Visiting a Tulip Grower...

I went along on an outing planned by the PTA to a local tulip growing business. This family business in Wassesnaar was started in 1920; that year they sold 10,000 tulip bulbs. Now they concentrate on selling cut tulips, which grow in greenhouses. Amazingly, they sold 800,000 tulips between October and April.

These machines cut the ends off the tulips and tie them into bunches. It’s funny that the tulips we buy in the florists are grown in greenhouses and all those lovely tulip fields we see are actually grown strictly for the bulbs.

Big Prizewinners...

How exciting that Ashlynn won her first cash prize:  € 75! As David turned 16 on the date of the last race, he was included in the 16- to 19-year-old men. Despite being the youngest in the age group, he came in 3rd and won € 50.

Our Big Winner...

Still just 11-years-old, our speedy girl came in 2nd place among girls 15 and under in the race series. It was very exciting seeing her called up to the stage. As you can see, she’s clearly younger than the other winners. No telling how fast she’ll be when she’s 15.

Don’t Forget the Dads...

John and Jimmy also ran. Jimmy had just recovered from an extended cough. In an effort to take it easy, he wore street clothes instead of running clothes. He looked pretty silly, but actually felt great after the run.

At the end of the race, the runners got to choose a flowering plant.

Flying Across the Finish Line...

Sally and John were nice enough to take Ashlynn along with David and Andrew to a series of races that started back in November. For this last race, they brought two cars so that Jimmy, Veronica and I didn’t miss it (it was complicated to get to by public transport and too far to cycle). I always love it when I manage to capture a photo of a runner with both feet up in the air. It was quite windy, but Ashlynn still managed to finish in 23:49, coming in 3rd girl 15 and under and 16th woman overall.

David’s 16th Birthday Cake...

Ashlynn made David a cake for his 16th birthday, which fell on the same day as the last race of the circuit they were running.

The cake wouldn’t cooperate when coming out of the pan and had several strange indents. With some clever decorating, the cake looked like the finish line of a cross country race.

The little runner for the top reminded Jimmy and me of Mr. Bill from Saturday Night Live.

Ashlynn presented David the cake after the race.

Flower Parade 2012...

The girls opted out when Jimmy and I headed to Voorhout to watch this year’s Bloemencorso, the big flower parade held each year near the bulb fields. This year’s theme was Communication. Here are two of my favorites floats. The floats were as colorful as in previous years, but the theme didn’t lend itself to interesting of floats.

We always enjoy watching the little kids go by before the floats come through. There were bikes, strollers and wagons decorated with cell phones, satellites and mail. There were also several bikes ridden by Twitter birds. I liked the newspaper costumes of these kids.