Around Seattle

Seattle Public Library

The Seattle Public Library, designed by Rem Koolhaas, opened just a few years ago. I had seen the building in magazines and couldn't wait to see it in person. It was incredible. The NYPL should take some notes!

Nieuw Amsterdam

This year marks the 400th anniversary of Henry's Hudson's arrival in Manhattan. Two weekends ago, we joined a MAS walking tour called "When New York was Nieuw Amsterdam". It was fascinating to hear about how diverse and welcoming Manhattan was all those years ago. Sadly, because of two great fires, there aren't any buildings left from Nieuw Amsterdam, just the grid of the streets and some great anecdotes from our tour guide. It was nice to see lower manhattan through different eyes and to spend the day with friends. Erik and I were even interviewed for this Dutch website.

little peanut

Erik and I are expecting a baby September 18th and couldn't be more excited! We had planned to start trying for a little one in January, but when my period never arrived we started celebrating instead. I've had most of the usual pregnancy symptoms, but once I passed the 13 week hump last Friday, I began to feel much better. I've been sleeping a lot more while my body is busy forming the baby's little fingers and toes and everything else in between. We've tried to resist buying stuff for the baby, but picked up these swaddle blankets at Target last weekend. Meisje was a very willing test subject.

what we've been up to

Spring is almost here...finally! The last few weeks have been really busy. We've had two sets of visitors: Rein and Christa and Nick and Isabelle, we've seen two Broadway shows, celebrated Edwin's birthday at Wollman Ice rink in Central Park, saw Josephine's new paintings at Volta, met Aaron and Caitlin's newborn son Henry, and we both survived the 24 hour stomach bug. And, oh yeah, we are having a baby! More on that later.

Oma's 80th Birthday in Holland

Last weekend I flew to Holland to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday. The family organized a weekend on a farm somewhere in the middle of Holland. It was great to see the whole family together. Unfortunately Jenny was not able to go.
On Saturday we all made cheese. I had never done that before and was surprised how easy it was. I have not tasted it yet since it needs to sit for a few weeks before you can eat it. Surprisingly enough the biggest hit that weekend was Sjoelen, an old fashioned shuffle board game many of us had not played in years. My uncle Dennis ended up with the high score of 126 beating his wife Wanda by one point just before we left. On Monday I flew back to New York. Slightly jet-lagged but really happy I went.