Friday’s Party...

Friday night Terri and Chris hosted a dinner on the hotel’s rooftop. The food was delicious and the champagne was flowing. Lauren looked adorable with her new haircut and a glass of bubbly in her hand.

We managed to pull Terri away from her hostess duties just long enough to grab a quick photo. It was a pleasure meeting her parents. Her father is quite a Photoshop guru and vowed to help Jimmy who explained that I keep catching him when he tries to hide things on the cover of Going Dutch, like a spaceship or an alien.

The views were amazing during the entire evening.

Back to St. Tropez...

Terri doesn’t turn fifty until November, but that didn’t stop her and Chris from throwing her big celebration at their house in Southern France during the summer. They invited family from the US and UK and friends from all aspects of their lives, including a large group of us from Holland. They took over the entire Kube Hotel just outside of St. Tropez. This was the beautiful view from our room.

And here’s the pool at the front of the hotel, which overlooks the Mediterranean.

We flew down with Frank and Johanna early Friday morning so we could maximize our weekend away. After checking into the hotel, we set off on a walk along the beach towards town.

Jimmy opted to walk in the sea, while the rest of us managed to keep our feet dry. We had a nice lunch overlooking the water. The following day we headed back into town to visit the market. Jimmy and I bought some lovely tableclothes for our extra-long dining table.

Those Cute Girls...

Of course, no photo shoot in our house could be complete without some photos of our cute girls.

The Y11 Dance...

The kids were lucky that the weather was good so they could hang out outside, since the venue on the top floor of a café in Leiden was a bit small for their large year group. Veronica took over 300 photos including class photos. Luckily, she was able to jump in the photo of her own class.

She was also in the photo of her GCSE Drama Class,

and at least one with her friends. She had a great time.

Travelling to the Dance in Style...

The kids chartered a boat to take them to the venue, which was on the water in Leiden. It was awesome that the boat captain managed to maneuver into the canal in front of our house. Here Jimmy is directing the other parents to take their photos first so as not to interfere when he took his.

He captured this photo by laying on top of Hugo’s car (unfortunately I forgot to catch a photo of him).

Jimmy and I followed the boat around the corner until it was well on its way down the Vliet. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time.

Year 11 Photo Shoot...

The gang (minus one) came over along with a group of boys. We invited the parents to come watch, so we had a house full. Jimmy managed to capture a lot of great shots in the limited time he had.

I just love this photo of Hugo, who happens to be Ellie’s dad as well as a chemistry teacher at the school, with two of his students.

Our Beautiful Daughter...

Veronica was very excited about having Jimmy take squish pics at the Year 11 Ball, but the venue wasn’t conducive. Instead he turned our living room into a photo studio and Veronica invited her friends over before the dance.

As you can see, Veronica looked stunning. We failed to take a photo of her and Jimmy, but at least he got one of us (although I should have put on shoes since I look rather short).