This picture makes me laugh... when I took it I didn't realize that Jeff was in the background doing a very fancy soccer move! That's him in the khaki shorts looking like Pele! Johan and Bart are on the left looking on... and that is Summer hiding in a towel while Julia and Chloe strike a pose.
Another great day! It’s so strange to think that tomorrow is our last full day of this trip. In one way it seems like this has been a really long vacation (not in a bad way, just when I think back to how much we’ve done and where we’ve been), and in another sense it has flown by. I think we’ll all be ready to get home and back to ‘real life’, but it has been so fun and we’ve had so many great experiences.
I can’t say enough about how much we’ve enjoyed seeing the family again. Today was really nice – after we rolled out of bed at 9:15 am (rough, I know) we got ready and caught a tram and then train to Zaandam where Bart met us and picked us up. We then drove out to the beach at Egmond where we had a relaxing time with Ciska, Johan, Jasmijn, Liana, Bart and Summer. The kids frolicked on the beach then we had a nice lunch on a patio. Off then to Zwanenburg (the village where Jeff’s dad’s family is from) where we had a nice visit with Jeff’s aunt and uncle before heading out for bowling. Chloe literally yelped with excitement when she heard that we were going bowling and Julia was equally pumped. It was fun and there were a lot of us so we took turns bowling and chatting. The girls were so excited to have their cousins Fleur and Lieke (hope I spelled that right!) with them, as well as Summer who they have gotten to know very well now. I just love watching them communicate with each other – today they were playing hide and seek and Fleur was trying to explain the game with hand gestures and acting it out. Eventually they all got it and played happily for over an hour. Julia said she’d like to learn some more Dutch before coming next time – as of right now she can say yes, no, yummy, candy, licorice and thank you. As you can see, most of those words actually can be used together…
So now – so much to do and so little time! We thought we’d have more than enough time here but it’s gone by way too fast. We even intended on going to the Rijksmuseum but that will probably be skipped over for shopping… maybe next time. Why have culture when you can have cute jeans?
Jeff's move looks awesome but judging from the potential recipients they don't seem too impressed. They are obviously not expecting Jeff's excellent skill with a soccerball. See you Wednesday. Who is picking you up? If you need a ride let me know.
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