Learning to Dive...

Things have definitely changed since Jimmy and I took our classes. The Open Water Diver textbook was now supplemented with an online course and rather than sitting in a classroom watching videos, we watched a DVD at home. The girls also had several theory sessions with Peter, who covered some of the more intense sections such as pressure and scuba-related injuries. While I never doubted either girl’s ability to master the pool skills, I was nervous about 10-year-old Ashlynn understanding the book enough to pass the exam. How exciting when they both passed on their first attempt!

Our Holiday “Staycation”...

After much debate about what to do over the Christmas break, Jimmy came up with the idea to have the girls take scuba lessons. He and I got our scuba certifications in 1999 and have waited many years for the girls to be old enough to learn. We contacted Peter, the owner of Dutch Scuba Diver at The Globe (a mall for adventure sports) and he had availability to give them private lessons in the pool at his shop. Here they are about to breathe compressed air for the first time. That very first session, they learned to clear their masks and find a dropped regulator. Jimmy and I went in as well to refresh our skills; I only lasted that first session (I like diving around fish not pool toys), but Jimmy continued to go in throughout their course. Peter did a great job balancing the teaching of skills with free swim time. It didn’t take long before the girls were doing somersaults and acting like they’d been breathing underwater for years.

More Snow...

Ashlynn loved the last day of term as we got 5 inches of snow and the kids were finally allowed to have snowball fights on the playground. Things got interesting as I went to pick her up and we were supposed to meet a new dogsitting customer. The tram to the school wasn’t running, so we walked to the train station to meet Amanda and her sweet Labrador Max. Ashlynn, Max and I then walked another mile or so before we were able to catch a tram. Luckily Max was really mellow and wasn’t bothered by the snow. It continued to snow much of the weekend for a total of 9.5 inches. Public transport was chaotic, but we managed to make it downtown each day for the girls’ scuba diving lessons.

Holiday Celebrations...

As a family, we don’t have a lot of holiday traditions, but we do like to celebrate. Here we are hosting John, Sally, David and Andrew for a belated Thanksgiving feast; although they are British, they enjoyed celebrating Thanksgiving twice while living in Connecticut. Rather than a whole turkey, Jimmy cooked a turkey breast and some turkey legs. I made homemade cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. We even pulled out the china and the silver forks we found together while treasure hunting in France.
We lit the Hanukkah candles, but as in previous years we missed several of the nights. We had one special Hanukkah dinner with Jimmy’s delicious potato latkes and my noodle kugel. One evening a friend took me to the Stadhuis in The Hague for a menorah lighting (the menorah was made out of cans of food to be later donated to the Food Bank); unfortunately, she made so many wrong turns that we missed the actually lighting.

Holiday Performances...

December is a month full of holiday performances at the girl’s schools. After much persuasion by me, Ashlynn had agreed to be in the 6-week long Performing Arts Club after school; no surprise that she thoroughly enjoyed it. The club performed a 12-minute scene from Treasure Island at the Junior School Holiday Soiree. Ashlynn did a terrific job as one of the leads as the young lad Jim, who you see the pirates attempting to kidnap.
Veronica was in two performances. She played a piano duet and sang in the choir at the recital for the Center for Young Musicians, where she goes every Saturday for 3 hours of choir, piano and theory lessons. The quality at this recital was top notch, but at 3.5 hours it was painful. She also sang with the Senior Choir at the Senior School Holiday Concert, which was a more reasonable 2 hours long.

Gift Handlers...

In addition to throwing pepernoten and providing comedy relief, the Zwarte Piets have the very important job of matching the gifts to the correct kids. In past years this has been quite chaotic, but this year Jimmy numbered all the gifts in advance to match the order of the family names shown on screens throughout the room so folks would know when it was their turn. It took a few days to wash the paint out of her ears, but Ashlynn had a great time.

Their Grand Entrance....

It’s part of the party tradition to stand by the windows to try to spot Sinterklaas as he arrives. The mode of transport changes year-to-year. This year was a Tuk-Tuk; due to its small size, just Jimmy and Ashlynn got to make a grand entrance through the snow. They then came up the staircase to the party in the cafeteria throwing pepernoten (small ginger cookies) along the way. They were eventually joined by another Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas.