Dutch TT

This weekend Assen was packed with more than 100,000 people from all over Europe for the Assen TT, the Grand Prix for racing bikes in the Netherlands. It is the biggest one day sporting event in the Netherlands. Think of it as the motorcycle equivalent of NASCAR. As it is stated on their official website "To the hundreds of thousands of bike fans and the tens of thousands of day trippers who visit the TT every year on the last Saturday in June, the Dutch TT is what Monaco is to the Formula 1 fans, and Wimbledon to tennis enthusiasts." For 3 days out of the year, this town goes crazy. All roads leading to the center of town are shut down, stages are assembled everywhere, thousands of beer kegs are shipped in, the empty fields are filled with campers and the roads are full of motorcycles. Jason said the last band that played on Friday night didn't go on stage until 3am. Maybe next year we can get a babysitter and join in the festivites. This is what Assen is known for. I thought race car drivers were crazy but I don't think they even compare to these motorcycle racers.

The winner this year was Valentino Rossi and this was his 100th win. The racer who came in 4th place was an American. Jason went to the races with a coworker. He was amazed by the massive quantities of mortorcycles everywhere and the paths packed with bicyclers going to the race.


The festivities would not be complete without a carnival. Friday night we got on our bicycles and rode to the carnival. Lauren had a blast riding the carousel, driving a little jeep, riding on the caterpillar rollercoaster, and riding high in the ferris wheel. Justin was very upset that he could not drive a jeep or ride on the roller coaster.

International Day

Every day is international day at Lauren's school, but this week they had a special celebration on Wednesday. Parents decorated tables with information about their home country, kids dressed up in clothing representative of their country and parents cooked food and joined together for lunch. I was so impressed and amazed! This is such an amazing opportunity for the kids.

The innocence and purity of children is so apparent here. Everyday Lauren is in class with children from all over the world with different religions, different beliefs and different colored skin, but I don't think any of that ever enters the thoughts of the children. They see everyone as just their classmate and their friend, with no questions about anything else. They love that they are all different and it is truly amazing and a great model for how the world should be. I am very thankful and feel blessed that Lauren and Justin have the opportunity to have such a great start to their easily impressionable lives.

On international day the children each received a passport book. They then visited the tables set up by the parents and they were able to learn facts about the different countries. Then they received a sticker of that country's flag for their passport. They really enjoyed this. They also had musicians performing for them and learned some dances. Parents and children then enjoyed a tasty lunch of cuisine from all over the world. Unfortunately I was not able to put an informational table together since we still do not have our container of goods from the US, but I was able to put together some tasty dishes; Chicken and Cornbread Dressing, Blackberry Cobbler, and Rice Krispy Treats.

I think my favorite part of the day was when the children and parents all sang We Are The World. It was a wonderful celebration

This about sums it up.....

We used to have food on the lower shelves, but Justin would just throw everything out and put his stuff and himself in there. Today he climbed in, was pushing the shelf above him with his feet and pulling the doors shut to close himself in. I can't wait to get in our permanent house so that I can baby proof everything! He definitely keeps us on our toes, but we love it!

A little success

Well, after a couple of more trips to the grocery store, and scanning everything on the shelves, I have been able to find some of the things on my list. Good thing there are pictures on the packaging! I was able to find baking powder, some jars of green chiles, corn tortillas, haas avocados, maple syrup, and marshmallows.

I have joined a Mums and Tots group and the mothers in there are great. One of them took me on a tour Friday afternoon and showed me some small deli shops and specialty food stores where I was able to find some of the items on my list. I even found some Crisco shortening. Of course I have to pay a little more for some of these specialty American items, but some things are just worth it. It was great to have help from someone who has been in my position. The expat moms here have been such a good help and fountain of information.

Saturday the kids and I were invited to one of her classmates homes for the afternoon. We had a great time. The kids had a lot of fun playing and the moms got to socialize. Both were much needed.

