Reflections on our 10th Year - Part 2...

We are happy that once again our list of highs is much longer than our list of lows:

• Family Travel: Austria - skiing on glacier, driving up the mountain, private night swimming in a spa, geocaching in the snow; Poland - hashing in the forest, ballbreaker hash, Milky Way viewing, dancing until the wee hours of the morning, pierogies, dancing in the rain, Melissa White meeting Melissa Black, horseback riding, hiking, cute log cabin in Zakopane, cheap and delicious breakfasts in Krakow
• Jimmy/Veronica Travel: Belgium - first proper urbex at night, lasers in the cooling tower and steel plant, drinks in Brussels; Switzerland - visiting Bill and Nina, swimming in Lake Lucerne, orienteering
• Melissa/Ashlynn Travel: Japan - IMAGE Models, mother-daughter bonding, Tokyo DisneySea, karaoke and clubbing with Stella, hashing, bamboo forest and giant Buddha with Grandpa’s friends, birthday cabaret, hike, hand modelling on rooftop, Shibuya Crossing, tempura with Masaya, skylines, roommate Andrea, Kyoto, monkey park, aquarium, sushi, modeling
• Solo Travel: Berlin (Veronica) - part of crew and cast for music video in abandoned hospital; California (Veronica) - walking across Golden Gate Bridge with Auntie Leigh-Leigh, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, overnight at posh hotel with Auntie Eden; Cyprus (Ashlynn) - exploring local villages and running with Sophie, swimming in the freezing cold ocean, stargazing from the balcony, sunbathing; Greece (Veronica) - first kiss, clubbing in Malia, day trip to Santorini, parasailing, celebrating graduation with friends; Italy (Melissa) - meeting up with Darlene for five days of exploring, getting lost in Venice; London (Veronica) - visiting Adelina, clubbing, 4:30 a.m. cycling, Climate March with 50,000 concerned citizens and Env (Environmental Science) friends; Paris (Melissa) - meeting up with Dad and Ann while Dad toured with the Stanford Jazz Band, long walk with Ann through Luxembourg Gardens, seeing Dad play trombone in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower; Scotland (Veronica) - spending time with Lois, hiking and camping; Switzerland (Ashlynn) - enjoyed taking measurements in the river, being in nature, hanging with friends
• Norwich: dropping off Veronica at UEA, falling more in love with this quaint city with each visit, playing HOR (shortened version of HORSE) on basketball court on ferry, seeing two fantastic plays - A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and Shawshank Redemption, discovering great restaurants - Wild Thyme, Waffle House, Harriett’s Tearoom and Grosvenor Fish Bar, Jimmy surprised Melissa with upgrade to Captain’s Cabin on ferry,  great time meeting up with Leigh and Mike in London
• Visitors: Buddy spending Christmas with us, Ariana spending solo time with us for the first time, Darlene coming back to Holland, Marc bringing Emily to meet us, Jim popping in from Germany, Melissa and Pieter coming up from Frankfurt for two hash weekends 
• Proud Parents: after years of bickering, so happy to see our daughters are closer than ever; Veronica - got a 40 in IB!, received the BSN Alumni Spirit Award and Gold International Award, helped the BSN to earn the Green Flag Award, received offers from all universities applied to and a scholarship to University of East Anglia; Ashlynn - seeing our baby walk down the main catwalk at Amsterdam Fashion Week and on the cover of a Japanese magazine, received her Bronze International Award
• Jimmy: Executive Renewable Energy Management Course, on the verge of new beginnings after five years of a stalled career, surprise 50th celebrations with HotTug and toga party, haring through Schiphol Airport, Veronica buying me her first legal drink at Hotel Des Indes, Amsterdam Urban Photo Race
• Melissa: managing to surprise Jimmy for his birthday, becoming Religious Adviser for the FILTH (Full Moon Hash), relieved that Veronica chose to go to uni in the UK instead of Chicago, crashing the Dutch Nash Hash without pre-registering
• Veronica: Amsterdam Light Festival with Mark, finishing 365 Photo Project, The Script concert, revision  posters, meeting my mentor Bea, LAMDA Level 8, Amsterdam Urban Photo Race, finished IB in one piece, Year 13 Ball, taking Ariana to Kinderdijk, 18th surprise birthday dinner at The Penthouse, loving uni life!, charity naked photo shoot, Ultimate Frisbee tournaments,  love my course mates and Frisbee family, taking Ashlynn to Frisbee and Big Wednesday, LCR, LCR, LCR
• Ashlynn: Vogue Fashion Night, expedition for Bronze International Award, geography class, going vegetarian, Major Lazer and Odesza concerts, house parties, modeling, dance class

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Reflections on our 10th Year - Part 1...

