CONNECT-I-CUT

Looks like we will have to learn to spell this properly, as I have been offered the position at University of Hartford.
WHoohoo!
When the Dean called my parents house on Thursday he asked for "Doctor Owens", which threw my family for a bit of a loop-- as my Grandfather, the only Dr. Owens we know in Valdosta, Georgia died about 20 years ago. My parents gave the Dean the number for Mike's parents-- where we are staying until today. He called, offered the position, and then I told him I'd call back the next day. WHen I called back on Friday I had to negotiate the details, like salary, moving expenses, research budget-- CRAZY. That's not my strong suit, but it was fun and exciting.
I will sign a contract in January, with the expectation that we will move to Connecticut in the late summer-- July or August of next year.
OK-- taking the UHaul to Valdosta today-- so we need to get rolling!
More soon!

I heart hartford

will in transit
tearful haircut
james, thrilled to ride in an AUTO of his own

This is Katharine writing, just back from a whirlwind visit to the University of Hartford for a speedy job interview. If given my choice, I do not think I would have opted to leave just a few days after the international move-- but now that it is over I am quite glad I had the chance to visit the school and interview.

Mike drove Will and I at 4AM on Monday morning to catch the airport shuttle, then we flew from Atlanta to Dulles in Washington, and finally from Dulles to the Hartford international airport. Special Note: I found out during the visit that KLM has just started non stop service from Amsterdam to the hartford airport (Bradley International). Mike picked us up just after midnight on Tuesday. The interview went really well. Everyone was really friendly, and supportive of the fact that I'd brought my 3 month old baby along. In fact, I cannot tell if they really, really liked me-- or are just some of the nicest people I've met in a while. I had a great visit, though it was super busy with meetings, appointments, meals and lectures. I met with each of the members of the department, the dean, the environmental studies folks, and had dinner with the search committee. I also had a chance to present my research to a group of faculty/search committee members and students. They did not want a traditional "research presentation" because the school focuses more on teaching than research. So, I took my research (or a portion of) and used it to create a lecture about connections between local initiatives and global environmental problems. They were really positive about it, though as I said they were super nice people-- so it is difficult to say what their enthusiasm "means" in terms of a job prospect. They said they hope to inform the candidates by January... and of course I will pass that information on through this website.

The city of hartford was great, the town of West Hartford really accessible and not a victim of suburban sprawl. The campus is beautiful (though surely the foot of snow gave it an especially pristine and clean appearance).

Will was great as a traveling companion. Compared to a nine hour flight, a few short jumps up and down the east coast seemed like an easy task. Will slept, ate, and charmed everyone he came into contact with. Our sister in law Pat's sister Berni came down to babysit Will on Tuesday and they had a wonderful day together.

In other news--- we are just keeping busy organizing ourselves (and our belongings) on this side of the Atlantic. We will move our stuff from Atlanta to Valdosta later this week. In our 'spare' time we have been to the Catholic Church's Santa pancake breakfast, to the barber for a tearful haircut for James, shopping for clothes and Christmas stuff, and on several playdates with our cousins the Goulds. Such fun!

