First Shopping Trip in Eindhoven

A small insert: Aaron had already scouted out the neighborhood and found a local grocery store, that thankfully enough is open until 9 PM. Most stores close here at 6 PM. We emptied Ezra's rolling backpack so we could load some groceries in it and took the kids for a a stroll to the grocery store. The kids whined and protested that we would be walking, and demanded the car on the way to the store (it's really only 5 minutes). Once we were at the store Ezra was excited to be pushing around the cart made especially for children and then abandoned it promptly to go climb in the little play area in the store. How very thoughtful of them! Aaron and I took turns looking through the store, delighted to see some items we had missed in the US like Quark (a dairy product that is hard to describe to those who haven't tasted it: perhaps a mixture between sour cream, yogurt, and cream cheese), wary of all the delicious pastries that added 15 lbs to our waistline last time we were in Europe, and amused because of the sizes the ketchup bottles come in. European fridges are tiny, so accordingly the bottles are tiny. I suppose that's why Europeans don't have obesity problems like in America because they have to walk to the store daily just to keep their tiny fridge stocked. I stood in the aisle holding up the bottle of ketchup that was the size of a tester at samsclub and like a true American hollered over to Aaron on the other side of the store "awww, look at the size of these!". After getting our essentials we walked home and the kids even proudly took turns pulling the backpack. Today, we returned to the store and Ezra already was excited about getting to walk to the store. I LIKE the walking.

Landed July 29, 2009

Eventually I'll add the picture of the guy in Indianapolis airport with our 11 bags stacked high and precariously on his trolley.

Here we are! Eindhoven! Homesick, questioning our reason, slap-happy, sleep deprived, tired, cranky, fuzzy brained, and amused. Rewind 26 hours ago:

I'm completely stressed out, having stayed up until midnight packing, trying to avoid the last minute throw-everything-in-your-suitcase-that-you-haven't-dealt-with-frenzy. Might as well have gone to sleep early. I was up at 6:40 am doing last minute laundry, packing up blankets and curtains, and then for two hours tried to find a way to throw everything in our suitcase that we hadn't dealt with. No matter how we packed we just had too much stuff. I'm still amazed how a completely empty house can produce 2 suitcases worth of extra stuff, one basket loaded to double its size with cleaning products and blankets, 3 grocery bags of food, and 3 big trash bags. I was pumping adrenaline and dangerously hungry (for those of you who have not had the bad luck of being around me when I'm hungry, thank your lucky stars). Before bad turned ugly, Curtis rolled up with a homemade breakfast that would rival the Hilton (assuming of course the Hilton would care enough to bring us breakfast); fluffy, scrumptious blueberry pancakes, with Ashley's mouth watering homemade, self-picked, blackberry jam, crispy bacon, fresh raspberries and blackberries, a mango puree, and the most delicious cheese and basil scrambled eggs I've had. I'll remember to add milk to my scrambled eggs next time. The breakfast was bittersweet, sweet and delicious in taste, and bitter in reminding us of the wonderful friends we would be leaving behind.
An hour later after a last sweep of the house and an almost tearful minute of silence saying good-bye to my walk-in closet, we were loaded into two vans, Ezra, Micah, Granny and I driving with Becky, and Aaron with Kevin. No trouble in the check-in although we were the type of family with the insane amount of luggage (11 bags, 6 carry-ons, and 3 car seats)that you really never want to be stuck behind in line.

After some confusion with the agent thinking that Aaron needed a visa to fly into Belgium (which of course he doesn't), and alleviated of $150 for an extra bag, we successfully although not quietly shuffled Ezra, Granny, Micah, our 2 car seats, and 7 carry-ons (how did they multiply, seriously?) past the elevators Ezra was dying to ride, through security, on to and off the first plane and through the entire Chicago O'hare airport.
Aaron walked his feet sore keeping Ezra entertained, while granny plundered the airport stores for toys to keep Micah happy. She lucked out with a very fun little wind up plane that mimicked take off (OK,just reread the post and need to amend after two days the toy is very annoying). Thankfully the Chicago airport has a really great childrens playground, a little out of the way, but very fun, complete with freight plane, slide, tower, lots of buttons and blocks to stack and crash on. The real blessing of the trip happened on the plane. Supposedly the flight was fully booked (as long as fully booked means tons of seats in the business class). This particular aircraft was divided in 2-5-2 rows of seats in economy. We were in the row with 5, all packed tight together. The row in front of us was completely empty. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I couldn't help hoping and uncharitably wishing that who ever had booked those seats, would not show up. My wish came true, and perhaps the wishes of those who had seen Ezra melt down when we got on the plane, and who hoped for something to happen to quiet him down. With two rows of seats to bounce around in, even Ezra survived the trip. The on-board entertainment system was messed up, which was helpful in as much as it compelled us to sleep. Ezra lay on the floor, Aaron stretched across 4 seats with the useless two car seats stacked on top of each other in the last seat, and Micah and I shared four seats. I actually got two solid hours of sleep on the plane. Unheard of.

