Brommer trouble

It's not always roses and sunshine in the Netherlands. Sure, having a brommer to get around on is just absolutely awesome! But then again, it does also suck an extra lot when it stops running.

Luckily it was only a popped tire that had to be taken care of.
Nothing Ben and Thom can't handle.

Go Amsterdam Admirals!

Ever heard of a game called American Football? Sure, YOU guys have! For us Dutchies it's a little bit of a newer concept, but we're trying! We have, to be exact, one team in the European Football League, the Amsterdam Admirals. And although it may not be the best team in the world, it sure is fun to go to one of their games!

We went with our friends Jochem and Harry

Ben Brown-nosing with the Admirals mascotte.

May 5th 1945

May 5th 1945, the date on which the beautifull country of the Netherlands was given back to the Dutch after 5 years of German suppression. O, and by the way, it was you guys who gave it back to us, so thanks ;-)

In Nieuwegein, our home town, their was a re-enactment of a siege of the city. Everybody was dressed up in their '45 army get-ups and their was cool millitary equipment everywhere. Ofcourse, being a real American, it was no problem for Ben to climb into one of the Willy's jeeps.

Working in the yard

After spending the last few months trying to make the inside of our house look to our liking, it is now time to pretty up the outside a little bit too.

The last couple of weeks we've been trying to get our backyard in shape. And with the help of my dad and our junior emotional support team it's looking better by the day.

Hard work shovelling all that dirt. Good thing Annique and Vincent are keeping an eye on things.

"Yep, looks like the dirt's going in the right direction."

And our junior team just absolutely loves Ben's comic intermissions.

From left to right: Vincent, 2 years old, and the baby of the pack, seen that way also by Annique (redhead), who is 2,5 years old. Elvira, 5 years old, sister of Vincent and with her seniority automatically the leader of the pack, followed by Hidde, brother of Annique, who at 4 years is always trying to catch up to Elvira.

Long live the Queen!

April 30th is a national holiday in the Netherlands. It's the day we celebrate our Queen, making the day: Koninginnedag, or Queen's day.


Since our royal family is called the House of Orange, the whole country dresses up in orange on this day and goes out and parties. Ofcourse Ben had to be introduced into this tradition and below is a picture of us Dutchies in orange.

Tullips, tullips, tullips!

A couple of weeks ago we visited the Keukenhof with my parents. According to all Dutch travel guidebooks, THE must see attraction in the Netherlands. It was the first time Ben went to see and coincidently also the first time me and my parents went there.

The Keukenhof is a park absolutely full of Tullips and it was gorgeous. I'm sure you guys (or mostly you ladies) would love to go see it when you're over here.

click on the pictures below for the full sized image