Ben's Birthday Weekend

Right after we got here, some friends of ours that we've known for years, who now live in Germany, mentioned they were going to visit the Keukenhof in The Netherlands.  They were going less than 2 months after we moved here, so we weren't sure at first if we'd be able to.  We decided two weeks before the scheduled weekend that things had settled down enough that we could go.

April 17th was Ben's 4th birthday, so we decided to make this trip a "Birthday Weekend" for him.  We'd been trying to figure out what to do for his birthday since we don't know any kids his age here.  As it turns out, our friends Missy and Alex have a 3 year old daughter, so we thought it would be fun for them to play together for the weekend.

It's a 5 hour drive from where they live in Germany to Zandvoort, where our hotels were, so we offered to have them stay at our place, which was about at the halfway point.  They got to our house about 8pm on Thursday night, and Ben and Audrey immediately hit it off.  They ran around the house yelling and playing like they'd been friends for years.  Ben's a social kid, and has really missed his friends back in Alabama.  Audrey was the first kid his age who spoke English that he's been able to play with since we left, and it was obvious how much he missed it.  The two were inseparable all weekend.

The next morning, with only a 2 1/2 hour drive, we slept in, had a big breakfast, then hit the road.  Before we got to the hotel, we first stopped at Clara Maria Cheese and Clog farm outside of Amsterdam.  It's a dairy farm where they make their own cheese, and sell souvenir clogs that they make there.  We started with a tour of the place, first seeing how they made the clogs.  William, our guide, got the kids involved.  Audrey was the main helper, so she got to keep the clog, with her name engraved on it.  After that part, we walked through the area where they made the cheese, and most importantly, got to sample them.  The kids couldn't get enough cheese, and we walked out with a few wheels. Before we left, we walked over to the area where the cows were, and the kids got to see and pet a one day old calf.

After stopping for lunch at a nearby restaurant/playground, we headed to the hotel.  It had been a long day at that point, and was almost dinner time.  We were staying at different hotels, so we all just ate dinner separately, walked along the beach for a bit, then called it a night.

The next morning we met up near our hotel, and drove to the Keukenhof.  Shanna and I had been there 10 years ago, but at the time, not much was blooming.  This time there was more.  The kids had fun running around the flowers and windmills, but they really had fun when we found a playground and petting zoo inside.  There was a sheep that was as tall as Ben that kept "baaaing" at him when he got close, and it both scared him and made him laugh hysterically.  There were pigs, chickens, goats, turkeys and rabbits running around, and the kids had so much fun petting them.

The playground had a picnic area, and we brought our lunch.  After having sandwiches and poffertjes (little Dutch pancakes), we headed over to Zaanse Schans.  Zaanse Schans is a stretch of Windmills that have been relocated from around The Netherlands.  When a Windmill was going to be decommissioned, it was moved here and renovated.  They all served different functions.  Some were used to ground spices, others provided power to machines that made clog production easier.  In each one, you could buy things made from whatever the Windmill had been historically used for.  Cookies in the spice grinding mill, clogs in the clog making mill, and so on.  For Shanna and I, it was our second time here.  We had come there on a Belgium/Netherlands vacation in September 2013 (click here for the blog post), one month after we found out Shanna was pregnant with Ben.  So it was amazing to think that four years later, we were back here not only with Ben, but our second child, William, as well.  We took a picture in the same oversized clogs we did 5 years ago, but this time it was us and the boys.

That evening we drove back to Zandvoort and had dinner at a restaurant with a big playground before calling it a night.  The next morning we had one more place to visit.  Shanna had always wanted to visit Kinderdijk, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is a series of Windmills along a canal that was built in 1740.  The windmills turned pumps that kept the canal level manageable, to prevent flooding of the area.

When we got there, Shanna took out some things for the kids to wear.  Ben loves Batman, so Shanna got three sets of Batman capes and masks for them to wear.  Needless to say, three Bat kids walking around the Windmills was an attention getter.  People would stop and just laugh.  They especially laughed at "Batman and Batgirl (Ben and Audrey) holding hands, running around".  We took a 30 minute canal tour that was nice since the kids were contained.  We could just sit and relax for a bit without corralling three little kids.

