It's Not You, It's Me

Good grief! Has it really been 3 weeks since that last big post? (I'm being facetious- I've gotten more guilt trip emails and reminders than I know what to do with, I'm finally caving here, people.) Let me see if I can pick-up where I left off...

The Barfing Flu

This family has a love-hate relationship with the barfing flu. We've all had it, once all of us in the same week, and it's just a gross part of the winter, like fruitcake and frozen dog poop. I left off the first Friday of our visit with the Yoburns and Kathryn- it was a short school day for Meg, and at noon we were all going to get Meg from school, hop on a train and head into Amsterdam for the afternoon/evening. Kip and Jesse were going to the New Model Army concert that night, so we planned on doing a little sight-seeing, grabbing dinner together and then going our separate ways for the night.

Well, I'm sure you can all guess what happened next- Megan hopped on the couch, said, "I don't feel great" and then went Barf-zilla on us. Not LITERALLY on us, but you know what I mean. Poor kid- they had eaten leftover goodies from the Kerst dinner at school that morning for snack, and she barfed all kinds of Christmas treats. We felt a total Deja-vu from the trip to Paris, and tried the "wait and see" approach, but she couldn't even keep down water, so I volunteered to stay with Meg while everyone else went into Amsterdam. With no kids. And lots of free time. And no kids. And no real agenda except a concert at night. Oh, and no kids.

Poor Meg was, at one point of the evening, sitting up on the couch with a tupperware bowl under her chin, watching Pippi Longstockings and throwing up water, not breaking eye contact with the television. I had to admire her commitment to the film. I also managed to have a total client drama that I had to address that evening, which just made things worse, and had to borrow the neighbor's car to try and get some prints made, poor green-faced Megan in tow with a to-go barf receptacle in her lap. After our failed attempt at solving client drama madness, Meg was finally able to hold down a little oatmeal and water, and I put her to bed, and the vomit part of this story is totally over now, sorry to those with weak stomachs.

Sister-Loser, The Sequel

At some point later that evening, perhaps around 11-ish, an email exchange began with Kip and myself in regards to the key to the house and whether Kathryn and Tewlyn had one. Kip and Jesse had left them around 8 PM, and since public transportation from Amsterdam to our house basically ends shortly after midnight, the guys started to worry and left the concert (and a chance to hang out with the band) to "find the women."

Now, I make no excuses for either party- it was hilarious to see how totally bothered the guys were that the girls had not contacted anyone as to their whereabouts that evening. My opinion was that they are grown women, they can find their way home whenever they want, I hope they had fun and have lots of stories to tell when they arrive. Now, sure, they guys almost got me on their worry-train of gloom and doom, and I did have pangs of "I hope they're not in a ditch somewhere, or went the wrong way on a train or something!" The guys got home around 1, Kip hopped in the borrowed car to see if he could get to Hoofddorp just in case they were stranded at the train station with no cab (last bus to our neck of the woods ran around midnight) and Jesse started walking to the bus stop to see if he could catch them on their way home.

Ah, worry warts.

The gals showed up about 20 minutes later in a cab, not a ditch, and with many tales about their evening in the city. After they parted ways with the guys they decided to make the most of their visit to the city and did what tourists do- they toured! They saw! They experienced! And, since they had no cell phone, they didn't call! So there! But, oh- those stories. They are much more than PG-13, and since I cannot change the names to protect the innocent I shall not tell all here, but oh, the stories. I was so jealous of their adventures.

Oliebollen, Oliebollen, You're An Oliebollen Baby

Saturday we dragged everyone out of bed at the crack of noon and eventually headed into Haarlem for some sandwiches, oliebollen, shopping and scenery. (I think I ate more oliebollen in the months of November and December than should be allowed by the American Heart Association.)



We strolled around the Haarlem Grote Markt where their old church was dolled-up for the holidays, grabbed some crazy kebabs from a street vendor.







Since we had such a late night the night before, and had a recovering kid, we took it easy and enjoyed a lazy Saturday evening at home.

NO Kids Even!

Sunday was another sleep-in day, since relaxing deteriorated into an evening of drinking and playing board games, and staying up way too late again. I love company!



Meg and Kathryn were going to have an Auntie day so that Kip and I could hit the 'Dam with the Yoburns, and FINALLY I got my day in Amsterdam with no kids! No kids even! Jess, Tew and I headed into town first to go to the Ann Frank museum, and we met-up with Kip afterwards for a quick bite at a pancake house - almost as good as ours here in Heemstede. ALMOST.





With about 2 hours to burn before our dinner reservation, we wandered the city and I photo-nerded around the entire time with my new 50mm lens. It really is fast, and it was made for the 5D- with the sunsets, busy store fronts and finally night shooting I was in heaven.











Seeing Red
Dinner was with a co-worker of Kip's, Tom, who is re-locating to Houston in early 2009. We met at Red, an upscale surf-and-turf restaurant with decor I would kill for. I ate dinner sitting on a smoke-grey velvet sofa, at the table. There was velvet everywhere, and a giant boudoir photo on the ceiling. I wanted to move in- or at least do a shoot there at sunset.





We had a great time talking with Tom and his girlfriend Kay, and found out that he has a very strange addiction to bad American movies. He cut the evening short, declining a night wandering Amsterdam with us, because he had "Short Circuit II" waiting at home. So, with no one to judge us, we marched STRAIGHT into the Red Light District to see what on earth it was like.

We Saw Things
Oh, dear, did we see things. Strange things. Terrifying things. Hilarious things. Stupefying things. Confusing things. It was an education just to look at the shop windows at the "accessories" and films. You never feel more normal and sheltered than when you are peering into an S&M shop window.



We even decided to take in a show, but did not heed advice of others and went to the club Moulin Rouge. I will not go into detail, but it was NOT great. It really was weird, and I just won't recommend going to see a show at that establishment. Now, the content of the show aside, the venue itself was off-putting: it was set up like a church, with pews, but then had a tiny stage, and then a bar. It was like if Charlie Sheen set up a church. And to top it off, after each "segment," the performer wrapped in a sheet and mingled with the audience. You had just seen this person and all their glory up on stage, but to converse, they put on a sheet. It all seemed so very odd to me.

Ok, so I'm gonna tell on Tew and Kat here- the night they disappeared they went into the Red Light District and saw a show, the BEST show according to everyone they asked in the area, and that was partially our inspiration for heading into the RLD for the night. Tewlyn kept reassuring us that the show THEY saw was a thousand times better, and when we got home later she made Kathryn swear she'd take me into Amsterdam to the "good" show so that my opinion of the RLD would be redeemed.

Sending the Yoburns Packing

Monday we took another trip into Haarlem for more shopping and sight-seeing (and oliebollen, of course), and to wrap up our visit with the Yoburns- they headed to Paris on Tuesday for 5 days of awesomeness, and we were so sad to see them go.

With the departure of the Yoburns, Kathryn had us all to herself! Next post, the Nosers take on the Netherlands, with a vengance! (Or at least a healthy sense of adventure.)