His and Hers

There are two sides to every story...The first half of this blog was written by Ben and the second half was written by me. We hope you enjoy every word...and the pictures above.

The Netherlands by bike! What a dream.
Written by Ben

After a week in the Netherlands, I’m getting a better sense of the Dutch character. My initial Dutch education was incomplete because I didn’t know that the Dutch were people in the Netherlands. I also didn’t know that the Netherlands is one of the greatest biking nations in the world.
I finally got my bike and had the opportunity to build it. Yes, I bought a bakfiets (That’s a Dutch Box Bike). It came in a kit, so I had to build it. I could give you the gory details, but building a bike out of a box in another language led to some stress in my life. Rather than being a backyard project that I could enjoy and tinker with. No, this was my freedom; this bike was my ticket to a chance to do something while Lindsey is at work.
I would like for the kids to remember this trip as touring the beautiful Netherlands by bicycle. I think that Ivy will remember some of the experiences we’ve already had. I think riding through fields of lavender and watching the giant white ox might make an impression. Or maybe roaming the streets of Utrecht might spark her interest in history.
I’m certainly looking forward to our bike trip to Lage Vuursche (aka pancake town) as a family. My bakfiets looks like a bicycle pushing a wheelbarrow, or more accurately a unicycle pushing a wheelbarrow. Its front wheel is extended forward and the bike has steering rods that connect the bars to the wheel. It’s really tricky to build (with crappy tools from bakfietsweb.nl), and it’s a little tricky to steer. My practice ride tomorrow will be the perfect opportunity to test it out. Really open her up and see what she can do. Then I’ll decide if she’s a keeper.
The Weather is something I have to bring up. Remember how I complained about not getting a real June or July? Well now you get to hear me complain about not getting an August either. It has been cold and rainy. We’ve had some beautiful weather but nothing warm, nothing that you could call August. I’m resigned to it though. My Bakfiets has a rain tarp, seat belts, and a rain canopy. The bike company also included a rain poncho for me.

Life in General

Written by Lindz

Ah the Bakfiets… Gotta love the Dutch bike in a box whose instructions are prefaced with, “we have made a few changes to the bikes so the instructions/pictures might not match exactly”. Um…Lovely!

Anyhoo, we made it through alive…and we live to ride on.

Last weekend was a grand weekend. We spent Saturday morning hiding inside from the horrible thunderstorms that threatened to ruin our day. We loaded up the car around 1 and headed for Utrecht which is a town about 20 km away. It’s larger than Hilversum, but smaller than Amsterdam.

My friend Jami, from work, and her husband Igor live there and their street was having its annual street festival so they invited us to come over. It was fun. When we’d had enough of the festival we walked into Utrecht center. We found a café along the Terrace (Canal) and enjoyed a beer. Then we wandered a bit more. We saw the tower which is part of an old church in Utrecht. The tower and church are beautiful. They were connected at one time, but about 300 years ago a hurricane hit Utrecht and the center part of the church collapsed and was never re-built, so now it’s a church and a tower, separate.
We finished our adventure in Utrecht with Dutch Mexican food. It was pretty good, but left us wanting…so we are still on the hunt for Mexican.
In all, Saturday was a fabulous day with great friends!
Sunday was shopping day for me and Jami. We loaded the babies into the car and headed to Leylstad. It’s a small town about 30km northeast from Hilversum. It’s a gorgeous drive on a windmill lined freeway. Leylstad is home to an outlet mall so I got to do some real shopping. It was glorious to spend the day shopping. The first part of the day was nice…and then it poured. It rained harder than I’ve ever seen. We literally saw a wall of water as we drove into it on the freeway. Talk about stress. J But, we made it home alive with all of our new wares.
Overall, we are still adjusting to life in Europe, but are settling in nicely. We are on the hunt for a babysitter we are comfortable leaving our babies with so we can enjoy a night out once in a while. I found a Tots and Me class at the Nike gym that Ben is going to try out with Ivy next Monday so that should prove exciting.
As for Ivy and Henry, they are growing like weeds. Henry can sit unaided for over 5 minutes now. Ivy is talking more and more each day…and she has added climbing to the mix. If you don’t know where she is, it’s a safe bet to check Henry’s walker or the stroller (if it’s setup). It’s pretty funny to see.
Check out Ivy’s new rain boots and Nikes. She loves them both and regularly sits and practices putting them on herself. It’s super cute!
Hope you enjoyed the stories and the pics.
More to come!
Love, Us.