Reflection on our 9th Year in Holland - Part 2...

Once again, our list of highs is considerably longer than our list of lows:

• Family Travel: Atlanta - Rocky Horror Picture Show, singing with cousins Johnny and Jimmy, rock ‘n roll Easter service; Baarlo - Dutch Nash Hash weekend, running in three countries in one day, Ashlynn enjoyed hashing, dancing to Madly, photoshoot; Berlin - visiting abandoned Spreepark, Christmas markets, New Year’s festivities; Chicago - Ashlynn went to her first solo movie, visiting Northwestern; Gran Canaria - hiking to the waterfall and into the crater, hanging out at the villa, rolling down the dunes, the kids cooking dinner; London - Ashlynn’s amazing test shoots, AWESOME Frozen Sing-along, Tower of London poppies, CitizenM Hotel, Veronica visiting David at Cambridge, taking photos in London; New York - staying in a yurt, vet school at Cornell, Moosewood Vegetarian Restaurant, seeing Peter and meeting Sophie, sushi at their apartment, late night photo safari and visit to H&M, Ashlynn & Jimmy’s epic run across Manhattan; North Carolina - Carolina Tiger Rescue, seeing wild horses in Beaufort with Erika and Rachel, Ashlynn & Jimmy going horseback riding; Paris - visiting Jeni Rose at IMG Models, Ashlynn’s first professional test shoots, sitting in window of hotel, another epic run; Port Grimaud - clubbin’, scuba diving, relaxing on beach, photo shoot, Luna Park, good runs; Scotland - Quiz Night in Newton Stewart, driving through Galloway Forest Park, Veronica seeing Lois, Ashlynn staying with Naomi, spending a day with Marianne and Naomi in Edinburgh, buying kilts, ghost walk
• Parent/Daughter Travel: Jimmy & Veronica to Paris - 7,000+ photos in 48 hours, sunrise over Paris, sunset over Eiffel Tower, awesome timelapse; Melissa & Veronica to Southampton - Seeing Miguel and Ines, visiting the SeaCity Museum’s Titanic exhibit
• Jimmy & Melissa Time: Brussels - seeing old San Diego Hash friends, hashing in the woods, venue for Beer Odyssey 2014 was a blast and so was all the dancing; Switzerland - meeting up with Bill & Nina in Zurich, happening upon county fair in St. Gallens
• Solo Trips: California (Ashlynn) - seeing Grandma & Grandpa, sleepovers with Aunties, SeaCamp including seeing 12 blue whales and snorkeling with sea lions, fun run with Dan & Nancy, hanging out with Kylie; France (Ashlynn) - 17-hour bus rides, exploring cities with Sarah, Sophie and Katy; Lisbon (Ashlynn) - staying at a host's house for the first time, drama skits in a world heritage site; Nepal (Veronica) - all of it!, breakfast with the monks, getting to know the team, volunteering, Gold Award exhibition, Kathmandu; Poole, England (Ashlynn) - sailing, speed boating, catching sharks, Rupert; Spain (Veronica) - good starry night
• Performances: Frankenstein Panto - Veronica tap dancing and singing, Ashlynn dancing, and Jimmy doing sound; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change musical - Veronica singing and Jimmy doing sound 
• Visitors: Jimmy’s old high school friend Felicia; Melissa’s ex-niece Nicole; Raleigh Hashers - Heiko, Deborah, Bill, Susie and Bonnie; San Diego Hashers Carolyn, Mike and Bryan; Jimmy’s old Navy buddy Glenn with Nicola, Sophie from Australia
• Family TV Night: Revolution, Under the Dome, Elementary, Sherlock with David and Andrew
• Jimmy & Melissa: Burns’ Night Dinner, Gay Pride Boat Parade, Red Light District Hash, Opee’s awesome Leiden Hash
• Jimmy: foot fully healed, Urban Hero Run, Octoberfest and other agency social events, iPhone
• Veronica: Co-chairing Eco Committee, photo shoot for Nepal fundraiser, SeaChange Mentoring sessions with Bea, ACT scores including perfect science score, running first 10K with Daddy, getting four UK uni offers in just two days, Grade 6 LAMDA Musical Theatre exam, 365 Photography Project is a success!
• Ashlynn: Model Camp, being scouted by and then signing with IMG Paris, first modeling job for Dutch designer’s look book, winning prizes at several races, running Leiden Marathon 5K with Daddy, iPhone

Reflections on our 9th Year in Holland - Part 1...

