Day 1 of Summer Vacation - Brussels, Belgium

After spending 3 weeks in Houston, the kids and I arrived back in the Netherlands, were at home for 4 days, and then we headed towards Paris. We left the house Saturday morning and drove a little over 3 hours to Brussles, Belgium. Thank goodness for TomTom. I don't know how we would get anywhere in Europe without it. It was not only awesome while we were driving, since we can't read most of the signs, but it was also good while we were walking around the city.

We checked into the hotel and then it was off on a walking tour of the city. Our hotel was near the Grand Place, Brussel's main square which is the heart of the old town and Brussel's greatest sight. It is the open area between the Town Hall and the King's House (administrative building). There are definitely some interesting things going on there with some interesting (eccentric) people. Bordering the square are several lace shops and chocolate shops, including the first Godiva store. Lauren and I went into one of the lace shops to browse. There was a woman in the back of the store making some lace and she asked Lauren to help her. I was amazed at the detail work, not something I could do. That was pretty neat and Lauren enjoyed it.

After we walked through Grand Place and took pictures, then we headed down a street to the Manneken-Pis. This is the city mascot, a fountain of a little 2-foot high boy peeing. VIP's from all over the world send costumes for the statue to wear (he has over 700 of them). The city commissioned the statue to show the joie de vivre of living in Brussels - where happy people eat, drink..and drink...and then pee.

From there we walked to Upper Town which is full of palaces and museums. We didn't visit any of these, we just walked through a few gardens, visited the Notre-Dame du Sablon Church and the Place du Petit Sablon (a beautiful neighborhood garden).

At that point we were getting pretty hungry for dinner, so we walked back to Grand Place and ate outside at a restaurant on the square (one of my favorite things to do in Europe). After dinner, we found our way back to a waffle stand and ordered the deluxe Belgian waffle. It had strawberries, bananas, ice cream, caramel, chocolate and whipped cream. It was just as good as you can imagine! If that wasn't enough, we then headed to the Godiva store where Lauren picked out a few pieces of chocolate that she wanted, of course they were heart shaped, and I selected some chocolate covered strawberries. Sufficiently stuffed, we walked back to the hotel, showered, and got to bed so that we could head off to Paris the next morning.

Check back soon for day 2 details!

Lauren's First day of Year 1

We are finally getting back on a routine. Lauren started back to school yesterday which means early to rise, now we just need to start getting to bed earlier. Our children definitely take after us, they like to stay up late and sleep late.

I think Lauren is happy to be back at school and have her friends to play with, even though she won't admit it. I really enjoy my alone time with Justin while Lauren is at school, but we are both excited to pick her up in the afternoon. Next week at school they start swimming lessons once a week and I am sure she will love that. I also enjoy having interaction with the other mothers, I miss all my girlfriends!

I can't believe how fast Lauren is growing and how much she is teaching me!

At Lake Austin with family

The last weekend we were in the USA before we came back to Netherlands, the kids and I went to Austin with my awesome mother-in-law, Jason's brother Mark and his family, Jason's Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mike and his cousin Kristen and her family. We all stayed at Mike and Cindy's lake house and had a great time relaxing, talking, swimming, boating and tubing. The kids loved it! Lauren and Justin love being in the swimming pool. Lauren also loved riding in the boat, tubing, and riding the jet ski. I love that none of that scares her. She is always a little timid at first but always loves it once she has done it. I can't wait to teach her how to water ski next!

Where to start?

Okay, it has been over a month since my last post and there is just too much stuff to catch up on. To my defense, I have been away from home and living out of a suitcase for the last month. I will make a couple different posts to cover everything. You could say that our lives have been turned upside down and we are trying to put everything into perspective right now.

First for the hard stuff....

A few days after my dad returned home from visiting us, he went to a scheduled check-up with his doctor. From that appointment they discovered that he had a brain tumor. Less than two weeks after leaving here, he had surgery to remove the tumor. He left here on July 13th, I found out on July 19th about his tumor, the kids and I arrived in Houston on July 23rd and dad's
surgery was on July 24th. After several complications, he finally made it out of the hospital and back home for good on August 6th. The kids and I stayed in Houston for a little over 3 weeks until August 17th.

The biopsy was not what we were hoping for, dad was diagnosed with Grade IV Glioblastoma Multiform. So, now we put up the best fight we can. Dad is currently undergoing radiation and chemotherapy at MD Anderson. So far he is tolerating both well. No nausea from the chemo. We were told that the worst effects of radiation, mainly tiredness, wouldn't be felt until the last few weeks. He is now in the middle of week 3 of 6 weeks of radiation treatments. My sister April and my Aunt Betty Sue set up the following website so that everyone can stay updated on what is happening http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mikeellisor.


Dad (Popa) with his grandkids

Just after the kids and I arrived back home in Netherlands and got our internal time clocks back in the right time zone we headed off for an 8 day family vacation to Brussels and then Paris. We had a great time, but we arrived home Saturday to find out that my dad's sister, my Aunt Betty Sue, had passed away Friday. This was very unexpected. She had just turned 49 and was the youngest of the siblings.

I know it may sound crazy to say that cancer can be a blessing, but in some ways it has been. During the time that my dad was in the hospital, our family spent every day there. We had a corner in the waiting room that we had taken over, it was actually more like half of the waiting room. After being up there for a few days, I was walking down the hall having a discussion with my sister and my aunts. We were talking about how we knew that God was with us and that he has a plan for each of us. We have no idea of what is to come, but we felt that God had already used my father as a way to bring our family closer together and that we were enjoying spending so much time together, we just wished that it wasn't under the current circumstances. At the time, we did not know how much of a blessing that truly was. I am not saying that we were not a close family, but as the years have passed and the nieces and nephews have grown up and begun their own families, we have just not seen each other as much as we used to. For the almost two weeks that dad was in and out of the hospital, I saw my siblings, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins almost everyday and it was great. As Betty Sue said, "I have given more hugs and said I love you more over the past week than I ever have." Lauren and Justin also were able to get to know their family better and I am so grateful for that.

