the Bright Sun Mountain Journals: life in Holland

Exactly a year ago, we were finally settled into what we thought would be life in Holland for the following few years. I'm feeling nostalgic lately for our life there.

I really miss our backyard, where Jonas and Ada played with the puppy, learned how to kick the soccer ball, and caught frogs.

Boys catching frogs:

I miss my kids in their wooden shoes.

I miss the trampoline in our backyard.

I miss our big kitchen, where we spent all our time, running in and out from the backyard.

I really, really miss our neighborhood, and the woods behind our house where we walked Mickey everyday. I loved waking up before dawn (which isn't all that early in the winter in Holland) and taking the dog out into the fresh, dark woods. It made me feel peaceful and revived the rest of the day.

We could spend hours at the canal in our neighborhood, throwing sticks, feeding ducks and watching Mickey swim gleefully.

I miss Jonas' school, which we rode our bikes to everyday in the morning bike rush hour on the paths in our neighborhood. That also just made my day. Jonas had the best, best teacher ever. And his Dutch was coming along nicely at this time last year.

I miss the zoo in Best, which was in the woods five minutes from our house. One of the brilliant things about Holland is that wherever there is a place for kids to play, not far away is a place to get beer on tap. Isn't that smart? Whenever Peter was out of town, I often took the kids up to this zoo and let them run around the tiny zoo while I enjoyed a fresh Grolsch. We would also eat dutch pancakes at the pancake cafe next door, and if we had time, we'd stop in at the Klompen Museum (wooden shoes museum) across the little road.