2013 Flower Parade...

Since it’s been such a cold spring and the blooming of the bulb fields is several weeks behind schedule, flowers supposedly had to be imported from France. I was a bit surprised how strange some of the floats were. I understand how lemons could fall within the theme of Bon Appetit, but how does the shoe come into play?

 Jimmy especially loved this Dutch cow.

This was my favorite float. I just assume that the banana is the food and not the monkey.

In addition to floats, there were a lot of decorated cars, of which this was my favorite. Afterwards, Jimmy and I cycled into Leiden for lunch. Next time, we’ll know to cycle both directions as it wasn’t as far away as we thought.

Kiddie Flower Parade is Awesome...

Once again, Jimmy and I headed up to Voorhout to see the Bloemencorso, the big flower parade. This time we took our bikes on the train and arrived just in time for the parade to start. As usual, we loved seeing the kids on their variety of contraptions at the front of the parade. This hunk of kaas (cheese) fit perfectly in this year’s theme, which was Bon Appetit.

It might be hard to tell, but the bike on the right was decorated as a whisk. We especially liked the bike on the left; can you see the look of horror on poor Little Red Riding Hood’s face as the wolf looks prepared to eat her?

This little bun in the oven was pretty cute, too.

Our Beautiful New Family Member...

Kati seemed quite happy to be invited to sleep on Ashlynn’s bed (actually, they slept on the guest bed as it would have been foolish to have them sleep together on Ashlynn’s loft bed). Jimmy and I were pleasantly surprised when she paid us a visit first thing in the morning. She needed help up on our bed that first morning, but soon figured out how to jump up. She also needed help on the stairs for the first day or two, but soon was hopping up and down with confidence. We don’t know exactly what kind of mix Kati is, but we suspect she is an Australian Kelpie and Welsh Corgi. Veronica took this great photo a few days after her arrival.

Kati Arrives...

Ton, from Dogs Adoptions Nederland, was kind enough to deliver Kati to us on April 17. Ashlynn came home at lunch since it was important for them to bond together. Kati was pretty nervous when she first came out of the crate.

Ashlynn took her on a short walk before bringing her into the house. Kati had never encountered stairs before and had to be carried up the five stairs to our front door.

It was amazing how quickly Kati warmed up to Ashlynn, who didn’t waste any time starting to train her using a clicker and small treats.

We really weren’t sure how well Kati would adjust to such a drastic change in lifestyle, but we figured we were on the right track when she spent the night on Ashlynn’s bed. We’re all happy about our new member of the family.

Lunch on the Terrace...

Just outside our guestroom on the 4th floor was a lovely terrace where we had a great lunch of fresh tortellinis from the market. It was the perfect way to end our visit. Thanks to Curt and Vero for hosting us!

After our late lunch, we drove back to Port Grimaud where we spent our last night of our vacation relaxing.

Aix-en-Provence...

I was impressed that the girls wanted to spend the afternoon going to a movie in French. After we dropped them off, Jimmy and I went in search of lunch. Ironically, with all that fine French food to chose from, we ended up eating burritos at a dive café; after spending six months in Boston, the owner returned to Aix determined to open a Mexican restaurant for some strange reason.

The market in Aix was really good. While Ashlynn and I had an egg on a crepe, Veronica opted for Nutella.

Curt and Vero live right in the historic district, which made wandering around easy.

Exploring Aix...

On Friday while Curt and Vero were working, we wandered around the historic center of Aix. It was a bigger city than I expected, which made me realize just how independent Veronica was to have explored these same streets last summer on her own. We had no luck finding her a cute French dress for her year-end dance, but we did buy some DVDs of The Simpsons so the girls can learn French in style.

Photobombed by Ashlynn