September 2024

Another beautiful September. 

Catching up with friends after the summer break with an American Labor Day weekend BBQ

Saying "adios" to the Makers on their way to sunny Mallorca

Prepping for the "Lam Bamb" release party. Repackaging beers into 12-packs with Pete. 

A beautiful evening for beer release party #2! Maeve named this beer :) 

Amstelveen is celebrating 60 years of being its own city and is hosting events all year. We attended the Noord-Holland Jeugd (youth) Orkest at Stadshart with Sara, Nathan and kids, complete with a silent disco after-party. 

Oma and Opa returned from their safari in Kenya and stayed with us for a few days. While Jude was at a birthday party, we all went to Kasteel Keukenhof to see the dahlia gardens and have a sunny lunch at the cafe. 

Oma and Opa gave us a night off and we biked to Oudekerk for a river-side dinner. Meanwhile, the kids had their own fun with the Holy Moly Pizza truck dinner at home. 

First "Let's Amsterdam" outing with ISA moms and some random Latvian girl who ended up on our private boat! 

Some really beautiful days for neighborhood walks

I love coming into the city when it is sunny. Especially when friends, nachos, and watermelon margaritas are involved! 

Hop Harvest 2024! The yield was not as big as last year, but we had great company again. 

A fun day out in Amersfoort for Open Monument Day

Growing up so fast! 

Can't let a warm, sunny day go to waste- an impromptu kayak trip in the bos with some mom friends, old and new. 

A wonderful weekend away in Zeeland with friends. 

I spent two Friday afternoons in Maeve's classroom, helping them with this sweet project where they made paper mache busts of themselves, representing all of their beautiful, unique skin tones. 

Getting into the swing of the school year and nightly reading homework. 

Jude joined the XC running team. We are happy for him to be part of a team and it's been a really positive experience so far. The team is grades 5-12 so he's being encouraged by older kids, which is great. 

Jude missed his first meet in Dusseldorf because of our weekend away, but got to go on the overnight trip to Luxembourg. They took a 5-hour bus, went out to dinner, stayed the night in a hotel (Jude with two other 5th graders), and then ran the race the next morning. A big adventure for him! 

Pete and Maeve baked Jude a cake to celebrate his return

The dahlias finally started blooming! 

Zeeland September Weekend

We were so happy when friends invited us to join them on a weekend away in Zeeland at RCN Toppershoedje. We love a vakantie park and they are always more fun with friends. It's always a gamble to book a beach weekend away in advance with the fickle weather here, but boy did we get lucky! It ended up feeling like a summer weekend and we took full advantage at the beach. 

Cute little cabin.

Friday dinner at the beach cafe with the sun setting. Perfection! 

A nice walk with Mary through the dunes and up a lookout tower. We had a birds-eye view of the big wheeled vehicles lining up to drive through the obstacle course set up on the beach. 

Lovely beach afternoon. The beach here was so wide, it took nearly 10 minutes to reach the water! 

Sillies with Sammy

Loved seeing the big kids playing with the littles

Strawberry margaritas and potluck Mexican dinner

And belated birthday celebrations for Mary

It turned cooler on Sunday, but we didn't want to leave the coast. We took a little beach walk with Matt and Mary and then found a spot to play minigolf, where the kids witnessed my talents. 

This pumpkin patch was a tease! They weren't for sale.