It’s 82 degrees out and we’re lucky enough to be sitting in the shade watching C play catcher. CJ had a 9am game in cooler weather, and as soon as we’re done with this “hard work”, it’s time for Steve’s famous margaritas and Jeff’s fall-off-the-bone smoked ribs. So much to look forward to.. My mouth is watering!!
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Day 96 – Silicon Valley
I love this place! It was such a gorgeous day out by the Stanford Dish. Hoover tower is out in the distance, as well as San Francisco Bay and surrounding cities. It was so hot though, but totally worth it to be outside. I love coming up here and hiking and chatting and admiring the views. Time flies. I have so many great memories from here – like when Stacey was pregnant with Miss C and we’d walk early in the morning before I went to work. And family walks, and fireworks before they put up fences, and my 40th birthday with Michele, and now today with Marcia. What a great day!! Don’t you want to walk down this path with me? Or maybe you’d rather walk up? Can’t wait to go again. xo
Day 97 – “I Love Today!”
This was a quote from little C. We were hoping to get to the pool today since the weather was so wonderful. But instead we rearranged our outdoor “living room”. I was cleaning up the house and C comes in and says to me in passing, “I love today. Its’ all nice and sunny.” He made me smile. He asked for his sand toys and wanted to dig in the yard where the old tree was. He made a bug castle and started washing the sidewalk, getting ready for summer. Too cute. And Big C, made a memorial sign for the tree (can you see it hanging on the fence?) I guess he was sad to lose the tree too. All three kids help me move all the furniture around to make it more “gezellige” – or cozy, as the Dutch say. What do you think? Would you want to sit out here with us? I hope so!! xo
Day 98 – Here I Am … On My Orange Bike
I woke up at 5:30 am this morning, again, excited for the day. I wanted to get all the laundry folded and the house picked up before meeting my friends for coffee at 10 am, and I wanted to get some exercise in too. So I walked the kids to school and decided to dust off my cruiser bike, put air in the tires and pretended I was Dutch. In Holland, everyone rides their bike everywhere (except they don’t wear helmets!!) I was a bit nervous to ride out on the street, even though Julie’s house is probably only a mile or 2 away – but people don’t ride bikes here, just casually to and from friends’ houses or to the market. But today I was practicing being a Dutchie! And I couldn’t stop smiling the whole way there and the whole way back. I heard the Sunnyvale Parrots chirping, felt the wind blowing in my face, and the sun shining even though it was cold out this morning. It was great and I just don’t understand why I’ve waited this long. You should have seen my perm-a-grin!
I loved riding my bike and I loved being with my friends even more. We all are so busy yet made time to get together for coffee, which turned into lunch because none of us wanted to leave. We realized we’ve now been friends for 10+ years and don’t know where the time went. Who knew that Las Madres park play dates and Bunco and trips to Carmel could lead to today? I love these girls and each of their unique personalities. I see myself in them and admire them for the way they live their lives, how they’ve set goals for themselves and changed their paths, and how they’ve handled challenges they’ve been dealt and are currently facing. I learn from them and just love them for who they are. They make me laugh and smile, every time I see them. We don’t see each other as often as we used to – but we’re still there for each other and will be forever I think. And hopefully some of them will check in on FB and chat with me when I’m far away, right?? I love you girls – thank you for being my friends and taking time for coffee today. And thanks Julie for the best latte and sandwich in the world! xo
Day 99 – Do you have your glasses on?
Everyone should see the world through Change Glasses, like mine. Not that everyone should see the same thing I see, but I think everyone should think about their own life changing and be aware of what they have. I kinda feel like I’ve been given a gift to appreciate my current life. Shouldn’t we all receive that gift? And all of a sudden, I’m not “busy” anymore. And my old friends are calling and we’re taking time to connect and chat and making plans to see each other. This is so cool!! I feel like this experience of choosing to move has made me take an inventory of all that is important to me – who I love, what I love, where I love and to make time for these things and people vs. continuing with the daily grind. I like this.
Sometimes we don’t get a chance to choose a life change such as when someone dies or gets sick to become aware. But what happens when you do get to choose to make a life change, whether it be small or big? Great things can happen, especially if you let go of fear.
What are you doing today? Are you happy there? If so, smile and enjoy the moment. If not, still try to see the good where you are and dream of how you’re going to make it better and DO IT! Right, Yaya? Namaste.
Day 100
Day 100 – Today was a busy day. This is an image of my desk which captures a little bit of my messy little world. It has my new Dutch book, dreaming of my first trip to Hawaii, a few Dropjes, my paper organizer that I still love, my Stella & Dot clutch/purse that carries my wallet and essentials and can be easily transferred from tennis bag, to car, to school, etc., fun sunglasses, and lots of papers! But back to my busy day…
This morning I had my first dutch lesson with Ilse. Finding Ilse was such a cool story. I was playing tennis with a friend and I mentioned we were moving to Holland. She asked if I knew Ilse and that she taught Dutch. I told her I had met Ilse at our church and had seen her at school, and riding her bike all over town, but I didn’t know she spoke Dutch and hadn’t really talked with her much. But the next day I saw Ilse at the Kindergarten playground and reintroduced myself, explaining my story and now the rest is history. She agreed to tutor me and today was my first lesson. She came to my house for an hour+ and we chatted in Dutch while drinking tea and coffee. I learned the alphabet and dipthongs, and practiced asking questions and used lots of repetition. My brain really had to think and I loved learning something new, even though it was challenging. The other cool thing about Ilse, is that she introduced me to another woman who is also moving to Amsterdam with her husband and 4 kids. I love how our little world is so connected. My new friend and I met a couple weeks ago and introduced our kids and will hopefully be neighbors in Amstelveen soon. I love my friends and how we’re all connected.
