Nana's 90th Birthday Party

This past weekend we went to New Hampshire to visit family and celebrate Joe's Nana's 90th Birthday! On Saturday there was a party at Aunt Connie's.
"Hannah and cousin Mikayla"
"Hannah and Auntie Sarah""Hannah and cousin Addie" - Addie was helping her walk.and then Sunday, all the family went to Nana and Papa's for breakfast."

"Auntie Kim with cousin Owen and Aunt Polly with Hannah"

Trying to walk or practicing yoga??

Head of the Charles Regatta

Just thought I'd post a few pictures from Sunday. We went to the Head of the Charles Regatta, the biggest 2 day rowing competition in the world. For us, just a chance to enjoy the sunshine and have some yummy fair type food. Hannah had her first corn dog and really liked it (although really there isn't much she doesn't like).

And now today, our air shipment arrives...really more clothes and Hannah's toys, stroller, and highchair. We won't get our furniture, etc. for another month or two.

Our first week

I can't believe it's already been a week and yet it still doesn't seem real...

We've kept quite busy this week and Hannah has adjusted wonderfully to the time change and our life here. Lucky for us, she's so easygoing. She's even taken her first step this week and started saying so many more sounds. She's also testing the strength of her vocal cords, which while funny can be a bit embarrassing while sitting in a restaurant for dinner. Her favorite time to scream is after breakfast in the stairwell, the sound must be like music to her ears. To us, just very high pitch screaming.

While Joe's at work, Hannah and I have been venturing out by foot or public transportation, I have yet to drive here. We hit the mall a few times and made our way into Boston for some shopping too. We spent Friday looking for houses and touring suburbia (Joe took the day off) with a realtor....maybe once we get a house it will start to seem real. None of the houses were ''ours'' and since it seems to be a buyer's market, we're taking our time to find the right place. We've at least narrowed our search down to 4 towns, all within a reasonable 20-30 minute commute for Joe. The houses and towns are so different than what I am used to in CA but have a lot of charm.

Saturday, it was off to the country to visit Joe's Grandpa in Lunenburg, MA. Did you ever wonder what Joe would like like at 98?We had a nice visit and lunch with him and his wife. After our visit, we went to Boston Commons where they were trying to break the Guiness Book of World Records for most jack-o-lanterns. I've never seen so many pumpkins in my life, 30,000. We left before they were all lit because once the sun went down, it got cold fast! Instead we walked back to Cambridge for dinner.

We're home??

After a whirlwind week back in Amsterdam filled with packers, movers, cleaning, sleepness nights (thanks to Hannah's jet lag), we finally said goodbye!

"Laughing with Auntie Clara" "Moving Day"















"Posing with Dylan and Elizabeth"

It was really hard to say goodbye to friends, our neighbors (and landlords), and the city we have called home for 2 years. Our time in Europe was amazing but now we will start the next adventure....

We arrived in Boston yesterday late afternoon. The flight was fairly uneventful. Hannah thankfully managed to sleep a large amount of the flight. While awake, she was completely spoiled by one of the flight attendants who fell in love with her so the time went by fast enough. Only a few bouts of crying, but that is expected! We were quite a site to see arriving with Hannah, Sammy, and Charlie and all of our luggage!! We got a lot of second glances. But everyone made it and we were all happy to settle in. We're temporarily staying at the Marriott Residence Inn across from Joe's work. Amazingly, Hannah managed to sleep the whole night through and Joe and I were able to get much needed sleep!!!!
"Hannah enjoying Charlie's bone"

We spent today driving through some of the nearby towns but mostly catching up on some of our shopping. What did we do without Target??

Our last Sunday in Amsterdam

Today is our last Sunday in Amsterdam as well as our last night in our apartment. We are very sad to be leaving Amsterdam and our apartment. It has been our home for the last 2 years and we aren't quite ready to leave. Figuratively and literally.

Yesterday was spent catering to jet lag. I had good intentions to get things done but inevitably fell asleep on the couch as my body just couldn't take it. I did manage to unpack and put everything away. Which leads me to today where I repacked our suitcases for the next few weeks and organized the rest of our belongings for the packers/movers. The movers will be here tomorrow (and we move into a hotel) and Tuesday. We get 2 shipments, air and sea.

But first, we went into the Centrum today and had coffee and a appel flap (apple turnover) at our favorite place (very touristy but the best appel flap we've found).

Trip to CA

We just returned from our trip to CA to visit our family and friends! It was the first time Hannah met her Grams and Gramps! We had a fantastic time! The weather was hot in Palm Desert but absolutely beautiful in San Diego! We spent a lot of time indoors or in the pool! We started off our trip with a belated birthday party for Hannah's first birthday...

1st time in pool




1st time at the beach

Playing pool : )

Eating a whole plum at Buddy Joe's (she helped herself)...