Day Trip to Haarlem

 

Hello Haarlem!

Beautiful, isn't it? We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.

We started off with walking the cobble stone streets and admiring all the little shops. Then, it was off to tour the Grote Kerk (Great Church), which sits on the main square.

(oooooooo, ahhhhhhhh)

This is not the original church; a fire burned that one down. This relatively new church took 150 years to build and was finished in 1540. Take a close look at the tower; the tower was classified as part of the town's defense since Napolean used it as a lookout.

Our favorite feature of this church was inside...

That gorgeous organ behind Jason and Atticus dates back to 1738 and is 100 feet high. We had the pleasure of listening to its song echo through the church, however, we couldn't help imagining how amazing it would have been to be there when Handel, Schweitzer or 10-year-old Mozart were at the controls.

Of course, there were other neat things to see and learn about in the Grote Kerk, but we will let Atticus take centre stage for a moment.

"Hi, everyone!"

After the church, it was off to enjoy the ambiance of the market, to eat lunch and wait until our next tour.

We love going to market (Leiden has a nice one as well). It is fun to see how many new things we can try while we are there. Herring is a particularly popular item and Jason is definitely a fan. Here is a family photo in the market, with Grote Kerk in the background.

The town hall is also on the square, but we are facing it so you can not see it in the photo. 

In the afternoon, we went to a tour at the Corrie ten Boom House. You may have heard about the book (or the movie) called 'The Hiding Place' which tells about the Ten Boom family's experience protecting Jews from the Nazi's. The Ten Boom family allowed their home to be a place of hiding for Jews and others who needed a safe place from the Nazis. When necessary, those staying with the Ten Boom family would crawl behind a small door in the linen closet to hide in a very small room behind a false wall.

Here are Laura and Atticus in front of The Hiding Place. Part of the wall has been torn away so that visitors can see inside the room.

If you would like to know more about the Ten Boom family story there are a few reliable sources you could check out. Bishop Keith B. McMullen relayed a wonderful story about Corrie Ten Boom in April General Conference (click here for the text and here for the video). You can check out the museum website (click here). Or, you could always pick up a copy of the book or movie (click here or here).

We are so grateful for the experience to see and hear about the sacrifice that the Ten Boom family made for others. Their courage is inspiring.

After chatting with some of the other people in our tour (there was a couple from Acme, Alberta!) we headed off to enjoy some Gelato and wander back to the train station.

It was a great day. We saw and experienced some wonderful things and met some good people. 

To add to the blessings; Atticus was a trooper.

Looking forward to our next adventure!

Love and miss you all.

-The Clog Crew

Quality Time in the Kitchen - Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

We love spending time together in the kitchen. Laura loves experimenting with recipes and creating new ones. Jason, well, he loves to taste-test. And Atticus is following in his Daddy's footprints on this one.

Since we spend so much time together as a family in the kitchen, cooking, baking and eating, we thought we would share some recipes with everyone from time to time so you can have a closer look at our little family's life together. 

One of Jason's favorites is Peanut Butter Cookies, as he is a lover of all things Peanut Butter. So, Laura found this tasty looking recipe, made it vegan and tried it out with ground oats in place of flour (which makes the recipe gluten-free if you buy certified gluten-free oats). 

In case you are wondering, the picture was taken of a batch we made with Spelt flour. And for those of you who are not keen on turning on the oven in the warm summer months, we have some tasty oven-free suggestions following the recipe. If you have any questions about the recipe, let us know!

Love and miss you all.
-The Clog Crew


Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup ground oats, spelt flour or wheat flour

3/4 cup oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup natural peanut butter *

1/2 cup agave **

2 teaspoons vanilla
1 medium sized mashed banana

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients then stir into dry ingredients. Mixture should be wet; allow to sit for about 10 minutes and the ground oats will absorb some of the moisture. Roll into 1.5 inch balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press cookies down with dampened fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until bottom edges begin to turn a slight golden brown.

*In theory, this recipe should also work with almond butter, but I have yet to give it a try. Will let you know when I have.

**If you are not worried about making the cookie vegan, you can use honey. Honey will also give you a slightly softer cookie.

Some Oven-Free Alternatives! 
We really like eating this as a cookie dough, especially on top of  Ice Cream (Vegan Banana Ice Cream to be exact). You can also leave it as cookie dough, shape into balls and roll in cocoa, carob powder or icing sugar (if you are not worried about the sugar). Cool finished balls in the fridge for roughly 3 hours before eating (or however long you are able to wait). Then enjoy!

Lest We Forget

We had a really neat experience today. Our neighborhood was having a fair, so we went and explored the festivities. There were games, rides, food and plenty of people selling their goods. We began talking with one of the men running a stall and when he found out we were Canadian he had this to say...

"Thank you."

