June 2023

Another crazed June with the end of school year-, wrapping up work for summer-, preparing for travels- madness. 

Jude's last baseball game

Date night on a beautiful evening at Bam Boa on the Amstel

Allegra's art party spectacular

Our last meeting of the Let's Sew group at school. I learned a lot of new embroidery tips and skills from the talented Elizabeth, who is sadly relocating back to the US.

Pete's homebrew competition-winning beer, "Pete's Catharina Sour" was ready for its grand debut at Gerrit bar in Uithoorn (he brewed it with the breweries in early May). Some of Pete's coworkers joined us and the brewers to try it. The verdict is that it isn't as good as the one Pete made, but is probably more palpable for a larger audience. The beer will be on tap at Gerrit, Naekte Brouwers (Anna Kerk) and at Arendsnest in the Jordaan! Arendsnest was one of the first places we explored when we moved to Amsterdam. It is a beer bar with 50 Dutch beers on tap. I am really proud of Pete that they will be serving his beer there! 

Pete chaperoned Maeve's final field trip to the zoo and we attended her end of school year Bug parade (our Black Widow spider was a little shy). Jude celebrated his knowledge of ancient civilizations as an Aztec priest in the class wax museum. (Yes, in the final weeks of school, both kids required homemade costumes). 

Maeve's exploratory project this year was gardening and it really flourished!

Grateful for the effort other parents put into the bug picnic. We made pigs in a blanket and called them worms.

I left for Paris for one night to visit Amelia and the next morning, Nana and Pops arrived! 

Pete took the kids on practice bike rides in anticipation of biking to school (we are fair-weather bikers so it had been a while!) 

Off to school!

Sophie threw Fred a fun surprise party on a boat on another beautiful summer evening (June was full of them- breaking records for sunny, warm days!). 

I had way too much on my plate but was convinced to stay out for another drink. The promise of a ride home in a friend's bakfiets convinced me to stay for what was a very memorable time (Pete missed the fun while at his homebrew club meeting). 

The next day was the last day of school, followed by the annual post-early dismissal hang in the Bos, and then the end-of-school-year staff party. Pete's band (Nelly Wilsons minus Adam and plus our Dutch neighbor, Sander), had been practicing for a few months to play the event. They invited other staff to join them for songs of their choosing and it was all very well received. I crashed the party to watch them play and enjoyed seeing all of the hard-working teachers getting to celebrate. 

And then we were off to Croatia for 10 days with Nana and Pops, home for a day, and then off to the US for a 3+ week trip home!

Paris with Amelia

Amelia came to Paris in mid-June to visit her dad who was taking a photography course. She arrived 3 days before my parents arrived, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see her so I took the train and stayed for a night, making the most of 31 hours in this magical city! 

They are still hard at work repairing the damage from the fire. They are also cleaning the Siene in preparation for next year's Olympics.

This was my first summer visit to Paris since 2005. The cafe culture scene was strong.

Yayoi Kusama has painted polka dots all over Louis Vuitton

The interior of the newly remodeled Samaritaine department store was breathtaking! 

We spent the afternoon at Musee d'Orsay, first stopping for lunch in the cafe, scoring a primo table right under the clock face (to Amelia's dad's great delight). 

We waited out a quick afternoon rain shower and then found a cafe for spritzes, escargot, and Oysters.

Mr. Rutter found some obliging subjects.

Pasta dinner to end the night.

On Monday we made our way (slowly- Uber was not our friend) to Montmartre. Crepes for breakfast and then an app-guided walking tour. I'd never really explored that part of Paris before (apart from a quick visit to Sacré-Coeur with toddler Jude) and was excited to see it! 

Yummy lunch at Le Consulat

After learning how much Amelia loves carousels in Nederland, CO last year, I was excited to ride the one beneath the Basilica. 

Next, we headed to the Opera House to tour the interior. I had been with Bobbie for opening night at the ballet but was happy to spend more time in this masterpiece!

Visitors were taking ridiculous instagram worthy photos, with lots of posing. Amelia did her own special posing!

The day had gotten toasty, so we stopped for a refreshing drink before I needed to catch my evening train home. 

Such good company!

See you next summer for the Olympics, Paris!