Legal Aliens

Well, we are back in the States after a once in a lifetime trip. As our plane finally taxied into Hartsfield , we looked at each other and said (tearfully) - okay, we will never try to do so many things all in the same year again. The trip back would have been exhausting for well-rested people, but for two sleep-deprived parents and two little kids, it really did push us to the limits of sanity.
We began, well let's go back to last week, when James had taken out the folder with our passports, birth certificates etc. and placed it in the recycling bin for paper- the day before they came to collect it. Luckily, Katharine spotted it in time.
There is no perfect place for such a ridiculously important folder in a torn apart house that is being packed up to move- we decided we wouldn't put it anywhere but back in the file cabinet it came from and leave it there until we were ready to go.
When the movers showed up (2 hours early) the day before we left, we had everything packed and numbered on a manifest- except for the filing cabinet and the computer because we were busy with some last minute things and thought we had plenty of time to pack them up. After i hurriedly packed up the computer and as the movers went to put the last box in the van, i realised they had forgotten the big heavy filing cabinet and rushed to get it on the truck. About 15 minutes later I realised i had never taken out the all-important folder and the already high stress level jumped up a notch. Again, we were lucky to catch them before the boxes were on the pallets and put on the boat, and one of the guys went through the stuff and found the right folder and brought it to us.
You'd think we hadn't prepared for all this but we really have been working on logistics for months.
The next day, we had arranged for a taxi service to come pick us, the kids and their strollers, all the extra baggage, and the dogs in their kennels in what we were clearly assured several times would be a sufficiently large vehicle. We even called the night before to check about the pick up time and make sure they knew these were not Jack Russells, but proper sized dogs in big crates etc.
To make this shuttle, we rose at 3am and got the kids ready for what was promised to be a 345 departure. Again, they show up early and begin to try to cram our stuff in the back of the van when we are not totally prepared- and then we notice that there are two people sitting in the van and the driver tells me he has two more to pick up before we get to the airport. According to his order we are three people and some extra baggage. No, I say no and then, well a black rage sort of has blanked the rest of the ensuing interchanges with him and his boss on the phone out, but after using all my choicest words at top volume and waking up most of the street- we come up with no solution and it is getting later.
We are lucky to have friends.
Our neighbors Ronald and Maaike also happen to be moving right now and had rented a trailer to pull behind their station wagon. When they heard- and came down to investigate and help us- Ronald finally offered to take us the two hours to the airport himself- which well, just totally saved us and avioded a complete disaster.
So that happened.
Then it was waiting in the airport and checking in the dogs and signing their health certificates and paying twice the price for Ghost because all of a sudden he was too heavy, and waiting in line, and checking documents and keeping the little guys relatively calm and happy and explaining that we would go soon and then getting on the plane and flying for 9.5 hours to Atlanta with poor James who did great but just could not fall asleep until about the 8.45 mark and poor Will who did great but inevitably broke down at the same time as his brother, we got to Hartsfield and went through customs and picked up sleeping children for inspection, and re-checked bags and found dogs in a broken crate (Ghost's) that someone, somewhere, had tied up with a rope and some tape and heard them cry and saw the cushions Keska had torn up into a million tiny peices, and walked through airport to baggage claim and met the Maiers and got our bags (8) and finally found where the dogs were taken again and waited in Atalnta rush hour traffic for an extra 45 minutes, we arrived home.

More soon as we decompress.

Countdown

This may well be the last official 'Hollandsenieuwe' post as we have to pack up the desktop computer tomorrow for the movers (probably the last thing along with James' toys). I wish I had the time to reflect a little on the last four years here right now, but that will have to wait until things are a little less hectic.
We have arranged for people buying our furniture to come pick the bed up after we leave so at least we don't have to get a hotel our last night. James is feeling better, though the move is making him a little nervous; there is a not a day where anything is in the same place it seems. Today he pointed sadly at the blank spaces on his wall where his pictures had been, but did seem to accept that they were in all those boxes going on the ship to America. Will is still dealing with a cough and congestion that woke us up every 30-45 minutes last night but we are hoping that will clear up by Thursday morning. To compound the discomfort Katharine took him for his 3 month vaccinations today.
We have been preparing for this move for so long but it is still amazing how much there is to do right up to the last moment. We even had a potential buyer call today to come look at the house tomorrow- he will be right between the plumber coming to fix our water heater and the realtor with whom we will sign a contract with in the afternoon to show the property when we leave.

A big thanks go out to our good friends Cor and Marian who have been helping us out almost every day, as well as Judith and Niels, and Letteke.
As James really enjoyed sjoelen at Thanksgiving, though he had problems reaching the end, Cor and Marian very kindly bought him his own sjoelbakje today.

