I know I promised pictures, but shortly after the last post, we moved!!! My computer with all the pictures is not a laptop, therefore it did not come on the airplane with us. Also, while our house is empty and we are waiting for our belongings to cross the sea to us, we are taking this opportunity to do some major home remodeling. Therefore, I have had no time to sit down and relax and do things like blog! We will continue to be busy for the next month, so don't expect much new here until things settle down for us.
We are really happy being back in the USA. We have already spent a lot of quality time with our families and we are having a great time. Lauren loves her new school and has already made some good friends. Jason and Lauren had a daddy and kid fishing tournament with her school and I was also invited to her class for a Mommy Makeover. Justin is stuck entertaining himself at the house while I am doing work during the day. Poor boy! Jason is enjoying his new job and feeling really good about the move. We miss our school friends from Assen but I hope they are all doing great too!
I will be back to posting again when we get our house in order!!!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Yes, I am still here!
I really have no excuse for the lack of blogging lately. I have had plenty to blog about, just no motivation to do so. As many of you may know, we are about to be American residents again. We have enjoyed our time in the Netherlands, made some wonderful friends and have had the opportunity to do some amazing traveling. However, right now we feel it is most important to be near our family where we can offer support and be closer to our support system. This moving process was set in motion in December, but yet we still don't have a definite return date so I think the waiting has put me in a funk. We are getting closer though and hopefully at least the kids and I will be home within a week. We have a house waiting for us, we just need to get everything in order to get ourselves on a plane back to to good ol' USA.
In February Jason surprised me for my birthday and flew my best friend (my sister) over here to spend a week with the kids and I driving across the French countryside. We had an amazing time in Bruges, Belgium, the Normandy region of France, and Paris. We drove down one lane roads surrounded by farmland and stone walls, we visited medieval walled towns and we walked on the beaches of Normandy where many American soldiers lost their lives. We stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower and rode a boat down the Seine River. We had a wonderful time and the kids loved their time with Aunt April.
We expected to be in the USA with our family by Easter, but apparently that was not to be, so we took at trip to the Rheine Valley in Germany. We made our first stop in Cologne, Germany and then spent the night in Bonn. Then we made our way to the romantic Rheine Valley lined with castles on each shore. We took a boat cruise from St. Goar to Rudesheim and took in the sights of castle ruins, the Loreley Rock and quaint German towns. Justin loved watching the trains that ran along both banks of the river. We stayed two nights in an old castle fortress and Lauren tried her best to find secret passageways. I think she has watched too much Scooby Doo because she was trying to push pictures on the walls, look behind wardrobes and pull any lever she could find. No such luck. We still had a wonderful time, including hunting for Easter eggs in front of the castle. It was a very relaxing trip in a beautiful land.
Yet another week went by and we are still here, so we ventured out again, this time to south Holland. We first visited Madurodam, the smallest city in the Netherlands. It is a miniature city displaying the highlights of the Netherlands on a scale 1:25. We all felt like giants walking around this land of exactly replicated landmarks. There were trains and buses zooming all aver the place and Justin was beside himself trying to watch all of them. I am very impressed that he didn't try to grab them and pick them up. After our fun there we headed to the beach town of Noordwijk where we stayed the evening. The Netherlands has many beaches, but this was our first time to visit any of them. It was very nice, just a little cold. Sunday morning we drove down the road to Keukenhof, the largest flower garden in the world. It was beautiful with gardens full of tulips and various other flowers. Since we have only had a few warm days, it wasn't quite as stunning as it could be because many of the flowers have yet to bloom. However it was still amazing. Lauren loved snapping pictures and she couldn't wait to put up a post about it on her blog. Make sure you check it out here.
Another reason I was really looking forward to being home in the USA by now was to join my family today as they participated in the Run for the Rose which benefits brain cancer research. My sister assembled a team of 47 people who participated in honor of my dad. It was a great turnout for a great cause. You can read about their day on my sister's blog. If you are interested, it is not to late to donate to the cause. You can do so by following this link.
