August 2024

We enjoyed an actual summer month home in August! Hot, sunny weather and the chance to use our new airconditioning! Summer in the NL can be fleeting so we were thrilled to have so much sun. 

It was surreal saying goodbye to the Nazlawys, who have been staples in our lives for the past 6 years. It is strange to have a school year here without them! 

Jude got an invite for a beach day with friends in Zandvort. And a few days later, we reciprocated and headed to the beach with one of his friends. Delicious lunch at Ubuntu! 

The dutch museums always do fun things for kids over the school holidays. We signed the kids up for a workshop at the Amsterdam Museum and while they worked on writing letters and drawing pictures, Pete and toured the new exhibit "Manahahtáanung or New Amsterdam? The Native Story Behind New York." I love seeing the (LONG overdue) attention being given to Native history and the atrocities of our ancestors. 

A beautiful piece representing the refugee experience

And an awesome exhibit on modern embroidery and 9 Dutch women of various backgrounds who stitched their personal histories onto traditional lace collars. 

There was even time for a quick lunch in the garden!

After the museum, we walked to Pathe Tuschinski to see Inside Out 2. During the summer, the kids came up with a system where they would do extra chores around the house for points and based on the number of points earned, would be rewarded with experiences. So Jude folded tons of laundry, took our recycling out, weeded, and did other helpful things and then we all got to see the movie todgother! Win, win! 

And a week later, I got another girls' movie night with Dana and Melissa to see It Ends with Us.

We hosted the Science department's back to school BBQ

We drove to Bussum to visit a heather field on another sunny day. 

We were warned to keep our distance from the cattle in the enclosed area. We saw them from a distance and walked in their direction, but then they started walking our way, very quickly. We might have run! 

Survived! 

Some treats after

Shopping for new sports equipment (Maeve starting basketball, Jude starting XC, Pete getting serious about Padel, me having a designated pilates space in our new top floor) at Decathalon. Required some refueling at FEBO! 

Maeve decided she wanted her ears pierced so we went before the first day of school. She was certainly nervous, but the worker (and ISA mom!) put her at ease. 

And then summer was over and it was back to school! We learned that Jude was placed with 2 good friends in Mr. B's class, Pete's friend and bandmate. And Maeve got another veteran teacher. 

And Pete starting his 20th year teaching! He has an interesting schedule this year with 1 out of every 4 days free from teaching any classes (and 3 days full of teaching).

Some moms celebrating the first day of school at Kristen's!

Oma and Opa came to visit on their way to and from a Kenyan safari. On Sunday we biked to KEK brewery and then went into the city for pizza dinner in de Pijp. 

Later in the week, we took them to AnnaKerk, where 3 of Pete's beers were on tap. I don't think that they fully understood what Pete has accomplished and it was fun to show them! 

The beautiful weather continued and I suggested a beach day with mom friends at the end of the month. Is there anything better than a cheeky Friday spent with lovely friends at the beach? 

Maeve spent a good part of the summer working on plans for a Harry Potter-themed sleepover party. The planning began in June in Greece and she was so serious about it. We worked on capes and she made spell books. We visited numerous candy shops to get all sorts of candies needed for the potions. We set a date well in advance to make sure her 3 friends could all come. I have no idea where she gets this planning from ;) 

Jen and Robbie hosted a kegger featuring Pete's beer in a park near school to kick off the new school year. Fun times! 

The Concertgebouw had a free open house day. We got to listen to a little music in the various halls and the kids made their own instruments out of piping. 

Ended the month with Sara and Nathan at Paradiso listening to Hermanos Gutierrez. 

Paris Olympics Day 4- Hôtel de Ville and Centre Pompidou

All of our ticketed events were over, and I had to go back to work the next day, but we still made the most of one last day in Paris. 

The best year :)

I'd seen that the Hôtel de Ville was hosting a fan zone with live events showing on big screens and activities for kids. We arrived early and didn't have to wait to get in. Pete spotted the actor Wendell Pierce from Jack Ryan, entering when we were. That was our only celeb sighting of the games. 

There was a stage where groups were demonstrating martial arts

A climbing wall for kids

We tried our hand at wheelchair tennis. Obviously very hard! The volunteer running it was hillarious- heckling us when we couldn't get to the ball in time. Calling Pete "Joe Biden's dad" and me, "Joe Biden's mom"! 

Watching athletes. They had bleacher style seats and sold beer. I could have stayed all day watching events here! 

We had more of Paris to see before hitting the road so we left the site and walked over to l'île Saint-Louis in search of macaroons at Pierre Hermé⁩⁦. So hard to choose from all of the delicious sounding combos! 

We then crossed to Île de la Cité to see Notre Dame. The reconstruction appears to be going well and it will be amazing when it is complete and open again!

The first Sunday of the month, museums in Paris are free. We'd never been to Centre Pompidou and were excited to check it out. The kid area wasn't all that exciting and the kids weren't thrilled to look at modern art, but we saw enough to satisfy our curiosity. There was a special exhibit on the secret history of the Nike Air Max, but you had to book it in advance so we missed out. The front of the building had changing LED Nike displays, which was cool! 

We'd been in France for 11 days and had yet to make it to a market. Serious violation. So we walked to Marché Couvertt des Enfants Rouges for lunch. 

The security presence in the city was very strong. We saw many different fractions of security forces equipped with serious guns. We never felt unsafe and I am so relieved that the games went off safely after concerns of terrorist attacks. 

The market was pretty overwhelming- I wanted one of everything! Places had little areas to sit, but we couldn't all agree on one cuisine so we had to order from the pizza place, the burger place, the sandwich shop... and then take our goods to the nearby park for a picnic in the gazebo. 

Au revoir, Paris! You were wonderful, as always! Anyone who may be thinking about going to the LA Olympics in 4 years... do it!!