Happy New Year, Y'all!

Let me just say this up front: I'm a terrible blogger, and a terrific procrastinator. So, resolution #1: I'm going to try and make some of my weaknesses strengths this year, and try to keep up on this blog.

We've had such a fun Christmas break with Trevor's parents in town. They arrived on the 12th of December just in time to enjoy Grace's school talent show. Sadly, I didn't take a single picture.  That first weekend they were here, we decided to try going to a Christmas Market close by. I had read that Dordrecht had the best market in the Netherlands. And lucky for us, it's less than 30 mins from Rotterdam. So we checked it out.

pretty sure James is not impressed with Christmas markets

I'm pretty sure the point of Christmas Markets is to sample as much of the food from every food stall as possible...at least that's what we did. We didn't make it to any German Christmas Markets this year, so we don't know how the ones here compare...but I have a sneaking suspicion that the German ones are better. There's always next year to test my theory, I guess.

The kids finished up their last week of school before Christmas, and then we flew to Copenhagen--land of Hans Christian Anderson, Tivoli Gardens, really cool palaces, and just plain awesome. We had heard that Copenhagen was one of the best "Christmas-ey" cities in Europe. Probably because of Tivoli Gardens. It's the second oldest amusement park in the world--opened in 1843. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and had christmas market stalls setup through out the park. The kids, of course, only had eyes for the rides.

We arrived at our hotel in the early evening, so we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe and Tivoli for the evening. I know it seems like if we're in Europe, we should eat like the Europeans or something. But come on, sometimes we just miss an American hamburger. We've tried Dutch hamburgers, and let me tell you something, they are weird. So we got our fix, and then hit the park.

The next day, the sun came out, so we decided to take a canal and harbor tour of the city. Copenhagen is beautiful. I really loved the architecture of all the buildings. We toured the exterior of the Rosenborg Palace, since it was closed. We saw the Little Mermaid...

Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Castle

boat tour selfie

boat tour

The Little Mermaid sculpture

Visited Amalienborg Palace (the royal family actually live there)...and I didn't have any pics because cameras weren't allowed.

Sunday we attended church, which was conveniently right next to the Copenhagen Temple, too. The translators weren't working, so we listened to the majority of the meeting in Danish. It was their Christmas program, so there were some nice musical numbers, too.

Copenhagen Temple

Later, we visited the Copenhagen Cathedral. This is the church where the original Christus statue is, along with the 12 apostles, all done by the famous sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. We arrived in time for a Christmas Mass service. It was really neat to observe in such a beautiful place.

Christmas mass at Copenhagen Cathedral

as usual, James isn't impressed. But Kate is.

We also visited the inside of Rosenborg Palace, where the crown jewels are kept.

The next day, we took a train north of Copenhagen to Hillerod, to tour Frederiksborg Castle. It was built starting in the 1500s as a royal residence for King Christian IV, and now it's a museum of national history. It was just spectacular.

Also of note, especially to members of our church, there is a room in the castle that houses all of the original Carl Bloch paintings.

We really enjoyed walking around the gardens as well, even if it is the middle of winter!

gardens

Our last day, we visited the Copenhagen Zoo. The kids needed a break from castles and palaces and art.

that's a kangaroo

And to finish it up, we visited Christiansborg Palace, and the royal stables.  We saw all the royal horse carriages. I don't know how I got out of there without taking a single picture, because they were really cool.

We headed home and enjoyed a nice, quiet Christmas. Lots of lego building, and puzzle making, movie watching, and yummy food eating.

Christmas morning

Christmas dinner

Holly building her Legos from Santa

Grace loving her fancy Dutch bike

James got a bike too

Anne Frank House

In front of the town hall and their ginormous Christmas tree

Over the next week, we visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, went to a movie, and spent a day in Gouda.

Ya know, where the cheese comes from. Except in America, we say it wrong.  It's pronounced How-da...and if you clear your throat will pronouncing the H, you'll say it like the dutch do.  Gouda had a great old church with amazing stained glass windows that are original to the church. The kids also got to ice skate in the town square--pretty much their dream come true.