Look for another blog post soon and I will try to post pictures of our adventures. We have had a great time in Europe, but we are looking forward to being near our family soon. Thanks for checking in!
In February Jason surprised me for my birthday and flew my best friend (my sister) over here to spend a week with the kids and I driving across the French countryside. We had an amazing time in Bruges, Belgium, the Normandy region of France, and Paris. We drove down one lane roads surrounded by farmland and stone walls, we visited medieval walled towns and we walked on the beaches of Normandy where many American soldiers lost their lives. We stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower and rode a boat down the Seine River. We had a wonderful time and the kids loved their time with Aunt April.
We expected to be in the USA with our family by Easter, but apparently that was not to be, so we took at trip to the Rheine Valley in Germany. We made our first stop in Cologne, Germany and then spent the night in Bonn. Then we made our way to the romantic Rheine Valley lined with castles on each shore. We took a boat cruise from St. Goar to Rudesheim and took in the sights of castle ruins, the Loreley Rock and quaint German towns. Justin loved watching the trains that ran along both banks of the river. We stayed two nights in an old castle fortress and Lauren tried her best to find secret passageways. I think she has watched too much Scooby Doo because she was trying to push pictures on the walls, look behind wardrobes and pull any lever she could find. No such luck. We still had a wonderful time, including hunting for Easter eggs in front of the castle. It was a very relaxing trip in a beautiful land.
Yet another week went by and we are still here, so we ventured out again, this time to south Holland. We first visited Madurodam, the smallest city in the Netherlands. It is a miniature city displaying the highlights of the Netherlands on a scale 1:25. We all felt like giants walking around this land of exactly replicated landmarks. There were trains and buses zooming all aver the place and Justin was beside himself trying to watch all of them. I am very impressed that he didn't try to grab them and pick them up. After our fun there we headed to the beach town of Noordwijk where we stayed the evening. The Netherlands has many beaches, but this was our first time to visit any of them. It was very nice, just a little cold. Sunday morning we drove down the road to Keukenhof, the largest flower garden in the world. It was beautiful with gardens full of tulips and various other flowers. Since we have only had a few warm days, it wasn't quite as stunning as it could be because many of the flowers have yet to bloom. However it was still amazing. Lauren loved snapping pictures and she couldn't wait to put up a post about it on her blog. Make sure you check it out here.
Another reason I was really looking forward to being home in the USA by now was to join my family today as they participated in the Run for the Rose which benefits brain cancer research. My sister assembled a team of 47 people who participated in honor of my dad. It was a great turnout for a great cause. You can read about their day on my sister's blog. If you are interested, it is not to late to donate to the cause. You can do so by following this link.
Look for another blog post soon and I will try to post pictures of our adventures. We have had a great time in Europe, but we are looking forward to being near our family soon. Thanks for checking in!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
What's Up?
I feel like I need to update the blog but don't have much to say. Here are some random pictures and videos of what has been going on lately.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Point 'em Straight and Go!
On Christmas evening we loaded up 13 people into 2 vehicles and we were on our way to Colorado. All the kids were sleeping and the drive was going good until we reached Decatur. Snow storms had blown through a couple of days previously and the roads were still covered (very thickly) with ice and snow. We spent about 3 hours driving between 10-20 mph! This was quite stressful. As we drove this horrible stretch of road, there were cars,trucks and 18-wheelers stranded in ditches along the road. However, believe it or not, this was the better choice of driving routes. The other option would have been to actually drive through snow storms in Kansas. We successfully maneuvered the treacherous roads (which were closed the next day!) and made it to Colorado 24 hours later. We have been going to Colorado for the past 28 years, many of those driving, and we have never seen driving conditions like that, especially not in Texas!
The passengers in our caravan included the four of us, my dad, my aunt, my sister and her 3 kids, both of my brothers and my sister-in-law. Skiing is a favorite pastime for my family and it was very special that everyone in our group was there this year. Some of our favorite family memories are of snow skiing.
