Every Saturday, there is a market in our town. Vendors come and set up shop to sell everything from produce to sweaters to meats to dog bones. It's a lot like a farmer's market in the U.S., but with socks or toiletries thrown in just for fun. Last week, we walked down to the market and wandered around, just looking at everything. We kind of wanted to buy things, but with all the noise and crowds and unfamiliar language it was just a little bit overwhelming. So last week we just went and saw.

This week we conquered the market. Well, "conquered" is kind of a strong word. We went and wandered around nervously again, but this time when I saw some oranges that looked pretty, I nudged Ben and said, "Hey, buy me some oranges". And with a little whispered consultation and some pointing and smiling (and a couple euros), we walked away happily with a big bag of fruit. After that, it seemed much less overwhelming and we returned to our house victoriously swinging a couple bags of produce and waving a bouquet of tulips.



Sorry we don't have a picture of the actual market. I opted not to bring out the camera because we were trying to be cool and not act like crazy Americans who haven't seen fresh vegetables before. You'll just have to trust that we didn't buy that stuff at the grocery store.

This weekend, on a rare sunny day, we also went out for a drive to explore the Dutch countryside. We just wanted to see what was around us and maybe take some pictures since, for once, it wasn't rainy, foggy, and cold. So we drove here and there and finally ended up in Maastricht where we decided maybe it was time to go home because it was getting dark. So no pictures of Maastricht this time, but we do have for you some nice pictures of scenic views from the car:




Merry Christmas!

Real Adventuring

Today we adventured out of the Netherlands. Oh yes, the traveling begins.

Okay, okay, so maybe we only "traveled" 20 minutes, but we did go to Germany to wander around a Christmas Market. A Christmas Market is pretty much what it sounds like... There are booths with crafts and foods, Christmas lights and decorations. We just walked around a bit, bought some gingerbread and potato pancakes and then called it a day because it was cold and drizzly and we kept bumping into other people with umbrellas. It was very pretty, though, and a fun thing to do.



And, to Ben's delight, there was a Starbucks right by the market so we stopped for something warm to drink on our way back to the car.



I could not for the life of me take a picture of Starbucks Ben that was not blurry and glowy. I'm pretty sure that Ben was just so happy to have Starbucks that the camera captured him glowing with joy. Cheers!

Welkom!

Yes, I have arrived.

On Wednesday morning, my parents, the doggies and I all headed to the airport where, with much whimpering and confusion, we managed to get me and dogs checked in. Bella and Spud didn't particularly enjoy being in their crates on a luggage cart, but since they don’t know how to work the latch on the crate, their votes don’t count, and off they went with the friendly baggage handler lady.

The flight to Chicago was nice and short, and once I got there I wandered mere feet and found myself at my next gate. It looked like a third world country. Too many people, too little room, confusion, languages I couldn’t understand....Ben had said his flight was nice and empty and mine would probably be the same. Nope, apparently not. As I was contemplating forcing my way through the crowd to ask one of the gate agents to check on the dogs location, a baby girl on a leash pulled her father through the crowd in front of me. He looked tired and fed up, but had an expression on his face that said "Oh well, she wants to run around like crazy. I guess I just have to follow." Then his son came up to join them, making his carry-on gallop in his wake. Yes, he was even talking to it like it was a rowdy pony. As the little girl decided to climb on another passengers suitcase and the father looked on with his "Oh well, what can I do?" expression, the mother came and joined them with a look of perpetual annoyance on her face. They looked like one big bucket of fun.

A few minutes later I was able to board the plane, and after I got settled in me seat I watched what seemed like hundreds of people file on after me. After the plane had almost completely filled up, I still had two empty seats right next to me and I looked up to see people coming straight for them. And who were these people ? Oh yes, it was the family with leash girl and pony boy, and they came and set the baby's carseat right next to me. Goody. I tried not to glare as the girl started climbing over the back of her seat, tried to escape down the aisle, and then yelled and kicked the seat in front of her. Honestly, I tried to be understanding toward the parents, but when the flight attendant came and said with a wink, "I have an empty seat up there, would you like to move? I think everybody might be more comfortable, yes?", I picked up my bag and tried to contain my joy as I moved to a much less stressful area of the plane.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Once I arrived in Brussels, went through customs, and collected my bags and the dogs, I did run into a teeny tiny little problem when I found that Ben was not there waiting for me. So I waited, and waited, and got a little worried, but he finally showed up (the delay was due to incredibly awful traffic), and we piled into our shuttle and went home, where I promptly climbed into bed for a nap.

