Starting with two that are in Artis, the zoo, which in itself is an incredible place.

The little kid playground is creative, playful and colorful. You climb up rungs between the giraffe’s hind legs, enter the butt area, and slide down the neck.

The owl side has back stairs and a spiral inside. I think she liked it.

The bigger kid playground strongly demonstrates the sense of personal responsibility that is assumed in Dutch playgrounds. See that netting that Anja is traversing? It’s a straight drop down into WATER.

The slides and play structures here are HIGH and large.

And certainly made for children older than 4 and a half. No barrier for my kid, she is determined, I must give her that.

The climb up this section was 3 times her height, and only started at her shoulders.

And that was the only way up. Her stance says it all. And it was a long slide down.

On our bakfiets day we discovered a cute little sidewalk playground.

And we also explored all of Vondelpark. Including two amazing playgrounds. This  rope tower and slide blew my mind. I cannot believe Anja did it. Only through sheer determination. It was several stories high, and the ropes inside were all askew, irregular, with wide spaces between. Again, clearly designed for older kids. Anja chanted to herself the entire time, I think partly focus and partly self encouragement. “climb, climb, climb, climb, climb”  Did I mention it was lightly raining? Making everything wet and slightly slippery; I could barely watch. Of course upon accomplishing it once, she had to go up and do it again.

While on the playground subject, I can’t miss this gorgeous climbing structure… I mean tree.

This playground had three mini personal sized trampolines built into the ground.

Another day, this time in Osterpark: a pedal powered merry go round.

A zip line.

A mini size kid swing. Just her height.

And to top it all off… this thing: it spun around, it bounced up and down, it was sort of a teeter toter, sort of a spinning thing… and made for loads of laughter.

We did this about a month ago, so you may need to save this idea for next fall.

Take a nature walk and collect leaves.

Lay them out in a design on clear contact paper. Add a ribbon for a hanger.

Voila! We have a beautiful window of color to help brighten our window.

Canals:

And a canal boat ride in the rain. Severely jet-lagged too.

Photos don’t do it justice. It’s sort of like the grand canyon in that sense. You just sit or stand there breathing it all in. Absorbing the view, the smells, the light. Ideally while sipping your morning coffee or evening wine.

At this table we enjoyed most of our breakfasts:

At this one, our evening meals:

And at this table we enjoyed a THREE hour meal from heaven, in a 300 year old restaurant.

mermaid eyes, originally uploaded by thislovelymoment.

Those eyes! The little mermaid dress, and how it doesn’t quite stay on. This is the same girl who was in full hockey gear out on the ice for her first time this morning. I love that she can play in so many ways.

head to head, originally uploaded by thislovelymoment.

I’m joining a 30 days of gratitude flickr group. May as well get back onto the blogging wagon while I’m at it.

Grateful for the smaller ones in our family, these two.
I am SO glad we got him.
He brings her such joy, and has completely won me over.
And a warm bathing suit day in the end of October? Well that’s something to jump through sprinklers about, i’ll just let her do the jumping for the both of us.

Most of the time, I don’t really care. This day, I wish I had wiped breakfast off of her face. Photoshop… here I come, eventually.

I’m in LOVE with the light, and the expression captured in this image.

Yes, I have been making pictures the last 6 months… they just haven’t been making it onto the blog. No excuses. Perhaps that’ll shift.

I spent last weekend in San Francisco with John Friend and the Anusara yoga Kula. A beautiful community of truly amazing friends. The experience was sublime. I have much to say about it, but I think it shall trickle out over time. Meanwhile, this post is about my experience on the way there. It was perfect in setting the tone for the weekend.

It was a gorgeous sunny day as I left home early Saturday morning. I was headed to San Francisco to spend the weekend practicing yoga with 250 Anusara Yoga friends.  NPR Music radio was on and there was an interview with Pierre Bensusan, known as the Jimi Hendrix of acoustic guitar. The interviewer asked Pierre to please explain what he meant when he said: “Most musicians don’t spend enough time listening.” Pierre responded: “that statement came to me because I have the great honor to teach music, sometimes to people who are touched by music. But sometimes they are so distracted by technique that they forget to listen… We all need technique in order to express what we want, what we try to express, but after a while, you also sometimes need to be first listening before being distracted by the technique. Because if you do listen carefully, your technique seems to hear, to see you listening, and be more at peace with yourself and then you start to, in fact, to get what you’re looking for because you listen…”

Oh wow, I was struck. Enough to go back and find the interview on the web so that I could write down exactly what Pierre said. How perfect to hear “listen!” on my way to this yoga workshop. The first principal of Anusara yoga is Open to Grace. And now I see, that this does not simply apply to yoga, but also to music, to parenting, and perhaps for all of life: pause and listen. To be receptive, to invite sensitivity and spaciousness, to feel and to cultivate awareness, this is the practice of opening to Grace. And this is my practice. Both on and off the mat. And while I do not always succeed, I absolutely keep trying.

A few miles down the road, the sunny day shifted and a storm started to brew. Dramatic lighting sharpened the bright green rolling hills into splotches of light and shadow. And then a gift from the heavens: a double rainbow!  I’m breathless, and LISTENING. Wide open and paying full attention.

At some moments I can *feel* my being expand, on an energetic level. Have you had that experience?

And so, grinning ear to ear, I walked into the San Francisco JCC with my heart spilling over with love and gratitude.

This one doesn’t need much words. Just a snowy day, two cousins, a couple of playful skirts, a window sill and a bed. Hours of entertainment. Much twirling, giggles and flight ensued.

The joy of seeing these two, who live on opposite sides of the country, playing together harmoniously, unaided (finally!) and gleefully is just simply immense.

Love love and more love. Red skirts don’t hurt either.