This weekend we'll be celebrating Koninginnedag, or Queen's Day. It's a fun holiday, though it does seem to rain every year. There's live music that you can enjoy for free, any kind of tasty treat you could want available on every street corner, and anything you could ever want to buy is spread out on cloths or displayed on flatbeds on every street in every town throughout the country. Kids sell their used toys and games, adults sell anything from cracked flowerpots to car radios of mysterious origins. It's a party in the street and suddenly everyone, even the most stand-offish of Dutchies, is jovial and chatty. But this year, you won't find us in the throngs of people wandering up and down the streets of Gouda - I convinced Niek to go to the Keukenhof with me!

Those of you who know my better half, know that he doesn't "do" touristy stuff. And there's not much that's more touristy than the gorgeous flowers of the Keukenhof. But the one thing Niek likes even less than tourist hotspots is any sort of crowded public holiday, like the week of Carnival or the weekend of koninginnedag. So convincing him to go sniff flowers with me was relatively easy. (Why didn't I figure this out years ago?!)

Also this weekend, we'll be assembling Rowen's first bed. She's been so jealous of Nicky's bed, and is so obviously ready for her own, that I braved the crowds of Ikea yesterday to buy her a beautiful - and very feminine - bed. At first, she said she didn't want a new bed, but when she saw the showroom model, she climbed right in, pulled the quilt up to her chin and announced to all passers-by that "this is MY bed!". Naturally we had to get the same bedding that was on the showroom model, which meant the boys had to get new bedding as well. I can never get out of Ikea for under 100 euro. But everyone is very happy and I will post a picture of the kids' bedroom once I'm able to.

I wish you all a most joyous weekend. I'll be tiptoeing among the tulips. Hooray!