Dan and Sara have a morning tradition at home of making pancakes. So when last night, Sara asked for pancakes this morning, Dan said yes. He makes them from scratch at home. Here he decided to use a mix that was in a cupboard.
I was upstairs, trying to get a few extra minutes of sleep (I was up every 2 hours 40 minutes with Julia) while Dan was down here with Sara making pancakes. Then Dan called to me, "Can you come down here please?"
I was very asleep when he said that, but I woke up and dragged my self down the spiral staircase.
"I think Julia ate a rose petal," he said. Welcoming my brain to the day with a worrying thought about our jolly beautiful Julia. I looked at our daughter, who was smiling with her lips and her eyes. She didn't look like she just ingested a rose petal. But I probed held mouth a bit. It looked fine. I remember how babies have a very good gag reflex, and even though I suppose it is conceivable that she ate one, I didn't think so.
"I think she's okay," I said, giving her a big hug. Julia has started grabbing anything she can reach. And if she can't reach it, she'll move to get it. This is a bit of a change from super early babyhood where to keep something away from her all we had to do was move it one inch further away from her than she could reach. The roses Dan got me were relatively far from her, but she arched, reached, and pulled one to her. The petals went everywhere (the roses are several days old) and Dan thought one made it to her belly.
Since I was up I decided to join them for pancakes. They were good. Different from the US. Our pancakes are often fluffy. Here they are flat. So flat that they cook right away when they tough the hot pan, and thus aren't round, but have more of a zig zag edge like a daisy flower.
After pancakes, we headed outside.
It was a misty, hazy morning. Like the sky didn't even have a hint of blue. It was white. But it was pleasant, and the air smelled clean and fresh. We pulled out our walking tour map to finish it up. We walked along canals, seeing historic buildings like the Delft building from the "Dutch East India Company" we all learned about in history class. They also had a building that housed gun powder, that blew up a couple hundred years ago. A highlight was walking out to the quay where Vermeer painted his "View of Delft" painting. I'm a Vermeer fan, and that painting is cool because he is from Delft.
Did you know the sky has a dimmer switch? It works in reverse too. Instead of it going from bright to dim, the sky today went from misty/hazy white to clear/brilliant blue. It was wonderful to watch the transition. We mainly could see it in the church spires and other towers. In the morning, the tops of the towers dissapeared into the white. By mid-morning, the blue sky gave way to the tops of the towers, letting them show them selves in all their medieval glory.
Our walk made us hungry. We got some bakery items and sat outside. It was peaceful. We watched the world walk/bike past as we sat letting the sun warm our faces from our bakery seats. I never get any sort of sun burn, but when I looked at my face this evening I thought I saw a hint of pink. I guess I got some sun today? I guess that will happen when you are outside all day. Our time at the bakery was very happy. Julia was gleeful, Sara sat and ate and colored, and Dan and I enjoyed our coffee and our kids.
Towards the end of the "walking tour" handout that we were following we discovered a small play area containing a wooden play house - Sara loved it. And we played with the fallen yellow leaves, some small white rocks, and whatever else we could find. That kid has the most genuine smiles when she is playing like that.
A canal boat is gliding past right now on the canal that I can see. And the church bells are ringing. Ahh, Delft is great. Anyway, we were going to try to eat a lunch meal before Dan got to work at 2:00 PM, but decided to come back here.
Then, Dan got to work. He telecommuted from the mid level of the house.
I packed Sara and Julia up in the Bob Stroller and went outside to explore Delft on our own. There is something about being the only adult - there is no one else to say "lets go over there" you can just go over there! It is freeing, but naturally I missed Dan - and I had double the responsibility to be the sole adult with Sara and Julia. --- But it was fun! We strolled the market square. Slowly. I lingered at the shop windows. I popped inside some shops. I looked high up at the building's gables, I looked low at their foundations. I took my time. No need to walk fast.
After that, I picked a street and decided to walk to the end of it. That may not sound interesting. But these streets are jam packed with stuff. Cheese shops, bakeries, cafe's, clothing shops, shoe shops, just about everything. You can't walk 10 feet around here with out there being something so interesting you want to take a picture of it. So, I walked all the way down the first street I picked, and it was awesome! I walked over cute little canal-crossing foot bridges, I walked, walked, and walked. I found a shopping district full of locals. I popped into a department store. I got myself some red pants, got Sara some red pants, and did more browsing. (European people seem to wear red pants, so Dan and I always joke that we should get some - and I did!)
While I browsed I began wondering if these people ever go to the bathroom. In the US you can pretty easily find a bathroom. Not here. You have to hunt for them. I looked everywhere. I criss-crossed the whole store. I kept my eye open. No luck. Finally, back out on the street I saw a McDonald (yes, they have one way over in this section of town that is for locals) and I made a bee-line for it. Ha. Instead of ending up in the golden arches I ended up in another store somehow. I went to their cafe (these people sure do eat - there are often cafe's in stores) and I kept my eye peeled for the bathroom sign. No dice. I was convinced that no one here ever goes to the bathroom. Finally I saw a mom with a happy looking kid, and decided they must have just gone to the bathroom. I followed in their foot steps and was right!
There were bathrooms! Yeah! The lady taking care of the bathroom had a sign up for .60 Euro to use them. Whatever. I went in to the bathroom and it was large. I could change Julia's diaper, and finally use the bathroom myself. When I exited, I tried to give her .60 cents/Euro but she queried me as to who of the three of us used the bathroom! Since I changed Julia's diaper, she had me pay 1.20 Euro to use it. Actually I didn't care. I paid the money happily. Afterall, it was clean, and it was *there.* Seriously, these people need way more bathrooms if you ask me.
After that, we had some yogurt, apple cake, coffee, apple sauce etc in the cafe. It was good.
Then we walked back towards town. We hit a toy store (Sara scored a stamp set). Then, I hit a grocery store for some dinner side dishes (some stir fry vegetables) and Sara was my helper in the grocery store. She grabbed a small basket and loved putting things in it. After the store I just enjoyed the evening air. After our white sky morning, I couldn't believe the gorgeous-ness of the evening. The sky was breath taking. Brilliant light blue, with puffy glowing white clouds. It was like the sky was a blue puzzle, and someone scattered white puzzle jig saw pieces all over it (clouds). I took several pictures, and just relished the moment. I was happy. Out with our girls - in a beautiful place - on a beautiful evening. Life is good.
Back here we had dinner all together (pork cutlet and side dishes of vegetables and fruit) and then Dan and I had a "stamp party" with Sara (like the stamps that go into ink) and then it was time to get them to bed.
A great day.
Quotes: (after sneezing)
Sara: "That was an achoo-I feel better now."
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Quote: (this morning at breakfast)
Sara: "I'm going to have 3 pieces of pie for dinner."
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Quote: (after lunch)
Sara: "I'm going to have this heart cookie, because I love Mama."
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:) Lori
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