The second blessing of the trip is that we talked the shy 18 year old assistant to my mom into helping all of us through passport security with our luggage. He loaded everyone but Aaron up on his cart and cut past the 30 minute line of people waiting for the passport control. I made a mental note to ask for special assistance next time we fly with Ezra. Had he had to wait in line, we all might have lost it completely. Nonetheless the kids were great if altogether bored waiting for the luggage, and then for the driver to find us, and then for the driver to pull his car around, and load all of our stuff into two Mercedes.


An hour and a half later we arrived at our apartment in Eindhoven. It only took us three or four trips in the elevator to get everything upstairs. The place we're renting for a week is better than a hotel room, but very closely resembles a psychiatric ward with it's white walls, white furniture, and white sheets on everything (not that I've actually been to one). I'm tired, cranky, exhausted, and homesick for my house, for color on the walls, roomy walk in closets, fresh air, friendly people, big fridges, and A/C.

The "Buffet" anniversary, 7 years of marriage

On our first anniversary we weren't sure what to buy each other for gifts. After some debate we agreed that instead of filling our house with gifts that we need to keep track off, and are likely to break or lose, we would spend time together each anniversary creating memories that couldn't gather dust, and most likely would as most memories do improve over the years. This year with that idea in mind we booked a room in the French Lick Casino Resort, in Southern Indiana. The resort borders the Hoosier National Forrest. The drive from Bloomington to French Lick (who came up with that name, seriously?) was very scenic, especially the part that took us through the National Forrest. After 30 miles of hills, farm lands, and trees, the tiny town of French Lick is announced by the sign for the West Baden Springs Resort claiming it to be the 8th world wonder (as we discovered later on our trek, Southern Indiana seems to be a bit obsessed with the 8th world wonder, every tiny hick town claiming to have one). The resort is a large yellow building, quite impressive in size, if altogether lacking in architectural detail. It is a historic landmark dating back to 1840. Parts of it burned down and were renovated around the turn of the century. The inside of the hotel definitely shows it. I had the impression of walking into a different era, which typically would be a good thing, except that the resort wasn't trying to recreate a glamor era, as much as it simply seemed to say: yeah, we're still here. There was a touch of neglect about the hotel. Upon arrival Aaron and I dressed up to go for a fancy dinner at the Hotel's Steak House. After glancing at their menu and lack of cozy atmosphere we agreed that $60 a steak was a waste of money. So we headed out to find a romantic restaurant in the resort, that wouldn't break the bank. Our choices were limited to the Pluto Pizza Place in the bowling alley, the Colonade Buffet that had Chandeliers to rival the biggest opera houses in brightness and size (not very cozy), a sandwich bar, and the Diamond's Trattoria in the Casino, which really wasn't a trattoria at all, since it didn't have one single Italian item on the menu. We walked the length of the resort twice (little less than a mile) before hunger and fatigue finally compelled us to eat dinner at the overly bright, Colonade Buffet, where we enjoyed the distant company of senior citizens and young families. Hungry but determined we tackled the buffet, and decided to have a good laugh about it all; the shrimp that had to be completely peeled, the hard rolls, the middle aged seating hostess with big, poofy hair, the tired looking chefs, and the Afro American waitress who may have been part of the hotel since 1950 and whose accent we barely understood. The food was on the low end of mediocre, but hungry as we were, we were grateful nonetheless. As it goes with compulsive eaters and buffets, we had a bit too much, and went for a walk in the beautiful garden to assist our digestion. The garden was lovely, except for the sewer and sulfur smell. After walking the length of the garden and having gone through all the smelly-garden jokes we could come up with, we retired to our room for some marital good times.
The next morning we enjoyed the best part of going away...the staying in bed until we feel like getting up, without someone banging on the door and yelling, MOOOOMMMMY! Originally we had planned on having breakfast in the room, but after we saw that the continental breakfast, a muffin, danish and some juice came to $13, we opted for the Colonade buffet instead; all you can eat for $12. The middle aged poofy haired seating hostess was replaced by two young girls with pony tails. The amusement still held, with them wearing black floppy pants, and 20 year old cream colored, poorly fitting, sagging, tailored jackets over their trendy t-shirts. If at the very least, they had tried to match the color of the T-Shirts to their jackets...
Anyway, the breakfast buffet this time around was fabulous, from the crispy bacon, perfect pineapple, to the Waffles. Much to my delight I had the BEST WAFFLES since I've been in America, sweet, light, fluffy, buttery without being greasy or heavy, topped with my favorite toppings fresh, perfectly ripened strawberries with whipped cream.

