Cycling the Bulb Fields...

I was glad to get out for one last cycle ride with Marianne before she moved back to Scotland. Our timing was perfect to see the fields in full bloom and the weather was pretty decent. We cycled from school, through the dunes up to Keukenhof (the famous gardens), then back down to Noordwijk where we caught a train back to The Hague. Not the usual long-distance ride that we tend to do, but still a great time.

10,000 Clicks...

It was with great excitement and disappointment as I watched my odometer on my city bike click from 9,999.9 kilometers. While I was planning on removing it so I could photograph it showing 10,000.0 (6,200 miles), instead it clicked back to 0.0 which was sadly anti-climatic. Regardless, I’ve really managed to crank up the kilometers in the past year or so (unfortunately, without getting any faster). I got my city bike in February 2006. In the first two years, I went 2,000 clicks. In the following year, I went 3,000 clicks. Now in just 14 months I’ve gone another 5,000 clicks. And this doesn’t include the distance on my touring bike, which is shown here as I cycled to the bulb fields in April. All this is good training for the crazy adventure Jimmy and I are setting off to in August--we’re going to attempt to cycle to Berlin (approx 400 miles).

Flower Parade 2010...

We met up with Marianne’s family to head to Noordwijk to see the start of the Bloemencorso, the Flower Parade, that travels 25 miles from Noordwijk to Haarlem. This year’s theme was Journey Through Europe, which has led to the best floats we’ve seen over the years. The parade started with kids on decorated bikes; our favorite was the Iceland volcano.

Final Moments in the Costa del Sol...

As usual, I dragged the kids into a few of the churches in Marbella. This one especially stood out as it’s the first we’ve seen with TV screens behind the columns. Somehow it seems hypocritical to demand silence when there’s TVs involved.
While it wasn’t exactly beach weather, the kids didn’t let that stop them from playing in the sand. Nor did it stop Ashlynn from getting completely soaked. We were all sad to see the great week come to an end and were even sadder that we all managed to come home ill.

Marbella...

Our flight back to Holland wasn’t until evening, so we had one last day to explore the Costa del Sol. We drove into the quaint town of Marbella. We walked along the oceanfront and through a promenade filled with sculptures by Spanish artist Salvador Dali leading into the old city center of Moorish alleyways. Here the kids are enjoying a 3-course lunch in the main square. It’ll be hard switching back to sandwiches after all those excellent Spanish lunches.

Taking After Their Daddy...

Jimmy didn’t belay the whole day as he also got to do some climbing. After they each climbed this rock face twice, it was time to move onto another location.
Can you spot Ashlynn? She’s the blue dot just about in the center of this photo. They didn’t actually climb all the way up this rock, but managed to get pretty high as advanced beginners. While they were busy being daredevils, I went into a small mountain town with Sally’s family for a nice lunch and to stop at an aloe vera farm.

Our Little Mountain Goats...

Despite the exceptionally late return from Morocco, Jimmy was able to get the girls up early the next morning to go rock climbing. He hired a British rock climbing instructor who met them at the climbing school to get them geared up. She took turns climbing with the girls while James belayed.