More Celebrations for Terri’s 50th...

Five months after her amazing 50th birthday party in the South of France, Terri finally turned 50. We were lucky enough to be invited to a dinner party to celebrate her actual birthday.

Three local couples plus Terri’s best friend Habe, who came from London, joined Terri and Chris for drinks at their house and then dinner at Calla’s, a Michelin starred restaurant.

We sat at the chef’s table next to the kitchen on the ground floor. The food was fantastic and the service was surprisingly unpretentious. I was thrilled it was real food instead of foam. Everyone had a great time!

Spotting the Royals...

Jimmy and I managed to find a fairly good spot to watch the festivities. From our viewpoint, we could just barely spot King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima in the bleachers (front row center).

When the King and Queen made their exit, many of the people in our section disregarded a roped off area to get a closer view. How could we not follow along?

Afterwards, we thought we could escape the crowds by heading to Keizerstraat, but instead happened upon a festive street packed with folks in costumes. These ladies were happy to pose with a painting of the King.

And these ladies showed their loyalty to the King by trying to kiss his portrait.

200th Anniversary of the Netherlands...

On November 30, 2013, there was a re-enactment on the beach in Scheveningen of the Dutch victory over the French enabling the Netherlands to be declared an independent country. Several hundred people dressed in period costumes on this blustery morning.

Some of the actors really got into the fighting and the camera man was right in the fray of things.

The fellow in the front of the carriage is Prince Willem Frederick of Oranje. Unfortunately, his historic landing of 1813 couldn’t fully be re-enacted because the sea was too choppy. Afterwards, the Royal Navy celebrated their 200th anniversary with an amphibious landing.

Onto the Gold: Project Nepal...

The requirements to get a International Gold Award is much more complicated including a one-week residential trip plus a four-day expedition. The school sponsors a Gold trip to Kenya, but Veronica wasn’t chosen for that team. She was thrilled when she learned that the organizers of the Dutch International Award sponsor a trip to Nepal and that she could have a spot on the team along with five other BSN students and one Dutch student. On the far right is their team leader, Marieke, who made the trip last year for the first time.

Hard to believe that our little girl is grown up enough to go to Nepal for three weeks this summer without us. In order to prepare for her trip, she has to raise funds that will be used to support volunteer projects including giving English lessons at a deaf school and teaching HIV awareness at a maternity clinic. She also has to go on a practice expedition to learn additional skills in wilderness survival.

More International Award...

This was the largest group the school had ever had at an International Award Ceremony.

Luckily Veronica wore red so she stood out.

Here’s the group of girls on Veronica’s expedition and thus starring in her video. Not sure why they felt the need to bite their medals.

Internatonal Silver Award...

It was quite exciting to see Veronica’s name up on the big screen at the International Award Ceremony when she received her Silver Award.

It was even more exciting to watch her video with all the other participants and their parents. In case you missed seeing it, here it is again.

And here’s our smiling award recipient.

More Dutch Lawnmowers...

In September, the sheep were back in our neighborhood to mow the grass around the canals.

Veronica caught a better version than me, so it was her photo that we used for the cover of Going Dutch in October.

One night in November, Jimmy yelled that I needed to grab my camera and go outside. It’s not everyday that you see sheep walking down your street; luckily I managed to see them just before they turned the corner.