Lauren took lessons in ski school for her second time and by the last day she was riding the ski lift. Jason and I picked Lauren up from her last day of lessons and we all rode up the ski lift together. She did amazing! She got off the lift all by herself without us even touching her. She then skied down the mountain, never falling and rarely stopping. Check out the video on Lauren's blog. Jason and I were beaming! We both love skiing and we are so proud (and a little surprised) that she did so awesome. We get so excited when our kids enjoy the same things that we do. Times like this are one of the reasons I love being a mommy.
We have now reached the point in our life that I am reliving the moments with our children that I remember experiencing with my parents (this makes me feel old). We are also getting to play role reversal. My dad spent a lot of time when we were little pulling and pushing us along flat ski areas and expending a lot of energy helping us. This year he got a little payback as we all had the chance to help him out. We had a lot of good laughs and treks down memory lane. Thanks dad for never leaving us behind!
The passengers in our caravan included the four of us, my dad, my aunt, my sister and her 3 kids, both of my brothers and my sister-in-law. Skiing is a favorite pastime for my family and it was very special that everyone in our group was there this year. Some of our favorite family memories are of snow skiing.
Lauren took lessons in ski school for her second time and by the last day she was riding the ski lift. Jason and I picked Lauren up from her last day of lessons and we all rode up the ski lift together. She did amazing! She got off the lift all by herself without us even touching her. She then skied down the mountain, never falling and rarely stopping. Check out the video on Lauren's blog. Jason and I were beaming! We both love skiing and we are so proud (and a little surprised) that she did so awesome. We get so excited when our kids enjoy the same things that we do. Times like this are one of the reasons I love being a mommy.
We have now reached the point in our life that I am reliving the moments with our children that I remember experiencing with my parents (this makes me feel old). We are also getting to play role reversal. My dad spent a lot of time when we were little pulling and pushing us along flat ski areas and expending a lot of energy helping us. This year he got a little payback as we all had the chance to help him out. We had a lot of good laughs and treks down memory lane. Thanks dad for never leaving us behind!
Monday, January 18, 2010
Christmas Revisited
As soon as Lauren's school was on Christmas break, we headed back to the good ol' USA to celebrate with our family. We were only home for two weeks and one of those weeks was spent skiing in Colorado. We had six different family Christmas celebrations, so we stepped off the plane and hit the ground running. Straight from Intercontinental airport, after a 10 hour flight, we headed to our first Christmas celebration. The rest of our holiday followed pattern and we had no down time. Despite being extremely busy, we had a great time seeing all our family, visiting our friends at church, and spending New Years Eve with our friends and their children. We are so blessed to have so many loved ones in our lives to share our time with.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Choo Choo, Look Who's 2!
A lot has happened since my last post, and that is probably why I have been putting this task off. I will first start with the most important and then over the next few days I will work back and cover all of Christmas.
My little baby boy is 2 years old! It is very hard to believe. He is a little boy now and not a baby anymore. It is amazing how much he is learning and doing. His vocabulary and speech has taken off and he spends all day letting you know exactly what he wants and belting out songs. He will also make it very clear if he is not happy, what a temper! There is definitely a big difference between he and Lauren, and I love it.
Since Justin's birthday is so close to Christmas and we would be traveling during the Christmas break, I felt really bad that I would not be able to throw Justin a real party. I know he doesn't care and doesn't know the difference, but I do and I love giving the kids birthday parties. However, instead of 1 party, Justin had several celebrations. We tried to celebrate his birthday with different families during our Christmas celebrations. We also had a cake here in Assen on his actual birthday and a party with our Mums and Tots group.
Right now his favorite things are Thomas the Tank Engine and Lightning McQueen. I think we thoroughly covered these bases with his Christmas and birthday presents. Justin loves building his train tracks and racing his cars. What a boy!
Before we had Justin, I never thought anyone or anything could compare to Lauren and the love and sheer joy that she brought to our lives. I was so wrong! Justin's smile and giggle are pure joy. We have been blessed with two amazing children who's love for us and each other completes our family. Thank you Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
