Weekend in Amsterdam

We spent this past weekend in Amsterdam, hanging out with my brother and his girlfriend. We had a blast!

Our favorite things:

Drinking beer from Dutch microbreweries at t'Arendsnest (thank you New York Times article).

Looking at flowers

Going on a Mike's Bike Tour (Countryside edition) with the Wackiest Guide Ever.

Pretending I'm the owner of said Wacky Guide's Awesome Orange (of course) Fiets.

The end of the garbage-men strike (24 hours after we arrived; they had 12 days' worth in the city!)

 ::no pictures - that's a good thing::

Wandering aimlessly through the streets, taking random pictures of wonky houses

Waving at tourists on boats (and getting them to wave back)

Looking at (the wrong kind of) bells

Coveting bicycles (especially Bakfietsen)

Drinking more beer

Eating frites and frikandel, from the frituur recommended by the bartender at t'Arendsnest

Lifting up tiny cars

  Dutch trains, especially the doobledockers (sp?)

 Taking the ferry back and forth (Husband's idea)

Eating a really yummy lunch after finding a gaggle of happy Dutch people sitting outside a cafe, eating food that looked great

There are more pictures on Flickr but they're behind the "friends and family" wall - friend me if you want to see them!

NYC Recap 2 - SMILE!

After our adventures in Rhode Island, we went back to New Ro for the rest of the vacation.

We also spent the first afternoon back in the city - we took the train in, and were completely flabbergasted by the 75 cents Family Fare kid's ticket (one way, off peak only). John and I were on a ten-trip and so the whole thing cost $11.75 each way. Do you HEAR me, National Express East Anglia? OFF PEAK family travel can be reasonably priced! Sorry, rant over.

We subwayed ourselves up to the Met, where James extended his run of blue-tongued ice creams.

Exhibit A: blueberry Del's in Rhode Island

 

 Exhibit B: Inspecting his pre-Met ice cream with a taxi in the background.

 

Exhibit C: At the end of the pre-Met ice cream. Man, was he sticky.

James had never been to the Met, so we paid our $5 each (it was 3:30 and they were closing soon - the $20 suggested donation is just that - suggested), and zipped through the museum. Ancient romans, the temple, and a search for the Frank Lloyd Wright house (being renovated - sad!). We found a really funny Egyptian statue of a hawk, who was wearing what looked like a cross between a fez and a birthday hat, and had the most hilarious expression on its face. It was sort of a "you're REALLY not going to sculpt me for all eternity with this stupid hat on my head, are you?"  I couldn't get a decent picture without the flash, otherwise it would definitely have been LOLcat worthy.

On our way out, James spotted a sign for their SuperHeroes exhibit - he got to see the "real" Iron Man costume and various other Super costumes. It was a small exhibit but quite cool.

After the museum, we met up with Andrea and Liz in the city for some Yama crispy-shrimpy love. Mmmm. James decided at the last minute that he wasn't going to eat sushi, so he wolfed down some edamame and had teriyaki chicken while the rest of us ate the sushi.

On Thursday afternoon, Mom, Dad, James and I headed to Playland. Here we are, trying to decide what else to do (besides the Dragon Coaster, which James and I rode three times):

 That's me, waving to Dad!

Here we are, after the log flume. Man, were we WET!

 

And here we are at the end - James was a little overwhelmed by the whole thing but we *think* he had a good time. He was frowning in all of the non-candid pictures, though!

 

On our last day, Mom and Dad threw a porch party. It was an eclectic mix (as ever) of family, neighbors and friends. It was great to see everyone and round off our vacation!

Vacation Roundup: Wedding, NYC

I'm back in the UK...I didn't intend to take such a long blogging break but it was tricky to find time and sort out pictures without my Mac.

Anywho, still on my camera from before the trip to NY, a picture of the stepson and my niece rowing a boat. They managed to coordinate enough so that we didn't go in circles, although we were definitely wobbling...


Then, Friday night, our 'drinking club with a reading problem' got together in Andrea's fab new apartment. We hadn't all gotten together in ages, and it was very entertaining. My mom has a tshirt: "What happens with the girlfriends, stays with the girlfriends." Haha.


Then on Sunday I went to the wedding - it was the first one I'd been to for 2 years that I wasn't in (including ours), and I have to say it was SO relaxing. The wedding was great, with lots of fun people and fabulous music and I didn't have to wear anything specific or talk to anyone or be in any pictures or ANYTHING. Not to say that I haven't loved being in weddings, but they're a lot of work! So here was the setting (gorgeous):

And the bride & groom (gorgeous, again!):


Then, on Labor Day, I zipped up to RI to my parents' house, where I had the most relaxing 3 days I can remember. We went to a carousel on the first afternoon, via the bike path behind my parents' house. It's one of the last in the country where you can try and catch the rings as you ride around and then throw them into a target - I had the best time! My dad made a video - I'm not sure if it'll make it on to youtube but if it does, I'll post it.


To be continued...

Vacation!

Well, it's official - I know have 2 weeks off from work. Eek. I realized that I've never taken two whole weeks at once before - it's always been a week here or a few days there. I'm sure they'll be fine without me - I'm not one of those people who compulsively checks email or leaves rambling auto-responses giving details of their cell phone(s), personal emails, Skype names (!? - I had one of those today), other phones, and a detailed itinerary. Nope. If they need to find me, they will.

My dad has been scanning a lot of slides from his epic collection - here's a picture of me at the piano. Who knew that I'd end up in the music biz? (Well, maybe my parents did...)


We're going to see John's brother for a few days - it's always nice to just get away from stuff and veg at their house. Hopefully the sun will come out for at least part of the time we're there - it's been raining and COLD here for a solid week. Ugh.

John made a gorgeous dinner tonight - fresh cherry tomatoes from his mom's garden, roasted with garlic, onion and a chili, and then he added mushrooms and courgettes and some oregano and paprika. We had it over pasta and it was SO GOOD. I'll miss it when we go back to work and I don't have a full-time chef...

I heard a really funny term on the radio tonight while I was driving home (yes, the car is back!). It refers to someone who is slavishly devoted to their GPS (or Sat-Nav as it's known here), to the exclusion of all rational thought and external stimuli. The term? SatChav. I love it. Travis (my F-i-L) is the poster child SatChav.