Utrecht

Well last weekend we went on another little adventure.  We went to the town of Utrecht.  It is the oldest city in the Netherlands as well as the 4th largest city. The city dates back to 50 AD so you can imagine the history there.  It has brick roads which look really neat but are terrible for pushing a stroller.  Jackson probably felt like he was on a rollercoaster. It was a workout just keeping the stoller going in a straightline! 

Utrecht is also know for the Dom Tower. It is the tallest church in the Netherlands at 368 feet high. It was amazing to see! The tower was originally part of the church but is now free standing because the church was never fully built due to lack of money and the part connecting the tower to the church collapsed. 

The city has a river going through the center where you can take a boat ride and see the whole town.  We will have to do that next time when Jackson is a little bit bigger!!

There was tons of shopping and lots of places to eat.  You could get 40 roses or 40 tulips for only 5 euro.  We couldn't believe it!!! We had ham and cheese calzones which were fabulous!!

Next time we go we plan on taking the boat tour and will hopefully climb to the top of the Dom Tower.  I guess we will have to flip a coin to see who gets to carry Jackson :)

Asten

The town we live in is called Asten and it sounds like there is alot of history in this small village.  So there will be much more to come but here are a couple pictures of us at the windmill in town.  Oh and one of Daddy and Jackson after a bath :)

Happy Birthday to US!

So far all I have talked about are the all the bad things that have happened to us since we have been here.  Well this last weekend was great!   The weather was perfect and we are finally settled (minus the fact that our stuff has not arrived from the US yet.) so we ventured out to Eindhoven.

First we had to make a pit stop at the trainstation to exchange some US dollars into euros.  Take a look at all the bikes we saw!

Eindhoven is a fairly American friendly city with LOTS of shopping!! So since both Josh and my birthdays are this week we thought we should go treat ourselves a little bit.  The mall puts every mall I have ever been at to shame.  It is 3 floors with both indoor and outdoor shopping.  I can't wait to have visitors to take them to it! 

While we were there we got to enjoy a little outdoor dining :)  and we had pannekoken or Dutch pancakes.  Let me tell you these things are amazing. They are not like the fluffy pancakes you get is the states but are light and crispy and you can put different things in them.  Mine had bacon and apples and Josh's had bananas, apples and a little powdered sugar!  They are so wonderful and take up an entire plate!

We each got a few things while shopping and had a great day exploring! 

Who needs a key to get out of the house???

Everyone has been so nice to us for the most part, except the one old guy who we almost made fall off of his bike.  He yelled something at us that sounded like STUPID ...

We have gotten flowers from Josh's work and from our new neighbors. (No tulips though)  The first time the flowers came I am finally taking a nap and the door bell rings. I jump out of bed grab Jackson and run downstairs.  I go to open the door and can't get it open.  I remember that you have to have the key to open the door and of course Josh is not there because he is picking up our car.

There are about 5 different kinds of keys to every door in this house.  NONE of them open the stupid door.  I am fumbling around and Jackson is getting really mad. I look around the house to see how in the world can I get outside to this poor man waiting at our door.  Every door I need a key for.  I run to the "Inside Garage" and apparently grabbed the key for the "Outside Garage", I have to run back to the front door where all the keys are and grab the Inside Garage key and finally get out to this man. 

By this time I am pretty sure about 10 minutes has passed.

I said I am so sorry, he hands me the flowers because of course he can speak no English and he takes off. I say thanks and he sort of waves at me like ok.

So now I am locking the stupid door again and the knob starts turning. I have a bit of a panic attack.  I keep locking it because who knows what is on the other side of the door and then I hear a knock.  I say a sort of panicked who is it and it's Josh back from getting the rental car.

I have to unlock the door again to let him in and am so mad at the stupid locks that I am almost in tears. We figured out that I didn't even have a key to the front door, I now know which keys go where and we had a second key made for me.

After these few mishaps everything has gone much better!  Jackson and Grace are adjusting just fine.  Josh and I are getting there!

Our Next Big Adventure

Well we're at the house and now we have to eat, so we venture out to the grocery store and try to interpret as much as we can.  We get just what we need for the night and the next morning.  Both not as successful as we would have liked.

For dinner I made spaghetti, we thought was a pretty safe meal, it turns out I bought sauce with green olives in it.  Both Josh and I hate green olives.  Who knew spaghetti sauce even came with olives in it.  We both ate it because we have no other option.  We were like little kids picking the olives out of each bite.

The next morning we are having cereal, again another relatively simple and hopefully safe meal.  Well it turns out we bought the wrong kind of milk.  There were about 5 different options and we chose WRONG!! Karne-melk is not to be drank or at least not by us.  I poured the milk on my cereal and smell something a little funny but didn't think about it.  Once that first bite is in my mouth I can't get to the sink fast enough.

We both smell the milk and it smells like cottage cheese.  I don't think it was rotten, I am pretty sure that is just how it is supposed to taste! 

We both decided to have to instead but there is no toaster so instead we had bread with peanut butter :)

The next trip to the store was much more successful!

The trip to the Netherlands

I won't bore you with all the details of our traveling experience or our first few days after our arrival but I will share a few memorable moments with you all!!

Leaving was incredibly hard but we are adjusting well.  When we arrived at the airport we were 2 1/2 hours early.  Luckily we didn't arrive a minute later!  We get to the counter and tell them we are traveling with an infant and a dog.  People just looked at us like they felt sorry for us!  We looked ridiculous with all of our things! This picture doesn't do it justice! 

So at the counter they tell us that we needed a ticket for Jackson, even though he is just sitting on our lap.  This is news to us after we have spoken to a travel agent through Josh's work and not one but TWO Delta Airline people.  so we have to get out of line and go purchase a ticket.  This takes FOREVER!! Finally it is done and we have to go back to the check in counter.  Luckily they take us to the front of the line and are figuring out how to get Grace on the plane. This again takes forever.  Finally we get everything done and have to have Grace inspected by the TSA's and then she is sent off.  Josh and I make it through security with our 2 bags each and a stroller and car seat.  We're both pretty  much completely frazzled and not to  mention starving, meanwhile Jackson is screaming now because he is also starving.  I go to feed Jackson while Josh goes to the trusty McDonalds for us. 

By the time Josh gets food we're already boarding the plane.  It's a good thing we didn't arrive a minute later!!

The plane ride went GREAT!  Jackson slept the whole time just waking up to eat! Grace was waiting for us when we got off the plane and we were off to our new home away from home!