HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Happy wedding anniversary to Marty and lisa, married sixteen years today!!!

lisa and I made a pact before we left that we would not celebrate events the way we did in the States. First, there was the tougher preparation of trying to arrange things in a strange place, a strange kitchen, etc. Also we wanted to join other cultures in their celebrations vs. holding on to ours. We passed on Father's Day only to find out that it was Father's Day in Holland as well. Oh well, the best laid plans...

I jokingly asked the girls what they were getting us for our anniversary. Siena or Avocet asked what day it occurred and after I said Saturday, I didn't hear much else until Si asked to borrow some money when we were in our favorite cheese shop. More plans and hints and Saturday morning arrived. We were told to stay in our room until they were ready. We followed a trail of love notes with sayings on them, mainly Beatles standards such as "I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah" or "I want to hold your hand" etc., down to the dining room. Then to a wonderful breakfast of croissants, sausage, cheese, strawberries, yogurt, fresh bread with butter, pinda kaas (peanut butter) and chocolate pasta (paste). YUMMY ! It was topped off with a quarter of a small pink cake that they like from the bakery that they refer to as the "Tasty pink morsel".

This was followed up by a recital of dances to the tunes of various international travel songs. Afterwards we were presented the homemade gifts, cards, and purchased Stroopwafles, two tiny waffles pressed together with honey and cinnamon.



I have never doubted the creativity of Avocet and Siena. They outdid themselves one more time!! Thank you guys, we love you both!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH, AND BY THE WAY, I LOVE YOU SWEEETIE!!!

ALKMAAR

Holland is the world's largest exporter of cheese. After you see the amount of cheese consumed in this country, it's hard to believe that they would have anything left to export but apparently they do -- and a lot of it. For hundreds of years, cheese was made on individual farms and then brought to market to be inspected, evaluated, weighed and sold. While things aren't done quite that way anymore, Alkmaar, the oldest cheese market in the world, still holds a cheese market every Friday so that you can see how it was all done. Pictured to the right is the weighing house of the cheese market.

Large wheels of cheese are laid out on the square carried by special "Cheese Carriers". These carriers are part of the Cheese Carrier Guild and the color of the scarf in their hat signifies which veem (like a team) in the guild they belong to. Here the cheeses are offered for sale. Once they find a buyer and a price is agreed upon, the cheese is taken to the scales. The cheese is then once again carried by the Cheese Carriers to the trucks (wagons in the past) to be taken away. It's all very ritualistic, colorful and full of local culture.



In it's heyday, the Alkmaar Cheese Market sold an average of 300 tons of cheese every market day. Now most cheese is sold commercially and the amount sold at the market is substantially less. Since 1939, Alkmaar has the only remaining cheese market in The Netherlands.

After the morning market, we spent time in the Cheese Museum (yes, there really is a museum just for cheese), browsing the artisan market, and dining in a very picturesque restaurant.

Linnaeushof; Europe's Largest Playground

Yes, Europe has a huge, excuse me, gigantic playground right here in The Netherlands. Linnaeushof, the name of the playground, is situated a little less than a 15 minute bus ride from the bus station in Haarlem. Actually, we never would have gone there if we hadn't been meeting some people that day. We were thinking about meeting them in Delft, but my mom thought there would be nothing to do there so she started going through my large collection of brouchures that I had picked up at the tourist office during a visit to the train station. I had seen the brochure for Linnaeushof and picked it up because of the words stating "Europe's Largest Playground". Even in Dutch I can translate that much! So my mom found the brochure and didn't think anything of it until Carol,(a cousin of our family's friend Eric) suggested Linnaeushof as a place to go for the day. She had 2 kids and there was Siena and I so she thought it a perfect place for the kids to play and the adults to do boring parent talk. When we got there, we were amazed. I don't know what the rest of my family expected by I thought it would be like a European Coney Island. No, it was like a normal playground, except oversized with a waterpark addition. Like for an example, there was a Merry-Go-Round but someone had to hold onto a yellow bar and push it around. A Ferris Wheel powered by the most famous thing in The Netherlands, a bike. So you get the point. Even the Bumper Cars strung to the ceiling by a track were powered by the bike pedals at the front of the car! Almost nothing was mechanical, except for the Bumper Cars on the ground and the Zipline over the water. Anyway, enjoy the pics!

