Smith's In Holland
July 12 - December 11

Well, our first Sinterklaas holiday here in Holland was good. On Friday the 2nd Nike had a Sinterklaas event at their campus. It was very loud with lots of kids and parents. Sinterklaas arrived and sat in a big chair and called kids up to sing Sinterklaas songs. It was all pretty much in Dutch so we didn't understand most of what was being said.

So on Monday the 5th (which is the actual holiday), Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet's visited Trevor's school (see first two pictures). It was fun to watch Trevor in his school setting. Sinterklaas came and talked to the kids, in English, which was good. Trevor sat right in the front row on his knees and listened intently.

That night is when the Sinterklaas festivities at home take place. So from what I understand, the Dutch get together with family and have a special dinner, and then Zwarte Piet leaves a sack of presents for all the kids on the doorstep. This is definitly a holiday just for kids...not adults. So Ryan left work a little early and beat us home from school. And apparently, Zwarte Piet was hiding in the bushes waiting for us to get home so he could leave his bag of presents on the doorstep. We weren't home for more then 5 minutes when we heard a knock on the door. Ryan was in the kitchen "getting a snack" and we all ran to the door to see what it was. Trevor was so excited! There on our doorstep was the traditional sack from Zwarte Piet filled with presents (see third picture). So him and Ashley got a few presents and that was it!

On Friday the 2nd, Trevor had his eye appointment at the hospital with an eye doctor. We were there for ever! We felt the doctors were very competent but it's just confusing having to deal with this with 2 sets of doctors...especially when one speaks a foreign language! It's also confusing for me and Ryan because neither of us wear glasses. But the doctor did say his eyes were getting better...we're not sure exactly what that means but at least he doesn't have to wear a patch on his eye. He'll keep his glasses as they are and when his current ones get scratched and he needs new ones, he'll get a new perscription. The doctors here want to see him again in 3 months.

So now since Sinterklaas is officially over, and he's gone back to Spain, Christmas can officially begin here in Holland! We put lights on our house last weekend and got our Christmas tree yesterday. We went to a great nursery near us and paid 40 Euros for a great Noble from Denmark. From what we can tell, they don't have U-Cut Tree farms here like they do in Oregon. They have more like tree lots but the trees are wonderful quality. Since I didn't ship one Christmas thing of ours, we had to buy all new decorations for the tree. So the red, silver, and blue ornaments were screaming at me to buy them...so we have an "American Flag" Christmas tree! Actually the Netherlands flag has three big stripes...red, white, and blue as well.

Ryan is trying to plan a ski trip for us in Switzerland. He's been dying to go skiing and especially to take Trevor. Trevor is equally excited. So today, Ryan and Trevor went to an indoor ski place about 45 minutes away and had a blast. Ryan said Trevor had a hard time figuring out how to "snow plow" and enjoyed skiing between his legs instead going really fast. They even went on a jump a few times!

Tomorrow, Trevor has a Christmas lunch at his school for all four preschool classes. We get to come at 1045am and play with them in their classroom and then hear them sing Christmas songs with their music teacher. Then at noon, all the classes get together in the common area and have lunch together. We each have to bring some type of food to share. It's funny how at Trevor's school, when they have events like this, they want parents to bring homemade food items. But in the US, everything always has to be store bought. And it's also interesting how at Trevor's school, they are going all out on celebrating Christmas. They have Christmas trees all over the school, they sing songs about Santa Claus, etc. There is a little boy in Trevor's class that's Jewish and his Mom was telling me they celebrate Hannukah so I wonder if this bothers them at all. It always seems that in the US, the schools are so sensitive about how they celebrate "Christmas." But here, it seems as though the schools are much more relaxed about everything!

I'm having my neighbor, Chicago Caryn, watch Ashley while I'm at Trevor's school tomorrow. It's the first time I've left her with anyone besides family. Caryn is wonderful and Ashley likes her... I just hope she's not fussy for her.

Well my parents get here on the 22nd and we're so excited! We're planning a trip to Colgone to go to the famous Christmas markets there. Also, for their Christmas present from us, we got them tickets to a chamber music concert at the famous Concertgebouw in downtown Amsterdam and reserved them a hotel room near the Van Gogh Museum and Rijkmuseum for that evening.

Nike is closed the week between Christmas and New Years so Ryan will be home which will be great. Trevor's last week of school is this week and then he has 3 weeks off.

And our little angel Ashley, is getting 2 more teeth finally! And she is officially walking. But if she wants to get somewhere fast, like as an unwanted guest in the bathroom when her brother is going potty, she'll crawl. She's discovered that a roll of toilet paper can be very ammusing (see last picture)!

First of all, Happy Anniversary Ryan! 8 years! Who would have thought on our 8th anniversary we'd be living in Holland!

Last Friday we had horrible weather...the worst weather I have ever been in. We woke up to thunder and lightening, and sideways wind and rain. On the way to school it was hailing and just barely snowing. Later in the day, it was completely snowing but none of it stuck to the ground. There were knocked down trees and branches everywhere. It was crazy! I know if this weather had been in Portland, it would have been "breaking news" all day!

Our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday was a big success. The 5 kilo smoked turkey that we got in Amsterdam was one of the best turkeys we'd ever had. We had Caryn (neighbor from Chicago) and Olessia's (the other Nike family) family over around 2pm. We all contributed yummy side dishes and drank lots of Gluhwein (hot spiced wine). We had an adult table and a kids table so that was fun. Eleven people total. Then we walked down to Caryn's house for desert around 6pm. We really enjoyed spending time with friends and everyone had a great time.

Last night we had Trevor leave his shoe and Ashley's shoe by the fire place so Sinter Klaas could put a treat in it. We put carrots in the shoes for his horse. And when he woke up this morning, he remembered right away and was excited to see a book and some little Dutch traditional cookies called Pepernoten in his shoes. So the official Sinter Klaas celebration is on the December 5th and I think after that, everyone officially starts getting ready for Christmas here. Now I don't quite understand the difference between Sinter Klaas and Santa Claus. Trevor is the type of kid to ask if they're the same person and why one lives in Spain and the other lives in the North Pole. I think if he does ask I'll just say they're brothers. But I wanted to participate in the Dutch holiday of Sinter Klaas.

Trevor is a clever kid I have to say. I have to share a hillarious story. The other night I was trying to get him to brush his teeth. I was lecturing him on and on and finally he said, "Okay, okay, save your batteries" and he proceeded to finish brushing his teeth. My jaw about dropped to the floor...I didn't know if I should laugh or get mad! I said in a quiet but stern voice, "Where did you hear that saying?" and he replied "Woody in Toy Story." I then smiled and laughed a little and said, "Actually that was pretty funny" and he giggled too.

The picture of the drawing is a picture Trevor drew on his chalkboard. I was very impressed and asked him to tell me about it and he said "It's me." Trevor's first self portrait! I wish I could save it somehow but it's only chalk. A photo will have to do.

Ashley is doing good. She gets a little more confident walking every day. I know by Christmas she'll be walking everywhere. She's very attached to me right now...I swear she's permanently attached to my hip. She is starting to be a little stinker though sometimes. She's figured out that she can stand up in her high chair and just laughs and laughs. We are very stern with her and make her sit back down, but she stands right back up. She's been hard to feed lately too. She wants to feed herself (and pretty much refuses to be fed by me or Ryan) but she also throws anything that's on her high chair tray if she's bored with it (Trevor never did that. She only has 2 teeth still so she can't really chew up solid food yet. But we give her crackers and bread which she gums until they're mushy.

We don't really have anything planned the next few weeks except just getting things ready for my parents visit. They arrive a few days before Christmas and leave around the 8th or 9th. We can't wait!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great time in London. We wished we could have been there a couple more days because we didn't get to see everything we wanted. I guess that's just an excuse to go back some day!

