Life: Idiotropic

32 years old today and not totally bothered by it. The kids let me sleep in a bit... not much, but the effort was made which was nice. Still, there is a toddler in the house who doesn't consider a birthday an occasion to sleep in, so in my pitch black room, she'll creep in, grab my hand, and pull as hard as she can on one finger pleading, "Get up, Mommy! Get up now," over and over again until my feet finally touch the floor and I am actually moving. She is brutal and relentless.

Kirk cooked a wonderful breakfast for me - his specialty. I wish he'd cook breakfast every day, but then 32 would not only be my age, but my dress size as well. Yeah, that would be ugly. The kids locked themselves away in the office giggling. I had to help them find tape and wrapping paper - but they did a nice job of wrapping and decorating things for me. Kirk is getting me a new camera for my birthday, but I haven't ordered it yet, so that's my fault for not having it ready to open. The girls were sweet though - a little box of chocolate, a silver picture frame, and a nice journal. Dad and Angie had brought family gifts too. It was a very nice morning. (No photos of that morning are publishable, of course... I had to open presents before my shower!)

It was raining... and raining... with no sign of letting up much. But, we had visitors and I certainly didn't want to stay inside all day, so Kirk kept the kids for the afternoon and I headed out with Dad and Angie. We first went to Sittard, but it was a Catholic holiday, so the market and all else was closed, so we plugged in Stella (GPS) and looked up nearby attractions. Valkenburg wasn't far away and had a nice old castle ruin, so we went there to explore a bit.

I was surprised, driving in, that it was so crowded. I'd thought that between the rain and the holiday that Valkenburg would be about as dead as Sittard, but there were big crowds all gathered around the eateries lining the streets. Parking was easy though and we went to find the way to the old castle ruin. Below the ruin was a ticket booth selling cave tours as well, so we did both.

Apparently, the entire area used to be under sea, so over many many years and a changing climate, the sand and sea matter pressed together to create Marlstone. The marlstone is very strong and heavy, but also very easy to cut into. The cave we explored was created in 1050 when the castle was built because they took large Marlstone blocks from the cave to build the castle. It also ended up acting as an escape route for castle dwellers at times of war. The tour was in Dutch, but several Dutch people on the tour helped to translate things at different times and the guide also took time in between stops to tells us about things. They were all very friendly and there was a lot of laughing from everyone, so I suppose the tour was funny. It was interesting to see. In the late 1800's locals started to decorate the cave to attract tourists, so there are beautifully intricate "paintings" throughout the cave. They were done by painting the entire surface of a wall black, then carving into the marlstone to add the light areas. It is amazing. During WW2, the Americans used the cave during fights with the Germans. They were able to sneak up to the castle ruin on the hill and see what was going on. So, there are also sillouettes of the American soldiers painted there and many other signs of their presence. A full chapel with confessional and baptismal is there and there was a hospital of sorts in the caves as well. (http://www.kasteelvalkenburg.nl/en/sub_velvetcave.html)


The cave tour lasted about an hour in pitch black surroundings. We only had the small oil lamp of our guide to light the area for most of the trip. It eventually led us up steep narrow stairs up to the bottom of the castle ruin. The castle is a ruin because it had been captured by the French and recaptured again by the Dutch. Upon threat of the castle being captured again by the French, the Dutch king blew it up. So, it is ruin, not by age, nor by the hand of an invador, but by the Dutch. It was pretty. I would have loved to see what it looked like before. Instead, it started to rain just as the cave tour ended and we walked around the old brick ruin getting wet.
(http://www.kasteelvalkenburg.nl/en/sub_castle.html)

We walked through an old city gate through the crowded pedestrian area just as it started to downpour. "Ron's Big Burgers" looked interesting, but we ducked into a little patisserie for a quick cappuccino break and I introduced Dad and Angie to a fresh hot waffle topped with cherries and whipped cream! YUM! Waffles here are soooo good and nothing like the US waffles. They are thick and soft and have caramelly edges that melt in your mouth. I will definitely find an iron and a good recipe for them here.

We got home in time for me to make dinner, then Tiara presented me with a nice orange streussel cake that she made. If you look carefully, you'll see a couple places where cake has been removed from my cake... Elise thought it looked good, so after Tiara had made it and frosted it, Elise reached up to the table and tore two handfuls out of the sides.

My birthday was capped off with a nice walk around the village. Nights are staying light so long, it seemed wrong to waste a nice evening after so much rain, so we took the kids and went. It was a short, but very nice little walk.