America 2016: With My Kids

This happens every year, of course, almost like clockwork.  We fly to Atlanta from Amsterdam, spend a few days with my kids, then a few days with Bob and Peggy south of Atlanta, 5 days with the kids at the cabin in the North Georgia mountains, and then back to the Atlanta area before we fly back home.

THIS is the post with the kids.  Next post will be with Bob and Peggy.

The first thing after arriving on Wednesday evening was seeing Amy and Dennis' new home.

They bought this house, sold their old house, all within weeks of each other in September.

Exploring the new neighborhood was one of the first things we did

during my favorite time of the year.

Astrid had even researched the area before we went, knowing we'd want to walk to the Settles Bridge 
spanning the Chattahoochee River just a 40-minute walk away. 

And yes, we had to climb down and back up to get the full view.

But, back to the house, the side porch to the kitchen is a favorite resting spot for all.

I watched the October 19th Presidential debate out there.  HA!

Remember the goofball collage I did of Astrid and Nicholas two years ago (2014)?

We had to do it again, just for the halibut.

Man alive.  He's really growing up (11th grade this year).

And because this was a very special and long-awaited event...buying a new house...

a house-warming gift was in order from my obligatory 71-1/2-year tax cash-out (investments),

which I had also done the year before for Mark's new apartment.

It was totally educational watching the pool table being put together by these 3 competent men!

I now think of the hours of fun the entire family will have in that room.

Speaking of house-warming gifts, the basketball hoop that Astrid bought arrived while we were there,

and was put together the weekend after we left by Mark, Dennis and Bill (ex-husband).

Thanks to Amy for these pics.  Once I get a pic of Nicholas playing, I'll add it!

Mark invited us to his apartment again, like last year, for the family potato-sausage soup recipe.

It's a great tradition now and you don't have to ask us twice!  

And on Saturday, because we're all football fans, we watched MICHIGAN play:

Do you know how fun it was to watch my alma mater Michigan play and WIN a game again?!?!

They're on a roll this year, thankfully.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

At this point we went to visit Bob and Peggy from Sunday to Thursday (next post).

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

By now you know how much we LOVE our cabin time in the Blue Ridge mountains!

(panorama photo from the deck, thanks to Astrid)

The same day we returned from Bob and Peggy, Thursday, we drove up to the mountains.

THIS is why.  And besides, it's "neutral" territory for us all.

It's also the walks at this peak time of autumn....

which both Nicholas and Mark took with us this year.

It's also the cards (Spades) with Mark and moi against Amy and Dennis,

something we've done for years now...while Astrid and Nicholas do their own fun.

Like shooting pool and playing ping-pong, for instance.

It's a great cabin...already reserved for next year!

A total surprise this year was Amy conniving with Astrid to make two 750-pc. puzzles for me,

using two collages from our Malta trip last April.

We finished the seafood puzzle this year and plan to do the luzzu boats next year.

What a gift!  THANK YOU, Amy and Astrid.

We eat together, of course, for breakfast and dinner, with Amy and Dennis as cooks.

Astrid and I do the dishes, which makes for a win-win situation all around.
And, oh, yes, can't forget the bran-muffin mix Mark brings for us.

Dinners are especially homey and heart-warming.

Dennis even had a friend join us for one of the meals (bottom-right)...like one of the family.

And then on Monday, going back down the mountain, we continued our tradition

of stopping at Waffle House for breakfast...this time on Halloween day.  Fun.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Since it was Halloween, that evening we joined the neighbors at the bottom of the cul-de-sac

for the trick-or-treating festivities.  

What a great chance for all of us to meet each other.

And the next day, before heading off to the airport for home,

we rendezvoused for lunch with Sheila, a long-ago Sun Data/Solarcom co-worker.

It was like picking up from where we last left off.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

And now, today (Election Day), we await the news on who will be the next POTUS.

I'm going out on a limb to say:  HILLARY.

My prediction is she will win both the electoral and popular votes.

But what will the fallout be?

"Let there be Peace on earth and let it begin with me" is my new daily mantra....
We have a lot of healing to do as a country!

UPDATE:  WRONG WRONG WRONG.
It's Trump.  He won the electoral vote; she won the popular vote.
And I still wonder about the fallout!

The North Georgia Mountain Cabin

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, we're back from our annual trip to America!  Did it really come and go so quickly?

And since we packed a wallop into that 2+ weeks, I'll start with the last first...our time with the kids in the North Georgia mountains. 