We got off to a great start last Wednesday afternoon. Although I have to say we will never use Mapquest directions again! We really needed a navigation system on this trip. We picked Trevor up from school and headed south to France. We got lost in Belgium and ended up taking a detour through the town of Sint Niklaas which wasn't very interesting. We made it to the Eurotunnel by dinner time and had to wait about an hour before we could drive our car onto the train that goes through the tunnel. The tunnel was pretty uneventful actually...quick but pretty boring. We were both very nervous to start driving on the other side of the road once we made it into Britain (which was the fourth country we had been in that day!). The freeways were fine...it was driving in the city that was scary. But I can't even begin to express how wonderful it was to see signs in English! Again, our Mapquest directions were useless once we got into London. We were completely lost and had to ask for directions. We made it to our hotel, which was a very nice hotel, around 9pm and went to bed.

The weather for our whole trip was great. It was very very cold but sunny blue skies. On Thursday our plan was to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace at 1130am. We left the hotel with the kids in strollers (Trevor would have been on our shoulders the whole trip if we didn't have a stroller for him) around 930am which was way too early. By the time the horses and guardsmen and bands started coming around Trevor was so done and Ashley was ready for a bottle and a nap. So we saw a few minutes and then headed towards the Thames river to do the London Eye and the Duck Boat Tour. Ashley fortunatly got a little nap in on the walk down there. We had lunch at a little deli while Ashley slept as well.

We decided to do the London Eye first. It's this gigantic modern ferris wheel thing that has about 20 or so of these pods that fit about 12 people in each...it slowly rotates so you get about a 1/2 hour ride and go way up high to see amazing views of London. Trevor loved about the first 3 minutes and then said he wanted to get off...which wasn't possible. Ashley was very fussy and while I was trying to give her a bottle, we managed to spill most of it all down the front of me.

After it was over, we raced over to where the Duck Boat Tours are, and found out that they were done doing tours for the day. Trevor was very very disappointed. The Duck Boat Tours are these amphibious vehicles from WWII that drive around London with a guide and then roll into the Thames river for a quick ride down and back. We promised Trevor we'd do it on Friday and instead went to the Aquarium. He was excited to do that and see the sharks. But as soon as we saw the big sharks, he was done and wanted to leave. So we finished that up and took a cab back back to the hotel before we headed out for dinner. The cabs there are great because they are these old-fashioned black cars (that look like PT-Cruisers kind of) we could easily just lift up the strollers with the kids in them, into the cab and we didn't have to fold them up or anything. We ended up finding a nice pub that had a restaraunt upstairs that the kids could be at. We were excited for the fish and chips but they ended up not being very good.

On Friday we decided to do an open-top double decker bus tour where you could hop on and off where ever you wanted along the route for the whole day. It was about 930am in the morning and we quickly climbed to the top of the bus but once it got going, it was freezing! So we moved up to the part that was partially covered. But by the time we got to where we wanted to get off, it had been at least an hour and a half of stop and go traffic in the city. It wasn't very enjoyable.

So our first stop was the Duck Boat Tour. We boarded around 1130am and Ashley slept in my arms the entire trip. We sat in the back where it was a little warmer while Trevor and Ryan sat more towards the front. And I tell you, when the driver drove the car/boat/thing down the ramp at full speed into the river, it was more fun then any ride at Disneyland I've been on! It was really fun.

After the tour ended we ate lunch at another deli type place and decided to take a cab to the Tower of London. That was a great place to go because there were so many things to see and lots of room for Trevor to run around. And I think it was at this point that Trevor asked to take a picture with our camera...and we soon discovered that he loved taking pictures. It was a great way to get him interested in what we wanted to look at (he took the picture of Ryan and I and the picture of the raven at the Tower of London). We saw the Crown Jewels which were amazing. And Trevor especially loved the armour and horse armour at the Tower of London.

We decided to hop back on the double decker bus and head back to our hotel. But we decided to go to Harrods to see the toy department and thought we could eat dinner there. We realized that the bus wasn't going to go by Harrods so we got off and got in a cab. Harrods was huge and very crowded. We got so lost inside so many times but it was fun. We ate a diner type restaraunt in Harrods which wasn't very good.

On Saturday, we got in our car and drove to Stonehenge which is about 2 hours West of London. It took forever to get just out of the city. But once we got the countryside it was beautiful. We bought a road atlas which we should have done before our trip! Stonehenge was amazing...I was really impressed by it...more then I thought I would be. It was all behind a short rope fence so we weren't very close to it. But it was really great. We then drove about 45 minutes north on narrow country roads to Avebury which is another place where they have big stone structures. There we could walk right up to the rocks and we even climbed on them. We headed back to London and headed out for dinner around 6pm. Again, we found a nice restaraunt but the food wasn't good.

Saturday we woke up and headed home. The drive home went great...our kids do awesome in the car which is so great. Trevor just watches movies on his DVD player and Ashley just hangs out, yells, snacks on food, looks outside, and sleeps.

So this week is Trevor's first official full week of school. He'll go every day, from 830-330pm. Every day they have rest time for an hour and apparently he's one of the kids that usually sleeps.

Yesterday I went to my first "coffee morning" with the International Mom and Tots group. It was at my neighbor house, Caryn from Chicago. There were probably at least 10 Moms there with kids and I met some really nice ladies. They meet every other week. I think it will be easier for me to go to these things now that Trevor is in school every day. Now I don't feel rushed to run all my errands the first part of the week.

Today I met a friend at the weekly outdoor market in Bussum. It was the first time I had really bought a substantial amount of stuff. I got some great veggies, some chicken, flowers, a wreath, cookies, bread, and spices. I've always kind of thought that it is more hassle then it's worth going there but after today, I'll definitly be going back. Everything is so fresh and much cheaper then the grocery store.

Well, the online weather says it's supposed to snow the next few days. We'll see! I can't imagine it snowing here but it sure feels cold enough to. I was freezing at the market. Fortunatly, I had Ashley all bundled up and under a rain cover in her stroller so she was happy.

So tonight, Ryan was at a dinner for work so it was just me and the kids to celebrate Thanksgiving (we're going to officialy celebrate it on Sunday with two other families). I went all out tonight for dinner. Chicken nuggets and green Shrek french fries! Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

This past week has been very busy. On Wednesday afternoon Trevor had an official playdate with a little boy in his class, Adam, after school. His father is from South Africa and his mother is from Israel. Trevor and Adam were so excited...they held hands walking down the hallway and wanted to ride in the same car together. They actually didn't play much with each other once we got to their house but I had a nice visit with his Mom. And Trevor said he had fun. I think next time we'll invite them to our house on a weekend...we live about 30-45 minutes from them.

On Saturday, Trevor had another birthday party for a little girl in his class. She actually lives close to us so that was nice. It was at her house and Trevor had lots of fun.

And on Sunday, Sinterklaas arrived in Bussum! We rode our bikes to our downtown area and met up with 3 other American families to watch the parade. They had antique cars, bands, probably a hundred Zwarte Piet's (Sinterklaas's black helpers...see photos...a little politically incorrect...could you imagine that in the US!) who handed out bags of these little traditional cookies, horses, and then Sinterklaas arrived on a white horse! It was really fun to see. The downtown area was packed with tons of families. We stayed down there for a few hours and then headed home. I guess now we're supposed to tell Trevor to leave his shoes outside every couple of days and Sinterklaas will put a treat in them if he's been good.

