Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

First off, we hope that all of our Canadian friends and family had a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you were able to spend it. We had a small dinner get together here on Saturday with some friends and had a lovely time. Our friends had never been to a Thanksgiving dinner before, so we were pretty happy that we had a pie plate (thanks again Mom!) and could bake some classic Pumpkin Pie to serve them. 

This photo was taken before we baked it. We meant to take a photo afterward but ended up getting side tracked.

Saturday morning we headed out as a family to the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (National Antiquities Museum) and were able to check out the Egyptian exhibit and the Greek exhibit; both of which we all enjoyed. Atticus walked the entire Egyptian exhibit before he finally tired out and opted to sit in the stroller; it was so much fun seeing him studying all the different displays and how enthusiastic he was. One of the really neat things about this museum is that they have taken the stones of an old temple they discovered and rebuilt the temple in the entrance of the museum - very cool! There are a few photos below.

Laura and Atticus in front of the temple.

Jason and Atticus in front of an Egyptian tomb

Atticus enjoying the kids section of the Greek exhibit.

Jason having some fun in the kids section as well.

Atticus trying to help push the stroller. He was getting tired of how slow we were going and wanted to speed things up so he could see more.

A quick family photo before hopping back on our bikes.

And now, back tracking to last weekend.....

On Friday, some friends were very generous and lent us their vehicle, so Jason took the afternoon off and we went apple picking at a nearby organic orchard. We had great weather and brought back plenty of apples and even a few pears and have been thoroughly enjoying them since. We even made an apple pie on the weekend that we could enjoy while watching conference!

We really need to remember to take photos AFTER the pie is baked as it was much more appetizing and picturesque after it had been baked. Oh well, we're sure you get the idea with the before picture.

Family photo in the apple orchard.

 On Saturday afternoon we headed to downtown Leiden to check out some of the '3 October' celebrations. Since the 3rd of October fell on a Sunday this year, many of the celebrations were on Saturday which meant that we could check them out. The 3 October celebrations are specific for Leiden and happen every year to celebrate Leiden's relief from the Spaniards. The celebration consists of plenty of herring, hutspot, rides, games, olie bollen, market stalls and an Italian opera rendition of the historical event. We started off by watching the Italian Opera, which was a little strange but we loved it, especially Atticus! If you want to read a little bit more about the history of this event, we have put a couple paragraphs about it at the bottom of this post.

Above and below are a couple of the characters from the opera. Their costumes were really interesting.

Atticus watching in awe.

 Then we went and indulged in some traditional hutspot, which contains potatoes, onions, carrots and bacon all mashed up together, ours was then topped with a sausage. It was surprisingly tasty, and Laura even managed to whip of a vegetarian version the following day.

hutspot

 Then it was on to the festive wares market where we shared an ollie bollen (a type of deep fried sugary dough) and checked out the interesting items that we for sale. Then it was off to the games and rides. We were surprised at how many there were. For those of you who are familiar with the Calgary Stampede, picture the Stampede midway games and rides all squeezed into the narrow pedestrian streets of historical Leiden - it was so much fun to check out. To finish off our very dutch experience we got to ride our bikes home in the pouring rain! We made it home in time to wash up and sit down for the Saturday morning session of general conference.

General Conference was incredible, as to be expected. We each had our favorite talks of course, and have loved being able to talk about the different things that stood out to us. We are so grateful to have internet connection so that we can access the sessions so easily. If you missed any of the talks you can go HERE and listen, watch, read or download any or all of the talks. We highly recommend President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk and you can watch that one by clicking HERE (for Quicktime) or HERE (for Real Player). President Uchtdorf gave us a nice, gentle reminder of how important it is to slow down, spend time together and build relationships and that trying to speed through hard times, is not the best solution. 

Well, we hope you all enjoyed our update on the highlights over the last couple of weeks. We are all doing well and staying out of trouble.

Love and miss you all.

-The Clog Crew

3 October History

(from this reliable source)

The city of Leiden was besieged from 1573 until 1574, when it was finally relieved. Leiden’s Relief (Leidens Ontzet) is celebrated annually in order to commemorate the siege during the Eighty Years’ War and the relief of the city on October 3, 1574.

The siege and the relief of the City of Leiden took place during the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648). Intially the City Council remained loyal to the Sovereign Lord King Filips II of Spain, but in June 1572, the city chose to be loyal to Prince William of Orange. In an attempt to regain power over the city, the Spanish starved the inhabitants of Leiden in order to force them to surrender. During the second siege, 6000 of the 18000 inhabitants of Leiden died of starvation and the plague. The City Council remained unmoved and would not even consider surrendering to the Spanish oppressor.

The “(water)geuzen” pierced the dikes at Rotterdam and Capelle aan den IJssel in September 1574, in order to flood the polder lands. The outcome of this action depended on the winds which would have to move the water towards Leiden. The City Council did not surrender to the Spanish King as they had been informed of the plan to relieve the city.

The water rose high and so the Spanish troops fled. According to tradition, it was the little orphaned boy named Cornelis Joppenszoon that found a hotpot (hutspot) in the deserted Spanish army camp Schans Lammen (near the current Lammebrug) and informed the citizens that Leiden had been freed. It was early morning when the Geuzen sailed over the Vliet into the city with a load of herring and white bread on board.

