It feels good to be home again. That is a good sign, I think.
We had a great time in the Netherlands. A friend of ours, Annet, brought us to the Oxnard airport, and from there we went by shuttle to LAX. At LAX it took a long time to board the airplane, but the excitement for seeing the kids again made it seem trivial. 
The flight went fine. I slept a few hours, but Dan had a hard time. He cannot sleep upright. KLM had, as always, very nice stewardesses.
It was magic to see my sons and their girlfriends again. Man, how much more proud can you feel! They picked us up from the airport in Amsterdam. It was amazing how it felt as if I hadn’t been gone for such a long time.
The first few days we stayed at Thomas and Myriam’s house. They made us feel very welcome there. Coby and Sonja visited us there. Friday night we went into town with Niels and Melanie to get Niels a birthday present. It was the first time we met Melanie, and we both were very pleased with her. On Saturday we visited Thomas’s restaurant, did some sightseeing in Amsterdam, and in the evening, we had a very nice dinner at Niels’ house. He had invited more friends for his birthday, and we had an evening full with laughter and good food.
I do forget to mention one very important personality: Our cat Tiesto! At first, she wasn’t so thrilled to see us, but later she was all over us. Here is one of the many pictures of her that Dan took. 
Sunday, we had the family reunion. Again, it was so super to see my family. My sister and brother in law made us feel so welcome. After some drinks, we started to do some competition games between my siblings and the in laws. As always, we won! My sister had made a book about the chronicles of my family. This is truly a treasure. The food she made was really good, and all of us had a great time. Sadly, one sister was sick and her husband was abroad. After a nice buffet, they all went home.
Dan and I stayed at my sister’s place. Because of the jet lag,we were very, very tired and we went to bed not too late. The next day, my sister and I went to the hospital for her radiation treatment. It is hard to see your sister has to undergo that. But she is the most amazing and strongest woman I know. I felt in a way also very honored she wanted me to be there with her. Dan and my brother in law picked us up, and we had a nice day together. In the evening, they treated us to a nice dinner in a restaurant. The next day, we went again to the hospital, and then we did some shopping. I found some nice grey boots, and because of the cold weather, my sister bought herself a pair of snow boots. It was fun to see all the Dutch stores again, like Blokker and Schoenenreus, etc. At home, we played scrabble. It brought back memories of playing this game with our mom.
Later that day, we were brought to the train station. Back at my son’s house, we ate a simple meal and had a nice quiet evening.
Wednesday, we had to go into town to get some public transportation tickets, and we had to upgrade our Dutch pre-paid phone card. We went by bike. How quick you forget….how crazy Dutch traffic is! I was so scared. Bikers all over the place! They cut you off, do not see that the lights are red, that you need to give a sign if you want to turn to left or right. I fell so embarrassed. I’ve told here in the States, that “we” Dutch bikers know how to bike, how the traffic rules are, etc. It must have been some kind of misplaced pride of mine. And then the cars. They just cross over the bike lane marks, as if they are not there. I was glad we made it home safe. But before that, we stopped for a broodje kroket met mosterd at FEBO. “The” Dutch snack place! It tasted great.
Later that day, we went by train to a town called Weesp to meet my oldest brother and sister in law. They invited us to have dinner in a chique restaurant. The food was very good and we had, as always, a very nice time.
Thursday, we were invited by our friends Sonja and Peter. Because it was Thanksgiving day, Sonja had made a real American Thanksgiving dinner with Turkey and sweet potatoes. So very attentive of her.
It was great to see these friends again. Their children are so fun to have around. After a nice evening of chatting, Sonja brought us home.
Friday was shopping day!! Coby, another good friend of me, and I went into town and we did what we do best: Shopping!! We got some nice presents for back home, and I got a really nice outfit from Coby. Before I moved to the States, she and I went shopping in Amsterdam, and then we had lunch in a small cafe. I always ordered a “broodje warm vlees met sate saus” (a soft roll with warm meat and sateh sauce). So we also did the same this afternoon. It brought back worthful memories.
Around 6.00 PM, Coby brought me home, and Thomas and Myriam made a delicious meal with Salmon and pasta.
In the evening, Myriam’s parents and sister came along, and we had again a nice time.
Saturday was for us. And with us, I mean, my sons, their girlfriends and us. We went into Amsterdam. Because of the cold weather, Niels wanted to buy some gloves, scarf and a fake fur Russian hat.
The store we picked out was just open that day. It was packed with people. It took us a long time to get to the right floor and back down again. Then we visited the Anne Frank house. I had visited this house , which is now a musuem, when I was a child. I did not remember much from it then, so this time it was much more emotional. http://www.annefrank.org/
After we finished the tour through the Anne Frank house, we walked through Amsterdam and enjoyed this beautiful city. At a Japanese restaurant, where Myriam had reserved a table, we ate unlimited sushi and other Japanese food.
We had a blast. We went back by tram and bus, and we all were glad to be home. It started to freeze pretty hard.
Sunday we packed our suitcases and spent some time with Thomas and Myriam before they had to go to work. In the afternoon, we went for a walk to the local shopping mall and it felt sad to know it was the last time.
Around 5.30 PM, my sister and brother in law picked us up to go to an Italian restaurant.
This restaurant was a bit of a disappointment. The food was nice, no comment on that. But the waiter was such an annoying young man. He talked way too much and when he forgot our drink order, he defended himself by saying he had more customers!! Then, it took the cook almost an hour to prepare our food. No, I wasn’t that thrilled about that restaurant anymore, but nevertheless we had a good time together. They brought us home and we said see you soon to each other!!
And then Monday, our last day. Myriam brought us to the train station. We had to leave an hour earlier than we had originally planned, and the traffic was chaos. Luckily all went perfect and we were in time at the airport. The flight home went well again, though 11 hours in a plane is not my most favorite thing to do. At LAX we had to wait for the shuttle for 2 hours! That wasn’t something we liked. In Oxnard airport, Annet, my friend, picked us up and brought us home. She had made homemade soup, so I did not have to prepare a meal. So very attentive and sweet of her.
And now, it is December, we are back to normal life again. School was great. The kids were so sweet to welcome me with ” I missed you ms. Elisabeth”. Yes, it was an unforgettable vacation, thanks everybody!
Further we started to look for Christmas gifts, which is nice to do with Dan. We easily can spend some shopping time together 
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