Jack-O Lantern

Last week we went to pick our pumpkins out. There is a nice little pumpkin patch right over the border in the Netherlands and we made a quick trip one evening. We didn't get to pick our own, but we had fun picking out one pumpkin per family member and one to carve.



Even though this is Brennan's 3rd Halloween it was his first pumpkin carving experience. I think it's safe to say that he enjoyed himself and he was a big help collecting the seeds to roast.



Finished product.

School Pictures

Brennan's first school pictures are in! They were taken the first week of school and Brennan was still adjusting. I think the new environment, formal photo shoot setting and a bunch of people directing him all in German contributed to his uncertain expression. I can't believe my little Bean is getting so big!





Brennan's class, teachers and principal. The kids are grouped by age, so he is in the 3 year old row at the bottom. The little girl to the left of him is his best friend, Saskia. They are so cute together and very wild. So much for beginning of the year shyness!

Delft, NL

After Haarlem we drove the rest of the way to Delft. I have been wanting to visit Delft ever since moving to Europe and it's one of those things that gets moved from weekend to weekend on our calendar. Well, we finally made it and Delft was everything I had dreamed of and more! The gorgeous fall weather may have contributed, but it really is a beautiful city. Our hotel was on a cute little square surrounded by restaurants. Sleeping 4 to a room actually worked out surprisingly well.



On Sunday we walked around the old section of town, beginning with the main market square. Here are some photos of the town hall, new church, and the house where Johannes Vermeer was born.



Here we are on a bridge over what is possibly the oldest city canal in the Netherlands. The old church is in the background and it's tower has quite the tilt. The red plush clog slippers belong to a Dutch tourist who I stalked in an attempt to photograph his footwear because I thought it was so funny.



Here are the leaning tower of the old church and a windmill that supposedly sails every Saturday. It looks like it's currently under construction so I'm glad that we didn't hurry to Delft from Haarlem just to see it on Saturday! Patrick patronized the fish stand pictured below, est. 1432! Hopefully the fish were fresh but we wouldn't know since we could not for the life of us identify what fried and breaded meat he had ordered. The more he tried to figure it out the less he was able to enjoy the food, until finally Patrick "The Finisher" Hudock actually threw out food. Amazing. We took a canal cruise to keep Brennan happy and learned, among other things, that about 400 bikes per year end up in the canals. The tour guide blamed this on drunk college students.



After our boat tour we grabbed some snacks from a bakery and ate lunch on a picnic bench back at our home square. Isla decided to wake up at that point and we took some photos of her transition from sleepy to smiley.



After dinner we strolled back to the main square for some ice cream before watching some Dutch tv and going to bed. On Monday we drove Patrick to his beachside hotel in den Haag and I hopped out of the car long enough for us to get a picture in front of the North Sea. The 2.5 hour drive home could have been worse and Brennan actually fell asleep for about a half hour, which is a miracle these days. Overall it was a great trip and I'm so happy to have such nice memories of Delft.

Haarlem, NL

Patrick attended a 3-day conference in Den Haag this week so we took a weekend trip into the Netherlands over the weekend and dropped him off on Monday. On Saturday we drove to Haarlem and spent the beautiful fall afternoon walking around the city. Saturday is market day in Haarlem so we bought a lunch of Greek bread, dips, and olives and found a canal-side bench for a picnic. Brennan was excited about the drawbridge and all of the boats and was kept pretty entertained.



Below are some of the famous gabeled roofs and a house of ill repute (bottom left with the red lanterns). I say that, but for all I know it has a great reputation... ;) We didn't have much of an agenda and just really enjoyed wandering around and taking it all in while every once in awhile referring to the guidebook. Brennan did great and Isla slept through the whole thing.

Trier

We have survived our first daytrip with two kids!! None of the adults cried and in my book that equals success. Just kidding, it was actually a very nice, laidback trip. Trier was having a Fall festival in the marketplace in front of the old Roman Porte Nigra so we browsed and bought some milk, brawtwurst, cheese, and a butternut squash for soup. We also checked out the Basilica and saw the oldest Christian church in Germany (bottom right). We lunched on doner kebap (Turkish sammie) and made it home in one piece!



It's hard to believe that Isla is 2 months old already! Here are the official stats:

Weight: 11.84 lbs. - (93rd percentile)
Height: 23.62 in. - (97th percentile)