I loved the shutters on this building

amazing stained-glass windows in Gouda's church

Kate trying out her ice skates that Santa brought her

First attempt at ice skating. Do you see the skates? They strap around their boots, and they are double bladed...genius!

This kid kills me

The mighty skaters

Well, if you made it through this obscenely long post, then you deserve an award. Happy New Year! We are looking forward to all the new adventures that 2015 will bring.

Homesick Ramblings

So, I've been a bit homesick lately. I'm not crying myself to sleep every night or anything...just a bit homesick. I think it's because we are gearing up for Christmas here, and while we have lots of fun plans that include German Christmas Markets, a trip to Copenhagen, and a visit from grandparents, we won't be seeing ALL of our family members and celebrating with them.  And as I've been pondering on all the things I miss about home, I've also been thinking about the things I love and don't love about here. So here goes:

1. SHOPPING--It's a totally different world over here when it comes to shopping. It's hard to find so many products that I never thought would be hard to find. And let's talk about customer service--or the lack thereof.  Yesterday, I was at the grocery store searching for corn meal. You would think that's an easy thing to find, right? Not really. So after searching and searching, I hunted down an employee and asked where I could find it. The guy literally just mumbled something, shrugged his shoulders, and walked away. I wish I could say I was surprised, but it's not the first time.
Also, here, you bag your own groceries with your own bags. This is a fine practice--everyone uses reusable bags, which is great for the environment. BUT, what's funny is, the cashier just shoves all your groceries aside and starts helping the next customer before you can even get your stuff in the bags. No offer of help. You're lucky if your bread makes it out alive.
All stores close at 6:00 during the week, and 5:00 on Saturday. The grocery stores are open until 9:00.  I walked into a store at 5:05 on a Saturday night, and I was chased right back out. They couldn't care less about making a sale. We tried to go out for ice cream last Saturday night with the kids, and the place was closed. So weird.  This has taken some getting used to. No late night, pre-Sabbath grocery store runs here! But for all the frustration it causes, I totally respect that the Dutch people value time with their family over work. The all mighty dollar (or Euro) doesn't rule here.

All that being said, I miss Target. A lot.

2. Driving--I've talked a little bit about this before. And while I don't have a nervous breakdown every time I get in the car, it still can be stressful. And while I've moved out of the "IKEA phase," I have not moved out of the "follow-the-blue-line-on-the-GPS-so-I know-where-I'm-going phase." Last Sunday, we had to take Trevor to the airport in Amsterdam. As we were leaving the airport, he calls me to say he has the house keys, so we need to come back. Panic immediately set in. I had already gotten back on the freeway, and it's never a simple get off the exit and turn around here. I scrambled to put it in the GPS, and proceeded to try and make my way back. Well, what should have been a 7 min jaunt, became a 20 minute nightmare as I made a wrong turn that put me on a different freeway heading the wrong direction. My GPS rerouted, and I was finally nearing my exit to the airport, and the exit was closed due to construction--tack on another 10 minutes.  So, of course, my GPS is by now thinking that I'm the most incompetent driver in the whole world.  It reroutes me again, and we finally made it back to the airport. As Trevor was handing me the keys, I looked down at my console, and there were MY HOUSE KEYS. I had left them there the previous day unknowingly. I almost started to cry I was so frustrated that I had gone through that whole rat race for nothing.  Add to the fact, it was fast Sunday, so everyone was hungry and anxious to get home, and I had a raging post-sinus infection headache. Not one of my favorite experiences thus far.

I feel like I need to say something positive after that rant. Have I said anything I love yet? Oh yes, the Dutch peoples' lack of love for money. Phew.

Last thing about driving...everyone drives the speed limit here. Well, pretty much everyone. It's not like the German Autobahn where you can drive as fast as you want. There are speed cameras EVERYWHERE. And they just mail you a ticket if you're caught speeding. This last summer we had some Australian friends visiting us in the States. They couldn't believe how fast everyone was driving and definitely going over the speed limit. I guess they have speed cameras Down Under as well! Now I know what they were talking about.

