More Colorful Floats...

The Dutch Police even had a float...

...and there were activists, including Amnesty International...

...and a climate group. 

Gay Pride Canal Boat Parade Floats...

Although a few people tried pushing into our space, we managed to hold our front row spots for the entire parade. As always, I took a ton of photos of the floats...

...and some of the more interesting folks on the floats. 

An Impressive Opening for Gay Pride Boat Parade...

The parade started with an impressive show of Cupid on a Flyboard.

Cupid was definitely up to some cool tricks...

...and some incredible heights.

Gay Pride Hash...

Jimmy hared a special hash in Amsterdam on the morning of the Gay Pride Canal Parade. Bob and Lisa generously offered their house as a bag drop and staging area for the beer and snacks. Like as on King’s Day, their neighbor once again hung an enormous flag...

...which made for a great background for a group photo.

The walkers took a short trail so they had plenty of time to stake out a viewing spot along the Prinsengracht, where we also did down-downs after us runners finished. Here you see Neptunus giving a special down-down to Opee.

Directly below us was a large party that loved blowing bubbles.

Boating in Amsterdam...

Jimmy and I were thrilled that we were invited to go out boating again the following day when newlyweds Nick and Ola were passing through Amsterdam for a night.

Abbie was away, so it was just the five of us.

Derek took us on a different route than previous journeys. Along the way, we saw this enormous ship in dry dock...

...this blue heron...

...and this bridge decorated for Pride Week. 

 

This was our first chance to ride the new North-South Metro, which took over ten years to build. It definitely makes the commute to Derek and Abbie’s house shorter for us. 

Some of the stations have some cool art. One even has a display of the archaeological finds from when they were building the line.

Boating with Sally and the Boys...

Due to all of our busy summer schedules, it was very difficult to find a day that we could do something together with Sally, John, David and Andrew. As it turned out, John unfortunately could’t join us the day that we had chosen and there wasn’t another option before Veronica and Andrew went back to university and David moved to Scotland for his first job after graduating from Cambridge.

Sally had suggested that we go boating in Leiden as they had never been on the canals there before. As we walked to the friend’s house where we were renting their boat, we came across a most unusual method of mowing a lawn: a tractor on a barge.

The kids quickly made themselves comfortable. We couldn’t have asked for better weather.

There’s no doubt that the most unusual thing we saw was this lady walking her dog in the canal. 

Kati preferred to stay out of the water.

After years of avoiding Kati, it was great to see David cuddling her.

Ashlynn was thrilled to take over from Captain Jimmy.

We snacked heavily on the boat and then came back to our house for a simple pasta dinner.

We had a great time, but it was somewhat bittersweet as we realized that it will become increasingly difficult to spend time together as the kids go their own ways. 

Last Moments in Lisbon...

Along the way to the botanical gardens, we saw a nice view of the St George’s Castle...

...and the funicular that makes the short journey up the steep hill.

The gardens were small, but a peaceful place to escape the bustle of the city.

We picked up lunch, in fully biodegradable packaging, from an incredibly small vegan café and ate it in a park near this funky tree being supported by a ring of metal.

Took a few more photos along our last walk down to our apartment to grab our luggage and head to the airport.

We were happy to meet Ashlynn at the airport just as planned. I was relieved and happy that her first solo trip was a success.