While Ilse was hear tutoring me, the gardner came to remove our favorite tree that has been infested with a nasty bug called thrips. This made me really sad because I loved this tree. Is it weird to love a tree? But really – it had character and was architecturally beautiful with great “bones” and has been with us for 11 years. But the tree had been dying for the last several years. I have great memories of C climbing to the top and J finding a middle branch to sit in and read a book. It used to provide a great shade canopy over our patio for our many BBQs and potluck dinners, but recently it just provided shadows. With the tree gone, our patio is very bright and the yard looks so much bigger. I guess that’s a good thing.
J was home from school today with a fever and double ear infection. I’m thankful that I was easily able to bring her to the doctor and get antibiotics for her within a few hours. This is one worry I have moving to Holland – will we be able to have as good and quick health care there and will I be able to communicate with the health care professionals? I guess I better keep practicing my Dutch.
And the sun was shining brightly today, so little C was able to go out to baseball practice this evening. I’m hyper aware of the sun shining and that my son gets to play baseball and that he probably won’t get to play in Holland. I’m aware of the changes that are coming and I feel a bit melancholy, even though I want the changes that are to come, I don’t want them to get here too fast. In a way, it makes me enjoy what is even more. I like that.
At the dinner table tonight, we talked about our 100 days left in the states and what we want to do before we leave. We came up with 3 more plans: 1) Big C decided that he wants to have his birthday party be a movie and sleepover party. 2) Little C came up with a guest list for his Laser Quest party and 3) We decided and booked tickets to Colorado to see Jeff’s grandparents and family before we move. It was a lively discussion and felt good. But now I’m exhausted. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to play tennis and “relax” a bit!!
Good night. Sweet dreams. Tot ziens! – A.
101 Days
In 101 days from now, our new adventure will begin. Today we decided on our departure date – July 25th. Actually, we let little C pick it as his birthday is towards the end of July. We asked him if he wanted to celebrate his birthday in the USA or Amsterdam. He wants to go to Laser Quest with his friends, so we picked a date a few days after his 8th birthday. Somehow that just made the change feel more real. I put together a checklist breaking down what we need to do between now and then, in weekly increments. I think 101 days will go by so quickly. This week I start my dutch lessons and will work on renewing my driver’s license, taking Juliana in for her latest immunizations, and I’ve scheduled appointments for us to renew the kids’ passports. Tonight I’m working on filling out the International School Applications and hopefully will fax those over so the schools will have them in the morning when they arrive for the new week. So much to do and only 101 days to go…I hope you all had a great weekend! xo
Feeding the elephant(s)
I’ve got that giddy feeling!! We were looking for something to do today and I read about this ranch in Salinas where you can feed the elephants. The Salinas valley is gorgeous, green rolling hills, farmland for miles and the sun is out again. I love discovering new things and places. The ranch even has a B&B here where you can feel like you are on a safari as they have lions and tigers and other wild things surrounding the open fields. The interesting thing about feeding the elephants is that we only actually fed the dominant male. Supposedly he won’t let the females near the food and they know to stay back. Interesting little tidbit. Feeding Babbs carrots was the highlight of my day. You just can’t see the HUGE smile on my face.
Rainy Day Fun
I fell asleep early last night and missed the lightening and thunder show, although I heard it was spectacular. I’m still not quite used to rainy weather and it changing my plans, and I know I’m going to have to get used to it, but I’m not there yet. I was hoping we’d get to the beach today on our last day of Spring Break, but I’m a wimp! So inside we stayed. We turned the kitchen table into a ping ping table. Char and I were bouncing the ball off the table and onto the wall and ceiling and all over the kitchen, laughing our heads off. Just don’t tell his mom!
Nothing to Do
Today I had nothing to do. Really? Who has nothing to do? Actually, I had 1,398 things to do but nothing I really had to do. I didn’t have a structured plan, which makes me a little bit uncomfortable because I don’t know what to do with myself and the kids are home on break, which means they are going to want me to do something I probably don’t want to do! So I made everyone’s favorite cinnamon crumb cake, cut up some juicy, delicious strawberries and invited my self over to April’s house for breakfast. While there, I got to observe life unfold naturally and beautifully. Have you ever seen a chrysalis morph into a butterfly? Here this little thing is just hanging around, begins to shake and then magically just pops out of this tightly wound cocoon. It slowly stretched in front of our eyes, and unwound itself, opening up it’s crinkly wings and straightening them out, stretching and reaching one leg out in front of the other, sticking out it’s tongue and moving away from the walls that snuggled it in tight. It was simple and magical. OMG – I’m getting old! Watching butterflies emerge and loving it, just like bird watching. Oh yeah, I like that too… at least I had something to do!
here i am 