Sunday we had a very lazy father's day. We all stayed in our pajamas most of the day. I did a lot of cooking. I made some "Casa Ole" green sauce, which turned out quite good. For dinner we had a good ol' Texas meal full of starches. Cracker steak, mashed potatoes, cream gravy and macaroni and cheese. I also baked a dewberry cobbler last week, so we have been having our comfort foods. Jason and Lauren played Mario Kart on the Wii, we played family hide and go seek, and a lot of monster and hiding under the blankets. Just a great family day with an amazing daddy. We love you Jason!

My American foods

I have been managing the grocery shopping fine, even though I can't read most of the packages. However, there are just some items that they don't have here or are hard to come by that have been staples in our pantry that I am missing.

American cheese (Velveeta)
Mexican cheeses
Cream of celery and cream of chicken soups
Chow mein noodles
Baking powder
Vegetable Oil
Cake mixes
Rotel
Green chiles
Egg noodles
Turkey sandwich meat
Iced tea (not the same here)
Corn tortillas
Good avocados
Good salsa (would make my own but can't find the ingredients)
Good tortilla chips
Maple syrup
Blue Bell Ice cream (what I can find doesn't compare)
Bleach (I know it is here but I can't figure out which one it is)
Marshmallows

I am sure there are many more, but that is what I can think of right now. I did manage to find a few Betty Crocker cake mixes and chocolate frosting here but they are 5 euros each. I think we will save that for special occasions! Lauren's school is celebrating international day next week and we are supposed to cook something from our country. First of all, it was hard enough for me to think of something that is truly American, and what I can think of I can't find the ingredients for because they are too American! Ughhhhh!!! I will definitely be smuggling food over after our next trip to the states. Some things you just take for granted.

Bremen, Germany

Saturday we ventured across the border into Germany. There are enormous windmills lining the motorway on both sides.


I found another sign that amused me "Ausfahrt", pronounce it how you like. It actually means departure or exit in German and is on every exit ramp of the motorway.


We headed to Bremen but had to make a brief detour to save our marriage. We were almost there, but not exactly sure where we were going, so when we saw a large electronics store Jason pulled in and bought a TomTom portable GPS system. It was soooo worth it and will make traveling Europe much easier since we can't read most of the signs!

Bremen has a beautiful market square that includes Town Hall, an enormous Statue of Roland and St. Peter's Cathedral. When we walked into the market square there was a group of men singing. It just set a good ambiance and the kids really liked it too.

We found a nice outdoor cafe on the market square and enjoyed lunch looking at Town Hall and beautiful St. Peter's Cathedral. I think this has been one of my favorite things about Europe so far, all of the sidewalk cafes and eating outside. It also helps because then we don't have to worry as much about Justin being loud inside a restaurant!

The Town Hall was built between 1405 and 1410 and is thought to be one of the most beautiful town halls in Germany.

Next to Town Hall is a statue of The Bremen Town Musicians. They are standing on one another's backs in order to look like a monster and frighten robbers out of a house, according to the children's story from the Brothers Grimm.


The Statue of Roland (Charlemagne's knight Roland) is the largest and most famous one in Germany(there are 26 Roland statues in Germany). The statue has been a symbol of trading rights and freedom since 1404.


St. Peters Cathedral was amazing. It is over 1200 years old and has a very large and beautiful organ.

Bottcherstrasse is a 100 meter long street that linked the market square to the river. It's entrance is adorned with this golden artwork called "Bringer of Light". It was actually meant as a tribute to Hitler representing "the victory of our Fuhrer over the powers of darkness".


The Schnoor Quarter is Bremen's oldest district with small maze like streets with 15th and 16th century houses.


The detail put into all the architecture is amazing and the extent of history is just something we can't experience in America.

No longer a topic of conversation

It has been a very productive week for us (Jason). There is so much paperwork to fill out and many procedures to be followed when you move to a new country. The kids and I got our immigration papers and registered with the town hall. I also finally got my bank card!

