Weekend Fun

Happy Monday I mean Tuesday! We did quite a bit this weekend but it still felt like a relaxing weekend. Isn't that the best? We had been planning on driving up to Northern Holland on Saturday but the weather was terrible and there would not have been much to do indoors. Since we were all ready to go early in the day, we headed into the center so we were there right when everything opened. We did some Christmas shopping, ate lunch and then made our way over to the train museum. Elliot and I have been multiple times but Brent was a first timer.

Playing with the gears

Hi Mama!

My little conductor

Playing outside 

On Sunday it was Sinterklaas parade time. I've written about our previous parades here and here. The weather was really rainy and gross but with this being our last holiday season living here we were determined to go. We went with a few other expats and their kids. Elliot didn't quite know what to think about it all. Or maybe he was just tired because it was nap time :) 

Zwarte Piete

Trying to stay dry and warm

Elliot waving at Sinterklaas

Lots of people braving the rain

Singelloop 10k

Last Sunday I ran the Singelloop 10k in Utrecht. It was a nicely organized race and the route through the city was great. It started in the park right by our house(so awesome!) and it ended on a pretty street in the city called Malibaan. The street is lined with trees on both sides and was such a great way to end the race. An even better way to end it was with a personal best time for me! I was not expecting that since the race was the day after we got back from Istanbul.  The route went right past our house so Brent and Elliot were outside cheering for me and then cheering again at the finish line. It was so great to be able to spot the two of them as I was coming up on the finish! You can't really tell in the pics but there was awesome crowd support along the entire race. They had multiple races going throughout the day and the 10k was the last one so I wasn't sure if there would still be people out cheering. Thankfully, people were still out. It always helps to make races a little easier when lots of people are clapping for you.

Headed over to the start

Running right past our house

My two favorite spectators :) 

Great view of the street

Still smiling even at the end

Walking back to the after race party in the park

Next up is the Amsterdam Half Marathon in 2 weeks!

Kingsday 2014

This past weekend we celebrated Kingsday. I've talked about our celebrating Queensday the past two years here and here. This year we celebrated with friends of ours at a park in the city. The weather was wonderful and Elliot loved spending the days outside with everyone. We parked ourselves right on an open piece of grass right across from the packed park. It was the perfect mix, we got to see all of the action but had plenty of room to relax.

I had no orange so thankfully Elliot and Brent pulled the weight for our family

Celebrating Kingsday and our sleeping babies

Part of our group

Elliot and Auntie Mel

Loving Kingsday!

Bente was going in for a kiss

Family in the city

Don't worry, it wasn't open :) 

The men and their babies

Weekend Recap

We had a wonderful weekend over here! The weather was beautiful both days(in the 50's) so we made sure to get out and enjoy the nice weather.

On our walk along the canal on Sunday

The park by our house. Seriously, flowers blooming in February!!

When I went in to get Elliot on Saturday morning, this is how I found him.

I guess his left arm got warm in his sleep :) 

Eliot had his first music class on Saturday and we both had a lot of fun. He loves banging the egg maracas and the dancing around with his mama. It obviously wore him out because with 5 minutes of walking out of the class he was asleep in the stroller. He has NEVER fallen asleep in the stroller before! Brent and I took advantage of it and went on a nice walk around the park. 

On Sunday Brent and Elliot got creative with some new games. Apparently E's toy bin makes for a great ride :) I need to figure out how to post videos so you all can hear his giggles. That is all I heard while I was making dinner and it was the greatest sound. 

Clearly he loved it

Happy Boy

It looks like the nice weather in supposed to stick around this week so Elliot and I will be out enjoying it everyday! 

Have a great Monday!

Favorites from the week

Happy Friday! I'm going to try checking in on Fridays with some of my favorite things from the week. Hopefully I can stick to it!

1. Elliot has been saying "mum" all week. I keep telling Brent he is trying to say mom, but he thinks that he was born in Great Britain and not the Netherlands :) Either way it is super cute and every time he does it I smile.

2. Last night I got to have a night out with my friend Melissa.  We went to the same place we went to my first night leaving Elliot after he was born, which meant I got to have some of their awesome sangria again! It was so nice having a couple hours to myself.  Elliot did great for Brent and stayed asleep most of the time I was gone. 

Old picture but same delicious sangria!(this was before I cut my hair! I forgot how long it was!)

3. In Wednesday Elliot and I had a coffee date with my friend Daina and her daughter Bente. 

So much fun having another friend here with a little one! We have plans to have weekly meet ups until she goes back to work!

4. Last Saturday(i know technically not this week) I went to a hot yoga class with one of my friends. I haven't been to a yoga class since I was 7 months pregnant and it felt so awesome to do a class again. They have a class during one of Elliot's naps so it is perfect since one of us would have to be home anyways! I'm hoping to make it a regular thing so stay tuned! (no pictures of this because I promise nobody wants to see how sweaty hot yoga makes me :))

5. On Monday, Elliot and I went for a nice walk with my friend Lindsey and her 2 daughters. Her youngest daughter is 5 months older than Elliot and her oldest will be 3 in a couple weeks. The 3 year old LOVES Elliot and loves "watching" him for me :) 

6. Elliot finally getting over his jet lag. Let me tell you it was a rough few days when we got back from Minnesota. Thankfully we turned a corner this week and little man is back to sleeping all night again! 

Playtime when he was jet lagged ended like this many days

As you can see we had a pretty busy week with lots of get togethers, which has been great! It's nice to have some things to get us out of the house during the chilly months.

And just because this post needed another picture of Elliot! Seriously he looks like such a big boy!

Have a good weekend!

Mindy

Holiday Season

The Dutch Holiday season kicked off this past weekend when Sinterklaas came into town. You might remember we went to the festivities last year, but this year was a bit more fun with Elliot. Fun fact, the day after the Sinterklaas parade last year was when we found out we were expecting E!  Such a change in a year! We met up with our friends Sam and Dan before the parade, just like last year and we all got our spot along the canal.  It wasn't that cold out but we knew that we would be outside for awhile so we made sure to bundle E up. We had intentions of only doing the canal parade this year, but the parade with Sinterklaas on his horse ended up blocking our route home, so we saw that as well! Here are some of our pictures from the day. 

A common look for me, Starbucks in one hand and Elliot in the Ergo carrier :)

E got a good nap in on mama before the parade

Woke up just in time

Elliot got quick a lot of attention from the people on the canal boats.  Quite a few people yelled out, "Leuk Beertje!" which is cute little bear in Dutch. 

Smiles for the people going by

Papa and Elliot

The boys, Brent, Elliot and Dan

Elliot with the ladies

The big guy, Sinterklaas is here!

Notice this year there are far less picture of the parade and way more of a certain baby :) 

This parade made Brent and I even more excited for the holidays this year. These events are definitely more fun now that we are parents and know that as Elliot grows so will his excitement.

Oma and Opa come to town!

The past few few weeks Elliot has been spending some great time with his Oma and Opa Anderson.  Brent's parents came into town for a few days before they spent some time in France and then came back to Utrecht again.  We all then traveled to Berlin together for a work event for Brent and Chuck.  It was so great for Elliot to get to spend so much time with family!  Thank you for the visit Chuck and Mary and for all the love you showed our little guy!

Meeting Opa for the first time

 Snuggles and smiles for Oma

Walking in the park

Keeping Elliot entertained at lunch

Oma loves black licorice!