted by the volcanic ash from the Icelandic eruption, but luckily they were still able to make it out to spend a night with us. While Mike did some errands, Darlene and I cycled to the teahouse in the park in Voorschoten. Then we took a walk to Lilac Mountain, a hill that is covered in fragrant lilacs for just two weeks a year. Jimmy introduced them to shrimp and grits (I brought back a bag from the Southern Season store at RDU). The next day I went into Leiden with Darlene and Mike for a walk around town and to our traditional pannekoeken house. It was a very short visit, but so great to see them.

Another International Day...

Ashlynn always looks forward to International Day at school. She’d waited 11 months to wear the belly dancing outfit that we bought in Istanbul last year. Unfortunately, it was an unusually cool spring day so she nearly froze during the costume parade in the morning. This was the first year that I didn’t volunteer for the luncheon so I didn’t get to overeat foods from around the world. Ashlynn brought in two types of popcorn--sweet and salty. She was disappointed no one brought in sushi.