After our breakfast we decided to split up as I wanted to go horseback riding, and Aaron wanted to go work out and swim. It has been 15 years or more since I've been on the back of a horse. I was highly amused that they had steps for the tourists so they wouldn't have to try to climb the horse themselves. I honestly don't know if it was the western saddle or my lack of muscles that made it uncomfortable, but it was nonetheless fun to be riding again. I felt a thrill rush through my body when I got back on the horse. It was like my childhood came rushing back to me. I'm pleased that handling horses still feels like second nature to me. I think I'm going to get back into it when I'm in Europe.
At 1:30 pm we made it to the Cave Country Canoe rental. A shuttle took us 7 miles upstream. Two staff members helped us into the canoe. Remembering our disastrous attempt at ocean kayaking in Sardegna where we turned over about 40 times much to the amusement of the hotel guests, I was a bit nervous, but after the first mile we got the hang of it, and made it all 7 miles without tipping over once. The river was at least 20-40 feet wide at parts, with class 1 rapids in a few spots. I felt very Lord-of-the-Rings-y paddling down the river, except that I wanted to be wearing an elfish cloak instead of a silly life jacket. With only 4 feet depths I really doubt I needed one. The river was clear most of the time and we could see the ground. We saw several turtles taking a sunbath on branches sticking out of the river, and a cute family of ducks. Our shoulders and arms burned within half an hour as well as our back and pelvis muscles (who knew I had so many muscles?), but the peaceful gliding of the canoe over the silent water surface was worth the burning. It took us almost 3 hours to complete the trip, with water levels being somewhat low at times, i.e. we got stuck in some spots, and Aaron interpreted the scratching of the canoe over the stones as the river telling him to lose some pounds.
In the car we headed back to Bloomington, tired, happy, and hungry. In Bedford we decided to round out our anniversary experience with a dinner at the Old Buggy Buffet, making it three for three. Our persistence paid off. Not only was the interior absolutely charming, with wood beams arching the ceilings, quilts hanging from the staircase, and an authentic old buggy, the food was truly exceptional as far as buffets goes. The ham was so tender it melted on my tongue. The waitress was cheerful and friendly. (And Aaron just asked me to add that the Mac and Cheese was exceptional.)
Time will not have to improve much on these memories.

Micah fun

Micah was very grumpy yesterday. Don't know what got into him. It's like someone flipped a switch and turned on his grumpy gene. We drove to the temple for our monthly visit. The temple was as busy as an anthill, so I didn't get to work very long. We left the temple early right before lunch time and so stopped by McDonalds for lunch. Words can scarcely express my loathing for that place, and I think it is pretty pathetic how we have to bribe our kids with fake McDonalds ice cream to eat the highly processed, breaded and deep fried chicken nuggets. How ever did it come to this? I could be cooking them these amazing, healthy, meals, and whenever I do, they sneer, whine and scream, and act as if I had just served them rotten, raw Octopus tentacles wrapped in slimy seeweed. Anyway, back to the rubbery chicken nuggets. Micah is close to livid when he's hungry. He whines and cries, and then as soon as his stomach has received some food someone flips the little switch in his brain and he gets giggly and silly again. So after his second chicken nugget the switch flipped and he took a third chicken nugget, held it to his cheek and said: hello, hello? OK, jabber, jabber, jabber....AMEN! and with a triumphant move thrust the chicken nugget in the air. I do think I'm better off not knowing what they put in their food.

Micah is 2 today

My darling Micah turned two today. Of course I got him all his favorite foods, as any self respecting mom would want to: waffle for breakfast, ravioli for lunch, and for dinner...cake, cake, and more cake! As it was a Sunday we did go to church of course. At 2 years old Micah finally stays alone by himself in nursery. He had lunch and then went down for a nap. I found him sleeping on the floor. After nap time we opened presents. We had set up his marble tower in the morning which he played with for an hour and a half. He was so happy with it that he wasn't interested in any other toys...or breakfast. He was a bit cranky after his nap and really wasn't interested in presents then either, until we opened the pat pat rocket for him. The toy was a big success, and when it was time to leave for the park he had no intention of going with us, so into his toy was he. At the park the kids did have a blast though. Carter, Cai and Jona are his best buds. Everyone shared nicely with each other. The pot luck was awesome. I couldn't help but feel in these two hours that this is what the joy of family is about...these precious hours when we're all together, the grown ups talking and sharing fun stories, and the kids laughing, running, and playing outside with each other. Even the weather was perfect, overcast at first, it finished in a lovely sunny evening with a slight breeze. A perfect day. We stayed out until 8 PM, an hour past the kids bed time. We figured with all the sugar there was no point in putting them down early.
The funniest part of the evening was no doubt, that it had slipped our attention that Micah's diaper hadn't been changed since church, so 7-9 hours ago. As any mom will know that means it had gotten rather soaking wet, so by the time he had a bowel movement...He was in the swing. Mike Lowe was pushing him when he withdrew his hand and said: euw, what is this? Yes, it was what you thought, and it was all over the swing, all over Micah's pants, legs, and shirt, and so exactly 2 years after his birth, Micah returned to his birthday suit in the park, as we had to strip him down, to his bare skin. Gross, but sort of funny.