Iowa - Mom's birthday

Now that we've lived so far away from home for so long it's always a special treat to make it to a special family event. We had the opportunity to be with my Mom on her birthday. And even better, both she and my dad had the day off since Mom had conferences that week. Dad graciously watched Carsten for the afternoon while Mom and I went shopping in Sioux City. Mom and I had a lot of success finding her new clothes, and it was fun to have some one-on-one time with her without Carsten around. Dad and Carsten met us at Archie's in Le Mars, which is a terrific steakhouse. In fact, it's so terrific that even my well-done steak (thank you pregnancy!) was still AMAZING. I loved having such a special day with everyone and I know Carsten had a great time with Grandpa :). Here's a couple of photos from Archie's:

My wonderful parents.

My cheesy son :).

Iowa - Halloween!

Halloween deserves its own post because this was the first year that Carsten participated in treat or treating and as a special treat, Grandma and Grandpa Hoogie took him around :). This meant that I got to watch and take photos :). We ended up trick or treating in Le Mars and honestly, it's way better than Orange City. People were very into decorating and at least where my Grandma lives, there was a high density of people actually giving out candy which meant that we didn't have to have Carsten walk too far :). I think Carsten was confused at first, but he caught on and did pretty well :). Carsten got pretty tired towards the end, but it was understandable since we hadn't had supper and it was close to bedtime by the time we quit :). As a special bonus, we got to go trick or treating at my Grandma's house too! :) Thanks for trick or treating with Carsten Mom and Dad! :) Here's some photos of our Bob the Builder:

Carsten got to go through his first car wash with Grandpa at Grandpa's car wash. What a treat! (Right before trick or treating)

We started at Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen's house! Grandma dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood :).

Trick or treating with Grandpa!

Mom and Dad taking Carsten around to the houses :).

Corrie, please tell me you have done this to Jimmy :).

We ran into Megan, Kent, and Andrew on Central Avenue :). Yay for family!

Carsten loved trick or treating with Grandpa :). Thanks Dad!

What a special first Halloween trick or treating experience for Carsten!

Iowa - Family and Friends

We were fortunate to be able to spend a lot of time with family and friends while we were at home. Mom and Dad spent as much time as possible with Carsten and I, and we were able to see my grandparents quite a bit during the two weeks as well. We even got to see most of both sides of my extended family which is a rare treat in October :). Carsten loved seeing everyone and still talks about all of you quite a bit :). I even got to have a couple of playdates with high school friends and see our Madison friends Kayt and Kurt who now live in the area :). What a fun couple of weeks! Here's some highlights:

Uncle Dave and Grandpa Ranschau showed Carsten and I around the farm including getting to drive in with the cattle. Carsten thought that our vehicle (a mule) was pretty awesome and enjoyed seeing the cattle up close. We enjoyed seeing you both and had fun talking! Thanks Uncle Dave and Grandpa!

Uncle Dave took Carsten up close to see the cows.

Carsten enjoyed getting to 'drive' :).

Mom met us at Pumpkinland to play on the play equipment one day after school. Carsten got a kick out of it and we all had a lot of fun :).

Playing on the slide with Grandma....

....is FUN!!!!! :)

I have a photo of him in this from last year too. This year he could stand reach it on his own! So fun :).

Carsten had Grandpa to himself for an entire day since it had snowed. They first put together a tricycle that Carsten got to ride in the unfinished 'new' kitchen (minus all the cupboards and appliances that makes it a kitchen so it was a GREAT playroom). Sorry about that nick in your new paint Mom! ;) The snow was pretty, and Grandpa even took Carsten outside to play in it for a bit. Carsten loved playing with Grandpa - Carsten kept saying 'Follow you follow you follow you' which basically meant, here's a toy, play with me! Here's a few photos:

absolutely love this photo :) 

First snowfall of the year for us.

Grandpa taking Carsten outside to play in the snow!

Some Bob time.

We spent several days at my Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen's house, and Carsten discovered the piano room where Grandma gives lessons. We might have a musician on our hands because he loved tinkering with the organ :). Grandma and I got to play several games of Scrabble while Carsten napped at her house - so fun!!

