Touring an Oil Refinery...

For this year’s World Port Day in Rotterdam, we booked a tour of Shell Pernis oil refinery, Europe’s largest refinery (they process 403,000 barrels of crude oil daily). The tour started with an introductory video at the administrative offices, followed by a bus tour around the site, which has 66 plants with the oldest being built in 1948.

We were surprised to learn that there’s 99,500 miles of pipeline, which is enough to circumvent the globe 4 times. After the tour we enjoyed wandering around to see the exhibits along the riverfront and to watch the helicopter rescue demonstrations.

Back to School...

Less than a week after their return from California, it was time for the girls to head back to school. Luckily it was a nice day so we could get our annual first day of school photos as Veronica starts Year 11 (10th grade) and Ashlynn starts Year 8 (7th grade).

Pampering the Girls...

The girls had a great time sleeping over at Leigh and Mike’s and playing with their new dog Louie. Leigh pampered them by taking them for their first pedicures.

Special Times with Family...

Of course, besides hanging out in the pool and going shopping, the girls also spent a lot of time with my family. Here they are going out to celebrate Veronica’s 15th and Ann’s birthday (Ann is wearing the scarf that we bought her in Morocco).

Eden joined them for lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Cupertino and later had a sleepover.

Leigh and Mike took the girls to a wine and art festival in Mountain View. The girls were thrilled to buy me a bracelet and earrings to match a necklace I already had made out of a bicycle chain.

I can’t even begin to express how happy I am that Dad and Ann want to spend time with the girls. I can only hope that Jimmy and I are lucky enough to have such a special relationship with our own grandchildren someday.

More Animals...

Dad and Ann also took the girls to the Monterey Aquarium, which they hadn’t been to since they were little. They especially liked the jellyfish exhibit.

They also thought this sign was pretty funny.

15th Birthday Safari...

For Veronica’s 15th birthday, Dad and Ann took the girls to Safari West. It might not be Africa, but they drove around the California countryside in a jeep and saw a large variety of animals. The girls were greatly surprised and thought it was an amazing experience. 

Off to California, Again...

Two days after we returned from England, I took the girls to Schiphol so they could catch a flight to California (their grandparents had generously bought them tickets for the third time). We had some time to kill and noticed that this cool sculpture was out front, so we took some photos.