Almost gone

It has been a hectic week. With no buyer lined up for the house, we have been arranging it as a furnished rental. With our connections to the university we hope that we can find a short term renter while the realtor finds a buyer in the next couple of months. There are still a few small things to be done - some paint, attaching trim etc. but it will have to just be left as is, less than perfect.
In good, but logistically difficult news, Katharine will be flying to Hartford a couple of days after we get home to interview for a tenure track position. Its a real honor just to be invited so we are very excited and proud. Will and she will fly up for two days.
A bout of sickness destroyed most of our plans for the week- James was fine Saturday night but woke up Sunday with a croupy cough and a fever which passed (just the cough) to Will. The ensuing four nights of sleeplessness meant that Katharine and I now both have colds- no cough thankfully- but we are all just sort of holding on to sanity at times.
Will post more before we leave- and we have to think of a new blog name soon....


Here are the boys in a rare tandem restful period-

Thank you Light Green

Here at 52.23 degrees North of the equator, the winter days get pretty short. Even with daylight savings, it is dark when we wake and start our day and by 430 there is no running the saw outside without lights. With all the business of Will and getting the house ready to sell and preparing for the move, we have begun to lean a lot on setting James up with a video just to make things manageable. I never thought we would stoop to the electronic babysitter, and James really wasn't interested until recently, but now there are pretty regular showings in our house of Cars, Bob the builder (occasionally Bob de Bouwer), and Thomas and his friends. James now even differentiates between "Old Thomas" and "British Thomas". They are all pretty harmless and we have gotten used to hearing the songs and dialogs, and though we try to limit his exposure, it really is the only option after weeks of cold, dark rain (we tell ourselves).

James is a huge fan of Cars, and has even worked 'Kachow!' and 'Light Green change tires!' into his vocabulary. Light Green is what he calls Lightning McQueen. Light green is also what he calls guacamole, which he is also a big fan of. The old Volvo that parks outside our house is now officially the fabulous Hudson Hornet...
It will be really interesting to see how his language changes as we make the transition to the states; he already has some pretty unique Dutch/English phrases that only we can interpret.

We finally bought our tickets to Atlanta, so it has been a week of logistics as we work through the lists of utilities and banks and closing accounts and opening accounts etc. Katharine has started back working which made for an interesting time for Mike and Will and his first bottle. He did great at first but then on the second try was just despondent at the lack of Mom in the equation. I'm sure we will all get used to it eventually. Another challenge is the house; we have a guy who seems pretty interested but he has just begun looking, so we will hear from him in the coming weeks. It is a distinct possibility that some people from the university will rent it while we are gone and a realtor is working on finding a buyer- which means a big logistical shuffling in that the house would need to be furnished. I'm sure it will work out and we are just trying to remain flexible to the last moment and keep positive about it all.
Katharine did find a Mother's morning out program with space for James in January which is a huge relief because the waiting lists at these places can be complete nightmares. We also arranged today to hire a taxi-van to take us, the kids and their car seats and strollers, all our luggage, and the two dogs and their kennels to Schiphol airport in time for a 10am flight. It should be a blast.
We had a great Thanksgiving party with a good group of folks, though as usual we did not get any decent photos. We are hoping that someone got a few good ones though, and we can post them here soon.
Less than two weeks until lift-off!

Thankful for

House by Peter Binacci

My printmaking professor at the College of Charleston had a term for describing the action of messing up your own piece of art by going back to it too often. It is a natural inclination to keep returning to a work to "fix" things about it.

She described the infamous Peter Binacci, a neighbor from her childhood who spent the weekend painting the garage and trim. He got a little paint from the trim on the garage paint, and then when fixing that got a little paint from the garage on the trim, then when fixing that got a little paint from the trim on the garage, then... well you get the point.

The moral of the story is that there is a fine line between perfection and ruination.

