Our last day at the Scooby Dooby! As usual, we slept in until after 10:00. In fact, most of us did. We headed down to breakfast and noticed that “the young ones” were not there. This would be Carrie, Christian, Christian’s girlfriend Karen, Victor and Victor’s girlfriend, Geoff and Geoff’s girlfriend. We decided that they needed to get up and join us for breakfast, so someone (not sure who), supplied a few of the little cousins with a couple of stainless steel pot lids to go upstairs and use them like cymbals and wake them up! So off they went, the littlest ones following behind Quinten, up the spiral staircase. I really wish I would have had my camera to take a picture of that. They looked too cute, like the seven dwarfs, marching up the stairs, on a mission. Well, a few minutes later, mission accomplished because Carrie, Geoff and Renee came down to breakfast. The little ones were still upstairs, and we soon found out that they couldn’t get Christian and Karen up because once Christian heard them waking Carrie up, he rushed to push some of the beds up against the door to keep the little ones out! Well, eventually they made it downstairs as well. After all, the kids may not have been able to get inside, but they could still bang those pot lids together! After breakfast we just worked on getting our things packed up so we could be out of the Scooby Dooby by 4:00. Some of the guys decided to take a quick trip to the site of a former concentration camp that was only about 30 minutes away called Westerbork. I passed on that trip, finding it to be too depressing. A few years back Bill and I visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. and that was depressing enough. I can’t imagine actually being at the site of a former concentration camp. While they were away, we packed everything up and we pretty much had it all finished up by the time they returned around 3:45. Once they arrived, we all helped load everything into the cars. By that time, the wind was really blowing and it was very, very cold. But we were soon all packed up and on our way back out of the middle of nowhere.
We made plans to all meet at my cousin Shirley’s house to have dinner before we all went our separate ways. I was wondering how in the world we would fit all of us in Shirley’s house. Most homes in Holland are small by U.S. standards and I just couldn’t see how we would fit 20+ people in her little living room! But then again, I forgot that my Dutch family does this all the time! Sure enough, since we were the last to arrive, I saw just how it’s done. There were simply many chairs lined up on the outside perimeter of the living room. There were even some people sitting on her stairs! But hey, it worked out, especially for the little girl cousins. Inez, Pascale and Anouk were busy dressing up in various princess outfits and dresses and came downstairs. Well, the way we were sitting on both sides of the living room, it resembled a catwalk. And those girls were all about walking down it like supermodels:
The first two photos are of Inez and the third is her younger sister, Anouk. I love these pics! They are too cute!
After dinner at Shirley’s and a little more visiting (as if we hadn’t already spent enough time together!), we all headed home. Of course I was up late again, because for some reason ever since arriving here, I just can’t get to bed early! In fact, as I type this up, it’s 12:51 a.m.! And so that was what happened on day 9 of the American Invasion 2009.
The day after Christmas, and after two days spent completely indoors, I was beginning to suffer a little cabin fever. I could tell because my mood was changing to where people were beginning to annoy me! First of all, I am not used to spending 24/7 with my husband for nearly three weeks straight. Not that we are together every minute of the day while here, but we are still together way more than we are back home and when you aren’t used to it, it takes some getting used to. And then throw in about 28 more people that you aren’t used to, many of them kids, and then you can imagine the need to get out! I love my family, and don’t get me wrong, we are having a great time, but I also like to be able to escape for a bit and I definitely was feeling the need by Saturday morning. So we planned to get out for a bit and go for a walk since the sun actually made an appearance. Others wanted out as well, so it ended up being me, Bill, Ed, Joy, my other brother Andy, his wife Mary, my niece Carrie, nephew Geoff, Geoff’s girlfriend Renee, my cousin Theresa’s husband, Ewald, and my little cousins, Kim, Noah and Quinten.