Last night I went to a Christmas dinner cooking demonstration through the American Women's club. It was at a patissere in a neighboring town called Blaricum. There were about 15 women there. The chef showed us how to make the traditional holiday dutch cookie type thing called "speculaas" which is a gingerbread type cookie with an almond/sugar filling. He also showed us how to cook "herten filets" (deer), "spruitenmousse" (an amazing brussel sprout mouse which I will try and make when my parents come for christmas because my Dad loves brussel sprouts), and "aardappel knolseldry purree" (mashed potatos and parsnips). It was all very gourmet and a little over my head. But it was nice getting out. It was hard leaving Trevor though...he cried and Ryan had to pull him off of me. He's just not used to me leaving.

I have to admit that I'm a little overwhelmed by all the possible groups and activities that are available to me. There's the American Women's Club, the local International Mom and Tots Group, the Nike Mom and Tot Group, and the PTA. I guess when I write it out it doesn't seem like a lot but at least every week it seems like there are at least one or two "coffee mornings" that I could go to. I can barely keep things up with our house so trying to be involved socially can be overwhelming...especially when I have a messy house, laundry stacked up (because I can't run the washer and dryer at the same time), etc. It's funny that I feel this way because six months ago, I felt like I didn't have any social outlets.

We decided to have Trevor go to school 5 days a week. He's going to start next week. On Thursday's and Friday's when he's not in school, he's just bored out of his mind. Every other child we know that's 4 or older is in school all day every day...it's just how life is here. So we decided that he'd benefit more from being at school then being here at home. He says he wants to...I'm not sure if he understands but he loves school and it really starting to open up there.

It has been really cold here. Yesterday morning it was 1 degree (celcius that is). To me, it feels like a different cold though. There's usually always a breeze so maybe that's why it feels different.

Ashley is doing great...she just goes with the flow. She still only has 2 teeth and she's not walking yet...very close though. Right now she's obsessed with the animal board book that we got her at the bookstore last weekend. She loves seeing animals...except the horses in the Sinterklaas parade.

So thanksgiving us coming up soon! We are going to celebrate with our neighbors from Chicago and another Nike family on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We didn't want to try and do the dinner on Thursday because it's a school night. I had originally offered to order and cook the turkey because I think I have the biggest oven out of the three of us. But I decided not to take a chance that it wouldn't fit or that it wouldn't turn out. So instead I ordered one from a smoke house in Amsterdam that is already cooked. Want to know how much? It'll be a 5 kilo turkey which is about 11 pounds and it will cost about 87 Euros which is about $100! It comes from a farm in France and from their description it sounds delicious (it better be for that price!). They provide instructions on how to heat it up. I can't wait!

So tomorrow we leave for London! I'm so excited! All I can say is that I'm so glad we didn't plan a trip to France! We considered driving to Strasburg France but changed our minds. Thank goodness! I just talked to Ryan on the phone and he bought our Chunnel tickets. I guess your car is actually on a drive-on train that goes through the tunnel. It cost about 200 Euros total to go through it both ways. I guess when you're the only tunnel connecting Great Britain to Europe, you can charge anything you want! We get back on Sunday so I'll try and write then or early next week.

Our first Halloween in Holland was great...much more low key then in the US but perfect for Trevor. Trevor wanted to be a skeleton (got the costume in the US) and Ashley was some sort of Cheetah. Trevor's nickname, T-Bone, was very fitting! I was emailed a list of houses by a rep in the American Women's Club of Amsterdam that Trevor could Trick or Treat at in our area (the area we live in is called the 't Gooi area and is comprised of about 6 little towns) which was about 50 houses...and a total of 96 possible kids that could of potentially come to our house. Ryan ended up taking Trevor with our neighbor, Caryn from Chicago, and her two kids while me and Caryn's husband stayed home to hand out candy. It took them quite a while to find all the houses in our town Bussum and our neighboring town, Naarden, because it was dark and hard to see the house numbers. But they made it to about 12 houses. We only had about 6 kids come to our house...but we bought lots of candy just in case of course!

The next day was Trevor's first day at school since before we left for our trip home. We was glad to be back and so was I! After school the PTA had organized a Halloween parade for the kids in preschool through 1st grade. Various teachers and staff handed out candy and treats along the route. But poor Trevor...when I got to school I had his costume ready for him to put on and he was so confused. He was wiped because he'd been there all day (830-330pm) and all he wanted to do was go home. But after some convincing, he put his costume on with the rest of the kids in his class and walked around and got some treats. He was glad he did it.

So all the stores have all their Christmas stuff out. I'm relieved actually to see almost all the same kinds of things as in the US because I didn't ship one single Christmas thing. We wouldn't have anywhere to store it anyways! Here in Holland they have "Sinterklaas" who officially comes from Spain each year on a boat. Apparently it's a big deal in Amsterdam and each town has their own Sinterklaas arrival. In our town Bussum he's coming on a Steam Train next weekend! He has a helper who's called Zwarte Piet who is like a carnival jester with black face paint. St. Nicholas Day is December 6th and the weeks prior the Dutch kids leave their shoes outside and Sinterklaas will leave sweets and small gifts in them if they've been good. On December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, there are traditional family parties with gift exchanges. Sinterklaas leaves a large burlap sack, "de zak van Sinterklaas," with gifts inside. At the bottom of the bag are large chocolate initials...the first letter of each person's name. (I saw these bags for sale at Toys R Us for a Euro so I bought one not really knowing what it was. So I looked online and found all this information about Sinterklaas.)

I haven't figured out yet how Christmas and December 25th is celebrated here. But I've seen advent calendars for sale. And I asked at a nursery last week if they will be selling live Christmas trees and she said yes. So we'll just have to see!

We are also in the process of making plans for Thanksgiving. We're going to celebrate it with Chicago Caryn and her family down the street...probably eat some here...eat some down at her house, and possibly one other family. I think we have to order a turkey now but it will have to be a small one because all our ovens are so small here. We drove by a poultry shop today that I had heard about here in our town.

We are also planning our next trip! We're driving to London! Yep, driving! We wanted to go somewhere the week before Thanksgiving. At first we thought we wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny where we could hang out on a beach. We were very close to booking a trip to Valencia Spain but the airfare went up so we decided to bag it. The weather probably wouldn't have been very warm anyways. So we decided that we should take advantage of having our own car in Europe and drive somewhere. We couldn't get excited about driving anywhere in France which is South of us, or Germany which is East of us, or Denmark which is North of us (too cold!) so we decided to go West. We first looked into taking a ferry but decided to take the Chunnel! All we have to do is drive 3.5 hours South to Calais France, take the 35 mintue Chunnel ride to the UK, and drive another 1.5 hours to London. It will be such an adventure. We booked our hotel...we're staying right across the street from Buckingham Palace. We're also going to drive to Stonehenge which is a few hours West of London. We leave Wednesday November 16th and return Sunday November 20th.

Ashley is close to walking. She loves to stand up by herself and fall forward on you. She just laughes and laughes. She still only has 2 teeth! And she loves kissing everything. It's so cute! I was giving her raisins the other day and she was kissing each one. She also has started this caveman-grunting-thing when ever she wants something. She points her hand and grunts until you give her what she wants. Trevor is doing great wearing his glasses. I made an appointment at the hospital near us with an eye doctor for next week. I'm very anxious for it. Every time Trevor takes his glasses off I can't stop staring at him. I miss looking at him that way.

Today we decided to drive into Amsterdam to go to the American Book Center. We wanted to get a travel book for London and France. Trevor got two Curious George books...he found our old ones at my parents house and loved them...he's obsessed now with him. Ashley got an animal book...she shrieked with excitement at every page. We ate a late lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. The kids were great all day. These two pictures were taken today. Ashley's "reading" in the bookstore. We also found a little park in Amsterdam that had these stone lizards. Trevor was pretending to get bit by them and Ashley was cracking up.

