Air Force Ball & Tüschenbroich

Last week Patrick and I attended a ball celebrating the 62nd birthday of the US Air Force. Patrick was the lone Navy attendee, as the other 5 Navy personnel assigned to the base could not make it. The ball was held at Kasteel Hoensbroek in the Netherlands, and this was the primary reason for my attendance. We had a really good time, although I would have loved to snoop around the castle a little. As is normal for a military function we toasted down the chain of command, but it was pretty neat to add people such as the Queen of the Netherlands to our list of honorees. "To the Queen!" Here are some photos of us with Dan & Wendy McLallen and Nick & Jamie Whitaker.



On Saturday Brennan got us up bright and early and we took a short drive to check out another local castle, located at Tüschenbroich. Brennan ended up falling asleep in the car and did not even wake up when Patrick took him out into the chilly air. He hasn't slept on one of us in a long time and it was pretty cute.



Once he woke up he had a fun time running around and even held still for some pictures. The watermill pictured below is currently being used as a glassblower's studio. It was closed when we were there and a return visit might be in order. We could not enter this castle since it is being used as a private residence, but it was still fun to wander around the grounds, which included an angler's pond and mini-golf.



While we were driving around we passed a field full of dahlias with a little sign, knives, and a drop box for money. It was a cute little "cut your own" field and we stopped to buy a few flowers just for the fun of it. They definitely spruced up our living room and it reminded us of the berry stands in Anacortes, which also operated on the honor system.