Welcome to the Netherlands!

I have experienced the life of first class and now I understand why Jason complains when he has to fly economy. It is easy to get spoiled! When we got to the airport, we went to the Continental Presidents Club Lounge; cozy seats, quiet relaxing atmosphere, complimentary snacks and beverages. As soon as we boarded the plane, we were welcomed by about five different flight attendants (they all had different titles which I can not remember). They offered us a beverage as soon as we sat down and gave us a menu so that we could select what we wanted to eat for our main course. As soon as we were airborne, they brought us a bowl of warm roasted nuts and took our drink order. I had champagne and they were refilling my glass every time it got less than 1/2 full. I had to tell them no more after the third refill. We were then served the following meal courses:

Appetizer: Seafood bisque with crabmeat, mini beef wellington, a tandoori chicken skewr with ancho chili sauce
Salad: Fresh greens salad with Parmesan peppercorn dressing and fresh garlic bread
Main Course: Dawn - Grilled sterling silver New York sirloin steak with pepper rub and herb glaze, sauteed spinach, roesti potatoes and a piquillo pepper filled with stewed eggplant and fresh mozarella cheese; Jason - Seared breast of chicken filled with fontina cheese and spinach, accompanied by port wine sauce, creamy polenta, broccolini and carrots; Justin and Lauren - Cheeseburger, salad, baby carrots, trailmix and milk
Fruit and cheese cart: select cheeses and fresh fruit
Dessert: Dreyer's Grand vanilla ice cream with choice of caramel, strawberry or chocolate syrup, whip cream and nuts.

Then, after we had reclined our large cozy seats and slept for several hours, they served us a breakfast of orange juice, fresh fruit, yogurt, cinnamon roll or croissant and then your choice of either cereal and banana or a cheddar cheese omelette with smoked pork loin, turkey sausage and broccoli gratin potatoes.

Now, even though this was all "airline food", I would have to say it was pretty good, the champagne may have helped that too.

We also all had our personal tv's were we could choose from a variety of movies, tv shows or interactive games to play. Lauren watched Brother Bear and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Then she slept until we landed.

Justin did great, better than I would have ever expected. The best money spent this year goes to the sit 'n' stroll! This is a FAA approved car seat that also transforms to a stroller. Justin loves it. We never had to take him out of it from before we got on the plane until we arrived at our house in Assen, besides changing his diaper and giving him a few moments of free time on the plane. He did awesome, no crying and lots of sleeping!


Once we landed at 8am we went through customs (easy), got all of our luggage; 8 bags, Lauren's carseat, stroller, and all of our carryons, and then we found our driver. We had a 2 hour drive to Assen and then we all got in bed and slept until 6pm. Jason then took us all to the grocery store. They had a child sized grocery cart for Lauren to use. She was the leader and took us down every aisle telling us what we needed to buy. Her cart was full by the time we went to check out.

We then came home, cooked dinner, got baths and put everyone in bed. At 2am, both of the kids decided they wanted to get up. So, after about an hour of watching some TV, we all got in bed again. Jason had to get up and go to work, but the kids and I slept until after noon! It may take us a few days to get used to this time change.

We are off to eat dinner with Jason's co-workers so I will write more later!