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last wrote. How fast a month goes by! Our trip home was great. Warning...this is a long one!

The flight home was ok. Trevor decided he was going to be just plain mean to me that day and it was very difficult to discipline him. And I was counting on him being good and Ashley being hard. In fact, they both were hard. I was in tears only once though. And I honestly can say, I don't remember much of the trip home. I've decided the experience was like giving birth...you forget how awful it is so you'll do it again. At the time, I was asking myself, why am I doing this by myself?! But in the end, it was great to be home and staying at my parents house the first week with just me and the kids. That Friday night I saw my sister and her family (minus 2 kids) for the first time in 6 months and instantly burst into tears. I think a lot of it had to do with lack of sleep as well...but it was very emotional for me.

The kids adjusted to the time change great...just a few nights of waking up but otherwise it was easy. The kids and I caught some sort of cold though on our journey so we were sick the first week. Unfortunatly we passed it on to my parents. So the first week home was filled with dentist and doctor appointments and seeing old friends. At Trevor's 4 year old checkup with the pediatrician, they determined that he needed to see a pediatric opthamologist (which we thought might happen since he didn't do very well at his eye exam here in Holland). So we scheduled that for the week after so Ryan could come. That Friday, my parents and me the the kids, went to the Evergreen Air Museum and had a blast. Trevor loved it.

So Ryan arrived on Saturday October 1st and his first destination was Taco Bell...seriously. He brought it home on his way home from the airport. And after we all ate it, we decided it wasn't as good as we thought it would be. But we did manage to bring a bunch of taco sauce back to Holland with us. So on Saturday the kids and I moved our stuff over to Ryan's parents house, which is where we stayed the rest of our trip, except while we were in Spokane for Craig and Sami's wedding (Ryan's brother). That Sunday night we had our official Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings at Ryan's parents house with my parents as well. It was so yummy! Turkey is hard to come by here in Holland so we've been craving it like crazy.

On Monday we met up with my long-time friend Amie and her husband Jeff and their 3 girls. She lives in Spokane right now and it was great seeing her. It's funny that we both happened to be home in Portland at the same time! On Tuesday, we took Trevor to his eye doctor appointment. And after 2 hours of testing, they determined that he needed glasses. Ryan and I were shocked mainly because neither of us wear glasses. He basically is far sighted which I guess most kids are at this age and he also has amblyopia which is a lazy eye. You can't tell by looking at him though. So his perscription is going to try and make his weak eye stronger. They said we have to have his eyes tested in 4-6 weeks to see if the glasses have helped. If they haven't then he'll have to wear a patch on his good eye a few hours a day. We were speechless when we heard this. And on top of it all, we have to deal with all of this over here in Holland. So we decided to wait until the next week to order glasses for him since we were leaving on Thursday for Spokane for the wedding.

We flew to Spokane on Thursday and first visited Ryan's grandparents. We then went back to Ryan's uncle Brian's house to settle in. On Friday, we went to the tux place to get Ryan and Trevor fitted. Trevor was very shy and wouldn't come out of the dressing room. But we finally got him out after the tux guy told him he needed to check to see if it fit. That afternoon we went to Ryan's uncle Brian's lake house out at Lake Coeur d'Alene. Trevor had an absolute ball with Ryan's cousins. Then we changed our clothes there and made our way to the chapel for the rehearsal.

Trevor fell asleep on the way to the chapel so when we got there he was very grumpy and wouldn't practice walking down the aisle. But by the time we got to the restaraunt he was happy and especially enjoyed playing with the 8 year old flower girl. He even insisted on sitting next to her, across the room from us, to eat his dinner.

Saturday we woke up and got ourselves ready. Trevor and Ryan looked so handsome in their tuxes. And Ashley was adorable in her pretty little dress and tights. We arrived at the chapel around 1pm and were there for pictures until the 330pm ceremony. Craig and Sami looked great...in fact the whole wedding party and all the flowers looked wonderful! Trevor performed perfect during the wedding, thankfully. Ashley was ready for a nap however as soon as the ceremony started so her and I hung out in the back. I would have loved to have been in the front to see Trevor though. I heard that as soon as he walked up to the front he turned around, saw Ryan's cousins, and said rather loudly, "Hi!" Oh well!

The reception was great as well and both the kids did great. Trevor was pretty wound up and managed to plant a huge kiss right on Sami's face...see picture. It was hillarious! Trevor had so much fun playing with Ryan's cousins. And we owe them a big thank you for all their help. We know how tiring it can be!

The next day we went out to Lake Coeur d'Alene again. After a few hours we headed back into town to the airport and flew home. My parents picked us up and we dropped them off at their house and drove their car back to Ryan's parents house. It was late so we all went straight to bed.

Our last week Ryan worked pretty much every day. We ordered Trevor's glasses on Monday. He picked out Nike ones...surprise surprise. I think Ryan had a little influence. They were going to be ready on Friday. The kids and I got together with Trevor's old playgroup on Tuesday so that was a lot of fun. All the kids have grown up so much in 6 months. On Wednesday the 12th my sister and I accidently bumped into each other at the Sherwood DMV...honestly! My drivers license was lost in Rome so I was getting a new one and my sister was renewing her license because it was her birthday that day. So we made a fun and impulsive decision to go out to lunch to celebrate her birthday after we were done at the DMV! It was great to go out with her, just the two of us, with no kids!

Later that week, after the kids went to bed, Ryan and I went to Safeway to stock up on items to bring home. Some of the things we bought were: packets of Ranch dressing, Crystal Lite, sunflower seeds, baking soda, food coloring, vanilla, Glad storage containers. Ryan's parents also went to Costco for us and got: Cheerios, fruit snacks, Mac & Cheese, dryer sheets, ziplock bags, chocolate chips.

On Friday, Trevor went with my sister and her kids to the pumpkin patch. He had so much fun and didn't want to leave. But we had to go pick up his glasses! He was a little grumpy when we picked them up. But he looked adorable in them. He seemed to do best when we distracted him and he forgot that he had them on. He has done great ever since and wears them all the time. He loves telling people that he has new glasses. And actually I was able to make an appointment with an eye doctor here at a nearby hospital without any problems. Phew!

On Saturday we spent the afternoon with our good friends, the Schwenke's, from our old cul-d-sac. The kids played and had lots of fun. That evening just the adults went out for dinner at a yummy restaraunt in downtown Portland with another couple from our old cul-d-sac. It was great having an evening out without the kids--I think our first in a really long time. Ryan and I had fun at Safeway the other night but that shouldn't really count, should it?

On Sunday, Ashley turned 1! We had a little party at Ryan's parents house with my parents and my sister's kids (her and my brother-in-law were out of town). Ashley loved the Pizza Caboose Pizza but didn't enjoy her cake unfortunatly. That's ok...it makes for a great picture!

On Monday, our departure day, we took Ashley to her 1 year doctor's appointment at the pediatrician. She did ok...doesn't really like strangers looking at her or touching her. So she was fussy...especially during her 6 shots! Yes, 6! She hadn't gotten any since before we left so she was due...poor girl. We were all worried how she'd do that afternoon on the flight. The nurse and doctor were practically begging me to give her Benadryl so she'd sleep on the flight. But I didn't know how she'd react to it and since I know she's good on airplanes, we decided not to.

The flight home went great. Ryan got upgrades through Nike so we all sat in business class. What a treat! However, a little part of me (well maybe not so little) wishes Ryan could have experienced sitting in coach with the kids, like I had to do on the way to Portland...oh well!