Ewald led us on a hike, which I was thought was going to be a nice, leisurely stroll on the roads surrounding “The Scooby Dooby.” But no, our hike started in a field where we stopped to team up and have a snowball fight. I took one in the leg that actually hurt! But for the most part, I managed to dodge the worst of it aside from getting a bit of snow down my back. Thanks Noah! After the snowball fight we trudged on behind Ewald who was leading us on this hike. It was actually getting warm to me, being bundled up in my down ski jacket. I never thought I would say I was feeling warm here, but I was. As we went on with our hike, it did not turn into the nice, leisurely stroll that I was hoping for! Ewald took us through some rather deep snow, deep enough that at one point, poor little Noah got her boot stuck in the snow/slush and got her sock all wet! And then poor Joy fell and twisted her ankle. I was being extra careful about where I was stepping because I had jeans on, not waterproof pants, so if I fell, I didn’t want to be wet and cold! Finally we made it back to the road, a regular paved road, and made our way back to the compound. I believe that hike ended up being about 3 miles long. We were glad to be back in the warm, cozy house and just relaxed and had hot tea and coffee.
We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. I believe some of the guys were playing cards, the kids may have watched a movie. By the way, am I the only one who didn’t know that there is a Michael Jackson movie out called “Moonwalker?” That is what the kids were watching. Not exactly sure what the storyline is because I never watched it, but could hear him breaking out in song, like it was part musical! Anyway, the kids love it. Little Anouk tried her hand at moon walking and Pascale was begging to see it again the night before, on Christmas. Her mother kept telling her, “not now, later.” A short time later, Pascale, in a desperate attempt and last ditch effort to get to watch the movie yet again, told her mother who was in the kitchen, that “there is a woman out there who really wants to watch Michael Jackson!” Too funny!! These little cousins of mine are a constant source of entertainment. While I am on the subject of funny kid stories, I must relay this hilarious story about Anouk. She is almost five years old, and in Pre-Kindergarten. Like many kids, Anouk has on occasion had an accident because she has just been too busy to bother using the restroom and when she finally does realize that she has to go, she unfortunately has an accident and wets herself. This happened to her one time at school. Her teacher noticed it, but also realized that Anouk had not come to her to tell her. She decided to wait a bit longer to see if Anouk would tell her. A short time later, she realized that Anouk was crying, most likely after becoming uncomfortable in her wet pants. She then asked Anouk what was wrong and why she was crying. Anouk, being too embarrassed to admit she had wet her pants, then told her teacher, “My Oma (grandmother) died!” Her teacher was a little shocked and wasn’t sure whether this was true or not, but in the mean time, did help Anouk to change her clothes. When Anouk’s father came to pick her up from school, the teacher pulled him aside and told him she had a strange question to ask him and then came out and asked him if his mother had in fact passed away! Rudi quite happily told her no, that his mother was alive and well and then heard the story about Anouk and they all had a good laugh about it. Kids!!! They are too funny sometimes!
The only other thing going on that day was who would become the next victim of the little cousins. They love to pick one person to “attack.” This involves about seven of them going after one person and tickling them. Joy was the first victim and on this day, it was my niece, Carrie. I have some great pictures of that attack! Quinten is only 11, but big for his age, and strong. So he basically could hold Carrie down while the little girls tickled her. Poor Carrie. She couldn’t get away and finally someone rescued her after telling the kids to let her go! (Sorry Carrie, I had to get pictures for the blog, so I didn’t help!)
The day after Christmas was also my aunt “Ollie’s” 75th birthday. Her daughters had a nice surprise for her. They had booked a singing group to come to the “compound” to perform a little concert for her. I believe they mostly sing gospel, but at the performance they did for our family, there was a little bit of everything in there. They opened with “Because You Love Me” (Celine Dion), sang some Christmas carols and a couple of gospel songs and some other well known songs. They were quite good, and even sang everything in English!
