The Merry Season of Sint

It was a busy, joyful season of Sinterklaas this year. Everything was back after a 2 year COVID hiatus and we soaked it all in. We know that we don't have many years left with believing kids. 

We watched the Sinterklaas Journal, following Sint's challenging journey from Spain. We consoled Maeve when Sint's boat sank (yikes!) and patted ourselves on the back for understanding more and more Dutch. 

We went to Lien's to watch the Amstelveen parade. Maeve had a sneak peek (and 2 bags of pepernoten) after her gymnastics teacher took the class to the parade start without telling any of the parents! 

The following day we biked into the city for the Amsterdam parade. Another gorgeous, warm day!

We missed the boat parade but saw a group of piets disembarking and followed them to Waterlooplein, where Sinterklaas was getting ready for the walking parade. 

Hats full of pepernoten

A visit to the hermitage museum while we were in the city

And so began the 3-week-long season. They choose 5 nights for the piets to visit and excitedly woke up to see what they brought.  

Maeve wore this outfit to school. A lot.

We returned to Archeon where they transformed the open-air museum into "het stad van Sinterklaas." There were a lot of cute activities for the kids to do- pieten training, metalwork, face painting, and bracelet making. After they completed all of the activities, they brought their checklist to Sinterklaas' house and presented it to the hoofpiet, who signed the executive order, declaring them piets. There was a pietenkort (piet shortage) this year due to the boat sinking debacle, so they were hiring a lot of piets this year!

Flat Zoe arrived from Austria and traveled with us

Hard at work with the pieten training

Lovely renditions of the classic Sint songs

Maeve became the new hoofpiet (head piet)! 

And Jude, a pakjespiet

Then on December 5th, Sinterklaas and the piets visited ISA (he makes it to every primary school in the NL if you can believe it!). The kids sang songs for him while bouncing around the parking lot to stay warm.

Some photos of his visit to the 3rd grade. Jude declared that he was not the real Sint, as they could see a string under his beard. Whoops! 

That evening was pakjesavond (present night) and Sint came! We heard a loud banging at the door and then the Sinterklaas bag magically showed up on our doorstep. Jude noticed someone running away, but couldn't tell if it was a piet or Sint. 

Happy kids with their presents. 

Thank you for coming, Sinterklaas. We'll see you next year! 

Late Fall 2022

It was a busy, eventful late fall! 

We celebrated our 13th anniversary at Al Bacaro in the city. 

I saw a new part of the city when I went to meet with our kitchen renovation company. I followed the productive meeting with my first olliebol of the season!

Had a fun Mommy and Daughter day in the city. 

Went to Jude's writing workshop at school. 

Cozy home time. The heat is still turned way down, but we use electric heaters in all of the rooms. 

After waiting over 2 years, we finally got to see Bon Iver at Ziggo Dome. The Masiks, who we were supposed to go with, are long gone from Amsterdam, but Kai and Julia were happy to join!

Museum night was back! We joined Sara, Nathan, and Hannah in Noord to see the Straat museum, celebrating street artists from around the world. So fun to take in art with wine and a clubby scene. 

We made it over to the Eye Film Museum, but didn't have long to dance before we had to get home for the babysitter.

Waiting on the bike ferry to get back home

Took the kids to Nemo the next morning. We had to wait for a bridge that was raised for a party boat, but got to watch a crew member climb onto the roof with a piece of cake to give the bridger operator!

Concert month continued joining Melissa and Scott to see Watchhouse at Paradiso. 

We left our neighborhood for Saint Maarten for the first time this year. We joined friends in Randwijk where a marching band led a parade through the streets. It was very festive!

I joined Dakota and the American Women's Club of Amsterdam for a private tour of Royal Flora Holland- the world's largest flower auction. I'd visited 8 years ago and always vowed to go back! It just took me a long time! It was an early start as the action takes place early. I loved seeing the buzz of activity again and learning more about the auction process from our guide. Sadly, they stopped the in-person auctions with COVID and have kept the virtual format ever since. 

The holiday decor

Watching the virtual action.

Sinterklaas season took over!

Jude started Judo last fall and we got to watch for the first time! 

And then Thanksgiving was upon us! We were invited to Scott and Melissa's on Thursday after school. Scott is on parental leave so he cooked up a storm! We just brought the pies, some rolls, and b-sprouts. Earlier in the day, I visited Maeve's class to teach them about Thanksgiving. A number of the kids have lived in America and we had a fun discussion. I gave them each a small taste of both apple and pumpkin pies. Not everyone liked them ;) 

We talked about giving thanks and did a little turkey craft

And what were we grateful for this Thanksgiving? Jude getting to swim for his B diploma at school! It was a long time coming and he was so proud! We didn't get to see him swim for his A diploma so this was a big deal for us all. It was fun to get to watch with other parent friends as well. 

Getting ready to fall back into the pool with their clothes on to begin the test

Cool, calm and collected!

Victory lap

Then he was back to school and I was back to the kitchen

A gorgeous sunset on our drive to Thanksgiving dinner

Feast!

Sweet Violet

Grateful for these friends! 

Hannah was my partner in culture crime in November. Museum night, the opera Blue, and to cap off the month, a rocking tribute to the Fugees concert at the concertgebouw! It was not what I was expecting and I loved every minute! Lots of Fugees, Lauren Hill, and Wyclef songs. I've definitely never stood and danced in that venue before!