He requested these little stuffed pancakes for his breakfast, so I got up early and had them made before getting him up.
He was pleased with his presents, but not happy about having to wake up early on his birthday. His plan had been to spend the day watching movies and finishing up with the SU game, which was actually on TV here. However, others had planned a very different day. He was required to do a service project for Confirmation that day. So he and Sam headed to a convent where I guess they did a lot of dusting, and what was supposed to be a 9-12 day ended up being closer to 8-3:30. Needless to say, he wasn't a happy camper. However, he came home and planted himself in front of the TV watching his movies, until it was time for dessert.
He had a few friends over and we invited friends over, and as you can see, we had cake balls, whoopee pies, and chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, the boys here do not eat nearly as much as my Gainseville kids, and I have a lot more left over than I had hoped!
Etna even decided to put on a show for Tommy's birthday....
These are not the best photos, but we are pretty far away. It was the first we had seen the eruption, although it has been pretty active lately. Really cool!
This month, we traveled to the Netherlands for the final championship meet of the year. The meet was held in Eindhoven, but we flew into Amsterdam and spent a day sight seeing before heading to the swim meet.
We started the day at the Rijksmuseum, where they house the most famous Rembrandt paintings. It was undergoing renovations, so there were only a small number of rooms open, but it was cool seeing the Rembrandt paintings in person after seeing pictures and reading about them in school. I think Sam took some pictures while we were in there, but I didn't take out my camera, so no photos here.
From the Rijksmuseum, we went into the Red Light district, which was relatively quiet since it was morning, but interesting none the less.
We headed that way for a reason. In one of the row houses, much like the ones you see behind Tommy and Sam below, is a really cool museum. It is called, Amstelkring Museum, or Our Lord in the Attic Chapel. There was a time in Amsterdam's history where Catholicism was outlawed, so this family decided to create a Catholic chapel in their home. The first 2 floors of the house remained living quarters, but in the top 3 levels they created a beautiful chapel. They cut holes through 2 of the floors creating balconies and allowing for an impressive alter space. It was not a large area, but it allowed for 150 worshipers. It was so beautiful, and impressive to think about all the work that had to be done in order to allow for the home to be totally transformed. I wish pictures were allowed, but if you are every in Amsterdam, I highly recommend you check it out.
From there we went to the Heineken Museum.
At one point, there was a tasting area where they teach you how to drink your Heineken. The woman put a beer in front of me, Tommy, Mike and asked Sam how old she was. The drinking age in the Netherlands is 16, and she had just assumed Tommy was 16, too bad he was a week shy of his birthday. Next year, after the swim meet, he can celebrate a good end to the season with a beer, weird!
After the Heineken museum, we went to a place called Electric Ladyland. It was a "museum" of florescent art. I did a bunch of research to find things to do, and on line this looked like it could be a cool place for the kids. It said there were paintings and different minerals and rocks which react to black light. It was a cool place, just not exactly what I would call a museum. It was the basement of a "geologist" or "artist", I am not exactly what he considers himself. He was an older dude with long gray hair and a long gray beard. I guess he is exactly the kind of person you would expect to be in Amsterdam playing around with black lights. He had collected what looked like a bunch of rocks from all over the world which glow under black lights. And we, or at least I, learned there are 2 different kind of black lights. He also had artwork from different people. Some of it was done with fluorescent paint and some was done by crushing these rocks and placing the dust in the correct area under only black light. They were pretty neat, but I can't imagine have the patience to do this. He also created his own scene. He built and then painted this scene in florescent paint so that he could turn off the lights and we could become part of the art. I will let the pictures tell the story.
Trippy!
Our final tour of the day, was the Anne Frank House. Again, no photography was allowed. It was a somber kind of tour. No furniture was in the house, but we were able to walk through the attic where she and her family hid out. There were photos and the decorations she had hung in her room. It was an interesting bit of history to walk through, and perhaps I will actually read the book now that I have bee there.
Then we drove to Eindhoven. Here are a couple of pictures from our drive....
Windmills! This was what I wanted to do when we went to the Netherlands. I had hoped for it to be spring so I could frolic through a tulip field in front of a windmill, but as you see, there was snow, and not tulips.
Finally, the main event.....
Tommy was pleased with how he did at the meet. It is always good to finish the season on a good note. Swimming is done for now, although he is continuing to practice in the mornings on his own. Next up, baseball and soccer season.
The day we left, we had a late flight, so there was still time for sight seeing. We started our day at this little restaurant for pancakes. It looked closed, but said open. We were the only people there, and the family was doing some rearranging of furniture, ironing, and other chores. However, they were happy to feed us and help translate the menu for us. Inside it reminded me a lot of the Dutch Pantry restaurants we used to stop at in Pennsylvania years ago.
The last thing we did while in Amsterdam, was to tour a real working windmill....