It's my 4th year as a family (Astrid's 3rd) to rent a cabin 2 hours north of Atlanta, but this time in a different one altogether...just as nice and with another spectacular view:

We're so lucky that owners rent out these homes away from home.

It's not hard to settle in immediately.

This was our first year to add an extra night, making it Thursday - Monday.

We kept saying it made all the difference in the world!

As you'd guess, our time was often centered around food.

Daughter Amy and Dennis were the cooks....

...along with son Mark's bran muffins (and carrot cake!)...

...and s'mores, of course, at least twice in between games of Spades.

Astrid and I were the chief bottle washers.  A nice exchange!

There was also ping pong, pool, football, jigsaw-puzzle making, laptop time...

Square Up (a new game for us)...

...and the hot tub for Uncle Mark and Nicholas, the boys.

I even had time to make the lining for Amy's last (of 5) cross-stitch Xmas stocking.

And then Astrid and I were off on our own, taking walks in the beauty of Mother Nature all around us.

Do you notice something????  A new Canon PowerShot camera for me, yes!

It replaces my 28-300 mm bazooka lens that was aggravating my sciatic issues.

I sold that lens to a fellow blogger and used that money to buy the new camera and an iPad4.

The new camera is 24-1200 mm, for you camera buffs...my new travel camera that also shoots in RAW.

 This was October 17-21, just about peak time for the autumn leaves.

My favorite time of the year!

That time of the year, too.

Trick or treat?

Impressions, impressions, impressions...even in the North Georgia mountains!

How can you say NO to that!  

We were there during the full moon on October 18th...and the sunrise on the 21st, the day we left.

All my images here are with my new camera, barely tweaked.

I'm a happy camper!

Gorinchem's Dutch Carnaval, 2013

Two months after moving to the Netherlands in 2009, I experienced my first European carnaval, coinciding with America's Mardi Gras, and I blogged about it here.  That was in 2010, 3 years ago.

After 2 years of not going outside the apartment to witness the same ol' thing, I had a hankering this year to see it all over again...the kids!  Astrid still has nothing with carnaval but in conjunction with our Saturday café date, she agreed to a spot where we could see the parade march by while we were eating.

Lucky for me, two of the biggest cuties of them all were inside the cafe, waiting with us:

This little princess sat with her g'pa up at the bar before and after.

See the confetti on his jacket?

I'm not sure who was prouder.  She really wanted me to know this was her opa!

And later, the lady of the café made sure we knew opa was not in costume.

He's one of their regulars.

Not to be outdone, this little cowboy was at the table next to us.

A real gun-slinger!

Once we finshed eating and paid our bill, we stood outside the café and watched.  The best way I can descibe carnaval here in our city is American Halloween without the floats.  I guess that's why I didn't take pictures of the floats!

I started taking pictures of the kids across the street from us...

when suddenly a pushy lady was in my face saying "GINNIE!"

She probably had been yelling at me across the street but I hadn't noticed.

It was dear Gerrie, one of my Rummikub co-players at our senior complex.

And yes, I then took pictures of her and all her kids...2 sons and 3 g'kids!

Wake up, Ginnie!

See what I mean?  How can you resist these cutie-pies!

They were having so much fun, scooping up the confetti and throwing it like snow.

All the boys against the one girl.  HA!  Go get 'em, Girl!

I think I've told you before how much I love family togetherness in these events.

Sometimes it's the Daddy who does the care-giving, which I love to see.

This one spent a lot of time looking at the real-estate ads in the window.  Hmmmm.

Daddy's and g'pas are so proud of their little girls...

and boys, even it they're little devils!

Don't you just want to eat them up!  Well, some of them.

What do YOU want to be when you grow up????
(He sure reminds me of Sean Astin!)

Maybe you'd like to be the Prince of the Carnaval?  Prins Jacobus, in fact.

That's the man with the pheasant feathers...head of the parade this year.

Who knows who the other diplomats were!

It's all big stuff...that's all I know.

 Like in most of Europe, the festivities span 5 days, Friday - Fat Tuesday!
But the actual parade was on Saturday.

  We didn't stay long but long enough to catch those still arriving..

Kids really do wait for this...well, like for Halloween!

Remember those days as a kid?

No pumpkins or spider webs...but lots of confetti and plastic spray everywhere.

What a mess!

I'll try to pay attention to how long it takes to clean the place up...just a couple blocks from where we live.  But as far as I'm converned, it's totally worth it!  I might not even wait 3 years before I head outside again to take a peek.