We arrived on Tuesday and I was hoping to take Trevor to school on Wednesday but there was no way. We didn't wake up until noon that day and he was so upset...he begged and begged for me to take him. He normally doesn't go on Thursday's or Friday's but we went Thursday afternoon to say Hi and find out what was planned for Halloween (this week they didn't have school...I think all kids have it off all over Europe...so Halloween will be his first day back at school in over a month). The first week home was tough getting the kids back on Holland time. There were several days when the kids and I didn't wake up until 1pm in the afternoon! Even though that was nice, they were up in the middle of the night from about midnight - 4am. Poor Ryan...he had to get up and go to work so tired. But we're finally out of the woods...both kids are sleeping through the night finally!

While we were home I got Halloween costumes for the kids. Trevor wanted to be a skeleton and Ashley is going to be a little leopard. The American Women's Club (which I finally joined) is going to have a Trick & Treat route for kids in our area on Sunday evening which we'll do. And on Monday after school, they have a parade for the preschool, kindergarteners, and 1st graders in the their costumes. They don't celebrate Halloween here so that's about all we're doing.

Last night the kids and I went over to a friend's house who's husband works for Nike. Both of our husbands were working late. We had dinner and the kids played. It was really nice getting out.

Well I'm sure I'll be posting Halloween pictures. Check back soon!

So tomorrow is the big day! The kids and I are flying home!!! I really can't believe it. We are so excited to see everyone and very excited for Craig and Sami's wedding (Ryan's brother). It's almost 830pm here and I'm all packed and ready to go. Our flight leaves at 945am and we fly from Amsterdam to Frankfurt to Portland. The last leg is 10+ hours long but when we land in Portland it will be 1130pm Amsterdam time so hopefully the kids will sleep the last few hours of the trip. We all have seats as well and Ashley is still in her infant car seat so she'll be able to sleep in that.

We decided to get Trevor a Gameboy for his birthday in hopes that he would play it on the flight. However, he has shown hardly any interest in it. Oh well, I'm sure he'll love it in a couple years. So we decided to buy a new portable DVD player and purchase an extra battery for it. It is also region-free so it will play DVDs that we buy here.

Trevor got a new "Fat Man Pack Pack" (translation...Batman Backpack) which he slept with last night and wore quite a bit today. We rode our bikes to the little grocery store and bought candy for the flight. I've got lots of snacks packed as well. I called the airline last night and have arranged for assistance when we land in Portland. There's no way I'd be able to do two kids plus 2 huge suitcases through customs and immigration by myself!

So everybody keep your fingers crossed that our adventure goes smoothly!

Trevor has been loving school this last week. The other day he asked after we got home from school, if he could go back. He goes 3 days a week...90% of the kids in his class go 5 days a week. I asked him if he'd like to go 5 days a week and he said "Yes, I want to go 11 days a week!"

And one other funny story about Trevor that I forgot to mention when my parents were here. One evening we all had gone to a pancake restaraunt in a town called Huizen. The restaraunt sits in the corner of the main shopping square there. After we ate, we strolled around a bit and went into a few shops. I went into a clothing shop and ended up trying some clothes on. The annoying thing about clothing shops here is there are usually no mirrors in the dressing rooms...you have to step out of the room and look at yourself in a big mirror in the shop. Well by that time Trevor and my parents and Ryan had wandered in the shop. Soon, Trevor had figured out what I was doing and decided to join me in the dressing room. It was funny because I don't think he has ever been in a dressing room before (that he could remember) or even knew what they were. He was very excited about it all. Ryan told him he could come in my dressing room and take off one thing...his shirt...and then put it right back on. Then after he did that, he decided to take off all his clothes, see if his shoes still fit him, then put all his clothes back on. It was hillarious!

Not sure when I'll update this again but I might try while we're home. We come back to Holland on Oct 17th (day after Ashley turns 1!). Wish us luck!!

So it's been a very long time since I've written. We were very busy with my parents visit, school starting for Trevor, and his 4th birthday.

My parents visit was very fun and it was wonderful having their company. The day they flew in was Trevor's first day of school and the timing worked out perfect. I dropped Trevor off at school and he did great. I told him he was going to be the expert in the class because he was in the same class as last year, with the same teacher. I left the school and drove to the airport. Meanwhile, Ryan and Ashley had taken the train to the airport and I met them at the arriving passengers area. I was there no more then 3 minutes and my parents walked through the doors! We all piled in the car and headed back to school to pick Trevor up. He had a short day that day. He was excited and surprised to see my parents. And so far, he's done great at school!

The next two weeks were filled with little side trips around Holland, taking and picking up Trevor from school, celebrating birthdays (my Mom's, mine, and Trevor's), eating lots of pancakes (the local favorite), bug bites, digging for buried treasure in our backyard (see picture...it ended up being an old drainage pipe) and taking pictures.

One day I went with my parents to a nearby castle while Ryan stayed at home with the kids. Another day my parents rode into Naarden Vesting (the fortified city that's just down the street from us)...we rented a scooter for my Mom (for those of you who are reading this and don't know my Mom had a stroke a few years ago...she can walk just fine but is just slow). My dad rode my bike and they enjoyed several hours just the two of them, exploring the museum and going for a boat ride around the city.

Another day, while Trevor was a school, my parents, Ashley, and I went into downtown Amsterdam and did a canal boat tour. It was very hot that day. On another day that Trevor was in school, we went to Zaanse Schans (windmill city) and did some shopping and picture taking (see photo of my parents pretending to be a windmill...I made them do it!).

One day, probably our 2nd busiest, we all drove down to a city South of us called Den Haag (or The Hague). We went to the Mauritshuis Museum which has the Vermeer painting of "Girl With a Pearl Earring" (see picture of my Mom looking at it while listening to a guided tour headset). It was fabulous. We learned though that Trevor doesn't do so well in museums...it was his first one...and probably his last for a while. On the same day we went to another museum called the Panorama Mesdag which is a huge painting that's in a big circle around you...very impressive. We then decided to go to a place Madurodam which is a miniature model of Holland with buildings, churches, people, boats, cars, airplanes, etc. As corny as it sounds, it was impressive. Trevor had a ball. Then we made out way to the coast and had dinner at a seafood restaraunt that was yummy.

Our busiest day was when we all went to a town in Belgium called Brugge (see the bottom three pictures). It was about 2.5 hours south of us and it was fastastic. Ryan had been there once on a previous trip to Europe and lots of people have recommended it to us. So after much thought we decided to be brave and do it will the kids, and it was well worth it. It's a small fortified city that's very old...founded probably around 14th century...and famous for lace and chocolate (of course). We did lots of walking around that day and it was very busy because it was sunny and a Saturday. While my parents visited a museum, me and Ryan and the kids took a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city. It was expensive but we decided well worth it because it gave Ryan and I the opportunity to see the city and Trevor and Ashley enjoyed it. We then met my parents and went for a canal boat tour that was very nice as well. The shopping in the town was great too.

One of the last little trips we did was go to Delft one day while Trevor was at school. Delft is about 45 minutes south of us and it is famous for the blue and white handpainted porceline. We did some shopping and toured the old church and new church. My Dad climbed one of the church towers and took this great picture of the town and country side (see the red tile roofs and canal and bridges). We saw where Vermeer was buried in the old church which was interesting.

Unfortunatly, this time of year is famous for mosquitos and lots of spiders. We all got lots of bug bites (I just don't get why the Dutch don't have screens on their windows). And one morning I killed the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life. Fortunatly, it was in our bathtub and it seriously was as big as a tarantula...just not as fat...but it was hairy and awful. My Dad has seen many spiders in his life and he said this was the biggest one he's ever seen. It was really early in the morning so no one was awake yet so the only thing I could do was kill it with bathroom cleaner. I think I must have sprayed the whole bottle on him!