We shipped Jason's car over here and have been attracting looks everywhere we drive. People see our Texas license plates and make it a topic of discussion. We had to get the car inspected and thankfully we did not have to make any modifications. Once we passed inspection then we had to wait to receive our registration and license plate number in the mail. We received that yesterday so today we went and had our license plates made and put on the car. Yea!!! No more stares!


We also finally know where we are going to be living and should only be in the transit house for about 3 more weeks. The house is nothing great, but it is in a very good location that neighbors a pond and a bike path. We took Lauren by there tonight, after our weekly trip to McDonalds, and she really liked it. By the way, McDonalds is the only fast food in town and probably does more business than any other restaurant.

If you have been reading Lauren's blog then you know how much she loves her new school. This is very comforting to me since she has been telling us for the past year that she did not want to go to big kid school where she would have to go everyday. For the past two weeks she has told us many times how much she likes going to school. Once again today we tried to get her to tell us what was her favorite thing about being here and once again she said everything! Every Friday they have a short assembly at the end of the day where they talk about what happened that week and one kid from every grade receives a certificate. Lauren received the Golden Certificate for her class this week "for being a very happy, positive and enthusiastic member of the F2 class". We are so proud of her!

Just a cute pic I like, Lauren's first homework


Lauren received the Golden Certificate for this week

Justin loves taking Lauren to school and is even happier when we pick her up. During the day he finds many things to get into and onto. We have a lot of fun playing but I also definitely appreciate his nap time! This week he has two more upper teeth coming in to make it a total of 8 on top, so he has been a little grumpy, understandably, and chewing on a lot of things. Hopefully he will get through this soon without too much pain. His smile is without a doubt one of the highlights of my life and it melts my heart! I can't believe how much he has grown. He understands just about everything we tell him and he will go get things for us, put things away and answer us when we ask him questions (in his language). He amazes us! We love you little J-man!

Justin loves the vacuum, Making silly faces


Trying to close himself in a box, Oh the places he gets into!

Tomorrow we are heading across the border to Germany to do a little sightseeing so check back for another post! We hope everyone is having a great summer, we miss you!

Lauren's First Day of School

I can't believe how big my baby girl is! This morning Jason and I walked Lauren into her first big kid school, sigh. She was a little nervous (the first picture), but we gave kisses and hugs and she went off to be with her class. She had a great day and is very excited about going back tomorrow. She met another Lauren (older than her) with the same birth date as her and they seemed to hit it off. She has also already found a best buddy, the only other girl her age. Her teacher said she fell right into their routine and she is a joy to have in the class. We are so proud of you angel girl!

Train Ride

Lauren finally got to ride the train today. After breakfast we got ready and headed to the train station. We took a 20 minute train ride to the "big city" Groningen north of Assen. Once we got there we toured the city on foot and made our way to the canal. We ate lunch at a ship moored in the canal that has been turned into a restaurant called "t' Pannekoekschip", or The Pancake Ship. Pancakes are a favorite of the Dutch, but they differ from the pancakes we are used to yet still quite tasty. They are more similar to crepes and are served with anything you can imagine on top of them. I had mine with bacon, ham and cheese. The bacon was underneath the pancake and the ham was on top, sort of cooked into the pancake. Lauren said she liked the bacon better than she liked the pancake.

I have seen a sign here that is very amusing to me. It is posted where dogs are not allowed to poop.


Once we made it back to Assen, I finally drove the car. I made I trial run to Lauren's school. It went well, I just have to get used to no stop signs. After making it to her school, we drove on to a park in the forest where they have a pond and petting zoo. The kids enjoyed this, Justin especially liked petting the rabbits, but Lauren still wants to find "just a big playground".

Lauren starts school tomorrow and tonight we were discussing how she would be going to school and learning a lot of things and she said "yeah, about God." She is so used to going to the Weekday Learning Center and going to chapel everyday. She assumed that was what you learned about in school and didn't understand why you wouldn't. It made me a little sad myself. Tomorrow is a big morning for us!