On Monday I brought our car for repair -- some cosmetic damage -- so the past few days I've been bicycling to work.

My own bike wasn't ready yet so I've used the nice BikeShare system for a few days. It works great. I can pick up my pick around the corner from our apartment building, bicycle for 13 minutes and then park it right near my work in Ballston.

Tonight I picked up my bike from the repair shop, so tomorrow I'll use my own bike to get to work.

On Monday John and Juliana invited us for a boat trip on the Potomac.

Their motor boat is moored in a harbor near the Pentagon and we went for a pleasant trip over the Potomac. It was really cool to see D.C. from the water.

Near the Key bridge we put out the anchor and jumped in the river. After a BBQ on the boat we returned back home, a very nice Monday evening.

Rosslyn as seen from the Potomac river.

The Georgetown harbor.

At the other side of the Key bridge. This is where we had a BBQ.

Swimming in the Potomac.

This morning Jaap and I went to a bar in Ballston to watch the first Dutch soccer game for the European Championship. We took the rental bikes again; it's about 15 minutes from our home by bike. Part of Wilson Boulevard was closed due to a bicycle race so we drove through Lyon Village.

The game was a disappointment -- Holland lost with 0-1 from the Danes and it is not looking very good for the Dutch right now. Jaap and I had a good time though. Jaap never watches soccer at home but he even wore an orange cap to the game.

We met quite a few people in Frontpage, like Shanti, Petra, Wouter, Candice, and Erik.

Jaap has been here for one week already, and Nora is having a great time.

It's not only leisure though! As Jaap said: "First let's do your exercise, then we'll read a story".

While Sasha and Nora spent a mother-and-daughter afternoon together, Jaap and I went for a long bike ride. We rented bike's from BikeShare, and drove to the National Mall. This was the first time I rented bikes from there and it worked really well. We picked up our bikes at Veitch Street, drove 20 minutes to DC and left them at the kiosk at Metro Center. Great system.

At the Mall we visited the Freer Gallery, a museum with Asian and Western art, and then had lunch in the National Museum for the American Indian. The latter is a new museum. It's a beautiful building, with interesting materials, but it had an air of melancholy -- not surprising of course, given the subject.

On the way back we biked past the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, and crossed the bridge to Arlington. A great afternoon. It's so special that we can simply go for a bike ride together.

Nora and Jaap are having a very good time together. She likes to look at his face and then she smiles.

Every day she spends more time on her tummy, and she's really getting better and better at holding up her head. There are even some early experiments on learning how to turn.

Jaap cooked bami for us yesterday -- a great recipe.

Today Nora's Opa arrived from Holland! We went to Dulles International to pick Jaap up, and it was wonderful to see him.

Nora was very interested in this new face and after a few minutes started smiling at her grandfather.

It's been a really busy weekend so far -- it's good that tomorrow is another day off.

It's the beginning of a long weekend and it was great coming home to my ladies.

Nora starts to enjoy "flying in the air" and we're having a lot of fun together.

Yesterday I made sushi for the first time. That was a lot of fun!

I have always been intimidated by how complicated a sushi roll looks, but it wasn't difficult and the result was delicious.

I went to H Markt in Falls Church to pick up the fish and other ingredients.