Lausanne Half-Marathan by Nancy

This is Nancy writing. So we got back from our great week in Amsterdam on Friday night close to 1am. At 9am on Saturday, my friend Nina called and said she was going to do the Montreux to Lausanne half marathon the next day. "You're kidding," said I. Then at 2pm Nina called back and said, "I just signed you up for the half marathon." So on Sunday, Nina and Sally and their two cute little boys, and Heather and Dave (Sean's sister/brother in law, who are visiting) and Molly and Noah drove up to near Montreux (Rachel had to stay home to do homework:(). It was a bit chilly and drizzling (perfect running weather) and, after leaving the gang in an Italian restaurant for lunch, Nina and I started the race (at the bizarre race time of 2pm). The key was to pace ourselves, particularly because I had not run more than 6 miles in at least six months, probably longer. The run was beautiful, it went along Lake Geneva for much of the time, wound through a few old villages with cobblestone streets. There was a different live band every 2 km. There was one particularly entertaining band, dressed in turquoise and lime green outfits and looking significantly like Dr. Seuss characters. I loved that many of the spectators had set up their little tables with glasses of wine to watch people run by. So French. It also was funny that one of the ways I amused myself along the run was to do the math to figure out how many kilometers a half marathon was. I computed correctly, but there were enough differently numbered race distance signs along the road for people doing the half, the marathon, or the 10K, that I actually was quite unsure of how far we had gone (didn't want to get my hopes up) and we were not sure until about 1/4 mile from the end that we were actually approaching the finish line. Anyway, we finished, and we were ecstatic. We indeed ran the whole time, we did it in 2 hours and 13 minutes (basically a 10 minute mile) and then started to look for our family. Nina, whose French is a bit better than mine, was the one to approach strangers to ask to borrow their cell phone. We couldn't find Sally or Heather and also couldn't reach them on these borrowed cell phones. After about an hour, we started to get cold (grateful for the plastic garbage bags they gave us to wear), but fortunately I had put 135 francs (more than $100!) in my shoe pocket (Nina had said we might need it for a cab if we couldn't run). We bought capuccinos and crepes at roadside places and, like mac and cheese when you're backpacking, nothing had ever tasted so good. We finally connected with our family, who had been gloriously sightseeing at the 1000 year old Chillon Castle, and they made their way to us 1.5 hours after the race ended. All around a spectacular day!

Amsterdam vacation by Nancy

We are spending our half-term break in Amsterdam. Yesterday, we did a day excursion to the Zaanse Schans village. It’s a place where original buildings from other parts of Holland have been assembled so visitors can see some of “Oud Holland”. We took a train and then walked about 15 minutes to get there. We did a tour of a biscuit and chocolate factory (so far, a chocolate factory in every European city we visit…) and also looked through the wooden shoe making shop, the cheese making shop, and the old grocery store. There are many sheep, goats, and cows, with whom Molly visited. Probably the highlight was going into one of the six old windmills. The one we visited was a sawmill, and the power from the windmill was used in the pretty huge space underneath to cut logs into planks, with both straight and circular saws. We climbed up to the top (reminded us of climbing the Gay Head Lighthouse) and the very nice, older, Dutch volunteer gave us a lot of information about windmills. He had apparently recently retired and just been certified as a “miller” after much studying. He stopped the blades and we touched them and learned what to do when the wind is too high. Then he let Noah pull the rope to start the blades spinning again saying, “You can now tell your friends that you set a Dutch windmill in motion”.
We have gone to the Anne Frank house, which was remarkable. Even more exhibits and sections than I remember from when I came here with Nancy Showen in college. It’s been very cold here, so when we rented bikes to go through the large Voldenpark, we had to stop at the Blue House coffee house for large mugs of hot chocolate before resuming our biking. Afterwards, we found a cheap spot to buy hats and mittens. Fortunately, we also found a place where, according to Noah, “there are the best french fries I’ve ever tasted.” I think the exact quote was something like, “They are really big, and when it’s really cold, they are crispy on the outside and warm on the inside and so good.”

Noah's birthday adventures

This is Sean writing: We had a very nice time celebrating Noah's birthday today, one highlight of which was the outing to Forestland with Samson and Friso. They had an excellent zip line course that involved a lot of walking across swingin logs and cables suspended 4 meters off the ground, and several fast long zip lines that led from one tree to another. All of the boys seemed at ease with the harnesses and hardware, and all of the techniques necessary to navigate the 1.5 hour airborne adventure course. The day went from excellent to outstanding when it was discovered that the local food specialty was hot dogs and french fries. The orders of fries was large enought that all 3 boys were able to share with their humble (and hungry) chaperone. The last hour or so included a lot of jumping and tumbling on trapalenes and large inflatable slides and obstacle courses. We knew it was time to go home when Friso took a tumble on a slide that produced an impressive amount of blood, and required a visit to the doctor for a couple of stitches in his lower lip. Everyone took that mishap in stride, including Friso's mom, and it provided an exclamation point for the sort of daredevil antics that an 8 year old is likely to remember for a good while.

You can have a look at Noah's arboreal finesse by clicking on the video below. You will hear Samson giving him important advice and encouragement toward the end.

Nancy made another one of her cake masterpieces (pictured at the top) - guided by her unique ability to identify subtle clues related to the passions and preferences of her children. In Noah's case, we are talking about sugar. He also happens to enjoy building legos. Rachel and Molly were very happy to join this part of Noah's excellent 8th birthday adventure. Happy Birthday Noah!!