So now we're all here. The dogs were not permanently scarred from their travel experience. And I wasn't either, for that matter. So now the "real" adventure begins as we learn to dodge dog poop on the sidewalk and figure out the crazy Dutch language and try as many different forms of fried potatoes as we can find.

Today was an eventful day in Nether-world... We have a house! Or rather, we will have a house once Ben goes to the housing office, accepts it, takes care of several types of paperwork, and gets the keys. But it has our name on it and by the time the dogs and I arrive it should be ready and waiting for us. It even has loaner furniture from the Army left over from the previous tenants, so we might even have something to sleep on until all our stuff shows up!

A few quick details on the house:
First floor has living, dining, kitchen, and half bath. Second floor has 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, and the attic is finished with a bedroom and a bathroom. We also will have a one car garage and a beautiful, fenced back yard. It's not in Brunssum; it's in a town close by though, so Ben won't be too far from where he works. More information on the town to come once I get there and we get to explore a little.

And a picture or two for the curious:






The front of the house












The back yard












The back of the house












Living room













Kitchen







Yay! We have a house! And, yes, it does have plenty of room for guests.

Hello from the Netherlands

As promised, here is the first post from the Netherlands. I have arrived safe and have a nice hotel room in a hotel that is right across from a beautiful pond.


Over the past few days I have discovered several funny things. One of which is the bag of chips that I bought at the store. I had to go ahead and buy it because I am "cool".


Overall it is not to bad here. I wish Ellen was here to go exploring with me and find things out. I have had a few hickups along the way. One was last night when I went to a store to buy somethings to eat, so that I wouldn't have to eat out all weekend long. So I was adventurous and got things that I could not read but looked like they could be good and I had my basket full of food and then got to the checkout and unloaded my stuff and then thought to ask if they took credit card. Which come to find out after the girl called the manager and he made me feel like an idiot, that they did not. they only took a cash card, which is not the same as a debit card by the way. I only had a few euros on me and so I had to walk back around the store with everyone looking at me while I put things away. Moral of the story: If traveling in Europe, carry cash, they don't take cards all of the time.

The goal for this next week is to find a house. I will see what I can do and keep you posted.

4165 miles away

At about 5 a.m. Thursday morning, Ben called me in Minneapolis to let me know that he arrived safely in the Netherlands and was at his hotel, about to change into his uniform and sign into his unit. He had left Minneapolis early Tuesday morning, spent the night in McLeansboro, and then dropped off our car in St. Louis to be shipped and headed to the airport.

I talked to him again later after he got back to his hotel room. After finishing up his first day introductions and going back to his hotel, he ventured out to find some dinner, not always an easy feat in a foreign country where the native language makes you say, "Whaaaa?". Luckily he found a Greek restaurant near his hotel and recognized the word "gyro" on the menu and so was able to order something.

He's surviving there, and will hopefully be able to take some Netherlands pictures to put up sometime soon. But until then we'll leave you with a picture taken in Minnesota:



It's COLD here now. This is what I look like when I take the dogs out for a walk, except I pull some big mittens on right before I walk out the door. I can't do the mittens any sooner because they render my hands completely useless. It takes me about ten minutes to get ready, but I am really toasty warm in there.

After days and days of traveling, and a day or two of rest, we finally reached Minneapolis on Friday night. It's nice to be here and just sit around doing a little bit nothing for a day or two before Ben heads back to St. Louis and then to the Netherlands.

Since we had very limited internet access since leaving McLeansboro, IL, here is a little recap of our past week and the final leg of our big drive:

On Tuesday afternoon, we packed up the doggies and set out for Ben's Uncle David and Aunt Julie's house. We stayed in their basement for a few days and had a really nice time seeing everyone for Thanksgiving in Springfield. David and Julie live in the country so whenever we took Bella and Spud on walks they had lots of interesting things to sniff and see, especially cows. Spud didn't really notice them at all, but Bella DID NOT trust those things one bit.



















She didn't even like standing there for the picture. She had to keep looking to make sure no sneaky cows were going to pop up and get her.