3. School--I have nothing but positive things on this one. The kids absolutely love their school. This is a big reason we wanted to move here. We just wanted a change. One of the things that always bothered me about the school my kids went to in the States, was how strict and controlling the environment was:  One recess. Walk in a line with our hands behinds our backs. Silent lunch. Bus everyone, even if you live right by the school. One-way halls (at the middle school). The crazy way they taught math.  Etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, we loved a lot things about our elementary school in Houston. But all the rules and processes, and the not-so-great middle school, were all factors in our leaving.

Here, I feel like it's just much more easy going, and kids are allowed to be kids. The field trips don't even require a signed permission slip! And they go on them all the time. Holly's class was doing a field trip last month, and they all walked there and back. WALKED. I couldn't believe it. They hit the park on the way back to the school, and even made a side trip to the police station to turn in a found cell phone. I love it. James' class is going on a field trip to a farm next week. The parents are dropping them off at the farm at the beginning of the day, and then they are taking public transport back to the school. They are teaching these kids, even at 4 years old, how to navigate through life without bubble wrap.

We wanted the kids to be more challenged, and they definitely are. Math is emphasized much earlier here, and my kids are definitely doing some catch-up. Because it's an international school, their peers are from all over the globe, which is so cool. It also means everyone is coming from different educational and language backgrounds, so the teachers are really good at teaching at a personalized level for each student. I don't feel like the teachers are teaching with a standardized test in mind. It's interesting, because the day is an hour shorter than my kids are used to, but they are super productive. They mix a good amount of play and learning.

4. Peer pressure at school--I feel like it's so much less here. It's not all about what kind of backpack or shoes you have to have because So and So has them. It's just a less materialistic existence. And I totally love that.

5. Eating out.  Europeans are not in a hurry when they eat out. It takes FOREVER to get a waiter to actually take your order, and then when you want to pay...sigh. It's frustrating for an impatient American. So, this is probably a positive thing, because we just don't eat out as much. Healthier and better for the budget. But that being said, I sure do miss Chickfila sometimes. I miss the convenience of running through the drive-thru on a crazy busy day. Drive-thru's here consist of McDonalds and Burger King--gross. And they are not fast. And something always gets lost in translation, so don't even try to order your chicken sandwich without mayo. Moral of the story--eat at home.  I've decided that Europeans are so skinny because they are STARVING, and also, they smoke. Whatever.

So there you have it. We miss all our friends and family, but we are happy to be where we are. What an amazing blessing this experience has been for us.

Playing Catch Up

Sheesh, what happened to September and October?! We've been busy around here with just regular life (and a little bit of traveling.)  We've definitely moved out of the "IKEA phase." You know, the phase where you find yourself at IKEA three times a week, and spending all your evenings with an allen wrench and a picture book.  It's been a solid month since I've been to IKEA. Progress.  I still don't have all my pictures hung, which is why I haven't posted pics of the house. But I promise there's a good reason. The reason is, I'm lazy. And also, you can't put nails in the walls here. It's plaster over brick walls, and it requires a drill and masonry screws, and I'm just not overly motivated to tackle that right now. So here's a few for now. I'll add more later.

Living Room

Dining Room

I took these last month. I love my new big dining table. It fits 8 like this, but it also has a leaf, so you can fit a ton of people around it. I also love love love the herringbone wood floors. This house was built in 1908, and was originally lived in by the ambassador to the UK. Later, it was a doctor's office. Rotterdam was bombed heavily in WWII because it's the major port for Europe. But this area wasn't bombed, so the buildings are older and have a ton of character. 

