Winter - Long and bleak

Well, the "shorter and more frequent" thing didn't work out all that well. having just returned from our second trip since my last entry, I realize that I have some catching up to do. First, the Amsterdam stuff (this entry), followed at some point by one from our ski trip to Lech, Austria and another from our Loire Valley Chateaux tour.

Without further ado, here are some pictures from the last few months, in no particular order:

Eliza - or "Toothless", as we fondly refer to her - had a culture day at ISA where each student prepared a "booth" to tell about their home country. Eliza chose a horseshoe from Churchill Downs, a christmas tree decoration, Jello, and a dollar bill as some of her props.

For her American Doll (so to speak), she effectively made Montrezl Harrell. Good choicel, despite current events!

I realized that the large park that I biked through over a year ago was actually a lot more than a park or horse farm after finally watching a documentary on the Christmas flight home. It is a huge nature preserve, with a herd of wild horses, cows, and various other critters - all within an hour's bike ride from downtown Amsterdam. 

The Lewis family is somewhat obsessed with foxes, so I was very excited to see this guy foraging right next to the (paved) bike trail going through the park. There were about a dozen people watching him, and he didn't seem to mind at all. We have spotted foxes in the wild before (Bald Head Island, NC as well as while in Ireland), but only for the briefest of moments, so it was fantastic to have the opportunity to observe one for a few minutes!

Also in the park, these model bombs uncovered during nature restoration projects. Gotta love Europe.

According to this sign, the German army dropped these "bombs" onto ship-shaped dikes of sand (that you can't make out in the old, cracked photo) for practice. When they hit, a cloud of smoke would rise so that the pilot could tell how he did. 

What can you say? Two beautiful girls!

These are NOT cheeseburgers. Lucy and her friend Ella made these desserts completely from scratch. The buns are cupcakes, the burgers made from brownies, the lettuce is dyed coconut, and the cheese and tomatoes are fondant. If you're like me you'll need to look that last word up - Lucy had to spell it out for me.

One of the highlights of January was our Spanish visitor. Maca (short for Macarena) came to us as part of a language-immersion exchange between ISA and her school in Seville. We were lucky to have her stay with us for several days while she and her classmates toured Amsterdam and got their fill of the English language (she is basically fluent, which is good because Holli and I both studied French!). Lilli got to go to Seville in March, and she absolutely loved it. She will likely have another blog entry here in the near future (assuming she gets her homework done!) since I will not be able to do her visit justice.

The two of them became fast friends.

With Daisy you can never tell, but I think Maca survived her time with us without a scratch.

A lot of time was spent playing Connect Four, a staple at our place.

We had some injuries as well. While heading out to catch the bus in the morning, Lucy stepped out onto the sidewalk from behind a "curtain" of ivy and was hit by a biker! As is all-too-common around here, the guy used the sidewalk to get around a stopped car (the van) and never even slowed down before hitting her. Fortunately she was more shaken up than injured, although she did end up with a sprained ankle. We figured out that our security cameras caught the whole thing.

Lucy had a rough spell... she did this during PE class. While participating in a game requiring the kids to walk on suspended poles, her foot slipped and she fell forward, catching herself with her forehead on the pole in front of her.
She's back to normal now, but we had to keep her out of physical activities for a couple of weeks.

Eliza's injury was also during school - the result of a swinging on a swing with her belly in the seat instead of her bottom. She tipped forward and used her face to stop herself. There's still a little evidence of that bad idea remaining.

Although there were no injuries, Holli did get rear-ended on her way to work. Bent the wheel a bit, and coincidentally happened at about the same she ran over a tiny sliver of glass that bled out her tire during the day. Eliza and I came down to rescue her later that night. What I assumed was going to be a 5-minute tube replacement.....

On to happier things... Eliza's friend Arta had a birthday party, where the cake was in the shape of a piano. I didn't take the picture quickly enough, but it was quite impressive and detailed. He and the girl next to him are eating the keyboard.

Eliza got the bench!

Eliza and her friends celebrating Global Village Day at ISA
And yes, that is the same St. Agnes - and photo credit goes to her mom, Sarah Deans.

Another beautiful girl!

Lucy has been taking a Lego class for fun after school. She's made some cool stuff!

Eliza got to take a field trip to a dairy/ cheese farm, including the opportunity to make her own cheese!
We will go by this week to pick it up as it has to age for a week or two - can't wait to try it!

Holli and I taking the ferry across the Ij to meet some friends at Oedipus (a brewery).

I was able to get out with a few guy friends for a brewery tour. We hit Oedipus, the Brouwerij 't Ij (shown here - I'm sure Lori and Jim remember this place), and De Prael on a sunny (but cool) Sunday afternoon.

Thanks to my very generous and lovely wife, I was also able to go home for a few days of beer and basketball.
I got to see some folks that I hadn't seen in way too long. Made me remember what an incredible group of friends I have.

I also got to briefly see this guy when (Eliza)Beth and Nathan stopped by Dundee Tavern with him and Sam. He was very happy to be one tooth light! While they were there, they dropped the news that they they were eloping the next day, so in case you haven't heard, now you have! Congratulations again!

I figured that I would be a wreck when I returned Monday afternoon after a 100-hour round-trip, but the flight that arrives around noon has served me well twice now and I felt pretty good. Lilli, on the other hand, has discovered a new book series and started soccer practice. She didn't make it to bedtime.

City life

It never ceases to amaze me the things that can fit down these streets. My Q7 can often barely squeeze between poorly-parked cars and the bollards that protect the sidewalks. But somehow this crane can get through.

Convertible Lambo. Not bad.

Not sure what to call this - work trike?