As a token of appreciation for the city’s brave resistance, William of Orange founded the University of Leiden on February 8, 1575.

Open Monumentendagen

On September 11-12, Leiden held Open Monumentendagen. This meant that many monuments throughout the city, that are not typically open to the public, were open. This year they focused on buildings of the 19th century. Many of the buildings dated from before the 19th century but tied into that century in some way.

We were fortunate to be able to explore some buildings on Saturday. Pieterskerk, City Hall and De Burcht (Leiden's own little castle) were a few of the places on our list. Here are some various photos from our day. 

Hope you enjoy.

Love,

-The Clog Crew

 City Council meeting room in City Hall.

Some of the wood inlay in City Hall. The picture does not do it justice, they had many wood inlay pictures on the wall that were very exquisite, including a map of Leiden.

 An old residence that has been converted to an Art Gallery.

 An ornate bible inside a church on Haarlemmerstraat

 A beautiful organ inside the same church. The inside of this church actually looks quite different than it once did. Pictures we saw of the original building showed that there used to be many colorful renditions of different scripture moments. Since then, they have been painted over with a more simple, creamy white.

Inside De Burcht.

The gorgeous view from the top of De Burcht. The church in the photo is Hooglandse Kerk.

Family photo at the top of De Burcht with Hooglandse Kerk in the background.

One of the city gates of Leiden.

Some vintage buttons at an antique store we passed on the way to our next stop.

Throughout Leiden there are verses of poetry written on the walls in many different languages.

Jason and Atticus heading down a narrow staircase at an old building that has been turned into an art school. There were so many incredible, original features.

Colorful art supplies.

Second story window in the art school.

Jason and Atticus in the sculpture room of the art school.

One of the larger staircases in the art school.

A lovely vintage car that we passed on the way to the next stop.

The section of Pieterskerk that explains about the pilgrims. When the pilgrims left England, the people of Leiden welcomed them to live in their city. They lived in Leiden for a time before they decided that they would like to go to America.

Flashback to High School

This past weekend we had a great church activity with a High School Reunion theme.

Everyone was to dress up like they would have in high school. We realized that we don't dress all that different than we did in high school which either means we have classic taste in clothing or that our wardrobes are terribly out of date. Oh well!

The evening consisted of dinner, "prom" photos, games and karaoke. Jason even joined in the karaoke fun. Atticus kept us on our toes by running around the whole place - nonstop. He was pretty tuckered out by the time we got home. We also were in charge of decorating a table with a 90s theme. We brainstormed together and then Jason took the reigns of making it a reality. Jason did a great job!

This weekend we also got to borrow a friend's bakfiets to see how we and Atticus liked it. Well, we all loved it! They are just brilliant. You can fit four children inside and still have a little room for groceries. Just in case you are wondering, this is a bakfiets:

{Think you would like to ride one?}

This week has a few more classes starting up and we are all getting over colds, so it should be a fun week for all of us. Atticus has had a tough time with his cold and didn't want to eat, sleep or play, but he was much chipper today which was a huge relief. If you could keep him in your prayers that he will keep improving, we would greatly appreciate it.

Before we sign off, here are some photos for you all to look at. 

These first couple are our "prom" photos from the church activity.

And of course, how could we update our blog without sharing some photos of Atticus? Jason likes to wear the Duplo bucket as a hat when he is playing with Atticus, so Atticus thought he would give it a try. As you can see, his head is just a little bit too small for that.

Lately, Atticus has taken to helping tidy the apartment. He will walk around the apartment with his Activity Walker, pick up his toys, place them in the back of the walker then take them to the recycling bin. He thinks it's the greatest thing ever! He is always doing things to make us smile, walking over just to give us hugs, and snuggling up to read a book. What an incredible blessing he is in our life!

 Hope you all enjoyed the update and the photos!

Love and miss you all.

-The Clog Crew

There and Back Again...

Amsterdam.
Calgary.

Abbotsford.

Houston.

And back again...

We're home!

It was a fantastic three weeks. We loved spending time with so many family and friends. Thank you for helping to make the trip so wonderful.

Our first week home was a week of adjusting. Atticus had a hard time with jetlag this trip, so as a result, we did too. After a few nights of very little sleep, things began to get back into a routine.

It was rather rainy and windy our first week back, so we were grateful that we brought back all sorts of new books to read with Atticus. Atticus loves reading books with us on the couch while eating raisins, it is an excellent way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Walking seems to be another great way to spend a rainy afternoon. Atticus took his first solo-steps our first week back and we are very excited. He is still a little nervous and seems to prefer holding on to one of our fingers and especially loves it when he has both our hands and gets to swing - what kid doesn't love that?

Here are just a few photos of our time in Canada.

Our time in Houston was a lot of fun. While Jason worked, Laura and Atticus visited with some friends, went to the zoo, the park and the pool. Jason was even off early enough to join us at a few museums in the evenings. Atticus loved the Children's Museum and the zoo!

Here are a few photos from our time in Houston.

This past week, Atticus and Laura also started their preschool music class. It's in Dutch and Laura is really looking forward to learning some children songs in Dutch. Jason is hard at work, as always, and we are just enjoying every moment we get to spend together.

Thanks again for a wonderful trip to Canada.
Love you all!

-The Clog Crew