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.

Part 11: Cologne

Since I had to attend a meeting in Leverkusen, Germany on Monday, May 14th for work, all three of us decided to make it a long weekend and enjoy the sights of Cologne. This time, however, we recognized our limits and booked our reservations for Saturday morning. In the past we would have jumped onto the first train leaving the station after work; I guess wisdom or maturity or “knowing your limits” finally prevailed --- then again, maybe it was just Amanda.

It is interesting though… Since everything is new to us, we can turn an otherwise innocuous / boring meeting into a relatively cheap and thoroughly interesting weekend. I think it is how you have to approach life – making the most out of every day you have.

We booked our tickets on the ICE – the best train in Europe (so far anyway). There is no question it beats the Thalys (train between Holland and Paris) and thrashes any comparison to the daily trains I take to work. The ICE is a really nice ride; it is like riding on an airplane with shorter layovers, more leg room, and less turbulence.

We ended up missing the first train out of Voorburg at 7:45, but fortunately were able to catch the 8:00 with no problem (another great aspect of using the train). When we arrived, the first thing you see when you step out of the train station is the cathedral, The Dom.

No words can describe the way it makes the air leave your lungs, your mind reel through the impossibility of its scale, and how after 15 minutes your neck hurts from staring at the top spires. It’s magnificent! I guess you can say it’s a typical gothic cathedral, with all of the intricate carvings, spires and gargoyles (like Notre Dame). But, there is just something different about this one. It is huge and beautiful and dirty and awe-inspiring. In our opinion, it is the most impressive structure we have seen in Europe.

The inside is just as good. The massive stained glass windows let in a lot of light and the vast openness is big enough for a football game (at least arena football). The floor is tiled with massive 5ft by 5ft stones that have been worn down over the 600 years since they were placed there. This church is no different than football stadiums today; when the money flows, the buildings go up. When the money dries up, the buildings stop. In this case, because of the persistent war and minimized peace between 1250 and 1880 (i.e. Vikings, Crusades, Napoleon, etc.), it took 600 years to pull together enough cash to finish.

Also inside is the shrine to the three magi (i.e. the Three Wise Men). Most Catholic churches (in fact, all Catholic churches – I think) require remains of a saint to be buried in the churches’ alter. Just like in Amalfi, it is really neat to stand 6 feet from such important biblical figures (FYI – for a good historically-based action novel, like the DaVinci Code, centered on this church, pick up Map of Bones by James Rollins).

As an interesting side note, none of the scaffolding shown in the picture is physically attached to the building. Every platform is tied to the church with ropes.

So that is Cologne… Typically, when you visit a European city, an over-abundance of “historically significant” people, places, events, etc. bombard you into submission. Cologne was different.

There were other tourist attractions and we visited them too, but they were comparable to the “Time Tunnel” ride at Six Flags. The Pretorium was the best of the rest, but still not really worth the time we spent there. In fact, when we arrived at the Pretorium Museum, we were the only ones there – literally. For a Saturday morning any other self-respecting museum would have at least had more than us there – it didn’t. You can tell by the pictures that it’s not a popular sight.

We also visited the Romano-Germanic Museum. This place was ok, but it still lacked the “Euro-feel”. So for our weekend, we fairly equally divided our time between gazing at the Dom, eating, and shopping. Bottom line: if you ever go to Cologne, schedule a three hour layover in city and visit the cathedral.

Jacob even made a new friend. A lady that worked at the hotel we stayed in had just had a baby girl 2 weeks prior to our stay. We were on the top floor of the hotel and had a wonderful view of the sunset.

It happened to be Mother’s Day that weekend, so here is Amanda and Jacob together. This one will go into the baby book for sure.

Part 10: Oui, Oui!

The second trip planned with Dustin’s mom (Deb) and aunt (Sherry) was to Paris. Deb, Sherry, Jacob and I headed by train to Paris on Tuesday. It’s about a 4 hour train ride, so after leaving around 8am we made there by lunch time. The trip was pretty straight forward, but navigating through a new language (now French) can be challenging. So, while Sherry and I figured out how to get to our hotel from the train station, Grandma Deb fed Jacob.

After successfully finding the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to the Eiffel Tower. It’s so much bigger than I imagined it; truly pictures don’t do it justice. It is unbelievably beautiful and probably the most famous structure in the world. We did some more sightseeing and then went back for a ride to the top at sunset.
In between our two Eiffel Tower visits, we visited some more famous landmarks. First was Notre Dame. As you can see, the cathedral is decorated with thousands of intricately detailed carvings, each with their own symbolic meaning. We didn’t stay long enough to try and figure out what those meanings are, but now know enough to bluff our way by most. Technically, pictures inside are not allowed, but there were so many others taking pictures, I thought I might as well give it a try. I was able to get a decent shot of one of the rose windows. They’re absolutely gorgeous. The day was quite warm, so I ended up stripping Jacob down to his onesie as you can tell by his bare legs. No shoes and no pants – a little trashy, but at least he was comfortable.
Across the street from Notre Dame, we enjoyed our first taste of authentic Parisian cuisine – crepes with caramel sauce. They were delicious and the best ones we had the entire trip!
After crepes, we headed for the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. The Arc is in the middle of a traffic circle where about 5 streets converge. It’s quite impressive and makes the roundabout in our neighborhood look like a playground. As you can see, this was one of Jacob’s favorite stops on the trip.
The Champs Elysees is the famous avenue where all the pricey shops are located. We took a stroll down the street but didn’t make it into any of the boutiques. It was fun to window shop and fantasize. Maybe one day I’ll actually go into one of those stores; I doubt it though, it would give Dustin heartburn…

We had dinner on the Champs Elysees at a restaurant that had an outside eating area. There were to young ladies sitting at the table next to us, and for about 20 minutes, Jacob decided he was a part of their conversation. It was so cute! He was leaning over in his stroller with his elbow resting on the side and his legs crossed. The picture below doesn’t quite capture all of it, but you get the idea. What a nosey little fellow! A flirt, too!

After dinner we went back to the Eiffel Tower to get a view of the city and a night shot of the Tower. Magnificent!

The next day, we headed to the Louvre (left). We saw all the highlighted items – the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, the Venus de Milo, the Virgin of the Rocks, and a few more. We could have spent a week there and still not have seen everything, so we did the whirlwind tour instead. The Louvre was quite crowded and noisy as opposed to the Musee d’Orsay which we hit next. This museum is home to the Impressionists – Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Van Gogh and more. I think Monet is my favorite. His work is so peaceful.

After the museums, we headed out to Versailles. It’s about a 20 minute train ride from Paris. A friend of mine was visiting her parents who now live in Versailles, so I wanted to head there to meet up with her for dinner. We took the audio tour of the Chateau which was quite interesting (I would recommend it). Talk about living in excess! The rooms are all ornately decorated: trimmed in gold, paintings everywhere, crystal chandeliers, etc. The gardens are quite impressive as well. The two disappointments were that the Chateau is under heavy restoration projects right now, so there was scaffolding everywhere (hard to get good pictures) and none of the fountains were on in the gardens. Apparently, they are on a schedule and put on a little show accompanied by music at certain times each day. We didn’t get to see that. Still, the visit was wonderful and well worth the train ride. Jacob had fun, too!

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast and walked through some shops looking for souvenirs. Then, we headed back to the train station for the trip home. It’s amazing. We didn’t have much time in Paris, but we sure did see a lot. Jacob was exhausted!