The Close Shaves Go Semi-Pro

Today was King's Day in The Netherlands -- a day started many years ago to celebrate the birthday of the reigning Monarch.  It has evolved into a great holiday.  Traditions include wearing orange clothing, kids setting up "stands" to sell their old toys & junk and general partying by all.

This is the view of our village's shopping street.  Both sides are lined with kids selling their treasures.  

Grant's Barbershop Quartet, The Close Shaves, took advantage of the opportunity to perform, and more important, to try and get some money in return.  They've got a set of about 10 songs and they went through that 2-3 times.  Their location wasn't ideal (most people get to the street around 8 or 9 to get the best spots) but they had steady listeners.  In the end the take was around 60 euros -- not bad for a beginning group.   Like most start-ups very little of the money made it home; it was immediately invested in lunch.

75% of the group warmed up at our house.  

Note that all members are appropriately attired in orange. 

For you Jersey Boys fans -- "four guys under a lamp post signing somebody else's songs"

North to Finland

Grant & I went to Finland again this year for his February break.  Last year we traveled there with hopes to see the Northern Lights.  Despite spending a beautifully clear evening in the middle of nowhere, no lights were sighted.  This year our luck was even worse.  There were no beautiful clear evenings, let alone any Northern Lights.  So we were shut out again.  

Of course upon our return, I talked with a colleague who had just returned from a cruise in Norway where she saw the lights 4 or 5 times.  And even more disheartening, my niece just saw them from Minnesota. 

Despite being 250 km north of the Arctic Circle our weather was mild with temperatures staying around freezing.  This was somewhat ironic since during this time most of the Midwest and Northeastern US was suffering from bitter cold temps.  

Without any Northern Lights to see Grant spent his time making snow angels.  

Our lodging.  On the good side, it is right by the ski trail and has free cross country ski use.  However it's a little rustic and the lunch menu is essentially limited to toasties and fried cheese sticks.  

The trail outside the lodge begins with a big downhill.  Notice the lights on the side of the trail.  They have around 20 km of lighted trails for night skiing.  In December and January there is a lot of dark in Finland.  

We hit some great ski weather.  Temperatures around freezing with occasional snow.  

The remote landscape

Grant & I liked skiing next to this small creek.  

The Sariselka area has about 250 km of groomed ski trails.  Grant was in charge of plotting our route each day.  

We took two snowmobile rides.  I'm always surprised at how difficult it is to turn those machines.  

This is an observation tower on top of the local mountain.  It was a bitter cold there as it looks.  The wind was incredibly strong.  

Grant was the only member of our group to catch a fish while ice fishing.  

His success must have been due to his professional fishing stance.  

Drilling a hole in the ice.  It was almost a meter thick.  

Our hotel parking lot included a Soviet built Lada.  Wikipedia says it is one of the four most popular cars ever sold.  Topping the list is the Model T followed by the VW Beetle, the Toyota Corolla and then the Lada.  

This is how hot dogs are served in the Helsinki Airport.  Lots of dog and not enough bun.  Just the opposite of most hot dogs.  

New Years in London

We returned from Ireland to London for a week at Lori's flat.  Doug and his family joined us as well for a week of shows, sight-seeing and food.

Columbia Road Flower Market.  It was a little sparse on a cold weekend after Christmas.  But it was an outdoor activity that kept the Browne's awake after their trans-Atlantic flight.  

A great title for a shop at the Market..."Stoned and Plastered"

We visited Harrod's for their after Christmas sale...along with a million other people.  

Only available at Harrods.  Your own personal hovercraft.  

One cold morning we walked across the bridge to Westminster Abbey.  The air was perfectly clear (very unusual for London) so I got a great shot of Big Ben.  

The front of Westminster

Paddington was at the entrance to the Churchill War Rooms, a museum of the underground rooms where Churchill directed the war efforts.  

St Paul's Cathedral

We climbed to the top of St. Paul's and were rewarded with this view of downtown.  The Cathedral is located at the highest point in London.  Then we climbed 528 steps to reach the top viewing area.    

I found this sign on the way up.  Seems like a mean trick. 

We shopped at the food stalls of Borough Street Market.  Doug is not a big brussels sprout fan.  We had never bought them still on the stalk before.   

Thanks to Dave (Doug's Dad) the boys got to attend a Premier League Football (soccer) game.  Tottenham upset the top ranked Chelsea team 5-3.  Great fun.  No hooligans.  

New Years Eve Dinner

We saw two shows....Book of Mormon and....

....Jersey Boys.  Grant loves this show with all the quartet music.  

The real reason to go to London......a chance to visit the Harry Potter Studios outside of the city.  Once they were done filming movies, the studios were opened up for tours.  We even took the  Knight Bus to get there.  

Grant & Lori at the gates of Hogwarts

The wands of all the major characters in the movies.

Dumbledore's Office

Snape's Potions Lab

Kate warms up with a real butterbeer

Kate and Doug drive the Weasley's car

Kate and Grant in front of wizard's chess pieces from the first movie. 

The electronics were amazing.  Much better than Abe Lincoln welcoming you to the Hall of Presidents at Disney.  

The model used to film Hogwarts

At the end, we all flew to Holland where Kate got a chance to see Graber for the first time in 18 months.  

We also caught up with the entire Sechler family for what seemed like the first time in ......

......over 10 years.  

And then everyone went home, to work and to school and Graber was left all alone.