Part 13: Home Sweet Home

When we moved to Holland, we planned on coming home twice a year; once in June for the Hood family reunion and again in December for Christmas. The funny thing about the trip back home is you don't have enough time to see everyone you want to. This trip was the epitome of "too much to do in too little time".

I believe Amanda will agree that my schedule was a bit more hectic than her schedule. For me, I worked in Houston for 4 days, travelled to St. Louis for 4 days, back to Houston for 4 days, and then to Dallas for --- you guessed it --- 4 days. Everyday at work started at 4:30-5:00am and every night ended around 11pm (most nights). Quite honestly, at the end of the trip, I was exhausted.

Amanda and Jacob did it a bit differently. They left for St.Louis on Tuesday so she could spend a bit more time with my family (or, so my family could spend a bit more time with Jacob). One of the most surprising bits of the trip was my Dad and Kay's trip overlapped with Amanda and Jacob's trip by one day. It wasn't a lot of time, but it was still really good. Grandma and Grandpa got to see Jacob and we got a lot of great pictures.

My little niece Emma was a pro with the pool and took time to show Jacob the ropes. She did, however, draw a very clear line between her side and his side.

I think Jacob and Emma had a lot of fun together.

Jarrod has spent a lot of time with Emma, but very little with Jacob. It was good to see the two spending time together. The tricycle that Emma is riding is an early birthday gift from Uncle Dustin, Aunt Amanda and Cousin Jacob.

After I got to town on Thursday, we left to for the family reunion at TanTara Resorts in the Ozarks. We had pretty good weather on Saturday and everyone got to spend time in the pool. It was very tiring for Jacob.

Back in the 80's, our families used to get together for the reunion at the Holiday Inn in Springfield, Illinois. As the families got bigger and more spread out, it got much more difficult to get together. This year, however, Ericka "righted" this ship and pulled everyone together for a Summer-Weekend-Vacation-Reunion. It was great!

We all remembered our parents forcing us to the couch for the annual christmas picture. So, to balance the karma in the world and pass the tradition on, we all decided to force our children to the couch for their picture.

Bottom-Left Picture: Dan (top-left), Jeff (top-right), Dustin (middle-back, blue bow tie), Matt (right-side, red-bow tie), Leslie (front-left, clearly bored), Becky (second from left, comotose baby), Andrea (front and center, red hair).

Bottom-Right Picture: From left to right - Andrea, Leslie, Becky, Ericka.

After St. Louis, we headed back to Houston for a few more days. We got to get around and see a lot of our close friends.

It also provided some much needed time for "baby training" on Big Spring Trail.

It was hard to leave Houston - especially for Jacob.

Luckily, though, we got lots of time with Amanda's family. It is always a lot of fun with our nieces.

The plan all along was for Amanda and Jacob to stick around Texas long enough to see a new addition to our extended family. Our good friends Brandon and Kristi brought Griffin into the world on 7/11/07. Amanda made a quick trip back to Houston on 7/12 and got to spend some quality time with all three of them. I only wish I could have been there.

The trip home was great, but it was definitely hard to leave and a very clear reminder of the things we left behind when we decided to move to Holland...

Part 12: London - Part deux

We were lucky enough to squeeze in a second trip to London before our friend Phil moved back to the States. This time we decided to rent a car and see some sights outside of the city. On Friday, we headed to Windsor. Windsor, England is the home of Windsor Castle, one of the homes of the Queen of England. She was there the day we visited; but unfortunately, we weren’t able to catch a glimpse. I think Amanda was hoping that the princes were visiting Grandma, but no such luck there, either.

Saturday, we headed to the British Museum. Last time we made it to the National Gallery but didn’t have a chance to check out this one. We both really enjoyed it.


Many of the exhibits are Egyptian and Roman artifacts: mummies, walls of hieroglyphics, statues, columns, etc. It’s like taking a walk through history.

The most famous artifact is the Rosetta stone. As you may know, the stone has three identical passages in three languages inscribed on it: Greek and two Egyptian languages including hieroglyphics. The stone allowed historians to decipher hieroglyphics and learn more about ancient cultures. The stone was discovered in Egypt by the French during the Napoleonic War. The stone is quite impressive and draws a large crowd. Luckily we were on a tour with a guide who wasn’t shy about pushing others out of the way so we could get a good look.
Jacob was getting a little warm in the museum, so we decided to put him into a short sleeved shirt. I thought it was funny that his jeans went all the way up to his armpits, so I had to get a picture. We got a few grins from those around us.

Before heading back to Holland on Sunday, we went to Leeds Castle in Kent. I think this is the first castle that we have seen that truly looks like a castle. It was set in the middle of green rolling hills with a mote around it and lush gardens everywhere (unlike Windsor which is right in the middle of town). The castle dates back to the 12th century. It was once the home of King Edward I as well as Henry VIII. The castle has so much history, yet many of the interior rooms have been redecorated as recent as the ‘60s and ‘70s.


Driving into Kent, we could see this huge balloon flying. As it turned out, you can take balloon rides to get a different view of the grounds and the castle. We opted not to take the ride.
The walk up to the castle is fantastic.

If you remember the Harry Potter scene or if you have studied a bit of mythology, then you have seen a daedalus' maze. However, until you have walked through one, you haven't experienced it. I didn't really think it would be that hard becuase I had a air tight plan; keep my hand on the side of the wall and then follow it, no matter what. Eventually --- or theoretically --- you will find your way to the center.

It didn't work. We actually ran around that place for 30 minutes until one of the maze custodians showed us the way out.