summer time

Well, today marks one week I have left with the family and it is making me sooo sad. The kids make everyday so happy and bright. I never expected to get this close to them. They are the coolest kids and they remind me not to take life too seriously. Thus saying, here are some pictures I have taken of them in the past couple of days. Yesterday was their last day of school and now summer break has begun. It couldn't have been any better timing as it has rained and rained for weeks, but the past week has been AMAZING. It has been super sunny and Hot!! I guess it is preparing me for Florida summer, but without the humidity. Anyways, the first three pictures are ones I have printed copies of to give to each of the kids when I leave. I decided I'd give them a note and a photo of us together; something simple but meaningful. The others are from our many hours of playing outside in the backyard. The other day the kids got on their swim suits and I sprayed them with the hose. We made some water balloons too. It was a lot of fun and perfect weather for such an event. Today, the first day of no school, we went to the Laguna water park in Germany. We've been there are few times since I've been here and the kids love it. Katie's family left yesterday to spend all summer in the US, so since she has know where to live at the moment, she is staying at my house until we leave for our travels in about a week. I am savoring every last minute I'm here. I can't believe it is almost over.

Over the Hill

Last week both Martijn and Marit had their 40th birthdays. Martijn's was the 16th and Marit's was the 21st. For Martijn's birthday we had a special dinner for him and he opened presents and stuff. The picture with his hands up is when he got his new ipod! It was fun and just us. We had a little dance party after and we put on silly hats and stuff. (I love the picture of me, Constantijn, and Romee. Their expressions say it all)

Then on Saturday (the same day as Marit's real birthday) they had a big party over at the house. We had people staying at our house from Thursday until Sunday, one day with an extra 6 people sleeping over. The party was also on the same night the Dutch played in the semifinals for the EuroCup, and since I was the only non-Dutch person of about 40 guests, you could say it was a high-intensity night. Even though the Dutch ended up losing in overtime, the party was still upbeat and fun. There was tons of food (I made sushi for it!) and drinks and talking and dancing. It went until almost 3am, which I think is pretty good for 40! I have to say I did feel a bit awkward at first since I don't speak Dutch and therefore could not understand anything that was going on. But I found my niche in helping out in the kitchen. I think keeping busy was the best thing since I couldn't really communicate and I know they appreciated it as they thanked me a million times. I did get to meet a lot of their friends and talk to a lot of them too (they all speak English really well). I didn't get any pictures of the party because I thought they might think it was weird that I was taking pictures of all their friends, hehe

The last picture is of Katie and I as we watched the Italy vs. Spain game at the Fanzone in Basel. Martijn had a couple extra tickets and decided not to go, so he let me have them. The one before is Constantijn trying to eat a marshmallow off a string. I went to a class picnic he had and it was one of the games they had. And the one before is a cute picture of the kids I took while they were playing on the trampoline. They are soo cute!

News Flash

A few stories/updates about me:

-

1. I am in Basel for exactly 3 more weeks from today! I then travel for two weeks after that: London and Greece. So, I make it back to Florida on the 16th of July. Can't wait to see everyone again. I'm getting excited to see my family and friends!

-

2. I got accepted to teach English in South Korea next year. I'll leave in late August and be there for a year. My friend Rebekah from UF is doing it with me. I'm really excited for another adventurous year in a whole new place. I will keep you updated on more details as I get them, and I'll keep a blog next year too, no worries!

-

3. So as of yesterday, I officially damaged BOTH of the families vehicles. I have been in one fender bender in my entire life, and I've now done it twice within 2 weeks to someone else's cars. I first hit the van when picking the kids up from school. There are these yellow concrete poles between the parking spaces, and I just cut the turn wrong. I got scratches and yellow paint on the rear passenger door. They assured me it was ok and that put it in the shop to get it fixed. Yesterday, the same exact day they got the van out of the shop, I hit the beemer while taking Romee to go swimming. I put a dent in the front bumper and scratched a bit of paint on it too. I was trying to do a U-turn and misjudged it. I was petrified to come home and tell them that I messed up the other car on the same day they got the other one fixed! When I got back, it was just Marit home and I told her. I think I sounded panicked and she could tell. She told me it was ok and that we would work it out. I was relieved that she didn't get really mad. I left her to tell Martijn about it! Im sure I will go down as the au pair the wrecked both of their cars.

