Big old family reunion!

Oh dear, is it the end of January already? Time flies! And sometimes, so do we. In an airplane. To the Netherlands.

Plane tickets are insanely expensive right before Christmas, so we decided to fly back immediately after Christmas and save some money that way. We'd still get to see everyone anyway, who cares on what exact day it is? We're also planning to go back in a couple of months to attend my parents' 40th wedding anniversary so we need to be able to actually afford another set of plane tickets.

We had found a good caregiver for Kitty, so we dropped her off, told her to behave and said we'd be back before she knew it.

Then it was time for us to pack our suitcase, try to get a good night's sleep and go to the airport at an ungodly hour

We took a detour through Dublin this time, which turned out to be less of a hassle than I would have thought initially. Plus I found a little place that sold the most divine espresso I had ever tasted, which made that dreary Monday morning considerably more bearable. But once we landed in Brussels and got our luggage and rental car I couldn't wait to get on the road! I finally got to drive a car again, which went very well, considering I had been awake for nearly 24 hours by that time. We got to my parents' house safely, gave the welcoming committee a great big hug and rolled right into bed! Boy, were we tired!

After a refreshing nap we took a little more time to say hello to everyone and catch up. We pretty much just picked up the conversation as if we had never left, haha!

Even Ringo joined in after he had overcome his initial shock. (pictured pretty clearly here)

"I'm not sure I remember you but you're petting me so I guess that's good."
-Gila

We didn't do a lot that day, except catch up with everyone and go to bed early, jet lags are annoying like that...

The next day, wanting to clear our heads a little bit, my dad, Bram and I went for a nice walk at our favourite spot just across the German border. It was great to get a whiff of nature again! I feel the need to mention that it was amazing yet rather strange to be walking beside my dad without being surrounded by cigarette smoke. Because he quit smoking, after 55 years! 
*big round of applause!*

I can see you!

The men.

After getting a healthy dose of fresh air we went home again for dinner. We had already decided on the menu (going against my mother's planning, as usual. I guess kids never really stop being a pain. *grin*)

FRIETJE ALA JONGE! BAM!

One of the things you really can't get anywhere else but in my hometown. Does it look disgusting? Well it isn't! It's delicious yumminess right to the very last bite! DELICIOUS I TELL YOU!

On Wednesday I had something very special planned, made even more fun by the fact that Bram had never been to this place before. I tried explaining it to him but he still ended up thinking it would be lame and stuffy and boring. He changed his mind quickly enough after we got there.

My dear old ursine friend did a lot of the convincing in this particular case.

Ooooh, shiny!

"Do I really have to stand this close?"

"Seriously. I'm very uncomfortable"

I gotta be honest with you. I love birds. I hate seeing dead birds. But I'm still snickering every time I see this one.

That awkward moment when actual human heads displayed in a museum trigger your camera's facial recognition..

This museum is just one big display of Crappy Taxidermy.

And Ivory. Soooo much ivory..

Some of it very intricately carved. Impressive!

Some of it slightly sinister.. 
"Hey, let's kill an elephant so we can carve more elephants!"
"Yeah, great idea!"

Oh hey it's one of those Efteling dudes!

"OMG gurl! Who did your hair!?"

NOOOOO, MURDER!!! (Seriously, so many awfully hilarious things going on in the background here..)

Did I mention the amount of ivory they have?

Ok but let's be real here. These are 15 intricate, movable, interlocked balls. Hand carved from a single piece of ivory. This is something I could not duplicate if my life depended on it. Color me impressed.

Oh Bear. You're so funny!

We had a great time, mostly posing for silly pictures and snickering at particularly bad displays of taxidermy. But I'll be fair, this museum is fantastic and something you just have to see for yourself, it's completely unique and you will feel like you ended up somewhere in the 1930's as soon as you step through the door. It's amazing.


Then, before we knew it, it was new year's eve. We borrowed some bicycles and made our way to our friends' new house, where we also Finn-ally got to meet their baby boy! He was as cute irl as he was on the pictures! Squeeeee!

Furthermore there was fire, there was booze, loads and loads of food, there were fireworks and there were friends!

There were also handsome men in ugly Christmas sweaters.

And die-hard party animals.

I don't remember much of the first day of this year, so if someone wants to fill me in on the details, feel free. Leave out the embarrassing stuff though. ;)

Just throwing in this picture of the Venlose Heide for good measure.

At this point, Bram had still not seen his family, which was something that needed to be remedied quickly! So on Saturday we drove to his parents' house in Belgium where we all met up and had a lovely dinner and drinks while talking about everything that had happened in the past year. It was great to see everyone again! Too bad we had just missed Thijs, who had to get back to his job right before we got to the Netherlands.. Hopefully next time!

Sneaky mirror pictures are the best. Also; Sjaak!

Sjaak is a dachshund. He has a knack for conveying the tragedy of his existence, especially when he doesn't immediately get all the attention or all the food. Sjaak is an awesome dog.

This is Frits. Nobody knows exactly how old he is, but some say he actually saw the first mammals crawl onto land. (and promptly ate them, he's a dog after all.) 
He doesn't see much anymore, poor old guy.

Unfortunately the evening had to end at one point, so we said goodbye again and made our way back to our beds..

On Sunday we went to Eindhoven to meet Bram's friends and have a late Thanksgiving dinner! I spent all day in the kitchen because I promised to make dessert. Of course, it ended up slightly burned at the very last minute so I couldn't start over. That was a bit embarrassing... Dinner was great though, and so was seeing everyone again!

We didn't stay very late because we had to get up bright and early the next day for another tradition. Visiting the best amusement park in the world!

My favourite bit. Demons in the ceiling!

