Not only is Opa here, but Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Dan have come from Ireland for the weekend.  On Saturday we went to a market where Opa had a favorite Dutch treat – raw herring.

Dutch Sushi

  Then Henry went to the Museon with Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Dan to show them the Roman and the fossils and the badger tunnel.  William and Opa had  “birthday piggy” afternoon by themselves.   We all had a birthday dinner together with desserts from the bakery.

On Sunday we took a walk on the beach, but the wind drove the grown-ups inside before the kids had collected enough shells.

On the Tram

  So we took the tram to Delft.

The Giant's Shoe

  Opa, William and Henry had fun in a giant wooden shoe.  When we got back to Scheveningen we had a great time in Aunt Elizabeth’s hotel pool.  We wish they didn’t have to go home.

Tuesday was “reading breakfast” at school.   All the kids wore their pyjamas and brought their stuffed animals and breakfast to school.  We all sat at a big table to eat together.  Two of the girls brought something for everyone: pound cake, gingerbread and water crackers slathered with butter and sugar.

Breakfast at School

After breakfast some of the Moms read out loud to small groups of kids.  Mommy read a very funny book about a duck riding a bicycle.  It was in English, so we had a small group.

And then we had a great surprise at lunchtime.  Opa came to pick us up for lunch!  We had sandwiches at a very typical little Dutch cafe that looks like a box on the sidewalk.  We’re so happy he’s here.

Lunch with Opa

William Without his Tooth

Big news  – William came home from school with a loose front tooth on Thursday.  It didn’t fall out during his gymnastics class on Friday.  It didn’t fall out when he and Henry and Daddy were visiting bike shops or trying out merengues filled with whipped cream on Saturday (Mommy was at the archives).  It didn’t fall out at home on Sunday or at school on Monday. 

But when he was eating an apple for his morning snack at school on Tuesday, he felt something hard bouncing around in his mouth.  It was his tooth!  Henry ate up all the rest of the apple slices as fast as he could so that William could put his tooth in the baggie. 

Before he went to bed, William put his tooth in an envelope for the Tooth Fairy and left her an empty envelope as well, just in case.  And this morning there was an Irish two Euro coin in the envelope!