A Me Day Spent in the Gardens of Amsterdam

The facades of the Amsterdam Canal houses are engrained in everyone's minds, but what lies behind these stately buildings? One weekend a year, a number of these homes, museums and buildings open up their private gardens for all to see during the Open Tuinen Dagen. I used the last of Maeve's make up days and had a blissful "me" day in the city today. No mom guilt here! A stop for coffee in exchange for a book loan from a book club friend, a few hours exploring the gardens, a mid day movie viewing (Guernsey Literary Society and Potato Peel Society) and time for a few more gardens before heading home. On Monday my aunt and cousin arrive from California so I felt like this was a great "downtown refresher" course so I'll be primed for my tour guiding duties! 

I sat at that back table with a glass of prosecco at 11:30 :)

Bee hives! 

This is the shared garden of 6 buildings! It was massive. 

What's a Dutch garden without the Big Green Egg grill (retails $1500-$2000)

Of all the gardens on the tour, I was most excited to see the Mayor's! The gardens of his private residence were open. 

Back of the Mayor's Residence

Felt like you were in a park, not a city block in this garden!

 

Ahhh... super refreshed to start the weekend!

Jude's End of Pre-School Party

Yesterday was Jude's End of Year Pre-School Party held at Amstel Park. Pete was inundated with grading so I used a make up day to put Maeve in day care and had a special one-on-one day with Jude. Such a thoughtful, fun day for these kiddos. And half the time Jude was off playing with his friends so I got in a lot of quality conversations with mom friends. Just one week of school left and then summer holidays begin! Jude has had a wonderful year with Sue, Rosa and Janan and we are grateful for the access to such a high quality program for our children. He has been in class with the same kids (give or take a few) for the last 2 years. Next year, it has been recommended that he and his besties split up so that they can each take on leadership roles instead of fighting over who is the boss all of the time 😂 Farewell Rabbit class. Onwards and upwards! Pre-K here we come! 

The rat pack  

 

Besties representing South Africa, New Zealand, America and the Great Britain

Jude and his pal shut the party down and I wasn't surprised when he grew quiet half way through the ride home! Bless this sweet boy.

First Trip to Friesland

After the month we'd had, I was rearing to get out and explore. We remembered the option to borrow the ISA van and quickly reserved it for the weekend. We made some last minute destination decisions and ended up in Friesland on Saturday and then the beach on Sunday. So good to be on the open road again! 

Two things sealed the deal to go to Leeuwarden in Friesland; Leeuwarden is the 2018 European Capital of Culture and to get there, we got to cross the Afsluitdijk. 

The Afsluitdijk was built in the 1920s and 1930s and cut off the Zuiderzee, a salt water inlet of the North Sea, which turned it into a fresh water lake renamed the IJsselmeer. Friesland is known for its fishing traditions and while the Afsluitdijk made it much easier to reach the area, fishing villages along the Zuiderzee were cut off from their fish supply. 

Our kids get excited when we go through tunnels or over bridges, but this 20 mile bridge was too much for Jude. "When is it going to end!" 

Finally on the other side, it was a quick drive over to Leeuwarden. We spent time watching some beach volleyball set up in front of the Oldenhove. As the tower was being constructed, the architect noticed that it was going up crooked, but the heck with it!

Straight photo, crooked tower 

We've yet to visit a Dutch town that isn't charming. This was no exception. 

To get a bit of the reputed culture, we stopped in the Natural History museum and Pete let me geek out in the Ceramic museum in the mansion where MC Escher was born and where a former queen once lived.

 

Items created for the St. Louis world fair. These were meant to appeal to Americans and I'd say they hit the mark.

Contemporary pottery was on display as well. 

I loved this piece- these are serving dishes inspired by the artist's trip to Greece. When not in use, they can be displayed to resemble to Islands. 

The Queen's dinning room 

I ran into one of Pete's coworkers at the Ceramic museum. She and her boyfriend were headed to Harlingen for the night and after reading about it in the guidebook, we decided to check it out as well! Harlingen is still a large fishing port and also the site from which ferries leave for two of the Wadden Islands. We have been to the Southernmost of these islands, Texel, but the others are still on our (long) list!

Watching the ferries come into port

Harborfront

So many boats and tiny bridges 

Sunday morning, I checked the forecast for all of the area beaches (there are 8 or so within an hour drive) and we choose the best, Katwijk aan zee, which we'd been to once before with friends. We know that Jude's napping days are numbered so we relished the 1.5+ nap he took after a busy morning in the sun!