Well, we're coming into the home stretch for my pregnancy, and after a much needed 2 week vacation I finished up the weekend celebrating a beautiful Amsterdam baby shower hosted by our friends Erica, Johanna and Ali!
The gathering took place at Ali's beautiful apartment on the Prinsengracht. The decor was stunning, the food delicious, and the company was fantastic. Thank you ladies for putting together such a lovely baby shower tea party! We feel so honored and blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful and supportive people!
Immediately after the gathering our friends Alistair and Angie (friends from Seattle) made a one night visit to Amsterdam before heading back to New York!
We had a lovely time walking around, eating at our favorite Turkish restaurant, Bazar, and finished the night with drinks, laughs and stories back at our place. Thanks for the visit!!!
Shortly after, back in the 'dam, we had our friends Kristi and Adam in town. Kristi and Adam are dear friends from back in Seattle who currently live in Paris. We originally planned a trip to visit them but the growing belly and exhaustion is making traveling a bit unbearable. We hope to have Paris be a post pregnancy trip!
Kristi and Adam both had not been to Amsterdam so it was important to show them a good time and have them fall in love with this city! We did the usual touristy bits - Red Light, bike rides, bitterballen and beers along the canal! And another first for them - enjoying Surinamese! It was a pleasure and joy to have Kristi and Adam here! We hope to see them again in Paris!
The same day Kristi and Adam headed back to Paris, Kirk hopped on a plane for a work trip to India for some meetings. It was a pretty whirlwind trip as he visited Bangalore and New Delhi over the course of about 4 days, but he managed to see quite a bit and eat a ton of amazing Indian food!
Later that week, after Kirk returned from India, we partied the day/night away for Gay Pride at Ali's apartment overlooking the Prinsengracht canal - host of the floating parade. The parade consists of a long line of colorfully decorated boats carrying supporters, activists and the gay/straight community. It was a fun day and amazing to watch and participate! Got to love Amsterdam's tolerance and openness to all humans!
The following week, Kirk was lucky enough to attend the Olympics Track & Field events in London with some coworkers. He was worried that the city was going to be even more hectic and jammed than it normally is, but found London to be running like a machine and the Olympics experience to be amazing - U.S.A!
For the last few years Amsterdam has hosted the Grachtenfestival, which consists of multiple stages being set up directly on the canals and they have various concerts. One stage was conveniently set up right outside our apartment - on Friday they played classical and opera and on Saturday it was more Jazz then tango dancing. We also had friends over for one last big bbq before the baby arrives. It was a blast listening to the music and having the best view!
The following week, Kirk went to Cologne for work for the annual Gamescom videogaming convention. This was the second year in a row that Kirk attended, and once again it didn't disappoint.
Pregnancy-wise, we are now officially full-term (38 weeks)! Can you believe it - almost here!
Fortunately, this past week, Amsterdam decided to make up for it's lack of summer days by bringing in the heat! This weekend it got up to 30 (90 degrees) making it impossible not to want to spend some time on the boat with friends! Saturday evening was perfectly lit by local cafes and canal houses and the clear evening sky!
The next day we biked out to MLK park for the annual Parade Carnival with Judd and Elena! Still biking at 38 weeks - it is way easier than walking!
Well we still anxiously await Baby Girl's arrival - but in the mean time will continue to enjoy the rest of our summer!