My aunt loved it and it was great to see how happy she was. She cried, her daughters cried, and she made me cry when she said to my brothers and I how even though she misses our father (her brother), that she is grateful to be able to see him in all of us and that it means a lot to her that we were there to celebrate her birthday with her. She was so excited when we arrived and commented then how we are like her kids too! She is such a sweet woman and you can see how loved she is by everyone. She is kind, caring, funny and strong. She had to raise her three daughters alone after losing her husband when they were very young. She did a great job because they are wonderful people. I think it helped that my family is so close with one another. My cousins always talk about fond memories of growing up together and it’s evident, given how close they are now. And it’s going on now with their children as well. All of the little cousins get along great and love playing together, especially the three youngest girls, Inez, Anouk and Pascale. I love how we get along wonderfully with our cousins even though we never grew up together and only see one another every few years. Whenever we get together it’s like we have never been apart and we just pick up where we left off. We have a great time together and always look forward to them coming to the states to visit, or us flying here.
After the concert we had, it was more hanging out and talking. Geoff was tending bar and even dancing behind the bar a bit. I have pictures of that too!
And of course, it wouldn’t be one of our family get togethers if there wasn’t food after midnight.
On this night, it was the leftover meat kabobs we had from dinner. We stayed up a bit later and then it was off to bed as we slowly lost the battle to stay up any longer!
Funny thing about being here in Holland is the things that I eat here, but never, or rarely at home. I have posted some pics of these. First, bread. I eat bread at home, but not anywhere near the quantity I’ve already consumed in the week that I have been here. First of all, bread is like a staple of every Dutch breakfast. Which brings me to what they put on their bread that would be quite the oddity back home. See the photo that looks like a piece of bread with chocolate sprinkles on it? Well, that is exactly what it is! Bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles! Or as it is called in Dutch, “chocolade vlokken.” Crazy, I know, but for some reason, I feel the need to eat it when I am here. Three years ago when we were here, I actually bought some and took it home with me. And then never ate it again! I just couldn’t do it once I was back home. Same thing with hot tea. I drink it on occasion back home, but not as much as I’ve had it here! Maybe because I am freezing my tush off here and I am always wanting something hot. I don’t know what it is, but it must just be the feeling of being back here again that makes me want to eat and drink these things! If anyone back home is game for trying the chocolate sprinkles on bread, let me know and I will bring home a box!
I started to write this on Christmas Day, about 10:00 p.m. when Joy and I had retreated to our room to enjoy just a little quiet time and to write about the past couple of days before we forget what happened!
Yesterday was Christmas Eve and this is the day we were heading to Friesland to a place called De Schaopedobbe, the name of the place we would be staying at for Christmas. As you can see, it is a bit difficult to pronounce, which is how it came to be nicknamed “De Scooby Dooby” by my brother! After asking my cousin what “schaopedobbe” means, it basically translates into “sheep pond.” Schaope means sheep and apparently “dobbe” is a word in a local dialect, meaning pond, and from what she said, they used to wash the sheep in the pond. Hmm, I kind of prefer “De Scooby Dooby” myself!
On Christmas Eve, we slept in again, not getting up until after 10 a.m. It has been like this since we arrived and I just know I will be paying for it the first time I have to wake up for work at 6 a.m. We spent the morning packing our things up for the weekend and were on the road by 2:30. We had a caravan of vehicles making the drive. I think there were about 5-6 vehicles It is only about an hour’s drive away so the drive wasn’t bad at all. We stopped along the way to take some pictures in the snow. I could tell as we made our way closer that there was much more snow on the ground.
Finally, we arrived at De Schaopedobbe, and got our things unpacked before it got dark. You can imagine just how much food we had to take to feed 30+ people for 3 meals a day for 4 days. Actually, it’s more like 6 meals. My Dutch family likes to eat. A lot. All the time. We will barely have finished a meal and they are on to planning the next. I’m not kidding. Since we have been getting up so late in the mornings we have been having brunch instead of breakfast but they will still be ready to eat not too long after. Or you may have just eaten two hours ago and they come out of nowhere with snacks. It’s crazy.