The other big event that happened is that Trevor turned 4 on September 6th! I brought cupcakes to his class as school and the kids were very excited. When he got home from school we had decorated with balloons and streamers and he had lots of presents to open. I'm so glad my parents were here for his birthday. He told us he felt bigger on his birthday. We also found out that he's the oldest child in his class. I think that will be the case from now on because he's got such a goofy birthday.

Also, I have to mention that I learned a good lesson while my parents were here. One day we decided to go to downtown Amsterdam to find the famous floating flower market. I had both kids with me and my parents in the car and I was driving. It was around 3pm in the afternoon and it was packed. There were tons of cars, bicyclists, pedestrians, trams everywhere! And we were lost. I had forgotten my map and thought I could find where I was going. After my first meltdown while I was driving down a street only for trams and busses, we finally asked someone for directions. They were very helpful and we thought we found a parking spot close to the market. We all piled out of the car, got the kids in the stroller, and started walking towards the market. It was so overwhelming for me though with the crowds and my kids, I had my second meltdown (we're entitled to them aren't we?!). I went back to the car with the kids and waited for my parents (who discovered we were not parked close at all...we eventually stumbled upon the market on our way out of town though!). So my lesson is that I won't try and go to downtown Amsterdam with both kids without Ryan.

And good news about Ashley...she started crawling and got her first tooth...all while my parents were here!

So the last few weeks have been busy with important milestones and wonderful company!

And lastly, I wanted to mention that we were also glued to the TV watching news about Hurricane Katrina. On our British satelite we get Fox News and CNN International. Our hearts go out to anyone that's reading this that was affected in some way or another by the disaster. It's interesting living here in Holland while this has happened. Holland is famous for conquering the sea and engineering dikes and flood barriers. Holland is full of water and canals and back in the 50's (and centuries and centuries before as well) there were awful floods that killed thousands of Dutch. So since then, the Dutch have spent much time and effort figuring out ways to prevent floods. One night we heard on Fox about how different countries around the world were contributing money and doctors and provisions to those affected by the hurricane. But then they said that the country that was providing the most long-lasting aid would be the Netherlands and their knowledge of dikes and flood barriers.

PS - thanks Dad for doing the dishes every night! And thanks for the Swiss steak Mom! And Happy Birthday Craig!

I'm finally getting a chance to write what we've been up to. The week before last was very uneventful. Everyone that we know here was either on "holiday" or back in the US for a visit. So we didn't do much.

Last weekend we found out that my Aunt Linda (my Mom's sister) and her daughter, my cousin, Laura, were going to try and get on a flight stand-by. They ended up arriving early Monday morning and stayed all week long! It was a great surprise and kept us busy every day. Trevor loved having someone else around to play with and it was nice having family around.

On Monday me and the kids took them into downtown Bussum where we had a nice lunch at a cute restaraunt. We did some shopping and then headed to the castle that's about 10 minutes from our house (Muiderslot). We were there for probably an hour and then came back home. They snoozed on the couch a little before dinner and then we ordered pizza to be delivered.

On Tuesday I dropped them off in downtown Amsterdam so they could do some sight-seeing for the day. This was actually my first time driving in downtown Amsterdam and I made it in and out successfully! I was so happy with myself! When we got home Trevor was so worn out from playing with them that he fell asleep on the floor (see picture). They went to the Van Gogh Museum and did some shopping. I suggested that they have dinner down there which they did. Then Ryan picked them up later in the evening.

On Wednesday Trevor got his hair cut...his first real hair cut since he's been here. He was great for it and it looks cute (it should for 25 Euros!). Then we dropped Linda and Laura in downtown Amsterdam again for more sight seeing...they did the Anne Frank house among other things. When Ryan got home from work that day, I took the car and met Linda and Laura downtown for a "girls night out" (which I badly needed). When Ryan and I came to Amsterdam in January for our house-hunting trip I remember thinking that there is no way I was going to ever drive in downtown Amsterdam. There were too many bikes and pedestrians and it was all too foreign to me. So I was so happy with myself that I drove down downtown by myself, at night, parked in an underground parking garage, and walked a few blocks by myself to meet them! We went to a great restaraunt called the "Five Flies." It was recommended to Linda and Laura by someone they had met at a cafe. We left the restaraunt at 945pm and luckily found a taxi to drive us to our next destination... an evening canal boat tour. Before I forget, I have to talk about how much garbage there was all over downtown Amsterdam. It was awful! None of us have ever seen anything like it before. You couldn't take 2 steps without running into piles and piles of garbage overflowing. The city was a mess! We asked the taxi driver what that was all about and he said the garbage collectors were on strike.

So we made it to the boat dock just in time and we learned that the boat captain was extremely reluctant to take tour boat out on the canals. This weekend was an event called "Sail" in downtown Amsterdam where sailboats from all over the world come for an exhibition. The city and waterways were packed with people and boats and that night there was going to be a firework show. The captain kept telling us that we wouldn't enjoy the tour and he didn't want to take us because of all the drunk people on boats. We thought it would be entertaining! So he ended up taking the three of us and one other couple on his boat that seats probably 75 people out on the canals for our hour tour. The first 50 minutes were facinating. The buildings and bridges were beautiful lit up at night. But on our way back to the dock we met head on all the boats that were coming back from the harbour from the firework show...and the canals are only wide enough for one of these tour boats that we were on. So we waited for probably a half hour until we could make our way down the canal and back to the dock. It was really fun and exciting. Our poor captain though chain smoked the entire time even though there was a big no smoking sign on the boat. We managed to get a photo with him after it was all over (see above).

After the boat tour, it was about 1130pm and what better time to check out the Red Light District! If you're in Amsterdam, you have to see it, right? That's what it is famous for. I personally hadn't been there myself. After some wandering here and there, past lots "Coffee Shops" (aka cafe where they sell and smoke marijuana) and a phone call to Ryan asking where it was, we stumbled upon it. I think my Aunt Linda described it best..."Oh my."

On Thursday we drove to a town called Zaanse Schans which is famous for it's windmills. After a few hours of walking around we headed towards Nike to pick up Ryan and check out the employee store. We then went to an authentic Dutch Pannekoeken House (pancake house) in a really cute town and enjoyed yummy pancakes.

On Friday I took Linda and Laura to the airport so they could catch a flight home. Once we reached the airport and could see airplanes, Trevor asked why their wings didn't flap...it was so funny! It was sad to see Linda and Laura leave because it was so nice to have visitors and Trevor loved playing with them. But we also knew that my parents were coming just a few days later!

On Saturday we had our neighbors from Chicago over for dinner. It was the first time the husbands had met and we had a very enjoyable evening. Trevor had fun playing with their two girls. I'm so glad that we have some american friends so close to us...just a few houses down.

So it's Monday evening as I'm writing this and my parents will be here in 36 hours exactly!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!

They arrive Wednesday morning...Trevor's first day of school actually. I'm going to take Trevor to school while Ryan and Ashley take the train to the airport to meet my parents. Then I will go to the airport and pick them up, and then head back to Trevor's school so we can all pick him up! I'm so excited for Trevor to start school again and be able to play with other kids his age. He has the same teacher and classroom as last year so that will be great for him. Wednesday is only a half day for him 830-12pm since it's the first week of school. Then starting next week he'll go regular days and times, Monday, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays 830am-330pm. Tomorrow we go to an orientation open house at the school for a few hours.

We found out where all the Dutch go on Sundays when everything is closed. They go to the outdoor outlet mall in Lelystad, just a couple hundred yards from this beautiful reconstructed sailing ship. We decided to do something touristy today and found out about this wonderful ship that you could climb aboard and explore. As we're driving closer to it, we saw hundreds and hundreds of cars and tons of people. We couldn't believe that all these people were there to see the ship! But as we parked and followed the crowd we discovered it was an outlet mall. We were quite excited actually because normally there aren't any kind of shops open on Sundays. So anyways, we went to the ship and enjoyed it very much.

