Holland-- The Hague

After several lovely days in Boston, we all loaded into our red eye and flew to Amsterdam. It was FREEZING. I thought I was going to catch pnemonia and die. Liz, the Bostonian, whose thermostat is set to "arctic" thought I was being melodramatic. But my thin Hawaiian blood just couldn't take the northern blast. Luckily Kate had a spare coat for me. Which means-- Kate and Sam were there! They finished off the last couple of days of their Huge Epic trip with us in Holland. They looked so lean and tan and relaxed, I was so impressed. I am glad I got to vicariously experience their adventures-- perilous border crossings, rugged camping and avalanches.

Here we all are in Delft on our very first moment in Holland, with no sleep. Awesome!!!I got to see the very house where we lived when I was little-- the tiny narrow street on a park with beautiful picturesque roofs and facades.Dutch culinary delights! Here are some friets met-- thick french fries slathered in super-fatty mayo.


And above is the real reason we went to Holland: fresh huge stroopwafels. Yes.
Below: Rosie never walked in Holland-- she crawled over every dog-poopy, dusty, dirty, gum-encrusted surface we enountered. She got speedy.
And it was my birthday! We have a very cozy family tradition-- birthday breakfast in bed. unfortunately it means that every birthday picture is shockingly unflattering, as below.
On my birthday we went down to Scheveningen beach and saw these amazing sandcastles-- no glue, just sand and water. Evidently they last for months.
Here's the Schevening fish-wife-- she stands and looks out over the ocean, waiting for the fishing fleets to come back with her husband and sons...

This yucky dog joined Liz for lunch.
We rented bikes and rode around the duins-- Rosie loved riding with grandpa Mark and listening to the rabbits who, according to her, say "click, click." She fell asleep just like baby Katie always did 20 years ago.