The Broughtby's European Adventures

The fall is always a busy season for us with Sam and Ryan's birthday plus the usual holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving and now celebrating Sinterklaas . Halloween Sam wanted to be Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid for Halloween. That was amazing since it required nothing except printing a mask I found on the internet and tying a string to it.  Not the most durable or comfortable but free and easy which is how I roll.   There is also  Sint Maarten  which is a Dutch holiday similar to Halloween in which kids go door-to-door and get candy.  It involves the kids signing songs and making a lantern which we were not prepared for so we stuck with just celebrating Halloween. Sam's 9th Birthday  As seems to be standard now, Sam wanted McDonalds for his birthday dinner. So we headed to the canal district and he enjoyed his first Big Mac. Then he opened his presents which included the Arctic Exploration Lego Set that he has CONSTANTLY been asking for.  So pret...

I thought I was retired from races after my last half marathon in 2018 which was PAINFUL.  I have a routine of running (or sometimes just walking) in Vondelpark every day after I drop Sam off at school and I felt that I needed some motivation since my runs were short, slow and all around sad. So I signed up for the KLM Urban Trail in Leiden.  These are races held in cities throughout The Netherlands where you run all around the city and through different buildings (i.e. museums).   I signed up and prepared for the 5 - 6K race.  Funny thing - I ended up on the 10 - 12K route!  I don't know if it was a language barrier issue (everything was in Dutch) or poor route markings (I think both) but I definitely got more than I bargained and trained for.  Next I guess is a 10K in another city!