Winter Efteling decorations are so gorgeous!

The weather wasn't fantastic, but we missed 95% of the rain showers that had been predicted so it was a very good day after all!

"Arrrr ya ready kids?"
"Wat zaette?"

ALL THIS ENJOYMENT IS MAKING US BLURRY!

It was a wonderful day of fairy tales, haunted castles and awesome rollercoasters! Some of them twice. I screamed like a little girl. Only louder.

UUUH UUH UUH!!

Of course, a day of wild adventures will make you very hungry, and Bram knew just the restaurant he wanted to go to. His old favorite Shoarma place in Eindhoven.

The decor alone was worth the trip, but the food was actually really good!

On Tuesday we met up with one of Bram's old friends in Belgium, where we had great authentic Italian food and I got to listen to hilarious stories of all the shenanigans the two of them used to get up to. Thanks again for the hospitality, Koen!

Bram spent most of Wednesday afternoon on my sister's attic, roaming through the stuff that he had stored there, while the rest of us were drinking coffee and gossiping downstairs. 

My mom had made reservations for all of us at a beautiful restaurant in Germany that evening, as sort of a late Christmas dinner with the family. Once everyone was finally there we sat down and had a very, very good meal. Without going into the details too much, it involved a witty waiter and an unholy amount of schnitzels. My stomach still hurts thinking about it!

The next day was my grandmother's 95th birthday. She was going to have an official birthday party the following Sunday, but we decided to drop by anyway and give her the birthday present we had brought her all the way from New York (scoring big points with that!) Most of my family had turned up anyway, there was even cake! On our way "home" we took a detour through some of our old haunts and neighborhoods, quite literally a nostalgia trip!


We had actually wanted to meet up with many more people during this trip, but our calendar was already filled to the brim with day trips, meetups, dinners and emergencies ;)
We hope to see the rest of y'all when we come back this year.

We did take the time to enjoy some of the scenery before and after our various dinner appointments.

Bram's parents took us on a tour through "Thoear" (Thorn) on Saturday, which is where his family is originally from. It was great to hear all the stories from his mother, who actually grew up there. It was too bad Maaike and the kids couldn't join us that day..

Much history happened here!

Naturally, there was one thing I didn't want to miss. The old church. Mostly because it had mummies and skeletons and stuff. 

EEK! (yes, it's real.)

"Als de vos de passie preekt..."

Awww...

DE GOEIEN!

We got to watch a movie about the town's history, then went and had dinner in a fancy restaurant where a distant family member was the chef. And then, like all things, this day had to end.. So we gave Bram's parents a great big hug and said goodbye for now.

We went back to sleep at our parents' house for the last time...

After having breakfast and packing our stuff we said goodbye to Ringo.

I already miss ya buddy.. Make sure to be there when we come back!

We still had time before the party started so we went for a nice walk in the forest (Not foggy, but there may have been a highway nearby)

Follow the leader leader leader..

After our walk we still had more time, so we drove around a bit and ended up here!

"You call this a stew?"

And then it was party time!

It's fun, fun, fun!

Fun!

For everyone!

I believe grandma had a good time spending time with her family and friends. I have a feeling she might not appreciate me posting pictures of her online, so I won't risk it. She looks very good for a woman of her age though, and she's still the indisputable Madre de Familia, let there be no mistake!

Bram had booked us a hotel in Brussels for the night, because otherwise we'd have to get up at 3 o'clock in the morning to drive to the airport. Though that sounded like heaps of fun we decided against it and had already put our suitcases in the car, ready to depart for Brussels right after the party. We said goodbye to everyone again and I made grandma promise to still be there when we come back. After lots of hugs and maybe even a few tears we got in the car and drove off..

We first returned the car and asked the people working for the rental company if they knew where we could find our hotel. We followed the directions they gave us and ended up completely lost. So we asked someone else who gave us different directions. We followed those again and ended up even more lost (because those jerks gave us bullshit directions). There were no useful maps, nor any signs. After walking around forever we finally stumbled into our hotel completely by accident.

The check-in went alright though, and the hotel room was very comfortable. Now we just wanted something to eat. Of course, we weren't expecting EVERYTHING to be closed! Big international airport or not, after 8pm Brussels says "screw everyone, we're going home."

Literally the only thing that was still open was a tiny Starbucks stand. They sold soggy pre-packaged sandwiches for the modest fee of 7 Euros, so we ended up dining on a slice of cake and calling it a night. Screw you too, Brussels. Seriously.


The next morning we got up bright and not-insanely-early, which was good because we had a long day ahead of us! Our trip to Dublin had been a success, only this time we had a 5-hour layover! At least Dublin airport is very nice, there were plenty of shops so we could keep ourselves busy.

We also got a very good breakfast! Suck it, Brussels!

Five hours later, after having already gone through customs (meaning we wouldn't have to stand in line for 2 hours after finally arriving at JFK, so that was awesome!) we got to board our plane and sit still for 6 more hours. Good thing my brother had provided me with the last season of Flight of the Conchords, so it was time well spent!

"Fill 'er up!"

It goes without saying that I couldn't leave without a classy fridge magnet to commemorate my short time in Ireland.

Soon enough we were standing on American soil again. Our luggage came out in one piece and relatively quickly. After that we dodged past the incredibly pushy people offering cheap "taxis", got into an actual taxi and were home before we knew it!

The next day I went to pick up Kitty, who for some reason had decided she hated me and never wanted to see me again. Her caretaker and I spent half an hour getting her out from behind the bookshelves where she was hiding. I felt pretty betrayed to be honest..

Once I got her home she quickly warmed up to me again, though she refused to sit in my lap until the next day. Weird cat.

"Oh great, I'm stuck with these people again..."