Once we got our things unpacked, we headed upstairs to lay claim to the rooms we would be sleeping in. Just like three years ago, this place reminds me of summer camp, only indoors or a dorm. There are several rooms in this place, sleeping anywhere from four to eleven people to a room. There are bunk beds as well as single beds set up. Bill and I ended up bunking with my brother Ed and his wife, which is nothing new because we have done this many times before when traveling. The first room we were going to sleep in was ice cold when we first walked in. My cousin Wendy’s husband Erik showed up how to turn the heat on in the room, so we left it figuring it would have time to warm up before we headed to bed. Soon we had all of our rooms picked out and on each of the chalkboards outside the room, we wrote who was where. Our room was called the AZ Crew, the littlest kids were kept together with their parents, there was another room called “The Kidzz” which had the older kids, ages 10 and up, then there was another room for “The Young Ones,” which was my niece and nephew and older cousins, 18 and up. Finally, the oldest aunts got the more luxurious, spacious rooms.
Once we were all settled in, we just hung out and then decided to wrap the gifts we brought for all of the kids. I brought one medium size suitcase that was filled with nothing but Christmas gifts for the kids. Joy and I wrapped those gifts and then hid them away so we could put them under the tree after the kids went to bed. Once that was finished, we headed back downstairs to just hang out with everyone. With so many of us here, everyone just disperses around the room, doing their own thing. Some of us are watching a movie, some are hanging out at the bar talking, and the kids will be hanging out playing somewhere. But more often than not, wherever the kids are, you can probably find Bill! He is like the pied piper, with kids following him everywhere. The funniest thing to watch was Bill with my little cousin, Pascale. Pascale will be 5 years old in January and she is a little pistol. You can’t let her looks fool you! She is adorable, with the cutest face and beautiful long, dark hair. While she is very much a “girly girl” who enjoys playing dress up, she is also very willful, stubborn and can just as easily karate chop you (just ask Bill!) as bat her eyelashes at you. Her favorite game to play with Bill was to make him lie down, take off his glasses and watch, then order him to go to sleep by yelling “Slapen!” which is Dutch for sleep. She would then cover him up with every sofa cushion. A minute later, she would make this cock-a-doodle-do sound and then yell “Opstaan!” which is Dutch for “wake up!” She would then uncover him, put his glasses back on and his watch and then he would have to be awake!
We have about 8 little cousins, ages 11 and under. The oldest is Quinten, 11 and Pascale is his younger sister, who I mentioned will be 5 next month. Their parents are my cousin Sandra and her husband, Wil. Then there is Noah who is 10 and her younger sister, Carmen, who is 7. Their parents are my cousin Wendy and her husband Erik. Kim is 9 years old and an only child and her parents are my cousin Donna and her husband, Jean-Pierre. Then there are sisters Inez, who is 5 and Anouk who is 4. Their parents are my cousin Shirley and her husband, Rudi. Finally, there is Tara, who is 3 years old and her father is my cousin, Fabian. All of these cousins are on my father’s side of the family. There are also the older cousins, Victor and Christian, who are in their early 20’s, and their parents are my cousin Theresa and her husband Ewald. Theresa, Donna and Wendy are sisters and their mother is my father’s younger sister. Sandra and Shirley are also sisters and their mother is another younger sister of my father. Fabian is 32 and his brother, Raymond is 30, are the sons of my father’s younger brother. Anyway, that is a quick rundown of the family. I am sure you have lost track already! We have a huge family, as my dad comes from a family of nine children. My mother’s side is even larger, as she comes from a family of 13. We will be seeing them very soon.
Anyway, as for the rest of Christmas Eve, we had dinner together and then all got together to play a game after the kids went to bed. My cousins had a huge pile of wrapped gifts that they put into a pile in the middle of the floor.
Chairs were all arranged in a circle around the gifts and we sat down in the chairs. There was a huge pair of dice and the premise of the game was that if you rolled a six or numbers that added up to six, then you got to choose a gift. If you were lucky enough to roll two sixes, then you got to choose two gifts. The rest of the numbers also had some kind of instructions to them. For example, if a five came up, then everyone had to move over one seat to the right. If you had accumulated gifts by then, you just left them there and moved on. If you rolled a two, you might have to pick two people and swap one of their gifts with the other person. Or if you rolled a one, you might be able to pick one of your gifts to swap out with someone else’s. Some of the gifts were gag gifts, like a silly looking bug light and a pair of red, lacy panties. My brother Andrew was the first to get the bug light and upon seeing what it was, made the mistake of making sarcastic comments about it, such as how great it was and how nice that it would only work in Holland, (due to the different voltage and type of plug it has!) Well, after that, the rest of the family made sure the gift stuck with Andy! If the gift ended up out of his hands because we had to trade seats, then somehow they made sure it always got back to him! As for the pair of red, lacy panties, they first ended up with Rudi, my cousin Shirley’s husband.
