More Spring Hashing...

The night of the big signing, Jimmy hared yet another hash—this time for the FILTH H3 in Hoofddorp.

Lucky for us, a hasher was along that worked in the area and he suggested a very cool place for the beer break: Jopenkerk Hoofddorp.

Not only was the beer good, but the decor in this converted old church was really cozy with carpeted stairs for seating in the bar. It’s also a restaurant with tables set up along the balconies.

 It’s always fun to see what kind of unusual art you’ll find on trail.

 That next Sunday, we were back in Amsterdam for another hash...

...and another chance for a photo with some cool art.

Prom Dress Silliness...

Unfortunately, this is the only photo I took on trail, much of which was through Vondelpark where we stopped for a beer break. In an effort to have maximum public exposure, we also ran through Museumplein. 

Over two years later, I received this cool shot taken on trail in Vondelpark from a friend.

We ended in Vondelpark, where William tried balancing on red heels which couldn’t have been so easy to do on grass.

William walked back with us to the train station. Along the way, we passed by a fountain...

...that quickly made William forget to act like a lady.

This “Dirt Bag” girl on the train asked to have her photo taken with Jimmy.

On the same day that we were dressed up, Veronica also put on a dress to take some self-portraits in Kew Gardens.

First AH3 Prom Dress Hash...

After seeing Ashlynn and Jimmy run past at the half-marathon, I headed to Amsterdam to co-hare Amsterdam’s first Prom Dress Hash with Andrea. 

We bought my lovely dress in Amsterdam on King’s Day and Jimmy’s in Leiden on a last minute trip to a charity shop. 

I was especially impressed that William made his own dress.

Steve clearly liked what he saw.

Nice to see little Spencer getting into the act.

We had a pretty good turn out, including a family of hashers visiting from Germany. 

Leiden Half-Marathon...

Just two weeks after running her first half-marathon, Ashlynn ran her second one, this time with her Daddy by her side. Unlike in Luxembourg, Leiden is flat, but it was quite warm so her race time improved by less than one minute.

I staked out a good spot so that I could see them approaching from down the street and they could see me as well. 

It’s great to see how much running makes Ashlynn smile.

Sweet Lake...

I enjoyed going on another outing with the AWC, this time to Zoetermeer, a suburb outside of The Hague. Unfortunately, Terri was out of town. Zoetermeer literally means Sweet Lake. We walked around the Zoetermeerse Plas, a lake on the northern part of the city. I walked a bit faster than the other ladies, so was alone when I came along this beautiful stork.

I wasn’t surprised that my presence scared him away, but I was pleasantly surprised that I managed to capture his graceful departure.

There were also some free-roaming sheep.

Once we completed our circle of the lake, one of the ladies had us over to her house for lunch in her lovely lakefront garden.

Japanese Garden...

The weather was perfect and the garden was beautiful, so I couldn’t resist taking lots of photos.

To Clingendael...

A few days later, Carlin and I took the train into The Hague to meet Terri after her tennis lesson for another training walk. 

It was strange seeing three giant CAT diggers on the roof of this building taking it apart from the top down. Less than three months later, the building was entirely gone.

We headed to Clingendael to see the spring flowers in bloom...

...and to visit the Japanese Garden, which is only open for six weeks each spring. Then we headed to the dunes for lunch.