This past week was pretty slow. We noticed some water collecting in the ceiling of our kitchen that was starting to go mildewy. Our bathroom happens to be right above the kitchen. For all the Nike expats, there is a maintenance company that we're supposed to call if we have any issues with our house. So they came over and determined that they would have to retile our shower. On Wednesday, the worker came over to start and disovered after tearing off the old tile that there was another layer of tile below it, plus at least 3 layers of wallpaper under that, and tons of rotting and burnt wood. There had actually been a fire in our house at some point! Trevor asked later if our house was still on fire. Poor guy. We reassured him that it wasn't. The maintenance company determined that the whole bathroom should be replaced! They contacted the owners and they decided to just patch up the tile so it doesn't leak anymore and not to do any major remodeling. It's a relief we won't have to deal with remodeling but I just hope we don't have any more problems...at least we don't own the house...we're just renters!

On Friday I took Trevor to Monkey Town. There was a girl that wasn't being very nice to Trevor. He came over and told me so I walked over but didn't know what to say to her...she was older then Trevor and Dutch. So I just gave her a stern look. On the way home Trevor kept thinking of all the things he could say to someone who isn't being nice and he asked how you say "friend" in Dutch. So I decided that this week I'm going to look into having someone come to our house to give Trevor and I Dutch language lessons. I'm picking up quite a few words but both Trevor and I need to know how to communicate in situations like the one above.

Ryan found out he has to go back to Beaverton for some meetings Sunday August 21st - 26th. He'll be gone when my parents get into town which is unfortunate. But I'm so glad that they will be here while he's gone. He pretty much has to go because he's on the agenda to do some presentations. But I'm making him take one of our empty suitcases and making a trip to Costco while he's home.

We don't have much planned for this week. Ryan is going to Brussels Wednesday and coming home on Friday. Maybe we'll tag along...don't know yet. In the car today I asked Trevor if he was ever going to get married and he said, "Nooo...only girls get married!" It was so funny!

Only 17 days until my parents come!!

Last Wednesday I had my first taste of socialized medicine. Trevor and Ashley had an appointment with the government bureau that does the well-checkups for children 0-4 years old. A couple people had prepared me for the experience. We walked into this room that was about as big as a waiting room at a doctors office. There was a table with a secretary that was checking people in and along one wall were about 8 small changing tables. She instructed me to undress both kids down to their diaper and underwear and wait. The changing tables didn't have any kind of protective sheet or paper that was changed between children. That surprised me. Trevor didn't want to undress and I didn't blame him. There were 3 other dutch families in there as well. So while we waiting the secreatary weighed and measured Ashley. Then we were called into the back office by the doctor (I think). She didn't have a white coat on or stethiscope around her neck but she was very nice and spoke pretty good english. In the office was a desk with a square pad on it. Again, it didn't have any kind of sheet or paper on it. Who knows if it was cleaned between appointments. She also didn't wash her hands before she looked at Ashley or Trevor. She did all the normal checks with the kids. She had Trevor copy a circle she had drawn on a piece of paper and he drew it just fine...with his left hand. He's been left handed since birth...seriously. The doctor said something to the effect of "too late to change that now." I was a little annoyed at that...I love that he's left handed! Trevor didn't pass the eye exam unfortunatly...the doctor made that clear by saying "that's not what I like to see" right in front of him. I think he just might have been nervous but she said I need to make an appointment at the hospital to have his eyes checked. When we got home I realized that I should have gotten more details from her about what exactly I needed to do because I sat down with the phone book on my lap and didn't even know where to begin. Eventually I found out I need to make an appointment with our family doctor here, and go from there. Also, I converted all their measurements from kilos and centimeters to pounds and inches and they're both normal.

The next day was Thursday and I packed our bags to meet Ryan in Southern Holland. It was hard to get all our things ready, it was hard packing the car, and it was hard driving for 2.5 hours with the kids by myself. I was hoping Trevor would have slept but he didn't. We managed to go the whole way without stopping (I was able to give Ashley a bottle while driving and set up Trevors portable DVD player).

We got to the hotel which was an old castle actually...it was nice but nothing spectacular (not a castle as you would expect it to be...just an old building and we actually stayed in the new part of it). But the scenery was beautiful. There were lots of rolling green hills and farms. We saw lots of bike riders in full racing uniforms and helmets which reminded us of the the Tour De France. We arrived around 4pm and waited until 5pm for Ryan to be done with his meetings there. Him and Trevor went swimming (the indoor pool was great) and then he had to go to a scheduled dinner for work. Trevor had a hard time with this but he managed.

The next day, Friday, we waited around until 130pm for Ryan to be done with his meetings (it was a very long morning). Then him and Ryan went swimming for a couple hours while Ashley and I took a nap. I needed it. That evening we drove into the neighboring major town called Maastricht for dinner. We ate at a sidewalk cafe on the edge of a church plaza and Ryan gave us a tour of the city on our way back to our car. During his dinner the night before, his group had a tour guide take them on a walking tour of the city. It's an amazing city...very old. There was a wall around the whole city that was built in 1229. Reminents of the wall still exist. Julius Caesar founded the city. That night I went swimming with Trevor and we all were in bed by 9pm.

During the night I realized that I only had enough formula for 3 more bottles for Ashley. On our first few trips here I overpacked the formula and diapers. On our trip to Rome I only packed just enough diapers and ended up running out so we had to find a grocery store that sold diapers. And this trip I packed lots of diapers but not enough formula. So we had to buy some at a grocery store. I'm going to have to switch over to dutch formula soon because I'm on my last can anyways. I didn't end up having it use though.

On Saturday, Ryan went swimming with Trevor while I packed up our things. After we checked out, we started driving back to the main city to go to the Maastricht Caves (man made tunnels in a mountain--yes they exist in Southern Holland--where people mined limestone for walls and buildings and churches starting in the 1200's). On our way we stopped at the "American Cemetary" and we were so glad we did. The landscaping looked so "American" if you can imagine and it was beautiful. It was a huge WWII monument for American soldiers that died. There was a small chapel that was playing lots of American songs like God Bless America with church bells. It was really nice actually. And the fields of white crosses was very moving...we had never seen anything like that before. It really meant a lot to us.

Then we made our short drive to the caves. Trevor has really been into caves lately so we thought he'd enjoy it. Him and Ryan went on an English tour that lasted an hour while I sat in the car reading while Ashley slept. Ryan really enjoyed the tour and thought it was facinating. Trevor liked it but said he was bored. He got to use his dinosour flashlight though (which surprised a few other tourists after he turned it on and it roared!). Afterwards, we drove home.

Ryan learned at these meetings he was at that he will have another offsite meeting at the end of September in Disneyland Paris. You'd think we'd be excited about that but we realized that it would be too hard because Ryan will be busy all day and night with meetings and work related activities (bonding sessions on Space Mountain). We are planning on coming home in October for a couple weeks for Ryan's brothers wedding on the 8th. So we realized, as hard as it will be for me, the best thing to do would be for me to fly home with the kids by myself the week he's in Disneyland. Oh my god, I can't even believe I'm even considering doing it. But it makes the most sense. Then we can be home for 3 weeks instead of 2 and I don't have to be here by myself while Ryan is out of town again. But is it worth it??? I have to think it is.

Today Ryan took Trevor to Monkey Town here in Bussum. Yes, it's what it sounds like. It's a huge place with a jungle gym, bounce-arounds, slides, ball pits, gigantic foam legos, etc. Trevor had a blast and it was a good place for him to burn some energy.