It soon made the rounds and ended up with my nephew Geoff. The other gifts were little Dutch souvenirs, or tea, chocolate, etc. It was a lot of fun. Once all of the gifts had been handed out, my cousin Theresa announced that there was a little catch to the game. First we all had to move over one seat and then whatever gifts were there, we had to keep on our lap to show what we had. And then the final announcement and final “catch” to the game was that all of the gifts were to be given to the “American family!” So everyone divided their gifts among my brothers and I and the rest of our family! It was a lot of fun and I got some great gifts out of it! We of course ended up staying up late watching a movie. This is where the never ending eating comes in. At 1 a.m., my cousins are bringing out a platter of croquettes! I haven’t eaten these since the last time we were in Holland 3 years ago and that is probably a good thing because they are sooo good, but also so bad for you. They are these little breaded snacks with this meat filling, like chicken or pork, only the filling has a very creamy texture. I LOVE them. But at 1 a.m.? Everyone kind of moaned and said “What? Croquettes at 1 a.m?” But by the time we went to bed, there wasn’t one left! I’m telling you, if you are visiting here, it is like a 24 hour fat fest!
We finally headed to bed around 3 a.m. Well, this “compound” where we are staying has bathrooms and showers on the first floor. The second floor has all of the sleeping rooms and also has a big sink and a couple of toilets but the sink upstairs only has cold water, not hot. I was not about to wash my face in ice cold water because then I’d be awake the rest of the night! So I made Bill trudge back downstairs with me so I could wash my face where there was some hot water as well. When we got back upstairs and went in our room, holy cow, it was like a freezer! The heater/radiator thing wasn’t working in there, so we ended up moving to the room next door where it was warmer. By the time we got all of our beds made, it was nearly 4 a.m. Of course I was the last one to fall asleep, which meant I had to listen to Bill, my brother Ed and Ed’s wife Joy snore! Now Joy had taken a muscle relaxer so that was her excuse for snoring, but Bill and Ed just snore all the time! It wasn’t fun or easy getting to sleep, but somehow I managed it. We didn’t even get up until 10:45! But it was wonderful to be able to sleep in and then come downstairs and look outside to seeing it snow on Christmas morning! It was just beautiful outside and very excited after only experiencing Christmases in Phoenix!
Now while it’s great being able to sleep in that late, the problem is that it sure makes the days go by really fast. First of all, the sun doesn’t even rise until about 8:30 and then it’s 4:30 when the sun goes down! It makes the days seem like they go by twice as fast here compared to back home. But I suspect that is also because we are at work and work always makes the hours seem like they are crawling by!
Anyway, we took our showers after breakfast, which brings me to another thing I was not thrilled about. While this “compound” was great, I didn’t care for the showers. First of all, you could not control the temperature of the water. There was just one button you pushed to turn it on and that water never got warm enough to my liking and the water pressure wasn’t the greatest so it took me forever to rinse shampoo out of my hair! Also, once you pushed the button, the water would only stay on for a certain amount of time, then it would shut off and you had to push it again! It was frustrating! Once showers were done, it was just hanging out again downstairs until we were all ready. We had put our gifts under the tree after the kids went to bed so that they would be there when they got up Christmas morning. And boy were they excited when they got up and saw them. They were crawling around the floor all around the tree, trying to see which gifts were theirs! They were so excited and of course, impatient. We finally had them sit down on the floor while Bill played Santa and handed out the gifts. The kids were ripping them open as fast as they could and had a great time. I loved being able to see the excitement on their faces. I got some great photos. They were too cute!