Mike heard this story from me years ago, and we have brought it up a lot lately. The spirit of Peter Binacci is alive and well at Gronausevoetpad 102.

Mike has been working like crazy to finish things off. We have a potential buyer coming to see the house this Friday... a young single guy whom we hope finds exactly what he is looking for in this place. The house is really looking amazing. It is a shame we will have to leave it just as it is looking so great, but that's just the way things go. We knew we would not be in this house long.

In other news, our plans for coming to the states are solidifying. Still no plane tickets, but nearly so. Ghost is on a "fit under the price break" diet. At his current weight it will only cost us 150 Euros each to bring the dogs home. If Ghost gains a kilo he jumps to the 450 Euro price category. No thanksgiving turkey for him this year.

We called the plumber to give us an estimate on two radiators that were not working in the house. We'd put this off for weeks because we assumed it meant something was really wrong. I finally convinced Mike just to let me call the guy who'd saved me this summer, Ronnie, for an estimate. He fixed them both for 40 Euros, and remains my plumber-hero.

There are some new photos of the house on the huis te koop website. You can see the bathroom and kitchen floors now. Don't they look good! You can also see both sides of the glass-block wall, Mike's last big project. It focuses the view as you enter the house, while providing a ton of storage space and a thermal break between the front door and the rest of the house. Chuckle to yourself as you imagine how many times we had to say "no don't touch the wet paint" to James this week.

Finally, I had a telephone interview with the department head from the University of Hartford in CT last week. They are narrowing down the field to choose 2-3 candidates to interview on campus. We spoke for about one hour; it went really well, and she was super friendly and encouraging. It is a small, private school (approximately 5000 undergraduates) and they want to begin an undergraduate program (major and minor) in Environmental Studies in the next few years. It is also relatively close to the Heartwood School where Mike spent the summer, which means he feels especially confident about the possibility of joining the local timber framers network.

We will see what happens. We've been reading about the area ever since-- Laurens pointed out that the school was founded by Mark Twain's wife (Mrs. Samuel Clemens) and Harriet Beecher Stowe. I am dying to check out the museum of trash and Avery's beverage factory.

Please and Thank you and other words

James is of the age when it is time to begin emphasizing some manners and general social niceties. We've started with "please" and "thank you" with mixed results. Sometimes the interactions go like this:

James (ordering command voice): "toast! honey!"
Katharine: "how about we say 'toast and honey please'"
James: "yes"
Katharine: "say, 'may I please have toast and honey'"
James: "yes"
Katharine: "no, you say 'may I please have toast and honey'"
James: "toast, honey-- please"

It comes and goes.

For some reason he loves to thank someone after you say "bless you" after he sneezes.
Maybe its because the constant rounds of colds give him so much reinforcement, but whenever he sneezes and we say "bless you James" he pipes up with the sweetest, most heartfelt "thank you momma" or "thank you daddy". I have told him repeatedly that this will earn him super duper adorable bonus points with his grandmothers when he sees them next.

He is continually linking words into phrases and occasionally into recognizable concepts. Mike reads him a naptime story and I read stories at night, and now he will say at bedtime:
"Daddy won't read stories...bedtime"

He has also started asking questions, but without the all-important question words. So we get a lot of:
"Baby Will doing" or
"Keska doing"
without intonation, when he wants to know WHAT baby Will or Keska is doing. Ghost is pretty much always doing the same thing (sleeping) so it doesn't come up as much. Actually baby Will is almost always sleeping, too, but he's just more interesting.

We had a meeting with a second realtor last week. It is the guy who had such luck selling the other half of this place for our neighbors. Our neighbors told us before we met with him that they'd talked to him and he had a real interest in helping us rent it (not our goal). Well, he looked into it and apparently the type of mortgage we have does not allow us to rent the property out, it is meant for owner-occupiers only. That is fine by us, as we don't want to rent it -- we'd rather sell. However, he came over and was super negative about our place, which we in afterthought ascribe to the fact that he only had an interest in it as a rental property and not a sale property.