Our 9th Anniversary in Holland was on November 22nd. Since it fell on a Saturday, instead of going straight to La Lanterna, the restaurant where we ate on our first night in the country, we went to see a movie, stopped for a drink at the Boulevard Hotel, our temporary home upon arrival, and then went onto the beach for Veronica to create another one of her great photos. Eventually, we made it to the restaurant and reflected on our previous year. As usual, I’ll start with the lows:

• The death of Nat “Hush Puppy” Edgar from The Hague Hash
• Scariest moment ever while urbexing at a sanitorium in Potsdam when Jimmy disappeared and we thought he’d been kidnapped, possibly by a zombie
• The unknown future of family reunions after Buddy and Memmie’s divorce
• Realizing this could be the last Dutch anniversary celebration with Veronica
• Good friends moving. Ashlynn misses Liv and Marianna. We all miss David, but we’re happy for him that he’s going to Cambridge. 
• Unable to make it to California during trip to US. Missing Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Eden, Auntie Leigh and Uncle Mike.
• Jimmy: Grandmom’s illness, frustrations at work, misunderstanding with a close friend,  timelapse rig didn’t work
• Melissa: Frustrations on the AWC Board, watching Veronica go through airport security with TSA Pre-Approval while the rest of us had to take off our shoes
• Veronica: IB and university application stress, disappointing SAT results, high university prices, only one clear night to see the stars in Nepal, no swimming in the Vliet, stuck inside over the summer working on extended essay 
• Ashlynn: Flight delayed to California for five hours without food, 8-year-old Allie not remembering their friendship, eye watering, GCSEs, not eligible to work until 15, athletic friends moving up to next age category
• Kati: Mean little dog named Hugo and his extra mean owner

More Fun on the Water...

Georgia, Ashlynn and Sophie pose in their lovely foul weather gear.

While they did go kayaking one day, most of the week was spent learning how to sail. Ashlynn exaggerated her abilities, figuring the fact that she’d been on a boat before counted towards having some skill at sailing. Lucky for her, the intermediate class still covered the basics and she felt pretty good about her ability by the end of the week.  

Deep Sea Fishing...

Ashlynn enjoyed catching and releasing three small sharks like this one that Matt’s holding. She actually caught the most on their boat, but doesn’t take any credit for effort.

Trip to Poole...

After a long drive, Year 9 (8th Grade) arrived in Poole in Southern England for a week of water sports. Ashlynn was very excited that she got to stay in a caravan with five of her friends. These girls seriously know how to pig out on junk food!

Ashlynn, Liv, Sophie and Marina--what a classy bunch!

During the day, they did water sports and during the evening they went bowling, deep sea fishing and to a water slide park; the final night there was a disco.

Surprises on our Return Home...

On July 2, Jimmy and I had dinner at the beach with Sally and John followed by a nice cycle ride home together. Just as we were crossing the final bridge within our neighborhood, we spotted this cute little guy.  

Imagine our surprise when we arrived home and found these on the table. Veronica knew that her long hair would get in the way on her Nepal trip and didn’t have the patience to go to a hair salon. Instead, she cut it herself--her first haircut since she’d donated it in August 2011.

When I saw her the following morning, I was impressed with what a good job she’d done.

Celebrating the Big Win...

With Mexican roots, Susie was torn whether to root for the Netherlands or Mexico. Her disappointment that Mexico lost didn’t last long as she also got caught up in the celebration of the Dutch win.

Jimmy and Veronica took the opportunity to dance atop the pallets.

Here’s Bill photographing our happy girl.

Definitely a fun way to end an action-packed visit.