thanksgiving - dutch style

Last year for Thanksgiving, we had an informal Mexican feast with a few expat friends.  This year, we went a more traditional route by accepting an invite to dine - turkey dinner and all - with some American friends in Wassenaar.
First, though, Ryan and I took advantage of the fact that all 4 of our little people were in school for the morning.  We headed to the Pieterskerk in Leiden, where the pilgrims originally settled before journeying to the new world.  Each year Americans living in the NL gather to celebrate our heritage.  It was informative (considering I never new that the pilgrims settled in Holland) if a little dull.  It was fun to hear and sing our American hymns though, and also neat to see the Boy Scouts post the colors.  Seeing boy scouts, belting out "america the beautiful," and saying the pledge were exciting...which officially makes me one of those weird multi-national cross-culture people I think.  Sigh.  Here are the blurry blackberry pictures...

 On to the feast.  After we picked the kids up from school, and after I ruined a lemon meringue pie and picked up 2 replacement pies from multi-vlaai, we headed to the Carruth's place to feast.  Check out James and Ruth - 7 kids and their place runs like a well oiled machine.  AND she is an amazing cook.  They are my heroes!

 Texans, Californians, and Canadians - we party with 'em all!

 Like how E&A are in their pajamas for dessert because they have school the next day?  Yep, they crashed on the way home.

 A peak downstairs at the holiday entertainment...

Hello desserts!  We might have had more desserts than food.

 And here is an unflattering close up of me and my guy.  I am most thankful for our family and the amazing adventures that we have together.  We are becoming more and more of a team each day.

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love."
President Thomas S. Monson, The Divine Gift of Gratitude, October 2010 General Conference

The French Riviera

Don't I sound so sophisticated gushing about my summer in the South of France?  I mean, who AM I?  Some trust-fund-hipster on college break?  Some preppy Brit taking his family on holiday?  Weird - I thought I was just a California girl who grew up in a small town in Texas and married an Idaho boy who milked cows and worked at a potato factory growing up.  Oh yeah, I am.  But you probably wouldn't have guessed that looking at these pictures…

 Nice

 Our review on sand-free pebble beaches - painful on the feet, easy on the clean up.

Happy Meals on the beach make happy children! 

No beach parking - good thing our little french apartment was just a sunny stroll away.

Colorful buildings at every turn - kind of looks like the set of a musical, but sadly none of the frenchies danced about or spontaneously burst into song.

Waiting outside the apartment, ready to head for the beach.

The littles were extra hungry, so we ordered an XL pizza.  Biggest pizza I've ever seen!

Date night with my dude - one of the many advantages of bringing Nana on our summer trip.

None of the nighttime pictures really turned out, but it was so pretty at night.

Monaco

We drove one of the three corniches (the middle one, I think) connecting Monaco with Nice.  The views were so spectacular - we kept pulling over to take pictures and take it all in.

 

When we arrived in this tiny country (the tiniest in the world apart from "the vatican" - which doesn't really count), we ditched our car and set out on foot.  Not too much ground to cover...

The castle

Some monkeys at the castle

Yacht parking? 

Enjoying the views

We love magnum bars - they are just taking off in the US, but they are REALLY popular here.  You haven't lived if you haven't tried the double chocolate caramel, by the way.  I introduced it to my mom while she was here and it changed her life.  Truly. 

Choices, choices.

Over priced souvenirs

Taking another ice cream break

This is some sort of government building.  I just loved that it's pink, love the symmetry, love the topiaries.  Very English garden, don't you think? 

Here's where Princess Grace got married. My mom and I might have walked down the aisle pretending to be her.

The Monte Carlo Casino, baby! 

See the reflection of the casino behind me?  This was a prime spot for people watching and, of course, car watching. 

We wanted to see if the mall was as fancy as the rest of the place... 

Yep, sure was!

Antibes

It's back to the beach for the Andersons!

 

The tide kept coming in, so Ry and the littles came up with a solution to protect Nana.

Out and about...

We strolled around this little french market, and the next thing we knew, we were surrounded by a wedding party!

More yacht and boat parking 

 

Aves

Cute sisters 

I couldn't get over how pretty this alley was.  I took dozens of pictures of it, and none of them looked as pretty as it did in person. 

 

And there you have it - the French leg of our summer trip!  Now it's on to Italy where we did less beaching, more site-seeing, and WAY more eating.