The elections are more than 15 months away but yesterday was the first big debate for the Republican Party for their primary. We watched it and had a great evening.

To be sure -- the campaign for the Presidency is no joke and some of the candidates are scary -- but debates like these are entertaining. Donald Trump was in excellent form and dominated the debate; Chris Christie got some singers in as well and overall it was a great show to watch. Again, if you ignore the content of what's being discussed. Some of these candidates are quite extreme.

We had some difficulties finding the right streaming site to view the debate but ultimately we watched most of it through the official FoxNews website.

Yesterday afternoon Adrian and I went to the pediatrician for his rotavirus vaccine. He couldn't get that at the four months checkup.

This vaccine is given orally so there was no crying. It was nice to spend some time the two of us.

When we go out for a walk or when we're in the grocery store we get a lot of friendly comments about our big stroller. "Are they twins?" "How old are they?" "Are they identical?". It's special to see baby twins, that's for sure.

A few weeks ago I was in a store and behind me an older man asked: "excuse me, in which aisle are the babies?" (implying that he wanted to buy some babies). I didn't skip a beat and said: "oh, right there and they're on sale -- two for the price of one!".

To be honest, I had read such a joke earlier on Facebook, haha.

Yesterday I went to Giant with the boys and several people smiled and asked about the boys. Then when I left the store I heard: "oh, do you have twins? We are twins!" Two girls in their late twenties -- clearly identical twins -- smiled and waved at Leo and Adrian.

Unfortunately, the Dutch government will stop issuing passports in Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Los Angeles.

The Dutch Embassy just announced that after October 1, 2015, passport and visa applications can only be submitted at the Dutch Consulates General in Miami, San Francisco and New York, and at the Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C.

This is bad news for many Dutch citizens in the United States since it means their travel time to renew passports will dramatically increase. As a reminder: it is important for Dutch people living abroad to renew their passports on time. Not having a passport while living abroad can mean that you lose your Dutch citizenship.

We wrote about this in 2013 though later it seemed as if the Consulate in Chicago might be spared.

Since about a week the boys have been sleeping really well at night. They go to bed around 11.00 pm and don't wake up until at least 8.00 am. Before last week, they'd wake up around 5.30 am for a feeding and immediately fall asleep, but they've been skipping that recently.

During the day they nap pretty well too. Adrian in particular sleeps easily and long. A month ago Adrian started sucking on his thumb and he is able to soothe himself to sleep, usually. Leo sucks on his fingers during the day sometimes but doesn't quite connect his hand with his mouth when he's angry and tired. They boys are now about the same ago as when I met Jasper for the first time. I remember that Jasper was very interested in his feet. Adrian too, he keeps grabbing them.

They enjoy tummy time more and more. They can hold their heads up well and start to wiggle around. Leo in particular knows very well how to roll over, from back to front and front to back. Sometimes he moves his legs around in a Pilates-like "swimming" move.

The boys adore Sasha and keep her in their sights throughout the room. They started babbling too, very cute. Since a few days Leo started making the same sound that Nora used to make: "maamamamamamam".

The other day we received a thick envelop from the Netherlands that contained quite a surprise.

My uncle Gerrit finished writing his book Bastonisto and has dedicated the book to "all twins in [our] family, and in particular to the latest duo, Leo and Adrian". Two characters in the book are named after them as well, very cool.

The book is a young adult novel with a futuristic theme. A wonderful gift and I look forward to reading it.

We slept in this morning and when we woke up it was raining a lot. But at 10.15 pm the rain stopped -- and we decided to go to the Fourth of July Parade after all. The Parade was cut short because of the rain but we had a nice time in the Lyon Village playground. Hopefully next year the weather will be better.

Afterwards we went for a long walk. We walked to our old apartment building and explored the new development on the Bergman's site -- it looks great. The MOM's grocery store will probably open in a few months; several of the townhouses were already occupied.

We grilled some delicious burgers for lunch.

Yesterday morning we spent with the boys and we took care of some long-overdue chores. It was raining all day. In the afternoon Ginny came over for a very nice visit.

Then in the evening we spent some time cooking together.

The boys slept amazing last night. We put them to bed at 10.30 pm and they didn't wake up until 6.45 am. We fell asleep again afterwords and I woke up very late. A great start of the day.

The boys went for their four month check-up and everything looks good. They didn't cry this time when doctor Kim examined them, but of course there were a lot of tears when the vaccinations came. Adrian couldn't get the rotavirus vaccine because he had an upset stomach, so we'll go back with him next week.

Adrian was 15 lbs 9 ounces (7.0 kg), Leo was 15 lbs exactly (6.8 kg). Length Adrian 25 3/4" (65 cm), Leo 25 1/4 (64 cm).

The babies slept for a long time after they came home and had a warm bath to lessen the pain on their legs. It took longer than normal for them to fall asleep, clearly the injections hurt.

Tonight Nora will travel to Bulgaria to spend the summer with her grandparents. She is traveling with Lelya Snezha from Washington tonight, and with a layover in Munich she'll arrive in Sofia around 6.00 pm local time.

Last year she spent a few days without us in Middenmeer and she did very well. This time is much longer -- 8 weeks in total -- but she will be in excellent hands. It is very special that she can spend time with her grandparents in Perushtitsa.

We will miss her terribly, and I'm counting the days (56 to go) but it will be a great experience for her. It will also allow us to spend some more time with Leo and Adrian.