Koningsdag 2024!

Our 10th King's Day! Unreal. 

King's Day was on a Saturday this year so there was a whole weekend to celebrate. On King's Night, Amy and Cory hosted a kid-friendly party and Jen came prepared with all sorts of activities! 

Lien was kind enough to host another King's Day party even though she was on her own for the weekend. We'd learned from the last few years that we need to be up and at 'em early for optimal flea market selling.  Toys were dropped off in advance, alarms were set, and we were on our way by 9am... just in time for the rain to start! While others scrambled to cover their goods with tarps, we waited out the rain inside. By 11, the rain had cleared, the other friends had arrived and the party could begin! Jude wasn't interested in selling this year, but wanted to bring the keyboard so he could busk. He's been learning Clocks for his upcoming piano recital. He played for about 5 minutes and said he was done. Thankfully, I convinced him to play more later in the day to make it worth our while hauling that thing there!

Maeve had a whole plan to sell lemonade and popcorn along with selling a bazillion toys. She did good!

Once the sun came out, things got busy. The rest of the day was really lovely. The kids were in and out of the house, while the grownups enjoyed the weather. We took turns walking the strip with the kids. There was a very silly game where a hot dog was dropped down a tube and using a large kitchen knife, you had to try to cut it as it came out the other end. Much harder than it looks! 

The Mayor of Amstelveen was out and about and stopped by to chat with a few guests. He visits ISA every year to meet with the 2nd graders for one of their learning units. So when Maeve saw him, she was unfazed: "Oh, I've met him already." 

With multiple families selling together, there is always a good deal of buying from our friends. Pete made out big with this Tom Ford suit from Keeley for only 5 euros! Coordinates perfectly with his King's Day Kermie shirt! 

It has been such a fun tradition to spend the day at Lien and Tareq's and it was really bittersweet knowing that this was the last time. They are moving to the UK and King's Day (and life) won't be the same without our friends. 

Tulip Time 2024!

With our early Spring, we beelined it to the tulip fields the day after we returned from Tuscany to see the beauties before they were all headed. No better remedy for post-vacay blues! Some fields were already past peak, but we still found some stunning fields. I love that every year, we just drive around and discover new fields to photograph. 

The first field was past its prime

This one was peak! 

Still some hyacinths

How many Maeve's do you see??

Our final stop was a very touristy bulb shop. The kids enjoyed the very rickety swing!

The Let's Amsterdam social group planned an outing to Keukenhof. It had been three years since I'd visited during COVID and I was excited to go back. The weather did not cooperate so we didn't last long, but still fun to take in the splendor for a few hours!

Kid-Free in Lucca

We were very grateful to Oma and Opa who stayed back with the kids on our last day in Tuscany so Pete and I could have a kid-free day trip to Lucca. Oma and Opa had spent a few days there before meeting up with us and the kids protested another "city" day. 

We scheduled the kids for some riding lessons in the morning so they would have something to do while we were gone. They were offered to take the horses for a ride down to the lake on the property, but apparently had their heart set on riding in the ring. 

Meanwhile, Pete and I headed north for the hour and 15-minute drive to Lucca. The new Taylor Swift (double) album had just dropped and the sun was shining. Things were off to a great start! And even more reason for the kids not to have been with us- a lot of F bombs dropped there! 

Snow-peaked Alps in the distance

Lucca is a well-preserved walled city in a valley and you can rent bikes to circle the old town walls. We did a loop and a half before winding our way into the city. 

We toured the Duomo di San Martino- lovely ceilings and stonework! and climbed the neighboring clocktower. 

Love climbing a European tower!

Sweet spot for lunch

Pasta every day keeps the doctor away. Something like that? 

So many churches!

We stopped for drinks in Piazza dell'Anfiteatro. There was some antique car procession happening in the city that day so periodically, an old car would drive through the center of the piazza. Sadly, we did not see Dustin Hoffman or Helen Hunt who were filming a movie while we were there. 

Incredible mosaic! 

Loved the tower with the tree growing out of it!

We drove home, rocking to the T Swift bonus album, in time for our last meal in Tuscany back at the Agriturismo. Another lovely evening and yummy food. The staff took our kids to the ice cream hut for dessert and they came back with bowls bigger than their heads! 

Maybe the truffles we found?

The rains returned as we packed up the next morning. There were groups of Vespas riders from around the world all along the roadways. World Vespa Days. Who knew that was a thing? 

Such a lovely, relaxing trip!