Today is the investiture of King Willem-Alexander, the new monarch of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Queen Beatrix will abdicate after reigning the Netherlands for 33 years.

Queen Beatrix on Dutch-American relations

Queen Beatrix visited the United States in 1982, and this is what she said during the state dinner with President Reagan on Dutch-American relations:

"Whatever our differences, there is infinitely more that binds our peoples together. We have become partners of our own free will. Above all, let us not underestimate the strength that can emanate from a union that succeeds in safeguarding both external and internal freedom.

In view of this, I'm confident that relations between your country, Mr. President, and my own will be even closer in the future than they have been in the last 200 years."

Celebrations in the USA: "history being written"

This is the last year that Queen's Day will be celebrated, a popular party for Dutch-Americans, and it is celebrated larger than ever. The organizer of the big celebration in New York City, Sander "'t BorrelMenneke" says that the event would easily sell out its 900+ tickets.

In Washington, D.C. the Royal Embassy in collaboration with the DC Dutch is organizing a big event also, with more than 500 guests. According to spokesperson Shanti de Jongh: "The event sold out quickly, and we have a huge waiting list. People clearly feel that this is a very special event and that history is being written. Dutch people feel a strong desire to celebrate this together, in the Embassy".

There are events throughout the United States (many took place last weekend). Our event calendar has a good overview.

King Willem-Alexander

Prince Willem-Alexander and his popular wife, Máxima Zorreguieta, are frequent visitors to the US. The crown-prince participated in the New York marathon in 1992 and the royal couple paid an official visit in 2009 for the Hudson Year celebrations.

The paper version of Form I-94, the arrival and departure record for people on a non-immigrant visa, will be replaced by an automated system. Starting next week filling in the white I-94 Form will no longer be required, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Form I-94 is the official Arrival-Departure Record for people on an non-immigrant visa. For visitors, there used to be a green I-94W form which was replaced in 2010 with the ESTA system; something similar is now happening for people on a non-immigrant visa such as an H-1B, a F-1 or a J-1.

Effective April 26, 2013, non-immigrants traveling to the United States by air or sea will no longer need to fill out a paper Form I-94; CBP will automate Form I-94 using traveler information already transmitted through electronic means and CBP will create an electronic Form I-94 based on the information in its databases.

Paper copy still required in some cases

In response to this announcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that other government agencies will continue to use the paper Form I-94. Notably, USCIS and the State Department of Motor Vehicles will continue to require a paper copy of Form I-94 as evidence of their legal status in the United States. A paper copy of Form I-94 will also still be an acceptable List A document that a work-authorized non-immigrant may present to his/her employer during employment eligibility verification.

Travelers requiring a hard copy of the Form I-94 or other evidence of lawful admission to the United States will be directed to www.cbp.gov/I94 to print a copy of the Form I-94 based on the electronically submitted data. People who go through secondary inspection, such as asylum seekers, refugees, and parolees, will be provided a paper copy of Form I-94 by a CBP officer.

Today we bought our first house!

It is in an awesome location, on a few minutes walking from the Clarendon metro station, in the heart of Arlington.

We are very excited, and after we feed Nora we will be on our way to check out our new place.

Today I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, a beautiful race along the monuments and the Tidal Bassin, and it went quite well with a 9:06 minute/mile pace.

I wasn't fully prepared for the race, but it went pretty well. Over the past few weeks I've started doing longer training runs, including two 8.5 mile runs, but I hadn't planned on doing a longer race so soon. However, turns out that my employer is a sponsor of the Cherry Blossom race and two weeks ago I signed up. This is actually the longest run I've done in over two years (the Greensboro Cannonball half marathon).

There were around 15,000 participants and the race was very well organized. The start and finish where at the foot of the Washington Monument (which is being repaired from the earthquake damage) and the run was straight through the cherry blossom area. Very pretty.

Opa Jaap left today after a fun month. All four of us really enjoyed the time together and Opa's presence was especially useful in the past 10 days.

Nora learned many new Dutch words from "Apa", as well as the ability to make some ugly faces, haha. New words include "pen", "dicht", "mee" (as in, "ga je mee?") and "peer".

Whenever an airplane comes over Arlington, Nora will now lift her finger in imitation of Opa and say "hoor"!

We woke up to a snow-white world this morning.

In the morning Nora likes to watch the school buses with children ("kicheche" -- for "kindertjes") but there were none today, since it is spring break.

Today was a beautiful day and we went for a long walk, the four of us.

The moon was visible and Nora liked to point it out: "maan, maan!"

Just like last weekend she skipped a nap today. She usually takes two naps, but today only one.

Yesterday evening Nora looked with interest at Sasha's travel mug that was on the table.

Jaap was holding her and explained: "Dat is een beker". Nora giggled and said "beber".

She is constantly learning new words these days, which is a lot of fun. In the mornings, when she is getting ready for breakfast, she'll stare out the window and say "buh buh" -- she likes to watch the school buses.

Last Saturday we visited the National Zoo in DC -- the first time that Nora went to a zoo, and she liked it a lot.

When we first entered, she was overwhelmed by all the people and she kept looking at all the kids. When we showed her the first animals -- several zebras -- she wasn't very impressed yet. A few minutes later we saw the pandas, and she did like those. She even learned the name. She liked seeing them eat, but she also enjoyed the pictures of pandas on the walls.

Nora recognized the American wolf as a "waf waf" and a highlight for her were the ducks, which we were able to see real close. We've been reading a lot about ducks, and even though these weren't yellow and chubby she was happy to see them ("kwak kwak!").

She was also impressed by the crows, who were noisy and said "ka, ka". At the end of our walk we saw the cheetahs.

This morning I ran the St Patrick's Day 8k in Washington, DC. St Patrick's is celebrated next week and the traditional color to wear is green. While I don't have green running shirts I wore some beads. During the run I gave them away to enthusiastic spectators, that was fun.

Getting up in the morning was tough after a short night (Nora & DST).

I left home at 7.55 am and had to wait 15 minutes for the next metro train. The race started at Federal Triangle on Independence, and it was busy -- almost 3,800 participants. With the various lines I made it to the start just in time: the race had already started but my corral (9.00 minutes/mile) not yet.

It was beautiful running on Independence Avenue towards the Capitol. It was sunny and nice weather, great for a run. The field was really crowded, and when after 5 minutes that was still not letting up I started the run on the side of the crowd.

I'm satisfied with my time -- a little under 8:30 minutes a mile, which was my target.