He just acted really strange. He kept pointing out what wasn't finished, to an understandably frustrated Mike. Mike had to say to him, REPEATEDLY "imagine that all of these things are completed", and THEN what do you think it would be worth. But this man just could NOT imagine anything. At first we were very disappointed, but after he left we talked about some of the strange things he'd said.
For example, he said ' you shouldn't rent it because from America you'd have a hard time collecting rent from the occupants, and the kind of occupants who would rent this place wouldn't be the type who would pay"
We were planning on marketing our place to people like us, because it would be furnished-- i.e. short term international academics at the University, so... not sure what he meant by that. Not exactly an untrustworthy or shady group as a whole.

He estimated that we would lose money on our mortgage, but said, if you're not planning on living in the Netherlands again in the future then you could just default on the remainder of your loan to the bank. NOT KIDDING. This is the advice he gave to us. I said very succinctly "we would never do that"-- and left it at that.

He acted as if we'd paid too much for this place and not improved it at all. It was strange. But I am terrible at quick thinking, and only later after thinking about it felt reassured as I remembered that when we bought this place we SCOURED the market for a solid place, with potential for renovation at a low price. There were two houses in decent neighborhoods meeting those criteria, we looked at both and this was absolutely the better of the two. Whether or not we have improved it is not a question for us.

We had a neighbor that we trust come over that night and talk to us about it. He was really reassuring and noticeably shocked by what this guy had told us. Now we feel that we are not crazy, and maybe he is a little offbase, or maybe just doesn't like Americans? It is hard to say what his motives might be. We have decided to contact another realtor, but this time we will make the house ready before we have him (or her- we'd prefer a lady this time) over to see it. We do realize we cannot depend on the imagination of the realtor. That is good to know. This also means that though my pregnancy leave is over, I am now taking holiday time to help out with the kids while Mike does the majority of the work-- though he is finally letting me help a little. Not sure what this will mean for our return home... we have to complete this before we leave, but we will keep our plans updated here.

costume action shot-- enjoy

The Push

The push is on as we get closer to our last weeks in Holland. The endless tasks of making the house completely ready are slowly being crossed off the list; some great news today is that our neighbors half of the building just sold- which means it is actually possible for us to find a buyer in the next month. We met with one realtor today and have a meeting on Monday with another.
James had a fever and had to be picked up from daycare yesterday- he was so sad and pathetic and hot- we treated with ibuprofen and rest and today he was off and on until about 5pm when it all just disappeared and he zipped around like his normal self again. It is crazy how fast they go from desperately ailing to revved back up.
He loves helping with anything around the house-

He always wears proper protection:




Here you can see the front entry taking shape, including my slightly over-ambitious, time- consuming double-sided, but eventually successful, glass block window design:



This is how you have to cut sheets of material in a tiny house when it is raining outside (as it has been for the last week). Its easy, you just walk in the gap between the sheets of MDF holding a running circular saw along the guide as your baby tries to sleep:



James loves being put up high to reach stuff and test out the light load bearing capacities of shelves...

More photos of nearly projects as we finish them off. I'll have to dig up a before picture of the bathroom- its just a little caulk and paint away from perfect now! This house will be perfect just in time to move...

St Martins Day/Halloween

I noticed bags of bite-sized chocolate bars at the grocery today. Odd considering Halloween isn't really celebrated here. Then I saw a commercial about being caught when the children come around for St Martin's Day with only pickles in your fridge. So that must be it. I am glad it is not tonight, as we have nothing to offer... we're debating on whether to buy a bag of candy, because if nobody shows up we will surely eat it all.

