More on Burns Night...

The dining room was lovely. I was very impressed that we were served on royal china. I know it’s corny, but here I am posing with a piece of royal silver (no, I didn’t bring any home with me). We sat at a table with two other couples from the American Women’s Club. Here we are posing with a photo of Queen Elizabeth at her coronation in 1952.

And here we are with British friends Jane and Mike in front of a portrait of Mary Stuart, the mother of the Mary Stuart that married William of Orange when she was only 9-years-old and went on to become Queen of England.

Burns Night Supper...

This year’s Burns Night Supper was held at the British Ambassador’s residence. We felt very privileged to be able to attend in such a spectacular setting. Like last year, there was an official presentation of the haggis complete with a Dutchman playing the bagpipes. Unlike last year, there was no raffle, so we didn’t win the leftovers.

There was a lot more space for the Scottish Country Dancing this year. I don’t know if the mini-kilt that I bought in Edinburgh gave me good luck or if the dances were easier than last year, but I had a lot more fun dancing this time. Luckily I managed to avoid stepping on the toes of the British Ambassador to the Netherlands when I was partnered with him for a dance.

Adopting a Seal...

Check out those huge eyes

Too cute!

We paid for a partial adoption to help fund a portion of a seal’s rehabilitation. Ashlynn picked out this seal named Morning to help. It was a long journey home (and a bit stressful after the hourly bus passed us by), but worth it.

Loving the Seal Center...

Ashlynn thinks she’d like to be a marine biologist and loved every minute that we spent at the seal center. We started by watching a movie that explained the history and mission of the center. Then we walked around and saw the seals in the quarantine area and the general pools. The center had to put up temporary housing for the 350 seals that they are nursing back to health.

The Seal Nursery...

Many of the seals in quarantine have lung worms

One of the many pools of young seals

It was raining, so we didn’t spend much time outside

The seal cafeteria

Our real purpose for being in the north of the country was to visit the Seal Rehabilitation and Research Centre in the small village of Pieterburen. While we have never seen a seal in Scheveningen, apparently there quite a lot that live off the northern outlying islands. Due to heavy storms this winter, a record number of baby grey seals were separated from their moms and eventually washed ashore. Specially trained rescue teams patrol the beaches and bring seals they find to this center, where they are nursed back to health and eventually returned to the wild.

A Night in Groningen...

Our first trip of 2012 was an overnight trip to Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. We visited the above museum, which was as unusual on the inside as on the outside. We especially enjoyed the exhibit of giant everyday objects, including this sparkly globe.

We also did some geocaching; this was the best of the hiding places that we found. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and watched back-to-back episodes of the BBC show Merlin, which the girls love.

A Cold Morning for a 5K...

Check out that long stride!

The first race of 2012 was on a crisp Sunday morning in Leiden with temps barely above freezing. Ashlynn’s time suffered as she had a tough time breathing, but she still flew into the finish.

Jimmy also ran the 5K, but regretted it afterwards as he pushed it a bit too hard. Check out the stop-motion video that Veronica made, which features David and Andrew as well.