Thanksgiving Visitors

Okay, okay... I'm a little behind on getting this updated! :) The Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, I was lucky enough to get to welcome both my parents (on Saturday) and Sean (on Sunday) to Amsterdam. My parents' flight got in at 6am, so I boogied over to the airport to get them, and then proceeded to tell them that we MUST take a nap when we got home. Despite my dad thinking that he "wouldn't be able to sleep", both of them passed out for a few hours, along with myself! We had a really nice, normal day that day, as I didn't want to plan too much with them getting in so early and having some jet lag. They are such troopers! It's so fun to take my parents around - it's really cool getting to show them things that are normal to me that they are seeing for the first time. :) Best part of Saturday? It was the Ohio State-Michigan game, and I had recently downloaded ESPN America - and the GAME WAS ON!!! We got to watch the game (and some serious Wolverine butt-kicking!).


Dad and I sampling an "Oliebollen", literally "oil ball". Mmm... healthy! ;)


We also checked out a local brewery which is inside of a windmill! Fun! :)

Sean arrived on Sunday morning. His flight unfortunately had been delayed, and so, since we had planned on going to Germany that day, he willingly came with us directly from the airport on a two and a half hour drive to Cologne for the Christmas Market... he was a trooper too. Especially since the Christmas Market didn't start until MONDAY. Oops. :( We still had a fun time walking around, trying German food and beer, and seeing where the Market would be... the next day. Needless to say, I felt like a major idiot, but everyone was totally understanding (or so they say...). :)

Pitsticks (plus Sean) at our lunch spot in Cologne

Monday and Tuesday, Mom, Dad, and Sean toured a few of the towns in Holland while I went to work. It's always so hard for me to be at work when my loved ones are in town, but, 1. I'm running out of vacation time and 2. I've already been to most of these places anyways. Still, I would have much rather been with them than at work...

Tuesday, November 25th was my parents' anniversary, so we went out for Italian food to celebrate. As I think you know, because I've been b#$^$ing about it so much, Dutch customer service isn't exactly a highlight of living here. BUT... when I called to make a reservation, I told the host that it was their anniversary, and they brought us all limoncello and my parents a piece of cake FOR FREE. I couldn't believe it. It was a super nice evening. :)

Wednesday I took the morning off and went with Sean and my parents to the Flower Auction at Aalsmeer - it was fascinating. Most of the flowers that you see all over the world pass through this auction. Bidders bid on various plants/flowers as they go by, and then the flowers are immediately packaged and shipped, maybe to be found on your front door tomorrow (ha - if only we were that lucky, right?!?). ;) Watching the operations was like watching ants on an anthill, and I'm seriously surprised that I didnt' see any accidents with the crazy way things were going. It was definitely a unique experience. :)

The Wall Street of Flowers

The flowers getting packaged and shipped

Our Thanksgiving plans did not include the following: 1. Turkey 2. Pumpkin Pie 3. Football 4. Fat Pants. What they did include, however was this: 1. Belgian Beer from a Monastery 2. Belgian Waffles, straight off the grill 3. A delicious local Belgian dinner and 4. The Mannequin Pis. :)

Thursday morning, we drove first to the town of Westmalle, Belgium, to check out the monastery there that brews one of the 6 Trappist beers from Belgium (Trappist is an order of monks). You can't go into the monastery, but you can walk around the grounds and then drink the beer across the street. We then made our way to Brussels, where we just relaxed for a bit before our amazing Belgian dinner. The restaurant we went to was fantastic, and the whole thing was run by one man - he did all the seating, order taking, food bringing, and plate taking away. Not to mention made sure that our glasses were full at all times. Seriously?!? Belgian is another word for heaven. :) It was a really nice dinner, and I have to say, I didn't really miss the turkey.

The next day, we did some sightseeing between the raindrops. It was fun to see some new sights, but, to be honest, the weather was pretty crappy, so we chose to get home early and have a night of pizza and beer! :)

Sean and I with the Mannequin Pis in Brussels

Mom with her Belgian Waffle... beer, waffles, fries, and chocolate - CHECK! Trip complete! :)

My parents and I with the Royal Palace

Sadly, my parents had to leave on Saturday morning after a quick week. It's always nice to see them, and I love the relationship that we have. Sean and I had two more days together, and we tried to make it as normal as possible - going to movies, out to dinner, to the driving range, and just making dinner together...

I'll be home (HOME home) in Ohio from December 22nd through January 2nd. If you'll be around and want to get together, you know how to find me.

Happy Holidays!! :)