HOLLAND HAS A BEACH???

That's the question most people will ask if you tell them you have been to the North Sea. On Tuesday June 24,2008 we rode our bikes on a trail to the beach because it was a beautiful, sunny day. The trail is not what people would imagine Holland to be like; wildflowers, sand, dunes, and trees, -- it looks a bit like Wyoming! As you probably know people ride bikes in Holland because it's so flat. Unfortunately we met some pretty nasty un-Dutch terrain when on the trail. I decided that my stuffed Seal, Seelia, should come along to get some air, but since she rode on the back of my bike all the way there, I had to have someone ride behind me at all times to make sure she wouldn't fall off. When we finally got to the beach we all took off our shoes, put our stuff on the sand and ran into the waves. As I said earlier it's the North Sea so it took a while getting used to the cold water. After a short time, Avocet and I were jumping waves and collecting sea shells. We found tons of shells that were long and pale that turned out to be Mussel shells!!! I mostly think of Mussel shells as black not pale! After lunch (which we had on the "strand") we went back and made a sand castle. You can see pictures of our great day down below. Now whenever someone asks you, "Does Holland have a beach?" You can say, "Yes,of course!".

VISIT FROM FRIENDS

On Saturday, June 21st, we were visited by our friends Sean and Dianna and their kids, Quinn and Maggie. Even though its been less than two weeks out of the country, it was GREAT to see close friends from home. Even though over these two weeks, lisa, Siena, Avocet and I have gotten used to each other, have bonded well and love each other and are having a great time...well, you get the point!!!!
We began our visit by meeting them in Amsterdam and simply catching up while the kids played on the "I AMSTERDAM" sign. We (the adults) even got up on it and didn't have to test out our international health plan.



We all stayed at our place in Haarlem on Saturday night through Monday, thankful for all the beds that our place has. We stayed up past midnight both nights talking. Sean and I got to male bond while lisa and Dianna did the "girl" thing, plus nice all around conversations about everything. The kids had a wonderful time playing in the garden, watching misc. things on YouTube and doing basic kid stuff. On Sunday we visited Zaanse Schans, a sort of Dutch living history museum replicating life from the 17th century. In addition to several museums we got to see authentic windmills in action. Wow, those blades turn fast. It's scary when you get near the top.


Best of all was seeing them for the first time since Christmas when they came home to Cincinnati to visit for awhile. They have been living in Paris since August 2007 and only have another 40 days before they leave for the States. We will be gone until June, 2009, so we could have had an almost two year gap. We caught up on Clifton goings on and they elaborated on Paris events and how things are different when you are gone for a year.

The visit was a short reminder of how much we value all of our friends and how much we will miss all of you.

BIKES AGAIN?

I promise, this will be the last you hear about bikes (or not). It's just that when you think that you have seen it all in terms of bikes, along comes the epitome of bikes -- The Party Bike. Fiets is bike and well, party is party, ergo Partyfiets. This is a bike that seats about 12-14 people (estimated) in what almost looks like a trolley. There are two rows of pedals, 6-7 sets on one side and 6-7 sets on the other. Down the middle is, you guessed it, a bar. (Well it is called a Party Bike after all). So now you have to picture it all together. You have this trolly looking bike with 12-14 people on it. Everyone is sitting on a seat and pedalling away. While they are pedalling, they are sitting forward facing the bar and drinking away. And while they are pedalling away and drinking away this trolley looking bike is moving down the street. The trolley is moving foward but the people are sitting sideways. The picture is for those who can't seem to put this all together.


Maybe this will be our next business when we return to the states. We could have a kids bike and serve pizza and soft drinks and adult bikes that either do beer and snacks or cappacino and dessert. It could be the next big thing in Cincinnati!

FOOTBALL A.K.A SOCCER

Welcome soccer lovers to the soccer universe of the world, Europe! Here all of Europe is in the midst of EURO 2008! The people of The Netherlands are very excited that The Holland team has made it to the semi-finals. Since we have been here, they have beat Romania and France(so ha!Sean and Diana!). If you are curious why I said FOOTBALL A.K.A SOCCER it was because here in Europe they don't have our football, so they call soccer football(I think it makes sense, I mean you use your foot in soccer, why not call it football!). Holland's colors are blue and orange so you'll see a lot of orange(not as much blue). Here are some crazy pics to look at. Enjoy!