Celebrations Fit for a Queen

The highlight of the month of January, which was otherwise spent in hibernation and nursing intermittently sick children, was by far my birthday weekend. In my mind, 35 was a big one. Probably due in part to the dreaded AMA classification, which I refer to all the time in my work. Nevertheless, I felt it deserved some big celebrations so with the big day being on Friday, I spent the whole weekend celebrating. 

Friday I took Maeve to a new (to us) indoor play space, Candy Castle, which is in an old, but modern church. Two moms from my baby group were there and I was happy to have company. 

My AM book club planned their annual holiday dinner on the night of my birthday. After some debate, I decided it would be fun to celebrate my birthday with 18 lovely ladies at a Lebanese restaurant in de Pijp. I enjoyed some pre-dinner cake and champagne courtesy of Pete. It was his first foray into cake making (from a box) so I easily forgave the aesthetics :) A big chunk was removed so that Jude could have a chocolate-free slice. 

The celebrations continued Saturday. Pete took me to dinner at a probably-too-hip-for-us Japanese restaurant in the Sir Albert Hotel. You know you are in with the cool crowd when you are dinning with a famous Dutch rapper named Lil' Kleine (translation: Little Little). And yes, he was quite small.

After dinner Brad and Audra took us out on their boat to see the Light Festival. We had tried to go with Oma and Opa back in December, but were foiled by a broken motor. It was a really nice night for it. A friend had dubbed the theme of this year's show as "not as good as last year's" and I would have to agree, but really loved the first display, where you enter Herengracht through the radiating light tunnel.

When I thought of how I wanted to celebrate this birthday, I instinctively thought back to the other "big" ones and how they were spent.

There was the big 20 spent over winter break at the leadership training course at Bowdoin with other members of the outing club. A really fun time at Baxter House.

And the big 30 spent bowling, dining and scavenger hunting through Brooklyn with my birthday buddy Emma and lots of friends.

A party to match those occasions would have been awesome, but I'd like to think I am more mature now. Besides, the kids wake up at 6am regardless of when I go to sleep so I'd also like to think I've become wiser. 

So instead, I organized a high tea at the Duchess with some friends for Sunday afternoon. A relaxing end to a great weekend! 

One of my birthday presents from Pete was the Shake Shack cook book. On its own, I wasn't wowed, but when Pete procured the proper meats from the butcher, borrowed a KitchenAid meat grinder and made me the burgers, then I was wowed! 

Busted by the Trajectcontrole

There are many things that I love about living in the Netherlands, and yes, receiving unexpected speeding tickets in the mail is one of them. Perhaps I need to explain. Along the highways in The Netherlands, you do not see patrol cars, hiding secretly behind some bushes, with a person paid for with tax paying dollars aiming a speeding gun at you. No, The Netherlands is a highly efficient country and here, highways have built in speeding checks. You drive along and pass under structures which clock your time. If you get to the next time checking structure (clearly my highway vocab is limited!) too soon, it will be known that you had to speed to get there that quickly and you will automatically be sent a ticket in the mail. Below is the one we received yesterday. For driving somewhere between 6-9 km/h (~3-6 mp/h) over the 80km/h limit. The speed limit on the highways is usually between 100-130 km/h (this is not Germany with the autobahn), but if there is bad weather or traffic, the speed limit is lowered and clearly posted on large signage along the highway. The sections of highway which check your speed are clearly marked so it always amazes me to see people blowing through these areas. I suppose they aren't concerned with paying tickets. 

Why do I love this?! Because it is fair. Do a crime, serve the time, or whatever that expression may be. Also because it keeps the roads safe. The Netherlands consistently ranks as one of the best countries to drive in. In part because of what I feel is very safe driving. The roads are also a dream. Though I suppose any road way that is not the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway would seem like a dream. 

What do you think? Would you be happy or upset to see this system on your road ways? Or maybe it is already in place! 

Nijntje Museum and the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht

You all know, Miffy? That adorable bunny that is popular in Japan? Well Miffy is actually Nijntje (pronounced like nine-cha), which translates to "little bunny" (Konijn means bunny). The sweet character was created by Dutch author and illustrator, Dick Bruna from Utrecht. He passed away last February at the age of 89 and his death was mourned across the country. 