To the right is the screw that actually brings the water up and out of the canal
This wheel is outside, on the porch that you see above. It allows for the entire top of the windmill to be turned so that it is able to catch the wind.
The post below attaches the blades of the windmill to the screw at the bottom.
This is the view from the windmill.
An interesting fact about this windmill. It was moved to its current location, and when they moved it they had to add 2 stories in order for it to be high enough to be above other buildings and be able to catch the wind. In the extra 2 floors, they added a wedding chapel and a reception room. How cool would it be to get married in a windmill!?! (In the spring with tulips, of course!)
So it took a little longer to get this post up than I had planned. It took Tommy a while to get the video together and then it took him a while to upload the video to youtube. Finally, it is done! And I present to you Christmas in London
As I said in a previous post, we decided to spend Christmas in London this year. We had a week to spend there and there is a lot to see. My family isn't real good with spontaneity, so I had to plan how the week was going to be spent. Once I figured out our priorities and where we would go, I put together a brochure with our itinerary and printed out a copy of it for everyone. Although the weather made us have to change it up a bit, it was really helpful to have.
Christmas Eve at the airport waiting for the bus to the hotel.
Before we decided on going to London for Christmas, there was one important thing that we did not know. On Christmas day, everything closes in London, including public transportation and most restaurants. So I had to do a lot of research to figure out how I would keep us busy and how I would feed everyone on Christmas!
Fortunately, St Paul's Cathedral had a sung Eucharist mass in around 11:00. We wanted to See St. Paul's and what better way to experience it than during a service. It was beautiful and a wonderful experience for Christmas. That is St. Paul's behind me and Mike. I don't know if you can tell or not, but we are dripping wet. We got a cab at around 9:00 when it was not raining. By the time we got to the cathedral, it was pouring. We had a couple of hours to kill, so we walked around in the rain. It was nice to sit inside, dry out, and let the rain pass.
While the streets of London were empty, I had the kids pose with the phone booth, because that is what you do in London.
Starbucks to warm us up after mass.
After mass, we walked to Trafalgar Square where we met up with a walking tour. It was to be a tour about Charles Dickens, and I guess I was thinking "A Christmas Carol". It was not "A Christmas Carol". It was more general about London in the days of Dickens. It was interesting, and a good way to fill up our day, but it was not my favorite tour of the week.
Statue of George Washington in Trafalgar Square.
Fortunately, I was able to find an English pub that was open and taking reservations for dinner on Christmas night. As it turned out, our tour ended just in time for dinner, and the pub was a block away from where the tour ended. I patted myself on the back for the good planning, but everyone else was quick to tell me it was just luck since we had no idea where the tour would end, whatever ;)
Christmas dinner. For me, Mike, and Tommy: fish and chips. For Sam: a cheeseburger. It was all delicious. And, it was lucky we had reservations as it was tiny, maybe 10 tables, and full with a line of people waiting.
After dinner we walked over to Piccadilly Circus and walked around.
Now, you would think that Christmas day would be enough time for things to close, but not in London. A lot of places were also closed on Boxing Day. So we used that time to do the double-decker hop-on hop-off bus tour, which included 3 walking tours. We did the rock and roll one that day, and the Jack the Ripper one the next. Both were really interesting and with all three of the tours, we covered ground and saw parts of London I am sure we wouldn't have on our own. For dinner that day, we headed to a Christmas market. It was huge and a lot of fun. There were booths with vendors and food, and carnival rides. I don't know why we don't have Christmas Markets at home, I think it would go over really big in Fairport.
A little rain again, but not too bad. And Sam bought an umbrella, so she and Tommy were dry.
The lines up there are zip lines. You had to climb the stairs up to have the pleasure of jumping off, crazy!
Those are swings, can you imagine!?!
Without my itinerary, I don't remember the order of everything else we did, except for the last day. So I will just put up the pictures in random order.
At the Tower of London, which really isn't a tower so much as a castle where they held prisoners. The secret to the London Tower is get there early before the lines. The crown jewels were cool, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait in line to see them.
Tower bridge.
Shakespeare's Globe Theater.
The London Eye
From our capsule on the Eye looking at the people who had paid for the champagne experience on their capsule.
Sam on the Eye
That is Buckingham Palace way back there.
Let's call this next section the Harry Potter Tour
The next 3 pictures are of Leadenhall Market, which they used for Diagon Alley
Of course we had to take a trip to Platform 9 3/4!
One of the many bridges we walked over. You can tell that Tommy loved walking over the bridges. He was not happy I made him stop for a picture, but this was the most secure feeling bridge.
Tommy and a bust of Hercules in the British Museum
The last day we rented a car and drove out to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle
In Italy, they have signs on the hi-way for cow crossing. In England, you have to look out for tanks crossing. Can you imagine driving down the road and seeing a tank coming out of the fields?
The kids in front of Windsor Castle
Sam at the Roman Bath, in Bath, England. It is a natural spring with warm water, you can see the steam.
