Saturday we made a boat trip over the Potomac. It was a beautiful sunny day.

We started in Old Town Alexandria where we spent some time of the Farmer’s Market. Nora danced on the wooden stage with other kids. There was a baker with great sourdough bread so we brought one in the rucksack.

From the beautiful waterfront we took the next boat to National Harbor. Tourist season is over so the boat was almost empty. We had a really good time. It was Nora’s first boat trip. She was quite excited to go under the bridge. She expected it to open for us – that’s the way she saw it in the Netherlands – but this bridge was high enough for the boat.

We made a round-trip past the National Harbor and had lunch in Alexandria. We bought some Dutch licorice in a small store and then went back home.

A few weeks ago I installed book shelves in our living room. Finally a place to put our books, and finally an opportunity to get a copy of some of my favorite Dutch books in print.

It's relatively easy to buy electronic Dutch books -- but for some of the great books it is great to have a physical copy.

The package with books included Hersenschimmen, De ontdekking van de hemel, Kruistocht in spijkerbroek -- a childhood favorite -- and De kellner en de levenden.

Also, the Dutch version of the Lord of the Rings. I have a "rule" for myself that I will read books only in their original language, but for Tolkien I make an exception. When I was little my father read The Hobbit and the Ring to me, in Dutch obviously, so Dutch it is.

The package also included several books I haven't read, so that will be fun for the next months and years.

Yesterday we went to buy some cheese and bread for lunch at Arrowine, and on our way back we passed through Cherrydale. The volunteer fire brigade there had an open house and we stopped by for a little.

Nora got a pink helmet and she sat in the big truck on display, an historic truck from 1959 from Tarrytown, NY. Many, many years ago Sasha and I went to the Volunteer Fireman's Hall & Museum when we were in upstate New York, in Kingston.

We've been cleaning up the basement and I put some things for sale on Craigslist. Every time I tried to log in to the site with Firefox, I'd get a 404 error. I have Internet Explorer installed for situations like these, but it's not ideal.

Tonight, I discovered the culprit: Craigslist really wants the referer header to be set. I had switched it off in Firefox a while ago (with network.http.sendRefererHeader = 0); switching it back on fixed things.

We had dinner in the Afghan Kabob House, near Whole Foods.

Their chicken kabob is delicious and Nora shared from our plates. The kabob is spicy but Nora kept eating. At one point we noticed that her eyes were all teary and she refilled her water bottle twice, but she liked it. I was proud of her.

Nora walked to and from the restaurant with us - a total distance of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometer). We did bring the stroller but we only used it for Meneer Prascho, haha.

It took a while but I've finally finished the articles about our wonderful vacation to the Netherlands, Belgium and Bulgaria.

For completeness, here is a short timeline:

• We traveled from Arlington to Middenmeer by way of Copenhagen
• In Middenmeer. Havenfeest.
• Sunday - visit by Ettie, Gerben, Jasper en Evelien
• Monday - day trip to Hoorn.
• Tuesday - day trip to Alkmaar. Lots of shopping.
• Wednesday - Edam cheese market. Lots of cheese and rain. Great lunch with my parents.
• Thursday - day trip to Medemblik
• Friday - Sasha left for Bulgaria. Guus visits Oma Bosman and Harm & Marijke.
• Saturday - Saturday morning with my parents, to Opperdoes in the evening.
• Sunday - Ettie and Gerben in Middenmeer
• Monday - To Oma Groen
• Tuesday - Nice day with my friends. Alrik came to Middenmeer in the morning; Jerry, Marjolein, Richard, Rob, Steven in the evening. Guests of honor were Lex and Max.
• Wednesday - To Oma Groen. Sasha back!
• Thursday - Nora stayed in Middenmeer
• Saturday - in Ghent.
• Sunday - Train to Haarlem
• Monday - In Haarlem, where my parents reunited us with Nora. In the evening we had drinks and dinner with Joana
• Tuesday - Back to Middenmeer. Packing.
• Wednesday - Back to Arlington.