After opening gifts, I went around the inside of the compound and made a video tour with my new little Kodak video camera. I hope to get it posted soon as well as the many, many photos I took over the past few days.
Update! (1/16/10) I finally am posting the video tour of "De Scooby Dooby!" Check it out!
Soon we were on to Christmas dinner, which was quite different from our usual American Christmas dinner. My cousins decorated the tables beautifully and we had what seemed like a five or six course dinner topped off by a very yummy dessert which was assorted mixed fruit in a waffle cone bowl topped with whipped cream.
So again, we stuffed ourselves! In between courses, my cousin Theresa played the guitar while our little cousins, Quinten, Noah, Carmen, Inez, Anouk and Pascale sang Christmas carols. They stood on the spiral staircase and sang Jingle Bells and some other Christmas carols. What is the funniest thing to me is that the little cousins do not speak English, except for a few phrases and little Anouk can even count to ten in English, yet they sang these Christmas carols in English! The rest of us accompanied them, but we didn’t do that great of a job I’m afraid to say. But the kids were just too cute and definitely made up for our lack of talent! I have a couple of videos of the kids singing which I also need to post. (Here it is! 1/16/10)
We finished up our dinner, cleaned up, and then hung out as usual until Joy and I headed to the room early for a change, which is where I started this entry into the blog.
I am writing up my last post until Sunday as we will not have Internet access at the "compound" we will be staying at for our family Christmas weekend. Gasp! And from what I heard, no television either! There is a TV, just not cable or satellite, so we will probably be watching a lot of movies. I will still have my laptop so I can at least continue to write and blog and have something to post on Sunday, when we will be back in wireless internet heaven!
But for now, I would like to wish everyone "Prettige Kerstdagen" which is Merry Christmas in Dutch! May you all have a safe and wonderful holiday!
Okay, this jet lag thing was no problem for me back in 2006. In fact, I never even suffered jet lag on the trip to Holland. On the other hand, it kicked my butt on the way home. But this time, it is kicking me now. I thought I was fine seeing how I slept 7.5 hours straight through the night on Monday night. Last night however, just about did me in. I went to bed at midnight but awoke at 4 a.m., as did my husband. I tried going back to sleep, but was wide awake. So I turned my laptop on and spent some time online and had planned to try and get back to sleep since we had to be up early to meet everyone at 9:30. But by then, Bill had fallen asleep again and was snoring horribly. I tried to go back to sleep, but who could sleep through that racket? I kicked him several times but he didn’t quit. Somehow, I managed to fall asleep but only for about 2 hours before my alarm went off at 8 a.m. Needless to say, I started the day out pretty grumpy. My brother Ed and his wife Joy picked Bill and I up at my cousin Wendy’s house and then we were off to go meet up with our brother Andy and his wife, who are staying at our aunt’s house in a nearby town. Once we were all together, we then headed to the town of Zwolle, where our cousin Shirley lives. We made plans to meet up with her and do some shopping and have lunch together.
My niece Carrie and I at lunch
We did all of that and then headed to the town of Hardewijk where our other cousin Donna lives. I had been to Hardewijk before, three years ago, and loved the little town. It’s near the water and it has a very touristy feel to it with all of the shops and restaurants, but there is just something about it you can’t help but love. Maybe it’s the fact that it’s so old and charming. My cousin Donna’s house is over 300 years old and is smack in the middle of all these shops. In fact, there is a bakery directly across the street from her house, and when I say directly across the street, I mean just a few steps out of her front door and into the bakery! Next door to her on one side is the freezer for this bakery and on the other are the large ovens where they do all the baking. Now imagine waking up to the smell of bread baking every single morning and being able to have the freshest bread whenever you want! And to have everything you need within walking distance. There is every type of store imaginable there, plus a movie theater, ice cream shop, lots of restaurants even an aquarium! It’s an amazing place to live. I did a little shopping there myself, picking up a new, warmer scarf and mittens and some yummy food from one of the other bakeries.
