August Birthdays...

After having Happy Hour at Carlin & Kent’s, I enjoyed sangria and a dinner made by the girls for my 51st birthday.

Four days later, we celebrated Veronica’s 17th birthday with a day of shopping in Amsterdam. We found the perfect dessert place for some yummy cake.

As this was the first time Veronica had been home for her birthday in years, she wanted to have a party. She invited a few friends around for dinner and a sleepover. Ashlynn and Jimmy baked her a cake.

The evening before, Veronica had a date and got her first bouquet of flowers. Our house smelled great as I also got flowers from Carlin.

A Fire at Spreepark...

On August 11, a large part of Spreepark in Berlin burnt to the ground. You might recall that I blogged about our December 2013 visit there in April.

According to an article on Slate:
Spreepark's Old England Village, which makes up a significant chunk of the park, was burned down by delinquents who wanted to have one last hurrah on the rundown carousels before one of them went to jail the following day.

Below are some photos Veronica took during our visit.

The Girls Return...

On August 12, Veronica’s flight arrived at 7 a.m. After 21 days without hearing from our kids, the Project Nepal parents weren’t complaining about the early morning. Tracy even used one of the airport’s kiosks to print a sign.

Everyone was all smiles!

They had a great time, but were also happy to be back.

We booked Ashlynn’s return for the same morning and she also looked happy to see us.

Our wayward travellers finally reunited!

Keep Calm and Carry On-On...

Bought my new favorite hash shirt in  Brussels.

Opee had to do a variety of down-downs, including one topped with whipped cream...

...while doing a push-up. 

A FILTH Hash in Leiden...

Opee hared the August Full Moon Hash in Leiden. He was very creative with his beer breaks, of which there were many; imagine our surprise when he placed beers along the railing between the train platforms.

Here we are at a Love sign in front of Leiden Centraal...

...and here we are trying to find trail through the bike racks.

Boar Whore, the GM, wasn’t the only hasher that was very impressed with Opee’s ability to set an entertaining trail.

A Day in The Hague...

The next day, we cycled into The Hague. We stopped by Jimmy’s office, but he wasn’t able to sneak away for lunch so we went to Scheveningen on our own. As we walked up to see the Kurhaus, Mike got a good surprise: a Rolling Stones star. Just happened that day was the 50th anniversary of their big concert at the hotel. The tattoo on his arm is a sure sign that Mike is a huge fan.

While Carolyn only needed to put her feet in the North Sea, Mike needed to take a quick dip.

We enjoyed mussels at one of the beach huts...

...and Mike enjoyed trying out one of the portable urinals. Afterwards, we cycled into the centrum to visit the Mauritshuis. It was great spending time together; their visit was short and sweet as they set off the following day to visit friends in Belgium.

Fun Day with Old Friends...

The weather was perfect for a nice long walk around Marken.

Don’t see black swans very often, so we stopped for photos.

Back at home, we enjoyed some Belgian beers. After a big day of exploring, we decided to stay close to home for dinner, so walked up to a restaurant in our village.