It's Not Always a Day at the Beach

When you live in a place where grey and rainy is the norm, you come to really appreciate and take advantage of any nice day. We had a glorious streak last week and headed off to the beach on Tuesday with Audra and Joey. 80 degrees and perfectly sunny! You can't count on this type of weather even in the prime summer months! Dutch schools were on holiday the last 2 weeks so we had company at the beach, but given there are so many beaches in the Netherlands and they are all so wide, it didn't feel crowded at all. 

We went back to Noordwijk, but to a different stretch of the beach near a chic beach club we wanted to try for lunch. The day went perfectly. Lots of fun in the sand, at the playground and in the tidal pools. And then when the girls were sufficiently worn out, we walked them in their strollers until they fell asleep and then enjoyed a yummy lunch at the cafe! It really couldn't have been more perfect, which is why neither of us were surprised with what happened next.... 

Putting all of our beach implements to use! 

Branding Beach Club

Sleeping babes :)

We had plans to meet Pete, Jude, Sarah and her kids after school at the local gelato shop. We arrived first and were getting the girls out of their car seats when an elderly woman drove by and hit our open car door. Thank God Audra wasn't hit and the girls were still safely in their car seats! The car door did not fare as well. It was smashed to the point that it could not be closed and the drivers door could not be open. Ugh! The poor old lady was so oblivious that she had just driven away, unaware of the considerable damage to the side of her car. Bless Audra who ran after her to make sure she pulled over! She stood watch over the lady to make sure she'd stay at the scene of the crime and I was left trying to figure out how to get both girls somewhere safe and how to move the car out of the way now that the door was stuck open! Not fun.

Thankfully everyone else arrived shortly after and could watch the kids while Pete and I dealt with the phone calls, paperwork and tow truck. There's nothing like some ice cream to calm your nerves! And no one better to be surrounded by during a stressful time then your two closest friends!

So now we are in the not so fun phase of dealing with insurance companies, auto body repair shops, etc. And we'll be without a car for the foreseeable future as this all gets sorted out. There's nothing like staring each of these phones calls with "Is English ok?" (It almost always is). Given the low value of our car, we are preparing ourselves for the scenario where they tell us that the repairs will cost more than the cost of the car in which case we'll have to say goodbye to our trusted Volvo :(  And then what to do next is completely up in the air with the 30% ruling announcement. I really do not like having no control over our future! Please send car healing thoughts our way!