Ties' birthday

On May 11, Ties turned 8! Congratulations to all Deerfield friends who celebrate birthdays on that day as well! As we were out of the country last year, we decided to celebrate this well. On the actual birthday Ties got a few presents (more Magic Tree House books), but the real party was the Saturday following the Wednesday's birthday.

Here is Ties ready to open some presents, woke up 2 minutes before.

Saskia playing with one of the new  toys. Baseball practice!

 And the great cake Saskia made on Ties' request

Big party, mostly family this Saturday. We did an afternoon and meal, very laid back (especially for the guests). It was another "get your own drink from the fridge or you will be thirsty" party.

They love each other -  as always - ahum.

Sunday was another family party, Saskia's nephews and nieces came to our house for lunch. Good to see everybody again, some newborns (and not so new borns as well) joined the club.

And with a subgroup we went to the beaxch afterwards. Lots of wind, so perfect for flying the kites.

And after another week of working it is weekend again and there was more baseball, we seem to get used to that now. The weather was again great, awesome and fantastic. We seem to be making many, many baseball pictures, sorry if you get bored from them........

And another birthday, this time not in our house, but in Haarlem with Saskia's brother. Playing games with grandma.

While Dide was lightning the BBQ.

And although it is still light here, it is 9 pm and the kids watched a movie.

While their parents had another drink in the garden. Good times, having older kids definitely has advantages.

Back home, Dide skyped with her friend Ben, she loved doing that. Dide and Ties still miss Deerfield a lot and are talking about it all the time. They are happy here, too, but seem to compare many things. Sometimes the result is in favor of The Netherlands, sometimes the US wins.

Cheers, see you at our next short update.

Spring or summer?

In the last update (sorry, it has been a while!) I already mentioned the great spring weather we were having. The awesome weather stayed with us until this very moment. We had the most dry and warmest March and April ever since it is recorded, approximately 300 years. And also May started off very promising. We are fully enjoying all the good things, are seeing lots of friends and are having almost as many BBQs as in the US. We are having a good time, although we still miss Deerfield. Dide and Ties did have 2 weeks of vacation with a week of school in between. Strange schedule, but ample time for nice things. They are still working hard and are doing really good in school in catching up with their Dutch writing and reading.

Below are some pictures from last month, to keep you all updated.

Dide and Ties with long-time friends in a natural playground. This is sort of a boat on a rope, lots of fun......

But a bit dangerous as well. It was amazing how fast this went away though.

This is Dide eating ice cream, not in a rain storm, but behind the drops of a water toy on the field across the street from our house.

And in the evening warm up in front of the camp fire. Looking backward this was not such a great idea, as everything was so dry. But no worries, everything went well, no accidents.

This is why a lot of tourists visit The Netherlands in early spring. And we just pass it by train without thinking about it. Still beautiful.

Speaking about BBQ........

 And another great day of summary weather, the yard next to our house.

While Saskia is reading books to our little niece Lieve.

Dide and Ties love playing with the water balloons. We are so happy that Dide can now make the knots herself, that saves us lots of time and painfull fingers.

Eating with Radboud's brother and family, we just had a few drops of rain last Sunday, so we went inside. It turned out not to be necessary after all.

Saskia decided to make an awesome tree for Ties' birthday treats. In The Netherlands it is common to bring something to school for your birthday. Ties will turn 8 this Wednesday and he decided that the theme should be "Magic Tree House". So that is what Saskia is building here.

Radboud has been in Philly in the last week. No chances to come the Deerfield, unfortunately. Next time. But a suitcase full of Target products came back home. Saskia made a 2-page shopping list.

Last week we also heard that our building permit will not be given. Due to some unwritten and strange rules that the village of Voorschoten cane up with they do not allow to built according to our original plans. We have been sad and angry, but have switched gears now and decided to do a smaller extension which can be built without a permit. We will start as soon as feasible, probably in August.

That was it for now. A lot of things are happening and due to our lazy update schedule for the blog we cannot provide them all. The only thing we forgot to mention is Saskia's ongoing problem with her teeth.She has already had 2 dentists appointments and 1 emergency visit after being back. It is all being repaired (root canal) and not too painful, but it is a pain. We love hearing from all of you in the US. Thanks in particular for the tulip flowers from Country Lane 1102. We wish we could see it in real.

Let's keep in touch! Our current plans are to come for a visit in summer 2012.