Our 10th Anniversary of living in the Netherlands was actually on November 22, but since Veronica wasn’t home yet, our celebration was delayed until December 22. As is our tradition, we had dinner at La Lanterna in Scheveningen, the same restaurant where we ate on our first night one decade ago. Also continuing our tradition, we made a list of our highs and lows over the last year. As usual, here are our lows first:

• Veronica leaving!
• Disappointed that Veronica and Jimmy couldn’t go to Tokyo. Ashlynn and Melissa having difficulty adjusting to reality after returning from Tokyo. 
• Jimmy: Grandmom passing away, work still frustrating, minor surgery, maintaining Melissa's PC, bamboo overrunning our yard, hurt back while using GoPro on water slide
• Melissa: Getting lost after a few too many pumpkin ales, getting stuck as the chair for the Year 13 (Senior) Ball, wrist pain  
• Veronica: IB exams were hell, university application stress, university experiments not as exciting as anticipated (i.e. 3 hours of watching ice melt and looking at rocks for 5+ labs), not making it to Ultimate Frisbee Nationals, quasi-broken heart, first bitch fight with a friend over a guy, student budget doesn't allow for enough fruit, throat infection while in California, also hurt back while using GoPro on water slide (lesson learned: don’t use GoPro on water slides)
• Ashlynn: feeling ditched by Mommy and Daddy, realization of what’s happening to the planet after watching Cowspiracy, dealing with a sick friend, throat infection, annoying teachers, couldn’t go along to drop off Veronica at UEA, testing revealed allergies to eggs and dairy

Santorini...

The most picturesque part of the week was a one-day trip to Santorini. It’s no surprise that Veronica managed to capture some wonderful shots.

Their group was fairly small with just five guys and four girls along for the two-hour ferry ride.

They had a guided tour which included this black-sand beach and several towns. They were in a bit of a rush, so had only ice cream for lunch.

Parasailing...

After getting their IB results (Veronica’s were fantastic!), she, Adelina and Maria treated themselves by going parasailing. Since the boat was floating offshore, they got to take a jet ski ride (with a gorgeous Greek guy) to the boat.

All they had to do was strap into the harness and away they flew.

They enjoyed soaring around and enjoying the views for about 15 minutes.

They also went with their other friends on a boat ride to the historic island of Spinalonga, where they went on a hike. They had lunch on the boat followed by a swim; jumping off the side of the boat was especially fun.

Graduation Trip to Malia...

While I was heading to Italy, Veronica was flying to Crete, one of the Greek Isles, along with about 60 of her classmates. She shared a room with Adelina, Maria and Wendy at a hotel in Malia, a big party city. Days were usually spent sleeping late and then hanging by the pool or on the beach.

Veronica was all smiles as she had her first summer fling, ironically with a boy she’d paid no attention to at school (and vice versa).

Due to the Greek economic crisis, the kids got two extra free nights as an incentive not to cancel their trip. The weather was fantastic the entire nine days.

Nights usually consisted of pre-drinks at Veronica’s room, walking around midnight into town to go to a bar (a particular favorite was this one with swings), then heading to a club to go dancing at 2 a.m. They usually ended back at their respective rooms about 4 a.m. Here's a video of her adventures.

Last Glimpses of Italy...

Our return journey to Venice wasn’t as glamorous as we took a public water bus. Luckily, it offered places to stand outside so we could take in the final views of Murano...

...and more views of Venice.

After picking up our bags at the hotel, we caught a regular old bus back to the airport and flew together back to Schiphol.

Darlene had an early flight back to California the next morning, so instead of trekking out to Voorschoten, she stayed at Citizen M at the airport. I was curious to check out this version of the hotel and was surprised to find this very funky bathroom in her room. It was great spending five days in Italy with Darlene. Wonder where we’ll go next?

Beautiful Murano Glass...

Ironically, I bought my first piece of Murano glass at a small shop in Raleigh long before we ever dreamed of living in Europe. While some of the other islands near Venice are supposed to be prettier, we both wanted to do some glass shopping.

Christmas of Light (sometimes called the Comet Glass Star) was created by master glassmaker Simone Cenedese. The star, an iconic image of the island of glassmaking, consists of 500 glass elements, all made by hand and blown by mouth.

Apparently not only tourists were drawn to this sculpture; the ground below the sculpture was covered in broken glass, making it an unusual place to rest.