Carsten playing the organ.

Grandma and Grandpa Hoogeveen with Carsten!

Carsten got to play with his Hoogeveen and Ranschau extended family cousins, which he really enjoyed. It's so fun to have family with kids Carsten's age :). I forgot to get my camera out for the Ranschau get together, but here's a few photos of the Hoogeveen get together for Dane's birthday party and for a Halloween outing for businesses in Le Mars:

Carsten and Andrew having fun at Dane's birthday party :).

Playdate at Megan's house for the cousins! 

Carsten and Andrew having fun :). 

Uncle Nate with Carsten! The only way we could get Carsten to leave his Bob the Builder hat on was to have the stocking cap underneath.

Taking a candy break at the ice cream shop!

Carsten and I were also able to see our good friends Kayt and Kurt a couple of times. Yay for good friends in NW Iowa! We also got to see a few more friends, but I don't have photos of those :).

Kayt and Kurt with Carsten!

Well that turned out to be a long post, but we really did pack a lot into two weeks! Thanks for making time for us everyone!

Trip to Iowa

My amazing brother drove us down to O'Hare on a Sunday to catch our plane to Sioux City, IA. Thanks Luke! Carsten was great the whole trip down, and many more thanks to Luke who helped me maneuver all the bags through check-in. We sent Luke on his way home and then went through security. I had planned in a couple of extra hours of time in case traffic or check-in delays, so Carsten and I had plenty of time to eat lunch and play at the fantastic play area in O'Hare.

Play area!

Carsten fell asleep instantly on our flight and proceeded to sleep almost the entire 1.25 hr flight (hooray!). I had ended up checking his car seat because I forgot our car seat roller at Mom and Dad Huisman's house, so he was in his own seat with his head on my lap. I had previously thought that this scenario would not work for him, but I was wrong :). What a restful flight for the both of us!

Mom and Dad Hoogeveen met us in Sioux City and then we did a little shopping before we headed back to Orange City. Dad even managed to get a tractor ride with Carsten in that evening before supper :).

Week in Holland

I apologize that this post won't be as in-depth as I would like for a week spent in Holland. I honestly could have written a post about each day since we did so much, but as I'm running short on time for the blog, this must suffice. We of course saw a ton of family and too few friends since we always seemed a bit short on time.

We spent a great deal of time playing with Carsten's cousins at Mom and Dad Huisman's house. They have a terrific basement with lovely toys for the kids to all play in. I think Carsten loved it, and I enjoyed watching all four kids interact. They also got to play on the tricycles and go to the park together. It was so fun to watch and I can't wait to see them all together again next summer. Here's some photos of cousin time:

Playing in the basement.

Tricycle time! Carsten didn't quite get how to work the pedals, but he scooted around just fine :).

All four kids together! 

Best way to get them ALL to sit still: have Grandpa mow the lawn.

LOVE this photo of Carsten swinging at the park.

Snack time!

So much fun to see them grow up together!

Carsten also got to see Aunt Barb who brought one of her super nice border collies to play with Carsten. Carsten even got to throw Bryte a frisbee and being the amazing dog that she is, she waited until he threw it a couple feet and then retrieved it. What a good sport! Here's a couple of photos:

Carsten, Aunt Barb, and Bryte.

Carsten petting the puppy.

All the Huisman's in Zeeland took off on Thursday to go to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, which was an amazing air museum with some fun rides in it. It was all indoors, so the fact that it was a cold day didn't matter at all! Carsten was a little unsure of the rides, but as long as he could hold my hand he was fine and even enjoyed himself. We all enjoyed seeing all of the planes, and as always when you have little kids I would have enjoyed reading a little bit more about the individual planes. Oh well :). It was a super fun day to spend with family, and we will have to go back next summer with Andy who will appreciate the airplanes so much more than I did :). Here's a few photos:

Getting ready to ride the airplanes!

Getting ready to ride the hot air baloons!

We found a helicopter!

Zachary and Carsten driving the helicopter! 