The weather has been pretty crummy. Quite a bit of rain. There's lots of thunder and lightening here too. The rain is also different here. Sounds weird but the rain drops are huge. And when it rain, it rains like crazy. I hope the weather gets better soon because my parents come in 23 days!!! I can't wait! We are so excited!!!

Last week was actually a busy week for us. On Sunday evening we had some friends over for dinner. They are another Nike expat family and moved over here the same time we did. Trevor had a blast playing with their oldest daughter who is 5.5. Their little boy who is 1.5 fell in love with all of Trevor's Matchbox cars and Monster Trucks. They rode their bikes to our house...so Dutch! It was a fun and relaxing evening. And on Monday afternoon we met them at a park near our house so the kids could play. I rode my bike and pulled the kids in the trailer. It was tough getting Trevor to leave the park but I managed.

On Wednesday, Ashley had pictures taken because she turned 9 months on the 16th. She did great for the pictures and they turned out cute. I get to pick them up this week. She's not crawling yet. She's just happy sitting with her Little People doll house in front of her. She's starting to really reach for things and every now and then will do a face plant. She's been such a good baby and she's actually starting to be kind of fussy. I've been telling myself for the last couple weeks that its teeth, but she still doesn't have any yet.

On Thursday we met two American Moms and their kids at a place called Valkeveen which is really close to our house. For those of you reading this that are from the Portland area, it's like an Oaks Park type place (small amusement park) but really geared towards kids Trevor's age and a little older. There were jungle gyms, bumper cars, roller coaster, bounce-arounds (which Trevor was doing flips on), slides, ball pits, etc. The weather was really awful that day, rainy and cold but Trevor still had fun. The two Moms I met both have 2 kids each. They only brought their oldest boys which were 2.5 and almost 3 and left their youngest at home with their au pairs. Au pairs are really popular here and I guess pretty inexpensive.

And on Friday afternoon, we had a playdate/coffee with our neighbor who is American. They have two kids, Ashley who is 8 and Megan who turned 3 in May. Trevor enjoyed playing with Megan and I really enjoyed visiting with the Mom. They just moved here in January so we have a lot in common. The oldest girl will be going to Trevor's school and Megan will be doing a preschool here in Bussum. It was so nice being able to walk to their house. That's one thing that we miss the most...a close neighborhood.

That evening we picked Ryan up from work and on the way home got a Dominos Pizza. And, I have to say, it's the best pizza I've had in many many months! I can't even believe I'm saying that about Dominos! They use real pepperoni...not salami like everyone else does. Oh man my mouth is watering just thinking about it! How sad!!!

On Sunday, Ryan and Trevor went to go see Madagascar. Aparently, it's too expensive to dub movies into Dutch. So if Ryan and I were to go see one, it would be spoken in English, with Dutch subtitles. However, with childrens movies, the young kids can't read Dutch yet, so many of them are dubbed in with Dutch. But they do show ones in English with Dutch subtitles...you just have to make sure you go to the right one. Anyways, they enjoyed it and I enjoyed having a break.

Today, Ryan left for 3 days to Southern Holland for an offsite meeting. I've been dreading it. I have honestly been feeling physically ill knowing he was going to be leaving. But I talked to him tonight and we decided that on Thursday I would drive down there with the kids and we'd stay together until Saturday. It didn't take him as long as he thought to drive down there...just over 2 hours so the drive shouldn't be too bad with just me and kids. I don't think there's much to do in Southern Holland but the hotel looks really nice and there's a pool. In a neighboring town, there's some caves that you can tour. Trevor would love that.

Trevor is so funny right now. He drives me up the wall sometimes but I just have to remember all the funny things he does. Right now he's really into playing "store" where he sets up a bunch of his toys on a table and I pretend to buy things. He loves to tell jokes and makes them up on the spot. For example "Why doesn't the lamb have any ears? Because he doesn't have any legs." And he goes on and on. It's hillarious. Today, for some reason, we were talking about names and I asked him what his middle name was (it's Ryan). He said "Dad" ...like Trevor Dad Smith. Of course! When Kirk and Connie were here, Kirk played really hard with Trevor. One night, as Kirk sat on the couch trying to get a break in, he said to Trevor, "You never stop! What kind of gas do you run on?!" And Trevor, very seriously, said, "I don't run on gas, I run on my feet!" It was so funny. Kids are so literal!

Well no pictures because my camera is somewhere in Rome. Connie did leave her digital camera for me to use because she has an extra back at home. But every time I look at it, I get sad. Yes, they left Thursday morning. We all went to the airport and just as we all got in line at the ticket counter, Trevor started saying he wanted to go with Grandpa and Grandma. Oh man, that was it for me. It was so hard. When it was time to give our last hugs, we were all a mess. Ryan was holding Trevor and it was like Trevor went limp. He knew he couldn't fight it anymore and just gave in. His little chin quivered and he hid his face in Ryan's shoulder. It was so hard. But I think he was upset because we were all upset. I can't imagine what we looked like walking back through the airport back to our car. It felt like we had just moved here all over again. It was a very lonely empty feeling.

We decided to go to the zoo that afternoon to get all of our minds off everything. It helped but it was still a rough day. Ryan went to work on Friday and we just hung out at home. Trevor seems to be doing fine now. Ryan is doing ok now but it's still hard for me. We are so homesick again. But my parents come in 39 days...5.5 weeks! They arrive on Trevor's first day of school actually.

I forgot to mention that Trevor met a neighbor boy the other day. He was outside with Ryan and Kirk and as I came out to find them, him and this little Dutch boy were racing down the sidewalk on their scooters. Trevor saw me and yelled at the top of his lungs, with the biggest grin on his face, "Mom, I have a new friend!!!" It was priceless. The little boys name is Oliver but Trevor calls him Oviler. He just turned 5 and he has a little brother, Phillip, who's 3.5 and a little baby sister, Juliet, who's 6 months. They actually live in the house next to us but on the far side (it's a duplex--or a "two-under-one" as the Dutch call it--like ours). Ryan was visiting with the father and found out his wife is home on Mondays and Fridays. Oliver is still in school but will be out in a few weeks. I think one of the things we miss the most is our old neighborhood and cul-de-sac. We miss our neighbors and all the kids. So it's nice to know there are some little boys Trevor's age close by. We just need to make an effort to meet them even though they are Dutch.

Tomorrow night we are having some friends over for dinner. They are a Nike family that moved here around the same time we did. We had dinner at their house a few months ago. We are really looking forward to having them over.

On Saturday we had a down day and just hung around our house. We all went to the grocery store and stocked up for a few days. On Sunday we decided to go to a castle near our house. It's called Castle De Haar in a town called Utrecht. It was a beautiful day...sunny but not too warm. And it was our luck...the castle was free that day! It was on beautiful grounds with lots of green grass and wonderful gardens and ponds. We took a picnic and ate it while looking at the amazing castle...it was like a princess castle in a fairy tale. Trevor loved being able to run around on the grass. We took a soccer ball and played in the grass.

On Monday we left in the morning for a town called Kinderdijk. It's about an hour south of Bussum. It has 19 windmills all together and it was amazing. We were able to walk down a short path and walk into one that was open. The site is on UNESCO's world heritage list.

Then we piled back in the car and headed west for about a half hour to the town of Delft. This is where the world famous Delftware pottery is made. We decided to not do the tour of the Delftware factory and head just straight for the shops. While Connie and I shopped, Kirk, Ryan, and Trevor went on a horse-pulled wagon ride. While we were in Delft we saw the church pictured above and couldn't believe how tilted it was! It's hard to see in the picture but we were shocked.

Today we decided to hang around Bussum. Connie and I went shopping in town and Ashley went with the boys for a bike ride. Her and Trevor road in the trailer and they went and got ice cream.