Rider's Digest Condensed 2010

JANUARY

New Year Ushered in with Fanfare and Friends
Along with the traditional fireworks, we also got to enjoy the Rininger family’s company as we marked the beginning of our 4th year in Holland.






FEBRUARY



Snowboard Injury Takes Its Toll
Jonathan-still smiling because he chose to ski, while snowboarder, Ian, brought new meaning to the term “winter break.” A fractured collarbone on the second day meant an early end to his vacation as well as his high school spring track season.


MARCH

Neighbors Reunited
Surprisingly enough, half the Fernandez family (Marianne and Jennifer along with Marianne’s sister, Theresa) made it across the ocean for a Spring Break visit.










APRIL

Flower Parade with American Touch

The floats are created by volunteers with 1.5 million flowers, mainly hyacinths and narcissus. The float on which Melissa and friends helped won the prize for “Beste Steekwerk” (best job of sticking the flowers into the frame).

MAY
Matt in Provence for Golf Getaway
Though Matt was there to play golf and not watch Formula One racing, he could hear the cars racing around Monaco from this vantage point.

JUNE

Study Abroad Ends
Ian graduated high school from the American School of The Hague and was repatriated back to the U.S. in August to attend university at VA Tech as an engineering major.

JULY

What's a Hokie? I am!

We found out at New Student Orientation that "Hokie" has nothing to do with a turkey. It was coined by O. M. Stull (class of 1896), who used it in a spirit yell he wrote for a competition. Now the official definition of “Hokie" is a loyal Virginia Tech Fan including their mascot which evolved from a turkey.


AUGUST
College Drop Off

While Ian’s move to the VA Tech campus was a stressful and emotional time for Melissa, she spent several relaxing days hiking trails near Blacksburg, VA in the Jefferson National Forest with her parents, Tom and Gretchen.


SEPTEMBER
Following the Pastoral Visit of Pope John Paul II in Poland

Our mode of transport was by bicycle rather than Pope-mobile and only small barking dogs heralded our arrival in various towns, but it was a divine journey for Melissa and her friends through the southern Polish countryside experiencing the beauty of the Tatra and Pieniny Mtns.


OCTOBER

Muggles Attempt to Visit Hogwarts

Melissa and Amy late for Snape's Potions Class

Platform 9 3/4



GREAT WALL JAZZ, Beijing, China
This year's Association for Music in International Schools Honor Jazz Band Festival was hosted by the International School of Beijing. Matt and Melissa were able to see Jonathan perform along with doing some sightseeing of the area. The Great Wall of China is an amazing sight to see and the rickshaw rides were fun, too!



NOVEMBER
RIDER'S CHOICE

There won't be many presents under the tree this year, but I think the boys are happy with their choices.

Happy Holidays from Holland

From our family to yours, we wish everyone a festive holiday season with family and friends and a happy and healthy New Year.

Winter Wonderland in Wassenaar

It will be a white Christmas in Wassenaar this year. It's been below freezing since the middle of last week and the rain showers have become snow showers. Finally on Sunday, December 20 there was significant accumulation (~3")and Wassenaar became a lovely winter wonderland. With the Netherlands getting little to no snow most winters, they don't have much of a game plan for snow removal, so 3" is about as devastating as getting 2'. More snow is on the way, so I'm glad the grocery store is within walking distance. Biking is not an option and even the public transportation is either delayed or cancelled.

Rome in Autumn

(ASH students pictured here: Essie, trumpet; Vincent, trombone; Frank, trombone; Jonathan, trumpet; and Daniel, bass.)


Our first trip was in October to see Jonathan perform at the Association for Music in International Schools’ Honor Jazz Band. He and 4 of his band mates from the American School of The Hague performed at the Marymount International School of Rome along with 26 other musicians from international schools around the world.



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Matt and I had a mini-vacation without the kids, since Ian stayed home and Jonathan was staying with a host family. While Jonathan spent his 3 days in Rome practicing for the big concert on Saturday night, Matt and I walked the streets and scouted out the sites for our next trip to Rome in November. The weather was gorgeous, but the city was unbearably crowded with tourists.
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Our second trip over the 4 day Thanksgiving holiday included the entire family. The weather was once again beautiful, but this time the crowds stayed home. We had a fantastic time visiting the Colosseum, the Vatican Museums, and St. Peter's Basilica without the hordes of tourists.

On our first day out, Matt stayed behind for conference calls (he can never be completely on vacation) while the kids and I toured the city by foot. He had already seen these outdoors sites when we visited in October. We took the Metro to the Spanish Steps and began our walking tour from there.
Next stop along our route was the Trevi Fountain.
We meandered a little further on to the Pantheon
and just around the corner from it was the Piazza Navona with its famous Bernini fountain in its center.
We visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Vitorio Emanuele II monument, then headed down via dei Fori Imperiali to the Colosseum.


Matt met us for lunch, then we hooked up with a guided tour outside of the Colosseum.



We began our second day with a guided tour of the Vatican Museums, which was very interesting and informative.After 3 hours in the museums admiring statues, tapestries, paintings, the Raphael rooms and the Sistine Chapel,we wandered around St. Peter's Basilica before climbing the 500+ steps to the top of the dome for some spectacular views of Rome.





Our next stop was the Castel Sant'Angelo, originally built as a mausoleum for the Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family, but later used as a fortress and castle.view of Castel from Sant'Angelo Bridge

Our final day was spent touring Ostia Antica, the old port town of Rome. Located at the mouth of the Tiber, Ostia was founded around 620 B.C. With the fall of Rome, the port was abandoned and over time the harbor silted up and the Tiber shifted course. The town was eventually covered in mud, too, which protected it from the ravages of time.A fun Roman holiday was had by all.

Amsterdam to Brugge Bike and Barge Tour

I once again spent a week in August cycling with friends, Geri, Kim, and Ellen. Our journey began at the barge, The Elodie,(pictured here in Gent) in the Amsterdam Harbour on a Sunday afternoon where we got acquainted with the other 13 passengers and 3 crew members. Everyone spoke English except for one couple who were from Germany. The others were Scottish, English, Canadian, and American. It was a fantastic group with whom to spend a week long vacation bicycling and touring the Dutch and Belgium countryside. Our first 2 days of travel were actually hot(upper 80's), but by Wed. it was typical Holland weather of rain and wind, then the last 3 days were just windy and much cooler(upper 60's, low 70's). Most days we started biking from where the barge was docked, but some days the barge took us out of town to avoid the traffic congestion. We always met up with the barge at the end of the day where we had a gourmet dinner waiting for us and our cozy sleeping quarters. It was very nice not to have to pack up each day. I would have to say the highlight of the trip was not the cycling, but the evening activities beginning with a relaxing dinner, then taking a guided walking tour of the town where we were staying that night, and finally ending the day with a hot cup of tea in the lounge chatting with the other guests and crew members. I thought the biking portion of the trip was going to be a lazy ride through the countryside, but I was mistaken. We easily biked 50km (30miles) a day (no odometers on the bikes for exact mileage) and sometimes more, but at least we never got lost since the tour was guided. I enjoyed the Dutch landscape more than the Belgium one, but perhaps I'm biased. The tour ended in Brugge the following Sunday where we caught the train back to The Hague.