-

4. This is a picture of the new trampoline with Romee jumping on it. I LOVE playing on it too!

Adventure Weekend

So the surprise I've been holding out on telling is that I went PARAGLIDING! It was super fun. Sarah, Katie, and I went camping in Interlaken, Switzerland this past weekend. We got in late Friday night and set up the tent, etc. We woke up Saturday morning to lots of clouds and a bit of rain. We had planned to go paragliding at 10, but for the weather's sake, we went at 1pm instead. They drove us up to the top of a mountain to an open field. We put on harnesses and helmets and then were strapped into our guides. I thought we were going to have to run off the side of a mountain, but we didn't thank goodness; that made it a little less scary. We just started running and the wind got a hold of the parachute and then we were flying! It was so crazy just having my feet dangle and the wind blowing on me. I actually did pretty good! The only time I got kinda scared was when he started doing tricks where we would spin in circles. We were in the air for about 20 minutes. After the paragliding we made kabobs over the fire and make-shift smores. The Euro Cup for soccer started this weekend as well. It is hosted by Switzerland and Austria this year with many of the games actually being played in Basel! So, it is an awesome time to be in Switzerland. Everyone is all decked out in their fan gear and strolling the streets. We watched the opening Swiss game on a big screen in town that night. We lost, but it was a bit expected. On Sunday we took the train to Grindelwald only about 20 minutes away for some hiking. We went to the Grindewald Glacier Gorge. It was really beautiful. There were paths that allowed you to walk inside gorge. After the afternoon hike we made our way to a pub to watch the Austria vs. Czech game on TV before riding the night train back to Basel. (I've really gotten into the tournament. Im rooting for Holland; I guess the family has had some impact on me!) It was a super fun weekend despite the not so good rainy weather. The flying made up for the weather!!

Almost Double Digits

Last weekend was Sterre's 9th birthday, well, more like birth-weekend. Her actual birthday was Saturday the 24th of May, so that morning we had a big breakfast, just the family, and she opened her gifts from us. I got her a set of Ramona Quimby books, because I use to love them and she doesn't have any English books. My present wasn't the highlight however, as she got a new bike and a TRAMPOLINE!! We, yes me included, have played on that thing everyday since she got it. I also made a cake, as pictured below; they all loved it! Anyways, after the breakfast we went to an International Festival at the kids' school. It was really very cool. Every country they have a student from was represented. It was huge, and more than just people from the school came. We told Sterre it was a big birthday party for her. I got to see Irish dancing and a Bollywood skit. They had tons of amazing food as well. Then on Sunday she had her birthday party with the girls from her class. They played on the trampoline of course, but the main event was making their own jewelry boxes. Marit made a cake for the party and they also got to cook their own supper on a hot plate, stuff like mini hamburgers, pork, and some veggies. To top it off, she also had a cake on Monday to bring into school, making it a grand total of 3 birthday cakes! I'm jealous! (The second to last picture is on Sterre's birthday. The parents went to the store so I babysat for a bit and since I couldn't get the DVD player upstairs to work, I let them all lay in my bed and watch the new DVD of Little House on the Prairie that she got for her b-day. I even made them popcorn. The last pic. is Romee with my sunglasses on... upside down, she makes me laugh everyday!)


This weekend has been rather low key. Originally I was suppose to babysit all this weekend, but there was a change of plans, and it was too late for me to make traveling plans, so I hung around town. The weather has been atrocious lately, so I watched a couple of movies with some friends, babysat Friday night, and did make it outside for a bit of a walk. Oh, I also helped my friend Sarah make a Mennonite dish called Roll Kuchen (a fried cake you eat with honey or sugar). It was yummy! It was just another laid back weekend at home! (don't worry, next weekend will be more adventurous, I have plans, but I want to build up the suspense for the next blog, hehehe)