It’s Valentine’s Day and I am actually thinking of what to post today. There’s no dinner date planned tonight because my husband is attending the company’s annual meeting which will be till 9pm and buffet dinner is also on the agenda. I told him that the big bosses are so insensitive to plan this annual meeting today of all days so I’m sure that many of his colleagues (the bosses included) will have ear-bashing from the angry wives, ha, ha, ha! He works for an engineering consultancy firm which is a male-dominated world so the guys there are quite the nerdy ones who can’t be expected to be romantic and remember to observe this day with reverence. 
Anyway, my husband and I are pretty unconventional. Even without this annual meeting, we were not planning to have a dinner date somewhere with champagne and all the trimmings because we have a little girl who needs to go to bed early for school the next day. We are actually planning to have that dinner date next week, a post-Valentine date when the daughter is with the grandparents for a few days given the one-week school holiday then.
I take you back to our Valentine’s day celebration two years ago when Holland was covered in snow and we were out for our usual weekend stroll. We went to Kasteel de Haar (De Haar Castle) which was just a good half hour’s drive from our place. The castle belongs to the family of Baron Van Zuylen and that’s the noble twist . I love going to that castle because of its sprawling garden and its amazing wooded area. I’ve been there at other seasons but was pretty curious as to how it look like with snow and all. It was magical though the sky was overcast. We enjoyed the stroll and in the end, rewarded ourselves with a nice snack at a small restaurant on the castle grounds. I told the husband that I was such a cheap date for I was happy with my spicy chicken and hot chocolate with whipped cream. He settled for his usual “broodje kroket” while Francesca had her “poffertjes”.
De Haar Castle
Our family
The little girl enjoying the snow
My daughter and me
Father and daughter
The little girl at the castle's door
Father and daughter
Father and daughter
The garden in winter
De Haar Castle
The chapel
The bench
The little girl at the castle's stairs
Father and daughter
View of the chapel from the castle's stairs
My daughter and me
The chapel
The bridge
Spicy chicken
Broodje kroket
Warm chocolate milk with whipped cream
Our little girl after the stroll
We had a great Valentine’s Day. What was important is being together as a family. Expect me to choose a fancy location for a cheap date. A castle no less.
