On Sunday Ettie, Gerben and the kids came to Middenmeer. It was so special to see them! Jasper and Evelien met their aunt Sasha and it was great to be able to hug them. Not seeing them often enough is the hardest part about living far away.
My last visit to the Netherlands was in 2010 -- when Jasper was just born. For Sasha it had been a full decade. She left to Washington, DC in September 2004.
Our flight was at 5:15 pm from Dulles Airport on Friday August 15. We packed our belongings the night before, and then worked hard in the morning to get everything ready on time. Our neighbors Ginny, Judy, and Yong Hee helped with looking after the house and our plants while we were gone, much appreciated.
Nora was excited about the trip. Somehow she is more impressed by the taxi part than the flight, she kept talking about how we would take a taxi to the airport. In our hand luggage we brought a blanket, Meneer Prascho, her giraffe and her pillow. Sasha and I didn't sleep much on the flight to Copenhagen, but we created a little tent for Nora using a blanket and she slept an hour or two. From Copenhagen we took a connecting flight and then we were at Schiphol!
Opa and Oma were waiting for us and we saw them from behind the glass. Nora was a little shy but then waved. Our luggage arrived quickly.
When we arrived in Holland, Nora immediately learned that people in the Netherlands speak Dutch.
Nora likes to describe the things that she sees around her, especially people. When we arrived at the luggage claim she said -- "die meneer maakt de trap schoon" and I concurred "ja, die meneer maakt de trap schoon". Then he actually answered her! "Yes, I am. Do you want to give me a hand?" Nora was quite surprised that someone understood her.
It was great to see my parents, and it was very special to see them and Nora reunited. Nora wasn't shy at all, and kept talking on the way to Middenmeer.
Once there we slept two hours -- just enough to take the edge off from the skipped night -- and before dinner we made a nice walk. There was the Havenfeest, an annual event, and we had a good time. Nora got a slice of cheese, amazingly delicious, from a kaasboer and later a balloon. We bought some diapers and drop from the drugstore. I saw Vincent, an schoolmate from my elementary school. We were very tempted by beautiful tulip bulbs but bringing them home might be impossible.
A nice Monday evening. Nadya had made dinner and we ate early. Nora wanted to be read to over dinner so I read her de Grote Rode Schuur, an alphabet book, a few pages from the kabouterboek and two short stories: Ik will lekker stout and Het Fluitketeltje.
Later we read Dick Bruna's Bloemenboek and Nijntje in het ziekenhuis, the latter per Nora's request. I don't always manage to read to her every day, but we try.
Then we went for a walk to see the new sidewalk -- it was completed a few weeks ago and looks great.
Nora is growing fast and wants to do everything herself: switching on the light, closing her shoes, filling her cup with water. If we by accident do those for her she gets upset and wants us to undo it so she can do it herself.
The best way of getting her to do something is saying: oh, Nora can't do that. She will insist to prove you wrong.
If I said "Ik ben twee en ik zeg..." she would answer "Nee!" Now she is cheeky and says: "Drie!"
It is cute to see that she is also still a baby (as she insists she is sometimes). When we drove back from Secaucus she didn't want to sleep. The solution? We put a blanket over her car seat, blocking her view. She fell asleep in 5 minutes.
On Sunday Ettie, Gerben and the kids came to Middenmeer. It was so special to see them! Jasper and Evelien met their aunt Sasha and it was great to be able to hug them. Not seeing them often enough is the hardest part about living far away.
My last visit to the Netherlands was 
When we arrived in Holland, Nora immediately learned that people in the Netherlands speak Dutch.
Today Dyado and Baba left. It was sad saying goodbye -- we've had a great time together.
I wrapped up the deck resurfacing yesterday. 
Yesterday evening we visited the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial and had a great dinner at Cafe Asia in Rosslyn.
Nora is growing fast and wants to do everything herself: switching on the light, closing her shoes, filling her cup with water. If we by accident do those for her she gets upset and wants us to undo it so she can do it herself. 
The Zanes left on Sunday morning. In the evening we went to the National Mall to see the monuments. 
