Visitor Season is Underway: Hosting the Herbs

We are blessed to be hosting a number of family and friends in the coming weeks. When it's all said and done, 6 sets of friends and family will have come over a 2 month period from mid April to mid June! Bring on the noise, bring on the funk! 

This weekend, two of our New York friends came through town. Jon and Chris grew up with Pete in Williamstown and these three are a serious bunch of herbs when they all get together! Their visit coincided with King's Day, the biggest National holiday in the Netherlands. We partied harder this weekend than we have in a long time! My old dancing self was so happy, my new mom self was so hurting! 

Here are some pics of the highlights from the visit. 

First stop: Brouwerij 't Ij brewery

While I took Jude home to put him to sleep, these three herbed out before our dinner reservations in the city. 

Despite cloudy skies and cool temps, we took a boat out for a tour of the canals. Our first time with Jude on the boat since he's been walking. Thankfully he tolerated the life jacket and had his uncles to help entertain him! We practically had the waterways to ourselves, a far cry from the following day when boat jammed the canals for King's Day! 

Trees springing to life

Dutch!

Sunday evening was Koningsnacht ("King's Night"), the night before the King's birthday. This is celebrated in true Dutch fashion with parties and a lively atmosphere all over the city. Not wanting to miss out on the fun, we hired our sitter for a second night in a row and went downtown. First up was drinks with Paul and Andrea in de Pijp followed by a late night search for the perfect tostis at Het Paardje. 

Another herb not in attendance is known for his "sleeping selfies." The guys added this to the collection. 

Monday was King's Day, our first, and deserving of its own post. Here's a preview of our attire, created by Chris and Jon, in homage to  Pete's likeness to Kermit the frog in the view of his friends!

Day Tripping: Leiden

Last weekend, after visiting the tulip fields, we hopped back in the car and continued 15 minutes South to the city of Leiden. Leiden is another big university town and was really bumping on the sunny day! 

Wandering around, we found Pieterskerk. We learned from plaques outside the church that the English pilgrims lived in Leiden behind the church in the 1600s before setting off for America and landing at Plymouth Rock. The Netherlands offered the Pilgrims religious freedom, but they felt that they were becoming too Dutch and losing their own identity, which motivated their move to America. Jude enjoyed his first Dutch apple pie in the cafe in the church!

Apart from beautiful canals and buildings, Leiden also has a preserved hilltop citadel, with views out to the other churches and rooftops of the city.

Such a happy day exploring the beauty of our new country in the sunshine with our little family!

On Feeling Small in the Land of Tall

On Sunday evening my second cousin Sam came through town to perform another concert at Paradiso Noord. While the first concert was a sit-down affair, this one was more typical rock concert with standing only. Making my way up to the balcony so I wouldn't be stuck behind a sea of giants, I remembered that I wanted to do a post on the height of the Dutch!

The Dutch are currently the tallest people in the world. Men average over 6 feet and women over 5'6".  I have read different accounts of why this is so: genes (duh), a fair distribution of wealth over a century so that all had enough healthy food to eat, and an affinity to drinking lots and lots of milk, among others. In the States, I would consider my height to be fairly average, but here I definitely feel small!

There was a clip on Jimmy Kimmel years ago where men were stopped in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and with just showing their faces from the nose down, the audience was supposed to guess wether they were a hipster of a Hasidic jew. The results were entertaining. Here in the Netherlands, that game would be "model or average Dutch person." In addition to being tall, the Dutch are an attractive bunch, though perhaps I am biased as I like tall drinks of water.

My experience feeling small in the land of tall started soon after we arrived. First, I had trouble finding a bike that was small enough to get on and off! Then, I went with a neighbor to a sample sale of a posh Dutch children's clothing designer. I felt tiny in the crowd of Bugaboo wielding Dutch mamas! This photo appeared on the Imps & Elves website for the event. I'm the short one to the left wearing Jude in the carrier :)

Jude's growth is plotted on Dutch curves at the baby clinic. I am proud that he is above the 50th%tile on their charts! Clothing sizes are in centimeters here instead of by age, which I find quiet helpful as "6-9 months" seems a bit arbitrary. 74-80cm. That I understand! 

The greeting amongst the Dutch is three kisses alternating on the cheeks. When we get together with our few Dutch friends, I practically need to stand on my tip toes to reach their cheeks! 

Cycling through flower fields! Dutch!

This weekend we borrowed the ISA van again to head back to the tulip fields near Keukenhof. We dreamed of fields of colorful flowers and were not disappointed! We put our bikes in the back of the van and drove 30 minutes south to Sassenheim. We pulled into a residential area to park and then set off on the bikes. The traffic in the area was bumper to bumper and moving at a snail pace on the two lane roads. It was so freeing to cycle past everyone and to be able to get out in the fields!

Daffodils and hyacinths were still the peak bloom flowers, but we did find some coveted tulip fields to frolick in!

We are starting to feel more Dutch with each passing day. We use gouda (pronounced "how-da") almost exclusively for any meal that calls for cheese. We can see a windmill from our front door. We own wooden clogs. And now we've cycled through flower fields! Dutch!

Visits to the Kersenbloesempark!

For many years, Fall was my favorite season. It evoked memories of walking from my childhood home, leaves crunching, blanket in hand on my way to our high school stadium to watch soccer and football games. And fall foliage greatly influenced my decision to head North to go to college to experience the full New England Fall grandeur.  

Then, 6 years ago, we moved from Manhattan to Park Slope, Brooklyn and our first spring there took my breath away. On my walk to work each day I passed blooming dogwoods, magnolias, cherry blossoms, daffodils. I had my favorite trees picked out on my route and every Spring for 5 years, I looked forward to their blooming. We were also members of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which claims to have the greatest number of different varieties of cherry blossom trees outside of Japan. Spring in the garden there was magnificent as well and a friend's recent Instagram post reminded me of the yellow daffodil field, which marked the beginning of Spring. Last year, I got to experience Spring during my maternity leave and as I took daily walks in the beautiful neighborhood with my newborn, I thought how sad I would be to miss it this year. Around that time, our friends here posted pictures of their visit to the Kersenbloesempark in the Amsterdamsebos (Cherry Blossom Park in the Amsterdam Forrest). My spirits were raised! I would get to see cherry blossoms in Amsterdam after all! The park is a 20 minute walk from our apartment and I went twice this week to take in the beauty. Close to 400 trees were planted by the Japanese Women's Club of Amstelveen, a prominent expat group thanks to a number of Japanese businesses in the Netherlands. 

We had a cherry blossom tree in the front yard of my childhood home, planted by my parents to remind my mom of her time spent in Japan. Oh the joy when it bloomed! And the subsequent sadness when a storm would come and blow the blossoms away, forcing me to wait another year to see it again. One of life's reminders to savor every moment! 

 Friday's visit with my neighbor and her baby.