Roots

This weekend was the family reunion on Opa's side. It was held outside Utrecht in the Netherlands - a perfect opportunity for a day trip into Amsterdam. The city itself is a chaos of trams, bikes, cars and people. Not to mention the refuse of the partyers!

A canal tour was the way to go!

Amsterdam really is meant to be seen from the canals anyway. 

With its dancing houses. 

House boats

And fancy gables. 

And of course a stop at the cheese museum for some cheesy pictures and yummy tasting! 

technical difficulties

So. I updated the OS on my phone and now the Blogger app is not working. I have new posts coming...once I figure out how to get everything cooperating again. Or, failing that, transfer the pictures to the computer and post the "old fashioned" way.

It's a small world

once again it was car-free Sunday, the day when all roads inside the city are closed to car traffic. Since it was also the visit from the grandparents, and Calvin had his archery class across town, we all took the tram. While Calvin was at archery everyone visited Mini Europe and we caught up with them after.

Mini Europe is a representation of all the EU countries. 

The kids loved seeing the places they had already visited and dreaming of their future trips!

Faster, stronger, higher

This weekend the school held their welcome BBQ and the highlight was yours if the new sports facility. 

This complex is incredible and will be the location of most gym class and after school activities. 

The gym space

The pool. Swimming will be a regular part of gym class this year. 

And a dedicated gymnastics room where Emily will do gymnastics after school in addition to when they cover that in gym class.

Here are the kids' thoughts. 

Sammy: the floor of the pool moves up and down so they can make the pool not deep. 

Emily: the gymnastics room is so big it has curtains to divide it up. 

Cal: I like the gym because there are so many lines. There are lots of courts on top of each other: basketball, netball, handball. It's crazy! 

The most Belgian weekend of the year!

This weekend was both the beer festival and the comic strip festival. So checked out them both. 

Saturday: beer festival. 

The Grand Place was filled with beer tents. Since beer here is served in brand specific glassware, a token is used as deposit for the glass. The "token" used to pay for the beer is branded bottle caps. 

The day also featured a parade of old beer wagons and delivery trucks. 

Sunday: comic strip festival 

There were a lot of trade show booths and comic book signings but there was also a lot for the kids. The giant balloon parade was a highlight. We showed up on time but the balloons were still inflating. But this is Belgium where safety has a very different meaning, so kids were wandering through the inflating balloons, playing below them as they were tossed in the wind. Of course the kids LOVED this!

Photo ops with Storm Troopers and comic book cars were other highlights. 

Grand serment royal des archers de saint sebastien

Calvin asked, even before we moved, if he could take archery. Well, I found him a club. I've been going too, to test it out and to share this with him. 

Today was Calvin's first session. 

After two hours of shooting he was still all smiles.