We have not managed any major Halloween plans. We can wait until next year to introduce the concept of trick or treating to the still clueless James. His teeth will thank us. We didn't want to throw together a party plan-- we much prefer Thanksgiving, and with the two events just a month apart it makes sense to choose one. Of course, we love costume parties even more than we love Thanksgiving, so we didn't let the lack of a Halloween party stop us from putting together some rad costumes.


It was rainy this weekend and we needed a craft project. So, we made a robot costume for James. Will is sporting the "sweet pea" costume we used for James two years ago.



Then naturally James also wanted to try on the sweet pea costume (which he can only fit his head through) and sit in the bouncy seat. I think he wants to "be the baby" on occasion. It is still an adjustment, and we are being patient.



Finally-- how adorable is this "Made in Holland" shirt! It was a gift from our neighbors and we love it.

worker bee

Mike has outdone himself lately with near constant work on the house. We want to get a Realtor in by November 1st, which means he has just a few days to get the big projects finished. The only really big project is the bathroom, and he has been cranking it out. Now only the floors remain unfinished. He's put in the sub floor and will tile soon. At that time he'll also re-tile the kitchen and the bijkeuken (a sort of laundry room/pantry). Will has been sleeping more these last few nights, which makes things easier. Still, the pace is too fast to be sustainable for any length of time. More recent photos of the kitchen and bathroom can be seen on the 'buy our house' link on the sidebar.

Much more importantly, here are videos of James Lego-ing and Will crowing and smiling. James has overheard us talking about the beach and is very eager to move to South Carolina. So much so that on any given outing he INSISTS (as only a 2 year old can) that we instead go to the beach. When we made our way to Amsterdam this week to get Will's passport he repeated "train... beach... train... beach" for much of the trip. We explained we were on the train, but not going to the beach for several months. He'll also say things randomly like "airplane... visit Bammy... Peppy" (these are the names he uses for my parents).

Our Amsterdam trip went well. It was a long but fruitful day. Getting a decent passport photo of a two month old is HARD. Passport photos are specific and require things like that both ears are visible. We took him to the photo place, and he was totally asleep by the time we got there. I pulled him out of the carriage, then sat him on the stool-- and he was still sleeping! He woke a little, at least opening his eyes. I tried to keep his head from lolling forward while simultaneously supporting his body and making sure my hands were not showing. Fortunately the photographer was patient. We eventually got the shot, and just like James, his photo looks exactly like that of a little old man.

We made the early train, and took our vast piles of paperwork and documentation to the consulate. We went through all the formalities of applying. We grabbed lunch and took it to a park after our consulate trip. James had a great time playing, and Mike was interviewed by a local news team about an issue dealing with the money parents receive quarterly from the government. He tried to explain he was non-native, and also that his English was not perfect, but they didn't mind. We didn't tune in to see if he was on air that night. Things were just too busy after our long day out.

Shake your booties

We are great here-- busy but happily so. We just saw an Oprah episode yesterday about a minister in Ohio (maybe) who was on a campaign to encourage people to stop complaining. It was interesting, and we have been talking about it ever since, for example when James woke up at 5:15 this morning (and we were complaining about it). Well, we're not perfect-- but we're working on it. It is good to remind yourself how negative thoughts impact things.

The top photo shows some gorgeous booties sent by our friend Michelle in Massachusetts. She makes wool herself and knits. Amazing, huh? A perfect gift for little Will. They are incredibly soft!

The second photo is of the loaner booties sent by my sisters for Will to wear. I made these long ago for Elizabeth's first baby, and she used them with all subsequent Steedley offspring. She sent them to me when James was born, then they went back to the US and eventually to Marilois for her first baby Frances Faith. Then Marilois sent them on to us for baby Will-- so we wanted an official photo in them. They belong to the Steedleys, but it is so nice to think that all these little ones have worn them, and now we have a pair of our own from Michelle.