Ok, enough about the house. In October we celebrated Holly's 10th birthday. Double digits! I can't believe how the time goes. She really wanted to go to an amusement park for her birthday. So we went to one about an hour away called Eftelling. I went with super low expectations, because, it's hard to top Disney when it comes to parks. We were pleasantly surprised! It was clean, and a really nice park.  It's got a fairy tale theme, not all of which I recognized. The weather was perfect, so it made for a really nice day.

This is what the park rents as strollers. Aren't they cute?!

opening her new toy

We've had visitors! Have I mentioned that we love visitors? My sister and her husband were in this neck of the woods on a business trip. I took the train to Paris for a day to spend with them. Here's a few pics of what we did:

The Louvre

Notre Dame

Gargoyle on Notre Dame--isn't he cute??

view from the top of Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower

And then a few days later, they came to our house! Our first visitors. We had so much fun showing them around. We put 'em on bikes and everything. We took them on the pancake boat, of course, and also to the Euromast, which is kind of like the Space Needle in Seattle. Awesome views of the port and city. 

View of Rotterdam from the Euromast

The Pancake Boat!

We also took them to the new Market Hall. It's pictured below. It's a food lovers' dream. Rotterdam is kind of known for their modern architecture. It's residential all around the edges of the building, but it's a huge gourmet food hall in the middle.

The Market Hall

On their last day in town, we all took the train to Amsterdam. It was our first trip to the city. It started out super rainy and cold, but the sun came out in the afternoon and it was perfect. We went to the Amsterdam Museum while it was raining, and took a canal cruise when the sun came out. And of course, everyone had to get their picture taken in the giant wooden shoes.

Amsterdam really is beautiful when the sun comes out

on the boat

Ryan & Ginny

canal at sunset

 So, moral of the story, come visit! We'll show you a good time!  We just got home from a great trip to Germany and Austria. I'll post about that soon.

First week of school

It's been a long, weird summer. We've had a lot of change and transition, and it feels good to be back to school! Although, I will say, I prefer sleeping in to getting up early. So that's going to take some getting use to again.
Here in the Netherlands, kids start school at age 4. All day. Everyday. It's the law. So, guess who's going to school?

He wanted me to take a picture of his backpack first

He's so excited to be going to school with his sisters. On the third day of school, his teacher told me a funny story about him. They were going through the calendar, and the teacher asked the kids if they knew what day of the week it was. All the kids kind of stared at her and didn't know the answer, except James. He piped up, "Wednesday!" She said, "That's right, James, how did you know that?" He said, "I guess it's because I'm just really smart."

The kids are going to an international school, which means all of their classmates are from all over the world.

Grace is at the secondary school, which is a different campus entirely. She's finding that she is ahead in science, but needs to do some catching up in Math. Good thing she's got a dad that remembers all this math stuff!

So, after I dropped them all off the first day of school, I decided to brave the big market in Rotterdam all by myself. Every Tuesday and Saturday Rotterdam has a huge farmers market. You can buy all sorts of produce, fish, cheese, spices, and basically everything else under the sun. It's a bit intimidating since I don't speak dutch. But I did it!

I'm loving how little I drive here. Seriously, I'll go multiple days without getting in my car. We bike everywhere. The weather has been awesome, too. The rain finally quit and we've had sunshine and not-too-hot days. It gets pretty cool at night. Pretty much perfect in my book.

Trevor was in London all week for work, so he missed all the school and market excitement. He saw a show, ate awesome Indian food, stayed in a posh area of London, and basically made me jealous that I wasn't there, too. He totally owes me. Anyone want to come and babysit so I can go to Vienna with him in a few weeks? ;)

In other news, we finally have a dining room table and chairs. I'm pretty sure I've visited IKEA more in the past week than I'd care to visit in my entire life. We are getting pretty handy with a screw driver and an allen wrench.  So far, we've assembled two dressers, one pantry, one kitchen table, 8 chairs, one kids table with four chairs, two shoe racks, one coat rack, two desks and I think that's probably not all but I can't remember what else.

Also, I found Crisco at the Chinese grocery store today (along with cream soda).  Who knew these items could be so exciting! It's really the little things in life...