Three Kids on the Podium...

It has been exciting to see Ashlynn on the podium after each of the three Zorg en Zekerheid Race Circuits that she has competed.

This year she came in 2nd girl 15 or under, which includes a € 75 cash prize. As you can see, she towers over the 1st place girl, who’s actually standing on a higher step.

It was great seeing Andrew back on the podium, coming in 1st for boys 15 and under.

David skipped the circuit last year, but was back this year in 1st place for men 16 to 19. Fantastic way to end his final circuit as next year he’ll be busy studying engineering at Cambridge.

Final Circuit Race...

Jimmy and I cycled to Noordwijkerhout to watch Ashlynn run in the final circuit race of the season. This is a slightly longer route at 5.3K. With a time of 19:51 (only her 3rd race below 20 minutes), she actually ran her fastest with an average of 6:02 minutes per mile. She improved over last year’s time by over two minutes. Look what the incentive of a cash prize can do!

2014 Flower Parade...

There were lovely blue skies during the parade. The theme of Energy led to many weird floats. These are a few of the more normal floats.

I did a lousy job capturing this float as it was rather funny: a whale eating a taxi.

I also did a lousy job capturing this float, which was my favorite: a cow riding a motorcycle.

Love the Kiddie Flower Parade...

This year Jimmy and I cycled to Voorhout to watch the Flower Parade. We always choose this particular city to view the parade because of its wonderful Kiddie Flower Parade. The theme this year was Energy, which explains the Energizer Bunnies, I mean Duracell Bunnies, making an appearance.

Check out the solar panels on this wagon.

Not sure how energetic this puppy was, but he was cute.

A greenhouse is definitely appropriate for this parade.

Not sure how this snowman fit into the theme, but he was adorable.

Ready for the Ball...

The Junior Ball was coming up shortly and we’d asked to see Rachel’s dress. Ironically, Veronica had purchased a navy blue dress to put away for her Year 13 Ball that won’t be until next June.

How nice to see our lovely young ladies together for some final photos before we left for the airport to return home.

They also posed with the little ones, who aren’t so little anymore.

Last Day in Beaufort...

Sunday morning, I went kayaking with the girls. It was a relief to finally get in the water after the long haul of carrying the double kayaks from the house to the launch. After we cruised around for awhile, we made the long walk back to the house.

Afterwards, we did a little shopping and then grabbed some lunch and ice cream.

Just before we left, we grabbed this photo by the big bell at the church across from Erika’s house. 

Erika dropped us off at Carolyn and Steve’s, where we met up with Jimmy for a delicious dinner of homemade pizza from the grill.

Exploring the Island...

There wasn’t much to see besides the wild horses, but that didn’t stop us from taking a walk along the coast.

Veronica again managed to capture a better photo than me from the exact same spot.

It’s so great to see how close Veronica and Rachel are still after all these years.

We ended this busy and fun day with dinner at a local Beaufort restaurant.