Seasons Greetings from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
Abigail and Dad were able to join her pre-school in an apple picking outing. It was quite fun. I was able to meet most of the Dutch parents and see her play with her new friends. We were able to walk right up to the trees and pull the apples off. Abigail thought it was fun and she even ate an apple with the skin on (her first time). Her teacher names are Suki and Efita and they are by far the best in her school. They really plan allot of events for the kids. The boy in the last picture is her new best friend. He is from India and is the only other kid in her class that speaks English. They are even starting to be able to switch between Dutch and English quickly.
Yes, time has come, our wild child needs a hair cut. Her hair is down to the small of her back and it is starting to get lots of knots. Amy says it is due to the ends being thin and starting to split. I am the worst dad!!!! How can I let my little girl get split ends???? OH the travisty. I finally talked Amy into cutting Abigails hair. I think I finally won the argument when I said she could have 6 bottles of wine and get Abigails hair cut for the price it would cost us to take her to the hair dresser. Wine....Hair dresser for a three year old......Tough decision. I have to hand it to Amy, she has more guts than I have. I know I couldn't of done it. I was afraid would make her look like Sinead O'Connor.
Abigail looks great and she walks now flipping her hair around like she is Prince Charming in Shrek 2. I appoligize to those who don't have kids and don't watch kid movies, think of Farrah Fawcett with her long locks on an eposode of Charlies Angles.
We have celebrated our first Halloween in the Netherlands. We are fortunate to have Nike friends who love the holiday and threw a party for all. They even had kids over early so they can get dressed up and enjoy the day. I'm not sure they knew it but the party was a week early but who am I to complain. Abigail was so happy because she got a new outfit from Amanda that she was able to wear. Sorry Amanda, I know the dress was for Christmas but how can you say no to such a cute girl. She wanted to be a princess. She walked around the party and told everyone she was a princess with wings and that she could fly. She didn't realize the 'wings' were three feet wide when she walked everywhere, but why should she care. She has Mom and Dad to follow her around and clean up. The best part of the entire night was the kids going door-to-door trick or treating. Did I mention they do NOT have Halloween here in the Netherlands? Top that off with the fact we were a week early and you had some interesting looks and gifts. Some of the people actually went into their baking stuff and dumped chocolate chips into the bucket. Some others just opened a bag of crackers and gave the kids crackers. It reminded me of when I was a kid and you heard about the razor blades in the apples or the warnings about don't eat anything that isn't wrapped and store bought. You couldn't say that about this experience. Needless to say, the kids loved it.
Abigail has two great teachers at her pre-school. They decided to have Halloween on Halloween so Abigail got to dress up once again. This time she understood what was going on and wanted to dress in something scary. I don't think she pulls off scary, but I give her props for trying. The only problem with this was they never left the school so all we heard all night was "I want to go trick or treating." I was lucky enough to have language class that night so I didn't have to deal with it.
We were told to expect a few trick or treaters in our neighborhood so I went out and got some candy. Our neighbor hood is extremely international so I was fully expecting some action. In my eyes, the best part of the day was when I came home from class and the entire bowl of candy was still there. Amy said she didn't get anyone at the door. Now I will have to exercise even more but my taste buds sure do love it.
Picture Coming Soon (Tweedies)
We have had another visitor from Portland. Aunt Julie has made it to Amsterdam. Amy and I give her all the credit in the world. She was on a work trip in New York and was to fly back to Portland for the weekend and then to Chicago the next week. She decided that a 7-hour flight to Amsterdam wasn't any worse than a 6-hour flight back to Portland and made a last second reservation. That is what I love about her. She is always up for anything and doesn't let a little ocean get in the way.
I don't have any pictures of Julie's time in Amsterdam because we were having so much fun that we would forget to pull out the camera. I could photoshop her into a few but that wouldn't be any fun. Julie, you will have to come back. Next time a bit more time and we will go get some chocolate in Belgium!!!
Julie took to Amsterdam better than anyone I have met. At about 10:00pm one night I looked at her and said do you want to go out and ride to Tweedies? It is a local coffee bar by our house. She said yes but little did she know that she was going on a two-hour tour of the city with me before we would go. Most people are intimidated by riding here, but not her. She even had the added challenge of night time riding, NO BELL, and the bike was set up for Amy (small). She swore I was out to kill her by putting her on a bike without a bell. In two hours we were able to see the Pipe, Central, Rembrandts Square, The Port of Amsterdam, The Jordan, The Old South, and two of the other Red light districts that are not the tourist attractions that the one in the central is. We ended up stopping for a beer and then came home. No Tweedies. Sorry Julie. I put a picture of it on this so you can see what you missed. Just remember the porch. Much safer!!! The following day we went to dinner at a friends and Julie agreed to ride with me to get burritos. This time she was on the spare bike set up for her. What a difference it made. About 2/3 the way there she rides up along side of me and says "Are you for real? There isn't a Mexican joint closer?" I had to laugh and say it is only a 10 min ride to the place. Yes Julie, everything in 10 min here. By the way, there is a Mexican joint by Liedseplein (where we had beers) that is great. That is only a 2 min ride. SORRY.
Julie, we loved having you here and it makes us realize how good of friends we have in Portland and how much we miss all of you. I can't wait to have you back here. Next time you are taking us to Paris and showing us all your old hangouts!!