Next-- a photo of the ridiculous hat family. I am wearing a hat of Mike's from Peru, and James insists on wearing this too-small hat that should be Will's now. Will is sporting a little bear-ear hat sent to James by Pat Janes in 2005. All I can say is that we are warm, and that is what counts. Finally, a photo of Will and I all dressed up to attend our friend Kristin's going away party. She, Ari, and the girls are heading to Lyon. Bon voyage!

Will is in the midst of growth spurt number two. Now when he falls asleep I imagine he will outgrow his clothing before he wakes up. It seems to happen that suddenly. He is a sweet, fat little thing.

James has been more and more fun. He so fervently wants to help dad with the home renovations, but it is not happening. Instead we've tried to channel that creative energy into our new craft supplies of ink stamps, paints, and clay. Much to his neat-freak mom's displeasure James most enjoys mixing the paints, muddying the ink, and sqashing the clay colors. All future art projects are going to have to focus on brown things. I am trying to loosen up, and not complain.

A broad life

We are in a sort of dream-state here. Though we know in our heads that we will be returning to the states soon, there is so much unfinished business that it does not quite seem real. I imagine it won't seem real until we board the plane. It is a funny feeling to get on a plane, travel thousands of miles, then call a new place 'home'. Though we're not 'from' here (not even way back in our family trees) the Netherlands has been home for four years. Speaking for myself (Mike is busy painting the bathroom, so I will do him the favor of leaving him alone while I write this)-- the Netherlands has felt like home during our time here. Even on our visits to the states I felt I was away from home, and that Enschede was 'home' for me. Though I inexplicably cried suddenly, appropo of nothing twice when we visited Charleston last: when I went to see my friend Jen, and when I was standing in Mark McConnel's office (the coordinator of the MES program at CofC). I'd spent so much time in both those places, and I guess I felt I had missed something by being far away from them.

But now this is home, not only because most of my shoes are here-- but because we have lived SO MUCH here. For only four years it has been full of intense experiences. Struggling to make sense of a new culture, making new friends in a totally new place, pregnancies, births, dissertation, general work-related soul-searching... and that doesn't even touch on the 'living in an unfinished caravan' experience, or the insane idea of renovating not one but two places in three years. Or that both of our boys were born not just on this soil, but in this very house.

We laugh about how we spend a little too much time here together as a couple. In general, in our past lives, we each enjoyed independent activities and lots of time both together and apart. Here we are almost always together-- whether its due to the lack of a car, the focused social interactions, or the circumstances of very young children with very specific napping schedules. Our life in the Netherlands is slow-- quiet, focused and intense-- understand, the Netherlands is not necessarily slow, but we are slow here. Maybe its just not having a car-- simple energy, time, and distance constraints keep us from rushing- rushing- rushing too much. We both feel fortunate to have so much time here. We both have flexible working schedules, so much so that we each take a portion of the day to take care of the kid(s), and a portion for working. We take a family walk together nearly every day. We talk about every nuance of our days to each other. I just don't imagine life in Charleston will be like that. It couldn't be.
It is exciting to think about being around so many friends in Charleston, being close to family again, and both being busy with full time work. My job will still be flexible, but Mike is likely to be heading into a more 9 to 5 sort of scenario. I am already anticipating what this will mean for us as a family. We all agree a broadening of perspective is long overdue, and it is exciting to think about making a transition from this intense family life in the Netherlands, to a more expansive life in Charleston.

Heartwood update

Finally, a new open building y'all.

James

Will

Homeward Bound

Our latest news is that we finally know when and where we are coming home- Kat has lined up an adjunct position for the spring and summer at the College of Charleston. We will fly back to Atlanta for Christmas and then move the gear back to the coast and set up camp in Charleston for 6 months or so. We are psyched, though it is not a full position, it is encouraging and fits our plans nicely for a comfortable city to transition back to and enough work for Katharine who will be finishing her last chapters.
Though the house hasn't sold here yet, we may have to fall back on renting it until we find a buyer- but we still have two months to deal with that.

