May/June Happenings

And somehow we have reached the end of another school year! June flew by in a series of end of school year events, parties and goodbyes mixed in with our visit from Frederick friends, Father’s Day and the open day at the fire station. Phew! I’m so glad we are now in Mallorca for a week to unwind!

My main work project is winding down as the research study reaches enrollment. The timing couldn’t have been better with needing the time this month for so many other things and wanting to have a lot of family time this summer.

24 Hours in Amstelveen event at the local puppet theater

Off to Prom :) 

Dutch! 

Love friends who are handy! 

Beginning of summer party in Oudekerk

ISA Sports Day

Jude and his friend made a wood firetruck in woodworking class and then decided that they wanted to make a life size one. The facilities department was recruited and this masterpiece was made!

Warm weather means lots of after school playtime chaos, I mean time. 

Jude's end of school year field trip was to Oud Valkeveen, a sweet little amusement park we'd been to just once before. The Pre-Kers loved all of the rides!

With his assistant teacher, Andreia

Pre-K also had a picnic at the school, which was unfortunately held indoors due to rain. So much yummy international food.

Maeve's end of year party was at Amstelpark and she had a blast in the music corner, getting her face painted, running around with her friends and riding the rides. A nice opportunity to thank her group of 5 teachers who Jude also had 5 years ago. Bittersweet to no longer have a hedgehog in the house!

There are a lot of wonderful families leaving ISA this year. We had a really nice going away lunch for Ayumi, returning to Japan along with Jude's friend Rintaro. 

Open day at the firehouse

Science department end of year dinner at Stork in Noord. Three of Pete's coworkers are leaving the department this year as well. :( 

At Maria and Rintaro's Monkey Town birthday party

Most of these kids have been together since they were 2 years old! 

Happy Father's Day! 

Goodbye celebration in Jude's class

Maeve with her super sweet 2nd grade buddy (who came with her class every Friday to play with the nursery kids). They match kids with someone of their nationality/language as much as possible. 

 At then the last day of school! My they have grown.

And the end of school year party for faculty and staff. Pete's band was the entertainment so we hired a babysitter to watch the kids at the party and take them home for bed. Best idea. We got to really cut loose as the night turned into a dance party in the rain with some really great people. A great start to the summer!

Nelly Wilsons

Frederick Reunion in Amsterdam

Two weekends ago, my high school friends Jessica and Matt came over from London with their daughter for a visit! The kids have spent some quality time together the past few summers and were excited to see each other again. We packed a lot of Dutch fun into the long weekend! 

Some playground time in the Jordaan after arriving by train into Central Station

The kids could not wait to reunite Friday after school so we explored Amsterdam a bit after their trains arrived, but got home in time for some take out Indonesian. After the kids had eaten, all three went up to Jude's room to play and we didn't hear from them for an hour (and the place wasn't trashed). It was amazing!

We had some stormy weather so they got the full experience of biking in the rain and wind Saturday. We met up with Jude and Naomi after soccer and spent the morning popping into cafes and seeing the outdoor art installations of Art Zuid. Pete got the workout with the three kids in the bakfiets.

Pete attended ISA graduation in the afternoon and we took advantage of nap time and the kids playing nicely together at the house before an evening out to celebrate Audra's birthday at Los Pilones. It turned into a lovely evening so we stopped for a drink and stroll along the canals.

Likely saying something sassy :) 

Sunday was a beautiful day and Pure Markt was at Amstelpark, which is a short bike ride away. There were some sore bike bums in the group so it was a good choice! The kids enjoyed the rides and games at the kiddie park and also the playground. The adults enjoyed the food trucks. Matt had to leave to get back to London for work on Monday so Pete took Maeve home with him for rest while the big kids stayed to play.

We weren't sure if the big kids should do the bumper boats on their own. The answer was probably not :) 

They cracked us up with their zipline antics! 

Audra and Brad invited us for a boat ride so we went straight into the centrum by metro. It had been a long day in the sun for the big kids (plus Naomi was woken up by our early risers). You can see how they reacted with the below pics of them chilling on the fat boy. So happy to have our Sunday pizza routine is back!

Thank you, lovely hosts

Ha! 

Jessica and Naomi left Monday afternoon so we had a final morning together, spent at the pancake house in the bos. A delicious way to end a wonderful weekend. Saying goodbye was easy because we will see them again on Saturday in Mallorca! It is so great having old friends also living in Europe. Now to convince more people to move over...

Zeeland Part 2

The weekend really heated up in the Netherlands with Saturday in the 70s and Sunday in the 80s. Perfect beach weather! We headed to Brooklyn Beach club near Domburg for a day of fun in the sun. We were definitely not in Brooklyn! 

Apart from a few resort towns, most of the Dutch coast is not built up. A very refreshing change from the East coast beach towns I grew up going to. Along the beach here were little huts that you could rent to store your things in or even a number of little A-frame cabins you could rent to sleep right on the beach... another trip!

We were determined to pull off staying at the beach all day, even if it meant walking Maeve to sleep along the dunes. Sweet girl got sleepy at lunch and fell asleep in my arms. These days are numbered, I know :(

So peaceful! 

We were spent from a day in the sun so we got some pizza to go and enjoyed our evening in making use of the rentals ping pong table (boys) and sauna (girls).

On Sunday, we bid the Welters adieu and had one last day to see the area. We started the morning at a cafe with a big indoor play area.

Bouncy house, poffertjes and applesap before 11am. Lucky kids! 

We wanted to check out Veere (meaning "ferry"), a harbor town dating from the 1400s! It was also super adorable and really busy with people arriving by boat to the town yacht club. We wandered around, stopped in a few shops and got some refreshing ice creams before continuing on. 

We attempted to visit one last beach before hitting the road home, but the kids spotted a bouncy castle belonging to a fish cafe next to the parking lot. So we forgo the beach and instead, waited forever for kibbeling and chicken nuggets. By that point, the heat had gotten to us all and we were ready to head home. The route home took us a different way, crossing over the Delta works project! There is a man made island, which has a museum about the project and a little amusement park. For another visit! We do hope to come back to this peaceful area!

Delta works project in the distance