Tripple Kisses!

So the last couple of weeks have been pretty uneventful as far as work with the kids goes. They are good kids but we have our challenging times. Last week was better and I'm making progress with a few things we want to work on. It was an improvement over the previous week. I seemed to be on a short fuse. After my trip to Florence, I was tired and shifting back to work mode sucked. Plus, I ended up working on Saturday that week. There was a wedding in the family. So I went with the family to the ceremony then took the kids home so the parents could enjoy the reception without chasing after three kids. It was a busy day but fun to go to a Dutch wedding. Things were definitly different. My favourite part was definitly the clothes. Most of it was pretty standard, but the mothers of the couple both wore fancy hats, and all the men involved in the wedding wore waist coats. Tuxedos with tails essentially. So good, I felt like I was in a Hugh Grant movie. Cobble stone roads, fancy clothes and tripple kisses. Oh yes the tripple kiss. I always thought it was standard in Europe to do the double kiss, the air kiss on each cheek. But no, here it's the tripple kiss. It takes forever just to greet everyone. I noticed everyone actively puckering up, but alas, I did not partake. More of a family thing. The day turned into evening and I got the kids to bed only for the little girl to wake up screaming at 1:00 after I had fallen asleep. I was expecting this, but man my heart shot out of my chest. All was good and everyone was soon happliy sleeping, including me.

So that was a long tough week, but like I said, last week was much better. And it lead up to a fun weekend. On Friday night, I had plans to check out a group that meets at the international curch I have been going to. I hadn't been able to go, so I was really looking forward to it and hopefully meeting people. It's hard to make friends, I have a whole new sympathy for kids starting school and not knowing anyone. It's been a while since I've had to do this. Anyhoo, the group was cancelled last minute because it was a holiday weekend and people weren't around for it. Bummer, now I have to wait 2 more weeks before I can make friends.
But the weekend was redeemed when I boarded a train on Saturday morning for an overnight visit in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Just under an hour and a half away, Nijmegen is where my mom was born and her fmaily lived before they moved to Canada when she was eight years old. I knew it would be cool to see her hometown, especially since she's never been back, but I didn't realize how good it would be. My uncle has been back and visited a few times. He hooked me up with his and my mom's cousin Hans and his wife Andy. They were my hosts and tour guides for the weekend. 

Hans and Andy picked me up at the train station. I recognized them from a picture they had sent me. And they greeted me with...you guessed it the tripple kiss!! I was initiated into the long awkward hello kissing tradition. But it was actually sweet and I plan on bringing the tradition home with me :) We drove closer to the city and parked to then walk around for the day. It was scortching hot, but was so nice to see the city. The plan was to walk to the house that my mom was born in and her family lived before coming to Canada. On the way we passed by a bakery. Hans pointed it out as where my uncle used to have to walk to to get the bread for the family. A bit of a walk for a little kid.   

After asking for directions at the bakery, we made our way closer to the house. We passed a little sports and fishing store that caught my eye. It reminded me of my dad. Love the parking sign.

A little bit of Mom and Dad on this trip. A little past the sports store we finally made it to Koroenstraat #18. The house my mom was born in. It was a small house in a row with dozen of other houses. It was so small and so surreal to see the place I've heard mentioned so much over the years. I couldn't believe that 8 people lived in that little house. But it's still standing and in pretty good shape. They don't make 'em like they used to.

Standing infront of the house was so surreal and I strangely felt closer to my family and their history. I starting thinking about how close they were to the war. My mom later told me that her parents remember bombs dropping near by. Wierd how something like this trip can put those things in perspective. I guess being in Canada it's hard to imagine the effects of the war, but we got a nother taste of it when we visited the Canadian War Cemetary. There were thousands of Canadain soldiers burried there. It was breathetaking.

On a lighter note...Hans and Andy took me to see all sorts of sights around the city. But another highlight was seeing a real live windmill up close. That's me down at the bottom of the picture.

The weekend was great and I look forward to visiting Nijmegen again meeting more of my family there. I have really loved exploring the Netherlands and I have learned that the people in Holland aways seem to be happy. Check out what's in this store to find out why.

 I could go on and on, but I will leave it at that. This weekend should b full of more stories and adventures. I am visiting Annecy, France and meeting friends in Geneva Switzerland. Should be good.

Love ya'll
Until next time, Triple air kiss
Kelly