Hangin' With Grammy and Oom-Poppa

While Zola had her first international adventure, Milo and Calder visited Grammy and Oom-Poppa in Pennsylvania. Grammy and Oom-Poppa made sure that the boys were sufficiently spoiled during their time away from their little sister Zola. Among their adventures were watching the city of York's St. Patrick's Day Parade, going to the Purim festival at the JCC, playing with electric trains while wearing railroad engineer hats, visiting the Baltimore Aquarium and watching the dolphin show, playing a new electric keyboard, building fires in Oom-Poppa's fireplace, visiting Oom-Poppa's office and riding in a backhoe, pretending to fly Oom-Poppa's airplane, attending storytime at the bookstore, enjoying many craft projects with Grammy, and playing at two different children's museums called "Hands on House" and the "KidsPlace." They even got to see snow flurries! At the end of the week we were surprised that Milo and Calder agreed to return home to South Carolina with us.

Zola Goes To Amsterdam

We recently returned from a trip to lovely Amsterdam, which was Zola's first overseas trip. She flew like a champ, not crying at all, charming fellow passengers all the way. Once in Amsterdam, we walked all over the city, enjoying the beautiful architecture and charming streets and canals, if not the crazy weather, which constantly switched from sunny and calm to windy, rainy, and hailing. Amsterdam is a very artful city with amazing museums and lovely antique shops, art galleries, and quirky stores.



On top of being in such a fabulous place, Zola got to meet two more relatives on our trip. We were lucky that Uncle Ben could arrange to fly in to Amsterdam from Tel Aviv, Israel, for a few days to join us around the city. And then, Auntie Alli took the bus over from Lille, France, to join us for the tail end of our sojourn.



On our first day in Amsterdam we visited the Rijksmuseum. Although this museum is about the size of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in size and collection, it is currently under renovation, and so only the museum's main treasures are on display in a very limited portion of the building. This turned out to be beneficial since we didn't have to traipse around the entire building seeking out all the star pieces of work (the Rembrandts and Vermeers, etc.). That night we sampled Indonesian food, which is very popular in Amsterdam, and then headed out to the Bimhuis/Muziekgebouw for a concert. Bimhuis puts on a program of concerts remarkably attuned to Justin's unusual taste in music, but tonight they were actually putting on a concert with slightly broader appeal--Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars--which was a lot of fun.

On our second day we spent the better part of the day visiting the Van Gogh Museum. In addition to the stunning collection of Van Gogh paintings, the museum had an exhibition of the work of John Everett Millais, including his satirical drawings, that was terrific. After a long and cold walk through the city that evening with Uncle Ben, we dined at a nice bistro right off Dam Square. We followed dinner with a stroll through the nearby red light district and then on our way home.

On our third day we visited the Anne Frank Huis (house), which was incredibly moving. Our visit was terribly claustrophobic, mostly because of the hordes of tourists packed into the secret annex in lines like cattle. Most annoying were a bunch of older tourists from Spain who insisted on pushing and cutting line without shame. Despite these annoyances, we were happy to see the house as well as the new wing with its forum for discussing free speech. Afterwards we walked down through the Negen Straatjes (Nine Streets) neighborhood with its quirky shops and architecture. There we found a lovely chocolatier, Pompadour, whose owner guided us to his other shop for lunch. After a feast capped off with a rich hot chocolate we continued our walk through the city and back to our hotel. That evening we ate at another Indonesian restaurant nearby and then met Auntie Alli once she arrived at the hotel we were all sharing.

On our fourth day Justin attended his philosophy conference, the reason for which we all were in Amsterdam, and Uncle Ben flew back to Israel. Zola, Auntie Alli and I decided to visit the Museum Van Loon, which was a restored canal house. This mansion, which was restored to its 18th century decor, was beautiful and very grand, and our visit was enhanced by the welcome video narrated by the last Van Loon heir, describing his experiences at the house, many of which were humorous. That afternoon we took a boat tour of the canals, which afforded us a wonderful view of the city's architecture, as well as a comfy spot to rest up from all of our walking. That evening we ate at a tiny Dutch restaurant enjoying hot soup and traditional pancakes (thin crepe-like pancakes with various fillings).

On our fifth day Justin's conference continued and we three women continued our long walks around the city. We returned to the Negen Straatjes neighborhood to browse in the many shops and enjoy some fine chocolate at Pompadour. Afterwards we walked along the Herengracht canal to De Handtassen (handbag) Museum, which we had spied on our boat tour the day before. Zola snoozed throughout this wonderful museum housing an impressive collection of handbags throughout the ages. We left the museum to walk over the Amstel river to the Hermitage Amsterdam, which was having an Art Nouveau exhibit. We were struck by the vastness of the Hermitage's collection such that it could easily share a number of its works of art with the Amsterdam branch. After the Hermitage we slogged home to our hotel through blinding wind and rain. That evening we met Justin for dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.

The next day, Friday, our visit to Amsterdam ended with our trip back to the US. More photos of our adventures are here.

Three

Well it's been nearly two and a half months now since Zola's birth, and the boys still seem to like their little sister. In fact, they really seem to love her. Milo's still all about holding Zola, giving her kisses, making her feel better when she's fussy, and telling her how much he loves her. The other day he even pretended to take a nap while holding Zola.

Calder, on the other hand, is ready to play with Zola. He's already taken to providing Zola with trucks and when asked whether he's going to teach Zola how to play, Calder replies: "To drive trucks!" Calder also enjoys showering kisses upon his sister's forehead.

Now, if only the boys could reserve some of such good, loving behavior for their parents.