July 2024

It was a busy July with Leslie's visit, sleepaway camp for the kids, and heading to France for the Olympics, but we managed to see some lovely faces in between!

One of my managers was in Amsterdam for the ESHRE conference so we finally met face-to-face after working together remotely for over 5 years! We had lunch and walked around the Jordaan amidst a code yellow wind storm!

 

Gosh this city is pretty!

The kids went to a new sleepaway camp with their friends. It was only 4 nights instead of the 6 from last year. There was some drama at the beginning. Jude wasn't feeling well the morning we were meant to drive them to the camp outside Utrecht. We worried he had caught the stomach bug going around during Leslie and Peyton's visit so we kept him home and dropped Maeve off with the friends. By dinner time, Jude was feeling fine so we drove him to camp after dinner, feeling super relieved that he would get to go and we would get the 4 nights of parenting freedom we had counted on. Unfortunately, Maeve saw us when we dropped him off (they hadn't yet left for the night hike they were supposed to be on) and she immediately ran to us and started crying that she wanted to go home (bored, raining at the outdoor camp, usual 1st-night jitters). It took a lot of convincing for her to eventually walk off with Jude and a counselor to join the others on the night hike. That was not a fun drive home, feeling terrible for leaving her there crying, trying to trust that she would eventually have fun and be glad she stayed. Thankfully, the kids called the following afternoon and confirmed that everything was fine. A huge relief! 

Happy to see some evidence of them having fun on the insta account of the camp.

Took advantage of kid free time and had a delicious lunch at de Kas 

And dinner with Sara and Nathan at Bam Boa before seeing Brendan Hunt at the Carré.

He performed his "5 Years in Amsterdam" show. Rather bizarre. I would have preferred to see him do stand up. 

Ran into some friends at the show and went back to Bam Boa for drinks after. 

A quick hike and stop at a forest cafe with Sara before picking the kids up from camp. 

A chance to say goodbye to Thais and Jake. We'll miss them over in London! 

Pete's former coworker, Eric, came over with his partner. They were some of the thousands of people affected by the tech crash that grounded flights that month. We had planned to take them on a boat tour, but had to reschedule for a day I was working. At least we got to enjoy drinks one evening. 

Maeve's old bestie, Luisa, and her sweet family came back to visit! We loved having them over for dinner and going for ice cream one evening. 

Beating a heatwave

A chance to say goodbye to Riya, Mana, and Krupal before their move back to California.