Sitting in a cockpit playing with the buttons.

Blue Angels cockpit :).

Carsten's first 4D movie! And first movie in a theatre as well. He seemed to enjoy it although he wouldn't leave the glasses on.

We also got to see Uncle Luke quite a bit :). We played at Kollen Park which was extremely wet, and also got to play marble works which Luke and I enjoyed putting together immensely. I think Carsten was only mildly interested :). We also got to go out to eat twice with Luke which is a rare treat for us! Here's a few photos:

Kollen Park was kind of like a splash pad. 

Carsten got quite wet despite our best efforts.

Marble works!

We are totally getting something like this soon. For Andy and I. Not for Carsten.

We loved seeing all of our Huisman family plus Luke and we're anxious to get back to Holland next summer and see everyone again :). Miss you all!

Cleveland

So I'm officially a month behind on the blog, and just so you know, it's probably not going to get caught up anytime soon. We in the middle of selling most of our Swiss furnishings and getting ready for our move to Zurich for the month of December. Then we have only one more "easy" move to NY in Jan. :)

So, we left off in the month of October sending Andy off to Switzerland while Mom and Dad Huisman graciously drove ~7 hrs to transport Carsten and I to Cleveland, OH, where we got to spend 2 nights with Jed, Lisa, Linnea, and Julia. Here's a photo of Carsten sporting the new headphones and DVD player (he's watching "Bob the Builder" of course):

He only left the headphones on for a few minutes. Oh well, we all got to enjoy Bob.

Even though we were really only there for one full day, we managed to fit a lot in :). We first went to Mom and Dad's hotel where we all swam in the warmest pool ever. Seriously. The kids and adults all enjoyed it quite a bit :). Here's a few photos:

Carsten and Julia

Group shot #1. Poor Julia :).

Group shot #2. Much better :).

We then had lunch and naps back at the Koops' residence. After naps we loaded everyone up and went to a nearby farm/orchard that had tons of play equipment, food (free apples!), and overall just a lot of things to do :). We were lucky that it was a pretty nice afternoon so we stayed for a couple of hours. Carsten loved seeing all the tractors, and he also enjoyed following Linnea around. I think his favorite thing was the covered sandbox that had all sorts of tractors in it to play with. Julia's favorite thing was to eat the sand in the sandbox :). Here's a bunch of photos:

Tractor ride to the family fun area.

There were so many tractors for Carsten to 'drive'!!

He was a bit distraught that this hay was on the ground instead of in the hay bales. He tried to fix it. :)

Yet another tractor to drive. :)

'Hang on Grandpa!!'

They had push-carts. Go Grandpa!

The amazing sandbox with tractors.

This little cutie is a sand eater. 

Our best shot of all three kids at the farm. I believe Julia actually got a little stuck in this :).

We then went home and ordered Chinese take out (yay!!) for supper. We all slept, got up, packed, and then rolled out for our grand finally of playing at a terrific park in Cleveland. The weather pretty good, and since it was Sunday morning, we had the park to ourselves :). The kids had a fun time playing, and it was nice to have Carsten get some energy out before we set out for the 5-6 hr drive to Holland. Here's a few photos:

The sandbox is always a hit for Carsten. Especially when it has a 'BIG digger!'.

Swings are also fun! 

fun teeter totter for all the kids!

Fun teeter totter for all the kids plus ME!

A group photo at the cute little train.

Thanks for a lovely weekend Jed, Lisa, Linnea, and Julia! We loved spending time in Cleveland and look forward to more soon :). We said our goodbyes and then got on the road. Here's a few photos of Carsten on the trip:

He only really slept for about 30 min. We need to figure out how to get longer naps in the car for our road trips. Any suggestions?

He enjoyed his quiet book from Grandma Bonnie!

We got into Holland and quickly unpacked. Then we headed right out the door to Jeff and Amanda's house for a yummy dinner. The kids had a good time playing together :).

The boys looking out the window.

What a fun weekend! AND we got to see the whole Huisman side in ONE day (minus Andy :( ).