Everyone here is a little nuts about ice skating so one of the first things we did when we got here was buy ice skates.  We got to use them on Sunday at Westbroekpark.  It has a long river that widens into ponds.  The whole river hasn’t frozen yet, but one of the ponds has.   There were about forty people on the ice, mostly skating along a winding track that two brothers had cleared with a shovel and a broom.  A man kept circling around with a broom as the neighborhood zamboni.

Zamboni William

William brought our broom along so we cleared a little space for the boys to practice on.  But before long Henry was gliding along with the rest of the crowd.  So of course William joined in too.   They fell but got right back up and kept going.

Henry Skating like a Dutchman

After a while William and Daddy got off the ice to roll a giant snowball on the playing fields.  Henry skated until he needed a snack.  Then he went to help roll.  The boys wanted to bring the snowball home, but it got so big that Daddy couldn’t push it anymore.  We had to give it arms and a face and leave it with all the other giant snowmen.

Now That's a Snowball!

Henry eating stroopwafel

Today William used his new Dutch skills to order his first Stroopwafel at the street market. He had to ask for them in Dutch and had to pay with 2 Euros. Although the syrup was steaming hot we found out that zero degree weather cools the syrup off very quickly.

Henry, William and Dada all enjoyed the Thursday street market. The boys found the ribbon and bead stall to be very interesting.  We ended up buying some chicken, ‘delicious meatballs’, grapes and tomatoes.

Boys enjoying bead/ribbons at market.

We are looking forward to going to the market every Thursday after school.