We had heard about the Nijntje Museum in Utrecht, but never remembered to go! Pete suggested it and we squeezed in a visit at the end of the break. I was expecting a museum cataloging the life and bibliography of Bruna, but it was actually a child's play heaven. We entered, looked at each other and both thought out loud, "how long can we stay?!" Entrance was free with our museum cards and Jude was just 8.50 euro. I wish we lived closer so we could go every weekend! 

Inch by inch, row by row

Working hard in the child sized Nijntje house

There was a special winter exhibit, which featured a play ski and sled area and this really sweet life-size, movable Nativity scene.

They make a toy version of this as well, which I can't wait to get my hands on for the kids! 

When it was time for lunch, we walked through the church courtyard across from the museum to the Nijntje cafe. Maeve keep seeing the Nijntje statues and saying and signing "more, more, more!"

Houses from 1657 on the street of the Nijntje museum.

We could have called it a day, driving home with two sleeping kids in the car. But since we were already in Utrecht, I wanted to go to the nearby train museum, the Spoorwegmuseum, which was having the final weekend of their Winter Station. Free entrance again with the Museum cards (and kids under 4). Inside was a dream. An iceskating rink, live music, festive lights, carousel, re-creation of a turn of the century town, roasting marshmallows and of course, lots and lots of trains. That wasn't really our focus with everything else going on, but we walked through one old, oppulent royal train. 

We hadn't gone ice skating yet this year and it was free along with everything else so we thought, "what do we have to lose?" Well, in the future, I think it will be best to have a ratio of 1 competent ice skating adult to 1 child. Pete's a good New England boy and knows how to skate. Me, not so much. No one got hurt, but a lot of time was spent clinging to the sides, trying not to fall with a kid! Lesson learned.

The kids were wiped after all this fun and no sleep. We drove home, picked up take out Indonesian and had a quiet evening at home. Can't wait to go back to both museums some day soon!

A Quiet Start to the New Year

After Christmas, we enjoyed one of the longest stretches of home time since we've been a family of four. The boys just started back to school on Monday. Of course, I had looked into short getaways, especially anticipating the ruckus of New Year's Eve in the Netherlands. But in the end, a long time hibernating at home sounded really nice, and it was.

Lots of time to enjoy new Christmas toys, books and clothes.

Time for the kids to play together and bond.

Time to catch up with friends.

Time to visit the new baby of a new friend (from my home county no less).

Time to complete every day tasks at a leisurely pace.

Caught in the sausage aisle!

Shopping downtown with these cuties as the snow softly falls

Time for unexpected fun at the Disney on Ice show when a friend couldn't use her tickets.

Pete's youngest science students. 

And then there was New Year's Eve. A babysitter and evening spent at a band mate's house party seemed like a possibility, though I was anxious about returning home amidst all of the amateur firework displays. When the sitter fell through, I felt mostly relieved to have a quiet evening at home, binging the Crown.

It was relatively quiet in the early firework-allowed hours of 6-12pm, mostly because the weather was awful with at-times pouring rain. The quiet night was not to be though when midnight struck and the neighborhood erupted in fireworks. I recall last year was foggy so while we could hear all the noise, there were no beautiful displays. This year, the skies cleared in time for some really impressive amateur shows. Jude woke up and climbed into bed with us, but miraculously Maeve slept through.

Watching the show from our bedroom window

After New Year's, Pete headed down to Roeselare, Belgium for a tour at Rodenbach brewery with some friends. It has been on his wish list for some time and I arranged an English tour as a Christmas present. Back home with the kids, I realized how much easier it is with two now that they are older. This has inspired Pete and I to plan more solo outings in the New Year. Another spa weekend for me and hopefully a beer trip to Prague for Pete! 

Just momma and her superhereos.  

Completing the school Winter Break Book Challenge. Reading under a table while wearing hat and gloves :) 

Goat farm time with daddy

I have high hopes for 2018. Partly because I can't help but think, could it really get worse?? 2017 broke my heart with the loss of Pete's cousin, the loss of friends' loved ones, all of the stories that lead to #metoo, and the completely destructive floods, hurricanes and fires. Not to mention the political situation in the US. I am ready for an uplifting year! Please don't disappoint me, 2018.