In May we had a visit from Uncle Blair, Aunt Sue, Uncle Bob, and Aunt Laurie. They were our last visitors before Papa comes to take the kids home. Which also meant that it was the last time that we would visit Venice or the Dolomites.
Here we are getting ready for a gondola ride. It was Sue and Laurie got the comfortable seats, while Blair and I got stools and Bob a chair.
This house immediately caught my eye and our gondolier told us that it was Marco Polo's house.
The view from the "good side" of Rialto, since the other side is covered with scaffolding and a Diesel shoe advert.
Had never see this view before on my many trips to Venice!
Nor this! Very cool. Thanks Bob & Blair!
On Saturday we lazily made our way to the farm stay in the Dolomites. We at lunch in a glacial valley and stopped to tour Vittorio Veneto on the way, where many sweets were purchased. The barn is on the right and the two apartment building are on the left.
We drove up the Costalunga Pass and parked at the base of the ski lifts, which we were told would be open. Negative, Ghostrider. Still, we had fun on a small hike up the mountain.
The view from both directions was stunning.
We shed Laurie and Sue at the edge of the pond in the lower right corner where they found a bench to relax. Actually, that was a water hazard that was part of the golf course at the base of the ski lift. What an epic place for a round of 18.
A candid shot of the kiddos. What a childhood!
I love this shot of Ashley and Blair contemplating the beauty around them. Really sums up the whole day well.
I made them turn around for a more classic shot.
This trip was a dream come true for me. When I was younger, Blair and Bob did a lot of things for me to make my childhood magical. The cabin in Tahoe, the trip back east, the many water and snow skiing adventures, etc. It was great to be able to pay them back in some small way.
We decided to revive our handstand competition from the beaches of Naxos, Greece to the mountain meadows of the Dolomites. Again, Ashley's form is better than mine, but again, I outlasted her.
Next stop was Lago di Carezza, a beautiful spring-fed mountain lake with a legend about a fairy who lived under the water. This tree was on the hike around the lake and we loved the exposed roots. This picture is also a game of "Where's Georgie?" Can you find her?
Juliet at the lake. Absolutely stunning.
In the left lower corner you can see a sculpture of the fairy. The level of the lake varies significantly and sometimes she is completely submerged.
This was my favorite part of the day. We drove up the Fassa pass and found this little plateau along the rode. We walked out onto it and revealed in the 360 degree views of the Dolomites.
Juliet with the Sasso Lungo group at the top of the Fassa pass.
We found a place for dinner in the valley and walked to the restaurant from a small park. I could not resist taking pictures of Juliet holding my Uncle Bob's hand.
Although it had been four years, she knew who Uncle Bob was because we refer to "Puff the
Magic Dragon" as the "Uncle Bob song".
The next generation.
The next day we slowed packed up and headed back home, making a quick stop on Prosecco Road along the way. I love the Osteria Senza Oste as you can just enjoy nature without having to worry about buying anything.
Thinking about asking my Dad to paint this one for me. I am still waiting for the paintings I ordered from him last year...
We ate entirely too much cheese and gelato, but what else is new? They had a great time and we thoroughly enjoyed being with them again. It was like no time had passed. It was also great for my family to get the chance to spend quality time with Blair, Sue, Bob, and Laurie individually, since usually when we are together there is a huge mass of people. I am glad that we are moving back to the US where we will be closer to family. Only about 7 hours to New York from Dayton!
For Spring Break 2016 we went to Amsterdam. We had originally planned to go to Brussels and Bruges in Belgium, but the day before our flight was the day of the terrorist attacks at the airport there. So we lost some money on the hotels that didn't give us a refund, but thankfully were nowhere near the tragedy.
Ashley had reserved a houseboat for us on the Amstel River. Here are Isaac and Georgie standing on the bridge that took us over another houseboat to ours.
The first morning we went to a bakery for breakfast, where we ate large amounts of apple pie with whipped cream, and then found a small city park to play in for a few minutes.
This is on the Prinsengracht (Princess Canal) looking towards the Westerkerk bell tower and the Anne Frank house.
Walking through the Jordaan neighborhood with Westerkerk in the distance.
Juliet looking out over the Leliegracht.
Juliet fell in love while window shopping. Not sure if this was a pet store or a random dog in a store. Look at how well his coloring matches her jacket!
Amsterdam is bicycle heaven, as everyone knows, and while walking around we found this four-seater bike. Just need one more seat to make it our official family vehicle.
This is on the Herengracht with Westerkerk in the background again.
After exploring the Jordaan neighborhood we went to the Rijksmuseum. It had the best kid activity ever: a sketch pad on which the kids could draw their own pictures inspired by the artwork around them.
Lemons.
After the museum we visited the Bardsleys, friends of Cary and Kregg Rogers. Donna and Mark lived in Moraga when Cary and Kregg lived in Bob and Laurie's basement and became very close friends. They have lived in Amsterdam for about five years and their three kids are fluent in Dutch, although they still struggle. Too many people in Amsterdam speak English perfectly. We had a great night getting to know each other and sharing stories about Cary and Kregg. I was at the end of Moustache March and therefore looked like a creepy pedophile.
The next morning we toured the Anne Frank House. It is a ridiculously popular tourist attraction. The line was two hours long 45 minutes before it even opened. You can buy tickets online and walk right in, but you have to buy them at least one month in advance and we missed the window. Still, it was a fascinating tour through the actual annex where they lived for two years in hiding.
Not sure where this is, just another random lovely street in the city.
After Anne Frank we caught the bus to Zaanse Schans, a living diorama of what the Netherlands used to look like before fossil fuels. There are several restored/rebuilt windmills along the water that perform various functions.
This is the windmill that is used to crush chalk for making paint.
The large wheels spin and crush the chalk. In the floor above you can see the gears that turn the horizontal spinning into vertical spinning.
On the windmill platform. Those blades come by so fast it is scary.
It was a little bit windy.
This is the windmill that saws trees into logs. It was fascinating. The thinly spaced blades cut the tree into boards and the widely spaced blades cut the boards into the right width. All fossil fuel-free. Except the construction.
A close-up of the saws in action.
This was Ashley's favorite, of course.
The view of the other windmills from the lumber mill.
What a childhood.
The old fashioned houses.
And of course, the wooden shoes.
Klompenmakerij - what a word.
They still like each other. Wonder how long it will last?
Too cute.
Lest you think those were the only over-sized novelty wooden shoes...
I love this sequence of pictures because of Georgie's hair.
And still it continues.
Isaac managed to keep a good smile the whole time.
There we go, much better. Except something happened to Isaac.
The saddest part was that these shoes weren't even wooden! The were plastic! Or metal, can't remember.
The next morning, our final day, we decided to rent bikes, since that would be only proper in the cycling capital of Europe.
We rode south of Amsterdam along the Amstel river to a small town called Ouder Amstel. It was only about 45 minutes or so and had great views of old windmills, beautiful homes and gardens, and the Ajax football stadium.
George in action.
We ate at this small pub there that had excellent apple pie.
Georgie cannot believe her own childhood.
We decided against a tandem bike for Juliet and went with the basket instead. A good call, except that I was a little unsteady at first on the busy streets.
One more shot of the windmill.
The final activity. These enormous letters that spelled "I amsterdam" were in front of the Rijksmuseum at first, but on our final day they moved them in front of the Opera House which was right by our house boat. This was a parting shot. We had a great time and were sad to miss out on Belgium, but we ate chocolate, fries, and waffles in Amsterdam to make up for it, not to mention many, many stroop waffles.