Characters

Speedy James



Sleepy Will


Will was coincidentally wearing this same shirt today and when I saw the pose he was making I remembered the photo of James. James was two weeks younger when this was taken but still with eight times more energy. We are enjoying both speeds at the moment.

Dagje uit in Amsterdam

In an initial attempt to make it (all together) to the American Consulate in Amsterdam for Will's passport, we printed out the forms and filled in all the details, checked train and tram schedules, packed the double diaper bag and went to bed Wednesday night thinking we had all our ducks in a row. In all the careful preparations however, we forgot to factor in that the passport office is only open from 830am-1130am and nonchalantly boarded the train in the morning (James was talking about the train ride for days). By our first transfer, we realised we were never going to make it in time- we also had to get Will's photo made for the passport at a special place that crops it down to acceptable American dimensions.
It sounds (and momentarily felt) like we just don't have it together, but we reassured ourselves that with actually keeping the boys reasonably satisfied and moving forward on all our other projects, it was not going to be a big deal to make these lemons into a reasonably refreshing beverage.
'James, how would you like to go to the zoo and see the animals?'
'Trains go!'
With trains around there is no need to distract anyone with animals.
We spent the day in Amsterdam anyway- it was beautiful and we took a boat tour that drops you off at the zoo. We had been there twice before but had seen the same half of the zoo both times and thought that James would be a much better age to appreciate it all now.

Where you catch the water-taxis:


On the boat; there was plenty of room luckily to push our huge carriage and rambunctious toddler to the very back:

You can really see our futile attempts to cut James' hair in the last photo.
The tour around the canals and harbour is always fun and you notice new stuff every time. They have a really cool replica of a Dutch East Indies Company ship:

At the zoo it is nice because James can pretty much walk around on his own, though there is a fair bit of recovering him from going the wrong way.
Everybody loves the monkeys:

Just as exciting are the interactions with other 2 year old humans:

Then there was this guy in the petting zoo that was lying on the ground with the goats and a pig:
First we called him the 'Goat Whisperer' but changed it to the 'Pig Spooner' after a while. I want to say he seemed harmless enough but it was just a little too weird.

James was more into jumping off the rocks than the animals:


I love this old huis they have in the middle of the park. I'd love to get inside but the way was blocked off and we didn't have time to investigate any further. Also there was some sort of cow in the paddock surrounding it. It does make a lovely backdrop though-

They actually feed the vultures carrion. They are amazing- huge and beautiful and a little terrifying- definitely a place to watch little fingers in the fence. We overhead one woman saying to her friend- 'Are you still hungry for lunch now?'-

We had lunch at a restaurant in the zoo where they have a huge playground; we thought it would be a great place for James but it was fall vacation and there were hundreds of 'big kids' as James says just going crazy. It was a frustrating and annoying to see because they weren't just playing and having a good time- there was a lot of screaming and kids climbing over the barriers to where the animals are kept- and not an adult lifting a finger to rein anyone in at all. It was such a stressful place to sit. Most of the kids were probably between 4 and 10 and there were adults around but just absolutely no guidance or boundaries at all. I felt bad for James because he is such a sweet kid and just wanted to play in the sand or go on the slide but it was way too hectic. I think people think they are being tolerant (or just don't believe they can control the situation) and let their kids go in spaces like that when it is really just being too lazy to interact and be responsible.

We left 'Lord of the Flies' island as a soon as we could and ended our day in the Vlinder Pavilion, a much more relaxing environment where they have a greenhouse full of tropical plants and butterflies. James dug it and was ready for a nap after- he slept all the way back to the train station for an hour and a half including being picked up in the carriage and put on and off the boat.












Finally we made it home after four train changes. It was rush hour when we began unfortunately and there were two instances where we rushed to meet a train and it was standing room only and there was no way of squeezing on the four of us. Here we are making the most of the rumble seats in the baggage portion of the train car.


A great day out actually but, more planning next time.