After we were done, we had one last lunch together, and headed home.

Over all, it was a fun weekend.  We hadn't seen Missy and Alex in years, so it was good to catch up with them, and to meet Audrey for the first time.  Ben hasn't stopped asking about her.  On Ben's first day at Belgian Kindergarten a few weeks ago, he asked if "his friend Audrey was going to be there".  We'll definitely be doing lots more trips with them over the next five years, it was fun for both us and the kids.

To see all the pictures, click any image above or here

Goodbye, Murphy

I had every intention of returning to writing now that we were moving back to Europe.  I even posted a "stay tuned" post to get people ready for it.  Then, we moved here, and with a 2 and 3 year old, any down time I had was spent catching my breath, not writing.  Things are progressing, though.  We move in to our house tomorrow, our first of two cars arrived yesterday, and we're slowly getting close to normalcy again.

That said, I also didn't expect my first post to be a "Goodbye" to the first dog I ever owned.  Technically, he was Shanna's first.  She got him as a puppy in Texas in 2004 right after she graduated college.  I met them three years later, and I still remember the first time  I met Murphy.  I had gone over to Shanna's house to pick her up to go out, and she was out walking Murphy.  He ran right up to me and put his paws up on my legs, wagging his little nub.   I saw him often enough that, after a while, he would sit by Shanna's front door window looking outside, and would start jumping as soon as he saw my black truck pull up.   Over the past 11 years, he's been there for some major milestones in my life.  I tied the engagement ring to his collar when I asked Shanna to marry me.  The first year we lived in Germany, before I worked, he and our other dog, Milo, went every where with me.  Europe is more accepting of dogs in public places than the U.S., so they were my constant companions.  That dog also knew how to relax...he didn't care who was watching or how undignified he looked.

A few years later, in 2014, he was there to greet Ben when we brought him home from the hospital.  He quickly figured out that Ben was a great source of food.  I can't count the amount of times I'd leave the room while Ben was eating, and within seconds, I'd hear him laughing and giggling as he dropped food and watched Murphy eat it.  Ben's first crawls and steps were immediately followed by chasing after Murphy.

In April of 2015, when we moved back to the U.S., Murphy and Ben were inseparable, even in the bathroom.

In August 2015, when William came along, there were now two sources of food for him to wait under the table for, and two sources of hugs, laughs, and pets.

Over the years, that dog has made me mad more times than I can count.  If you did something he didn't like, he made sure to let you know by leaving a nice "surprise" near your bed.  And if I slipped up even once, and left a bag or container on the ground that had some sort of food in it, that little nose would sniff it out, and be in to it within seconds.  Even after all that, though, I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything.

For the past four weeks, Murphy had gradually lost control of his lower half.  The doctors gave us various shots and medicine to try, but all came with the caveat that we start to prepare ourselves because they might not work.  It turned out he had something called a "kissing spine", where the cartilage in his spine was non-existent, causing his vertebrae to "kiss".  That, plus the onset of arthritis, caused a deadly combination that pinched the nerve that connected his brain to his lower half.  By the time the end came this morning, he had no feeling or control of his lower body.  You could see the misery in his eyes, and we knew it was his time.

I kept the boys occupied outside this morning so Shanna could hold him and spend the last few hours with him.  When our appointment time arrived, we put him in his favorite blanket and drove to the vet.  They were very good with him, taking an impression of his paw print for Shanna to keep, and giving us time to say our goodbyes.  I don't think the boys really understood, but we'll see how they are over the next few days.  The entire process was quick and painless.  He just went to sleep.

I'm glad we have so many videos and pictures of him with the boys.  While they probably won't remember him years from now, we'll always be able to show them pictures of Murphy.

Rest in Peace, Murphy Dog.

Stay tuned!

And...we’re back!   On Monday, Feb 19th, we fly back to Europe, this time to Belgium.  Shanna accepted a job in Zutendaal, Belgium, so we’re going to start this adventure all over again. The house is packed, the cars are on their way, and in 3 days the six of us (including the dogs) will be on a plane, heading to a new chapter in our lives.

I’ll post more in depth about the flight over and first impressions next week, but for now, I wanted to let everyone know who follows that the blog is coming back with new posts about our adventures.

See you soon!