April 2023

At the start of this year, I felt like life was taking place in black and white. It certainly was a dreary winter, but I can't really explain it otherwise. I wasn't depressed, but I clearly had some winter blues going on. Then it was April and BOOM, color. Things just came to life: traveling again, Spring, sun, daffodils, cherry blossoms, and tulips. Life was back and I was so relieved. 

The month was punctuated by our trip to Italy, my trip to Maine, and capped off with a really fun Koningsdag and the beautiful tulips in bloom! Phew! 

Chaperoning Maeve's field trip to the Zuiderzee Museum, our 2nd time there

It was sunny, but cold. The kids were troopers spending the whole day outside. 

Rope making

I went solo to the Cherry Blossoms this year. They did not disappoint! 

Fellow sun worshipers

Pete's second cousin, Ari, came to visit while on Spring Break from his master's program in Sweden. 

Oma and Opa arrived at the beginning of the month! We sent them off to NEMO museum with the kids while Pete and I celebrated getting our EU Long Term Permanent Residency Cards that morning at the IND! 

We spent the rest of Easter weekend at home, making cookies and dying Easter eggs with Oma. 

Our local shopping center did a scavenger hunt. Good Dutch practice for us all!

Another Easter morning at home, finding Peep and jelly bean-filled eggs in the garden.

And then we hosted Melissa, Scott, and kids for a traditional Easter lunch.

Jude did some magic tricks for the crowd

The fun was not over yet! The kids' final performance of the musical they created over Zoom with Malcolm and Addy was later that afternoon. They did a wonderful job and we were thoroughly entertained! Mr. Grumpypants, Elle the elephant, and Mango the koala bear built a rocketship to go to a family reunion. Complete with songs in English, Spanish, and Dutch! 

On Easter Monday we went to Haarlem for the afternoon. 

Then Pete and I left for Italy for 4 nights. When we returned, Oma and Opa headed to Puglia themselves.

Baseball game in Purmerend followed by exploring the Waterland towns of Volendam and Monnickendam.

The bell tower is home to the Museum de Speeltoren, a nice museum spread over the 5 floors.

For Christmas, Maeve was gifted a kit from Oma and Opa to make and publish a story of her own.
My Troubles in Life is off to the publisher and hopefully will be ready when we go home this summer ;) 

Jude went to a super cool Harry Potter-themed birthday party,

Tulip Day 2023!

I decided to do something new for our annual tulip day and booked tickets to ride a tractor-pulled bus through the tulip fields near Petten. Seemed like a nice way to see a lot of fields close up without having to drive around searching. We had a gorgeous day. The only bummer was that Jude was still sick. I took him to the on-call weekend doctor at the hospital and he was prescribed an antibiotic  It was not working so our little guy was pretty beat the whole time. Maeve was also in a spicy mood, but nothing can keep me down on tulip day!