After a big Thanksgiving with lots and lots of delicious food, we got on the road yet again early Friday morning, just in time to fight the crazy shopping crowds on our way to a gas station. Our final day of driving was pretty uneventful except at one point, when we were leaving a gas station in Wisconsin and Spud popped up in the back window and started growling and then barking at something. We looked back to see what he was barking at, thinking perhaps there were squirrels frolicking in the parking lot, but instead saw this:















Yes, a statue of a deer. A fake deer. Spud was pretty sure he could chase it down and kill it, if only we would let him out of the truck.

So now we're in Minneapolis with nothing much to report. We've done Burgett family portraits (but we don't have them yet), gone Christmas shopping, spent time with the family, eaten some good food, gone to Target, and enjoyed several walks around the neighborhood because the weather has been really nice, in a slightly chilly sort of way. On the schedule for tomorrow: truck maintenance and maybe another trip to Target, just for fun.

Monday

Today was a day of rest. We traveled all the way to Sears to have a Morrison family portrait taken. The photographer didn't seem to know what to do with an entire family of grown people. Apparently, he is used to small kids who just sit there and gurgle.

We probably misbehaved more than your average 3 year old AND you couldn't just pop a cute hat on us and wave a teddy bear until we smiled, so he had no idea how to handle us. Luckily, we had more creativity and photography than him, so we managed to end up with a few really good photos.

Here's our favorite. We directed. He pressed the button. Maybe next time we'll just buy a remote for our camera and cut our the Sears photographer altogether.

Sunday

Today was long and boring. "Long" kinda sucked, but "boring" was a good thing. No truck breaking down. No long stops at tire stores. No crisis of any sort. Just a long drive through Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois.


A little contest for you:
Q: Is this photo from...
A) Texas
B) Oklahoma
C) Missouri
D) Illinois














The first person to get the correct answer wins a key chain from the next gas station we stop at.

Saturday

We got up early (and when I say that, I mean Ben and the dogs got up early while I slept for another 30 minutes) so Ben could get right to work on fixing the truck. He went off and got into grease monkey mode, and back in the room:


The dogs very much enjoyed all the amenities of the hotel room. They especially enjoyed the part where they were allowed on the bed. If you can't tell be Bella's expression, it was very, very exciting.

Finally, the truck was drivable so we set off. Goodbye, Deming, AZ...

We had to make a little stop in Las Cruces to replace our mangled rim and tire. While Ben dealt with all truck related issues, the dogs and I relaxed in a beautiful shaded pavilion:


Finally, we got on the road for real. We passed some pretty interesting places in New Mexico. For example:Mmm, Radium Springs, sounds delicious and refreshing.

For most of the ride, Bella was pretty stressed and anxious. She dealt with it by spending 99% of her time with her head pressed against my arm. Spud passed the time by passing gas. It was really lovely.

We found a really nice, pretty rest stop (really!) in New Mexico and stopped there to feed the dogs and walk around. It was a nice place to hang out and watch the sunset. After that, the day was (thankfully) uneventful. We made it to Amarillo, TX all in one piece and went to sleep because it was a very very long day.

The house was empty...













The truck was ready...













The dogs were excited and ready to roll, and so...
















We waved goodbye to Fort Huachuca and started our long long long drive.






























There isn't a whole lot to see in Arizona and New Mexico. Mostly it all looks like this:















However, to break up the boredom, you can always satisfy your curiosity and go pay $1 to see "The Thing" at a middle of nowhere gas station:















Of course I can only show you a sign for it. If you want to know what "The Thing" is, you'll have to pay $1 for yourself. Telling you would destroy the mystery.

All was well. We made it to New Mexico without incident. But then, in Deming, NM we were going to stop and fill up the tank, maybe even let the doggies breathe some air. However, our exit from the interstate was puncuated by loud grinding noises when braking, and then a sharp thudding grinding halt as the front right end of the truck dropped. We jumped out and saw a flat tire, and after further investigation discovered this:















Yes, the rim of the tire is completely destroyed. The brakes aren't so much working right now. We managed to get a spare tire on the truck and coast slowly to a stop at the Best Western a block away. Ben has great hopes for fixing the truck tomorrow and getting back on the road. I have great hopes for finding some decent chocolate in this town because I've nearly exhausted my supply due to stress and accidental meltage.

And now, to sleep.