We visited Oma Bosman today in Velsen-Noord. It was great to see her again.

We went to the market together. Saw drop, Sinterklaas chocolate, Dutch bread... delicious.

At home in Middenmeer we did shopping for the party this Friday, and we had coffee with a moorkop. We went for a walk through Middenmeer.

This morning Jaap and I visited my mom's school.

It's nice to visit the kids. Some of them remembered me from last year.

My father encouraged me: "say something unforgettable!". I told the kids to study well, especially English. Felt like a president.

Jaap in the door.

Sinterklaas decorations.

Yesterday I visited friends in Alkmaar, Leiden and Amsterdam.

In the morning Jaap and I drove to Steven's house, and we had coffee with apple pie. Steven started his own photography business last year and showed us amazing images.

Steven brought me to the train station and I took a beautiful high-speed train to Leiden. Anouk and Rob where at the station -- she grew so much! What had not changed was her million dollar smile. Kirsten had just come home when we arrived in their apartment on the 5th floor with great views of Leiden and The Hague. We went for a walk with Pip, the dog, and had lunch together.

We drove to Amsterdam, and visited Jerry & Marjolein's new house. Beautiful! It's in the same complex where they lived before, but the new home is twice as big and with lots of natural light. Marjolein is pregnant, and the baby room was ready. After dinner we played Koehandel, which was great fun and very exciting. I hadn't played that game since we went to Centerparcs in 2004. Third place!

The second night after traveling eastwards is always the hardest, but I got a decent 6 hours of sleep.

Sunlight is a good way of dealing with a jet-lag, which is why traveling to Holland is so difficult, haha.

I'm looking forward to today; I'm meeting several good friends.

Today was a family day, and I saw my sweet nephew Jasper for the first time. He stole my heart!

We all met at my grandmother Groen's house, in Heerenveen, where we spent the day. It was great to see everybody again. Ettie and I went for a nice walk together. In the evening we had a wonderful rijsttafel dinner at Klein Java, an Indonesian restaurant in Sneek.