He told us how much he appreciated all of the efforts of the Canadian soldiers in Holland during the war; that he was grateful for our ancestors that bravely fought. He had a particularly fond memory of receiving chocolates from the Canadian soldiers following liberation. It was inspiring to hear him express appreciation to a generation that has not known war of that kind. 

After introducing us to his wife, neighbors and friends that also experienced the war he asked us to tell all of our friends and family in Canada that we met someone who will never forget the kindness and sacrifice of those Canadian soldiers.

We are so grateful for those who fought for the freedom of others, especially those in our own families. 

Thank you.

Atticus + Kisses = Attikisses

Little Man is constantly making us laugh. While reading a book with him the other day he leaned forward and gave the picture in the book a kiss. He continued to do this on each page. Cute!

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Meanwhile, we are nearly adjusted back to the time change after a great trip to Canada. Thanks again everyone for making it such an enjoyable trip. We loved being able to spend time with you all and introducing Atticus.

Hopefully the weather has begun to turn to summer for everyone!

Love and miss you all.

-The Clog Crew

Stop and smell the roses

Just thought we would share some pictures with you from our day. We headed up to a nearby city to catch part of the Bloemencorso, a flower parade that lasts all day and covers 40 km. The floats were decorated creatively with flowers and there were plenty of marching bands. We really enjoyed the beautiful spring weather, the sights and the smells. Hope you enjoy the snapshots below.

::::In Atticus-News::::

He is trying his best to climb things, like our coffee table and his blocks, neither of which are really meant for that but he's still figuring that part out. He has also developed a very high pitched scream that he uses in very choice situations; like a crowded market or the grocery store. Atticus will furrow his brow, let out his scream until somebody other than Mommy or Daddy looks, then flash them his big grin while they remark at how cute he is. There is certainly never a dull moment with our Little Man!

Hope that everyone is doing well. We love and miss you all.

Love,

The Clog Crew

{Daddy and Little Man waiting for the train}

 

{Atticus telling Mommy all of his stories}

 

{a couple of pictures of the floats and a few more below}

 

{Before the parade started some of the local kids rode through on their bikes (and anything else with wheels) decorated with all sorts of flowers. This kid was quite creative with his display. Good thing he stays up to date on his current events!}

Another Atticus Milestone

You know those exciting milestones that every child hits? Atticus has gone through the 

journey of quite a few: 

rolling over, first tooth, sitting up, crawling and standing 

just to name a few.

Now, he has reached another BIG milestone.

Think you can guess what it is?

No, he is not walking yet.

Would you like a hint?

Tell you what; we'll give you a picture, since they are worth a thousand words.

That's Atticus pulling ALL the diaper wipes out of the container. We're sure nearly every kid has done this or something similar with tissue or toilet paper. 

After he pulled it all out he tried this:

That's Atticus trying to put the diaper wipes back in the container. 

When that didn't work he tried this:

That's Atticus trying to eat the diaper wipes. Then he helped put them all away. He is always keeping us laughing.

Other than that, we are up to the usual antics on this side of the pond: working, studying, playing with Little Man, visiting museums, biking and learning to make Sushi. We were excited to have some visitors for the last couple of weeks and were even able to go on a mini-road trip. It was especially fun being able to introduce people to a few dutch customs.

Easter was simple and sweet. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast and watched conference together. It was nice to be able to sit and enjoy the company of family and remember the true meaning of Easter. Instead of a traditional Easter dinner, we opted to make a trip to market on Saturday and create dinner from whatever we found that looked good there. We ended up with roasted squash, zucchini and mushrooms with Greek Flatbread and Hummus. Dinner was finished off with Dutch Apple Torte and a few pieces of chocolate.

Here are a few photos from our picture vault that we thought we would share with you.

 {hanging out with a man made of chocolate who happens to resemble President Obama}

{drinking from the street fountain}

{a grasshopper made out of grass}

{family photo on the Palantino}

 {Laura and Little Man part way up the Spanish Steps. Little Man was asleep so we carried him down the Spanish Steps in his stroller}

{another family photo in Roman Forum}

 {pushing Little Man up the hill to go to church}

{Jason mailing a postcard from the Vatican}

{family photo at Keukenhof, Holland's biggest flower garden}

{Little Man making us laugh}

{Little Man showing his teeth!}

Love and miss you all.

Love,

The Clog Crew

The Little Man

Little Man has been up to a lot since our last post. A second tooth came in, he's crawling, beginning to stand up on everything and anything, opening drawers, becoming a little chatterbox and making us laugh with all of his faces. Thankfully, he still loves sitting with Mommy and Daddy and reading a book, which gives us all a little time to sit and relax. Enjoy some of the photos below! And for an added treat, take a look at our special slideshow of Atticus entertaining us on the train. It can be found at the end of this post.

Love and miss you all.

The Clog Crew

{all clean}

{caught in the act}

{the first time that he pulled himself up - all on his own. Look at how proud he is!}

 {love this little guy!}