It's only been a week since we're back from the Netherlands but in that week there have been a few noticeable changes. She hasn't used her high chair for several days now. She sits on a regular chair, next to Sasha, and eat all her meals there. Without her bib, even.

Yesterday she started a next phase in her potty training, and that is going pretty well too. Tonight I read her a book for beginning readers ("AVI-1") and we started looking at some words. Cool stuff.

Since a few days she is very much into taking care of her stuffed animals. They get clean diapers, she feeds them, and she makes sure they sleep -- either in bed or "in het hok". It's very cute but takes a lot of them; when we tell her to go to bed she will start preparing the stuffed animals first. It used to be that all animals -- especially Meneer Prascho -- had to be physically present before she'd fall asleep. Now she just wants the assurance that they are "in their own beds".

Other things go smoother now. For many weeks, she didn't want to sit in the bath -- only on her knees. It's always the same thing: I tell her she needs to sit normally so I wash her feet, she laughs and only then she will sit down. However, tonight that changed and we didn't have our usual discussion.

Our flight left at 6.55 am from Schiphol, so we had to get up really early. We left home -- I mean, my parent's home -- at 4.00 am and were at the airport nicely on time.

The lady at the check-in counter was very friendly and let us check in the car seat for free, which meant that we could check in one of the small suitcases as well. That saved a lot of hassle. Over-all, we carried a lot of luggage: 50 kilogram (110 lbs) for checked-in, plus a big car seat, a stroller, a carry-on suitcase and some small items.

Check-in went quickly and we were done at 5.15 am. We had coffee at the arrival area since our usual spot at departures was still closed. Saying goodbye to my parents was sad.

We then went to the security check and wow! It went so smoothly and nicely. Schiphol is a great airport. We browsed a little bit in the Nijntje store and then went to the gate.

Our first flight was to Copenhagen, and we had a few hours of layover there. The airport there is pretty good also (with the exception of the bathrooms).

The second flight departed at 12:20 pm. In the waiting area we chatted with a small boy and at one point Nora told him in English: "Nora sleep in the plane". And before we were airborne she put her head in Sasha's lap and fell asleep, and slept for a solid three hours.

Later I took Nora for a walk through the plane, and one of the flight attendants gave her a game and a small book.

We landed at Dulles Airport and customs and immigration went smoothly. When we arrived a customs, a lady had already put all hour luggage on a cart.

Then we were home! Nora was especially happy to see Penka, her inflatable cow.

From Ghent we took the train to Haarlem, the city where lived until we moved to the United States. It was the first visit for Sasha in 10 years and to walk together through the city was amazing, from the very first moment we got off the train.

We saw the completion of several infrastructure projects that were in the early stages when we left a decade ago: the Raakskwartier, the Appelaar parking garage at the Grote Markt and the car-restrictions on many additional streets in the city, including at the station. It was like a jump in time.

We had dinner on the Grote Markt at a tapas place we have good memories of and it was delicious. The owner changed eight years ago, the waitress told me, but the food was still great. I had a Jopen Adriaan beer, very good.

We were lucky and there was a Bach concert in the Grote Kerk that same night. To be honest, I bailed out after the first song. It was beautiful but listening to a whole concert was a little too much, so I went to Den Uiver and had a nice beer there. They also have a new owner -- a nicer guy than the previous one -- but the atmosphere was still the same.

We stayed in an excellent bed and breakfast at the Zijlstraat, a few minutes from the Grote Markt. The location was great, it made it easy to go back to the room to change diapers. Sasha and I had poffertjes.

The next morning we met my parents at the Appelaar and we walked to the Grote Markt where we had coffee together. After that, we walked to the Adriaan and the Hooimarkt. It was special to be back there. After lunch Nora went to take a nap.

Nora didn't join us on our trip to Ghent but stayed with Opa & Oma in Middenmeer. She didn't mind at all and had a great time with Opa & Oma.

On Saturday tante Ettie and the kids came for a visit and they all went to Medemblik to the farm and castle Radboud.