Yes, I was walking around in that 30 degree weather but let me tell you, it doesn’t seem cold to me at all. Let’s just say I am very thankful for the Columbia snow boots I bought that are rated for -32 degrees, the long underwear I bought to wear under my jeans to keep the wind from going through them, and the great down/feather ski jacket I bought online from Burlington Coat Factory! I can’t even feel the cold through these things!
After our shopping and visiting with Donna and her family, we all headed to a restaurant to meet up with about 20 other members of the family for dinner. This restaurant is a “Pannekoek” restaurant, which literally translates to “pancake.” But these pancakes are not like IHOP pancakes or the pancakes you normally would find in the U.S. They are more like a very heavy crepe and you can order it with different toppings, like cheese, ham, or whatever other meat you might want, or you can have it like a dessert pancake, with fruit topping or chocolate. They set up this pancake buffet for us that was quite tasty. We were stuffed beyond belief after leaving there. I had to roll myself out to the car!
Tomorrow we have our morning free to pack up our stuff for a 4 day, 3 night stay in a part of Holland called Friesland (also called “the middle of nowhere” by my cousins) where we will have about 35 of our family members staying to spend Christmas. The place my cousins have rented is this huge place that is used for corporate retreats and private parties. It has a lot of rooms, a huge kitchen/dining area, a bar that apparently has beer on tap at our disposal (I can only imagine what that’s going to be like!) and even a sauna! If you want to see what it’s like, here is the website. It’s in Dutch, so you’ll only be able to see the pictures to get an idea of what it’s like! http://www.schaopedobbe.nl/
Anyway, that is the latest update and when I get these photos downloaded and resized, I will send them along. Until then, goodbye!
Monday night we were awaiting the arrival of my nephew Geoff and his girlfriend Renee. They were expected to arrive around 6:45 p.m., but given that this has become the Gaeraths/Owens equivalent of a Griswold European vacation, of course they didn't arrive on schedule. Just like us, they were stranded in London, in the plane, on the tarmac. Except in their case, it was 4 hours. Added to the 5 hour layover they already had in London. So my experience of being stranded pales in comparison to theirs. My niece Carrie and cousin Christian just headed off to the airport so those two were stuck waiting at the airport for them. Geoff and Renee were renting a car, but Carrie and Christian went there to meet them in case there wasn't enough room for all of their luggage. About 10:45, Christian called to say that the rental car counter was closing at 11 and there would be no way Geoff would make it in time to pick up his rental car and he wasn't sure that there would be enough room in Christian's car for all of the luggage and four people. So off to Schiphol Airport went Christian's father Ewald, my brothers, and Erik, my cousin Wendy's husband. It's a good trek to the airport from my cousin Theresa's house, at least 1 1/2 hours, and that's in good weather. Finally, at 11:16 p.m., Geoff & Renee landed in Amsterdam and a about a half hour after that, they called to say that they were able to fit all of the luggage and the people in one vehicle. Luckily, Geoff & Renee are in the Air Force and probably have learned how to pack light! Soon they were on their way to Theresa's as were the guys, who were on the rescue mission. They had driven about halfway there and then had to come back!
Bill and I stayed at Theresa's until about 12:45 then walked on home. Can I just say that walking home at 12:45 a.m. in Holland is pretty darn cold! Thank goodness the walk to Wendy's house is only about three minutes! Once we got home, I still wasn't that tired so I ended up staying up with Wendy until about 3 a.m. It still took me a while to fall asleep, but once I did, I was out and didn't wake up until 10:45! All I could think about was how incredibly messed up I am going to be once I get home keeping hours like these! Good thing I have six days off before returning to work.
So at this minute, I am now back at Theresa's house. Everyone has gone different places with a few of us here at home: Bill went with Christian to the luxury car dealership that Christian once worked at (think Ferrari's)so Bill will think he has died and gone to heaven; Ewald took Geoff, Carrie, Renee and Victor to the Army base where he works, and my cousin Sandra went with Wendy back to Wendy's house to get a sled for the kids. It's hard keeping track of everyone. There's too many of them!
I haven't had a chance to post any pictures on the blog, but that is what I am going to do now.