A few days before we left to come back to Netherlands, Betty Sue and my Meemaw babysat Lauren and Justin, with the help of my niece Aliska, for a whole day while we went to dad's first day of appointments at MD Anderson. We were at the hospital from 8am until 9pm. Betty Sue took the kids to the park, played games with them, rented movies and had a fun slumber party. When we got to Meemaw's, April and I then spent some quality time talking with Betty Sue. Justin was smitten with Betty Sue. The next morning at breakfast he was sitting next to her, loving on her, giving her his cute looks, and would only let her feed him breakfast. It was too cute. Watching her with my kids brought back such good memories of myself with her when I was younger. I do believe everything happens for a reason and I do believe God's plan is perfect. I am so grateful for all the time I spent with my Aunt Betty Sue and the rest of my family during the 3 weeks I was in Houston. It is hard not being there with my family right now, but I feel comforted with the time I have been able to spend with them. If anything, the past month has taught me to cherish every moment I have with those I love, and never pass up a chance to be around them.

My Aunt Betty Sue had recently dedicated her life to the Lord. She was studying the bible and sharing her findings with all those around her. Having her as one of dad's strongest prayer warriors had to be a big check in the plus column, but now we are doing even one better, she is his angel watching over him. What an amazing blessing! I already miss her so much, but I look forward to seeing her in God's amazing kingdom one day.

Some of my favorite Betty Sue memories:
-She always had stuff in the trunk of her car that she could use to make a great game for us to play (she was an elementary PE teacher and a tennis instructor)
-She made the best nachos, I think that is where I got my love of jalapenos
-Taking us to the playground
-Riding mopeds
-Camping at Canyon Lake
-Wiffle ball games at Crockett
-Slumber parties in sleeping bags on the floor
-Picking dewberries
-She was always playing jokes
-She told the best stories and they are hilarious
-She taught us how to eat honeysuckle
-Her fear of bugs could be quite entertaining
-Staying with her during the summer and helping her teach tennis lessons
-U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi......
-Waitress, waitress!
-and so many more.....

I love you Betty Sue

Photos

Here are some other miscellaneous pictures.


Presents from Dad and Erica


Lauren feeding ducks with Popa and Nana at the pond next to our house


Lauren and Justin with Popa in Groningen


Popa and Nana entertaining Lauren on the computer


Justin and Daddy relaxing in bed (fyi: he has not had a pacifier in 3 days!)

Justin being his typical self and climbing on everything.

Our House in Assen

Okay, here are some pictures of our home in the Netherlands. Sorry, I forgot to take one of the outside of the house. It is a three story house/duplex. We have neighbors on one side and a pond on the other. If you ever saw our previous home, it is pretty much everything from there transplanted here so it might look familiar, just more crowded.

We have one closet which we all share. When we moved in there was just one clothes rod on the right side of the closet and two shelves on the left side. That would definitely not have worked so we added three more rods, a shelf above the rods, a shoe shelf and all of our storage bins. We have made do. There is also no storage in the bathrooms so we had to improvise in there as well. We really did not see ourselves making use of the bidet, so we found storage to go above it.

We are so happy to be settled in and we feel like it is now our home. I know some of the pictures are sideways in the slide show and I don't know why, sorry. You will also notice Justin being his usual fearless self in one of the photos.

Ahhhh.....finally

I think I have every box except one unpacked, it has photo albums in it. It has been a long two weeks but I have almost found places for everything, and I am amazed at that because there is only one closet in this house. I don't know how Europeans do it! I love closets for organizing things out of sight. Now we have things under beds and in every cabinet, and thank goodness for Ikea. Jason made two trips with the Corolla loaded down. You would be amazed at what we could fit in that car! A full size bed, a buffet cabinet, a storage cabinet, a stool, 3 bookcases, a desk, and an underbed storage drawer. Our hands ached after assembling all of that.

A couple of days after we moved into the house we had our first visitors from home, my dad and Erica came to stay with us. The kids loved having Nana and Popa here and so did Jason and I. They came bearing gifts: Velveeta cheese, cans of green chiles, chow mein noodles, Hidden Valley Ranch mix packets, and Gebhardts Chili Powder, lots of all of it!!! That was much appreciated. It rained a lot when they were here so we didn't get to show them as much as we would have liked to, but it was nice to just spend time with them. I will post pictures later.

I just had to take a break from writing this because Lauren yelled at me from upstairs "Mom, come quick, it is really bad!" So, I walked up to the third level where the playroom is and Justin was standing at the baby gate with poop on his legs and on the floor all around him. Lovely, I know. The joys of being a mom, cleaning up vomit and poop top the list! I have definitely had my share of both and can do without anymore of either, but I am sure that won't happen. Oh well, I am sure you needed to hear about that. At least you didn't have to clean it up! So after a bath and diaper change, Justin is now resting in bed.

I promise to post pictures soon of what we have been up to. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

We Have Our Stuff!!!

Sorry I haven't posted recently. We have been busy getting our permanent house ready for move in. Today the container with all of our goods was delivered to the house and they have been moving everything in. We are sooooo happy to finally have our things. We have been separated from them for over 3 months now. Some things I can do without, but I am so ready for my comfortable bed and our comfortable couches! Justin and I stopped by the house briefly and I laid on the couch for a minute (didn't want to get up) and Justin saw his cozy coupe car and was very upset when I pulled him out of it to leave. So, if my updates are sparse over the next couple of weeks, you know why. We are going to be getting everything unpacked and situated. Finally!

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