Day 4: Wij komt aan Holland

We were up bright(ish) and somewhat early to get to the airport for our afternoon flight to Holland.
We don't normally fly Airbus (Boeing is where it's at) but this was a nice flight. Lots of room between seats... and nice coat hooks...

Huh? I don't recall seeing those before! Or, at least, not for a long, long time.
There was quite a lineup on the runway, so our plane was about an hour late departing.

We're airborne!

 

(Look, Grama and Grandpa from the Midwest! Wind generators in the ocean!)

The Dutch coastline!

After picking up our rental car and GPS system, we drove out of Amsterdam, where we had landed, and headed towards our first stop.

This is the farmhouse where my great-grandpa (on my mom's side) was born way back in the early 1898! Later, along with his family, he immigrated to the United States and one thing led to another and eventually my mother was born out of the bloodline!
No, the house isn't in an area of prime real estate... Many, if not most, of the houses in Holland's countryside are surrounded by water. 
Here is a picture of the house from 1915!

Dutch drawbridge. There were a lot of these around.

We stopped in Woerden for dinner because by this time, we were all starving. After dinner, we walked around the town for a bit and got our first taste of Dutch culture and architecture.

Woerden's water tower, with the church steeple in the background.

De 'kerk' up close!

(Those ice cream sculptures were in nearly every city - wherever there was an ice cream shop)

(Bikes and a typical Dutch storefront building)

Our first windmill!

 (Shawarma?)

An advertisement for Koningsdag... What is Koningsdag, you may ask? You'll just have to stay tuned!

Hermitage

Six choir concerts,
Three parties,
Two voice recitals (one rehearsal and one recital)
Two youth group events,
One Christmas program,
and one piano recital later...
(all in the last 16 days...)

I am officially tired of people.

I am not an introvert. I am not even an antisocial homeschooler.
But there is only so much performing/socializing that I can take. And I'm drained. All I want to do is go to my place (everyone has one... that one special place that you go when you want to be alone) and lock and door and becoming a hermit.
Unfortunately I can't do that.
So I'm doing the next best thing. I'm becoming a hermit on the internet. From now until the near future, don't expect me to be posting/commenting/answering emails (unless, of course, I feel so inclined in my hermitage). That doesn't mean I won't be around...

I'll still be reading people's blog posts. You just won't see me. Probably.

So, farewell for now.

"Another!"

After watching Thor with my friend tonight...
"I like these movies. Another!"

I can thank my friend for getting me into this mindset. Her enthusiasm for the Avengers fandom/franchise is contagious and I'm just glad that she's taking me along for the ride. =D So long we've seen Avengers and Thor together... with hopes to watch Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor 2 together.

Now what I'd like to see is a Hawkeye movie... What's his back story? Does he have a back story that's explained somewhere that I just missed? He's very curious.

Live long and prosper!