July 19th

I have been waiting for July ALL year.  The kiddos are on the Dutch school calendar, which means that school is IN until July 19th.  So, at least once every day for the past, oh… 3 months or so, I think to myself, "july 19th, july 19th, july 19th."  It can't officially be summer unless I am NOT waking up at the crack of dawn, making pb&js, lining up shoes, and packing back-packs.  

Well, ever since July has arrived, it has done nothing but fly by.  I cannot believe that the school year will finally be over in just a few short days, and we will be off to sunny Spain, France, and Italy.  It felt like it would never come, and now it's finally (almost) here.  I have SO much trip-prep, laundry, and packing to do, so naturally I am sitting here blogging.  I count this as productive though, because heaven knows I will have a ton of pictures and updates to post after this trip.  So here is a quick peak at what our lives have looked like for the past few weeks.

#1 - Father's Day - We kept it simple as always - nice day at church, some handmade gifts that the kids made at school, a few new shirts, & Ry's new favorite dessert: sopapilla cheescake.

#2 - The 4th of July - Oh the plans I had in my head of making this holiday special here, even though we would be the only ones celebrating it.  I got as far as cute red, white, and blue outfits but that was about it.  Maybe next year, I'll make it to the special dinner, patriotic FHE, and sparkler phases of my plans…maybe.  I thought I loved my country before living over seas, but now I think I love it even more.

#3 - The Scheffer's moved - We went to a going away party for our favorite Dutchies - Robin, Dayana, and Fabian.  It was quite the party, complete with pony rides.  I already miss our pals, but they are loving Ohio so we are really happy for them.

#4 - Aunt Merilee and friend Laura came to visit - it was a party.  They came with us to the Scheffer's going away party and fought off some serious jet lag…I think the jet lag won.  We went to Kinderdijk (saw some naked people jumping into the canals), we went to Delft (and gorged on free cheese samples), Ry took them out to Brugge (where some more gorging of Belgian waffles and frites happened), we went into the city for some marketing and shopping (where they enjoyed their first warm stroop waffle), they braved Amsterdam alone (where they supposedly steered clear of the red-light district), we went to Volendam (where they got a priceless dutch-dress up picture complete with accordion), they did a temple sesh with Ry (in Dutch!), and we strolled along the harbor front.  We also enjoyed game nights, skyping with Kennedy, late night talks, and saying made up words like "supposebly" and "irregardless" as much as possible.  It was just an all around great time…and possibly even our last great hang out with Aunt Meme as a single gal (not an announcement, just a prediction).  I was so horrible at picture-taking, so I'll have to steal some from Merilee later.

The kids are having a blast wrapping up the school year, and I have many a detail to post about that, so I may just have to squeeze in one more post before our trip.  If that doesn't happen, have a moment of silence for me on July 19th…I'll have survived my first complete school year in the NL and I'll be off to Spain to celebrate!