High School Reunion in Miami, Again

To end my trip home, I had some much needed girl time with two of my oldest friends. It was almost a repeat of our reunion two years ago, minus Aimee and her baby boy (and minus the two 2 year olds). With Maeve being the only kiddo and Nana and Pops willing and able to watch her, I had a lot of "me" time with the girls. It all felt very indulgent and I loved it. Most indulgent of all were two amazing meals out at trendy spots in Miami. Add to that all of the mint chocolate chip ice cream, mac and cheese from a box, cheddar cheese, chex mix and other American delicacies and I was in heaven :) 

Dressed and ready for meal # 1 at Michael's Geniune

 Maeve loved her aunties and was doing so much better with new faces by the end of the trip.

We hit up Miami beach (spring break baby). Not warm enough for swimming in my opinion, but so nice to sit on the beach and read and people watch.

Second night out in Wynwood to see the walls (murals) followed by 10 courses at Kyu Miami. Yum! We'd like to think we are hip enough for Miami, but feel like we don't quite fit in.

Second beach day at Crandon State park. With the Miami Open going on, only the 1st parking lot was open for beach access, so we found ourselves along a different stretch of sand. Fortunate because there was a great sand bar where we could sit and put on feet in the warm waters from our beach chairs. As Winks declared, "I love a good sand bar!"

Now that the reunion tradition has been well established, I hope that we can keep it going every few years!

Maeve and Mommy Spring Break: Cousin Meet up in Miami

Maeve and I are back from a great 9 day trip to Miami. Between socializing and relaxing, I didn't have time for the blog so it's time to play catch up. 

Whereas 2 years ago, the idea of flying solo with Jude filled me with great anxiety, this time around I was just filled with dread. I made things as easy for myself as possible, springing for the non-stop KLM flight and reserving the bulk head row with basinet. However, on the way over, the flight attendants wouldn't let me use the basinet stating that Maeve was too big. I figured this must be true, so I didn't argue and instead had her sleep on the floor at my feet on a bed of pillows. Strong head winds made the already long journey even longer (more than 10.5 hours). I swear I kept looking at the "time remaining" countdown and the time kept going up! 

We finally made it and my parents were rockstars again helping with Maeve in the wee hours when she was ready to party and I just needed to sleep. 

Aunt Leslie and cousin Peyton, 2 years old, arrived the next day. Thanks to our Iphoto sharing stream, I feel like I've "seen" a lot of my niece, but the photos fail to capture her truly joyful, spunky, adorable personality. Lot of playground time, some beach and pool time and cuddling up with movies. My parents seemed on cloud nine to have us all together, just missing Jude and the sons-in-law. We even got a sitter and had a dinner with the original nuclear Carney family and I really can't remember the last time just the 4 of us went out. 

Oh, I nearly forgot. Maeve cut her first tooth as we were leaving for the States. Nothing like a teething, jet-lagged, separation anxiety baby to handle on one's own! By the end of the trip, she was back to her normal, fun loving self thank goodness! 

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After Leslie and Peyton left on Tuesday, I had a few days with my parents until our next visitors. Nana and Pops got lots of time to get to know Maeve and dote on her. She thrived with all of the attention, learning to clap and make noise running her fingers across her lips.

She actually loved the pickle

Showing her off at my parents' church

I hadn't been to the States since last Christmas. While it hadn't seemed like 15 months had passed, there was a bit of culture shock. Where did these a$$hole drivers come from? Why are men honking at me on the street? What is this traffic and the run down state of so many buildings and neighborhoods? I was so happy to see family and friends and be in the sun, but I was missing "home" a lot in those moments. If only home were a little closer with less of a time change!

Spring is Right Around the Corner!

Just a week until Spring arrives- hooray! Today was the warmest day we've had yet with temps reaching the 60s and we are ready for more! In the meantime, I will be skipping straight to summer with a trip home to Miami this weekend to see family and some friends. But before I go, here's what we've been up to lately:

Jude has started soccer classes and my heart sings. We run around doing little games and drills. It is all in Dutch so I do my best. It is our special Saturday morning time. He likes to play goalie and is working on not using his hands :)

The warmer weather means park dates with friends.

I look forward to the crocuses blooming early each spring at Haarlemmermeerstation, which we pass on our way to Montessori. I'd run and frolic in the field if it weren't for the bike, car, bus and tram lines you have to frogger across to get there!

More spring scenes in the city

And this is our first Spring in our first house with a garden so I am loving seeing what comes up. Our very own crocuses! I'm trying not to get too excited, but it is looking like the tree in front of our house is a magnolia tree! The buds are just starting to pop and I just hope I don't miss the peak bloom while I'm gone!

We are whipping our garden into shape. 

Fingers crossed the last of the yucky winter viruses are behind us. I'll miss these couch snuggles though. Maeve is finally back to a good sleeping routine, just in time for the first tooth to be coming in! It's always something! 

These two are interacting more and more. Some sweet moments and some bad ones, too. Jude has discovered that pushing her over is a very good way to get our attention when he wants it...

Smart girl is wary. 

Maeve visited daddy at work and his students were smitten.

Look at that fluffy hair!

And most importantly, we've been celebrating the birth of this amazing guy! Last weekend was a bowling party with coworkers. It's been a LONG time since we've had the kind of night where we ended up stuffing our faces with McDonalds at midnight in the back of an Uber. And we satisfied our Mexican/Margarita cravings with a dinner out last night.

New Silly Walks shirt

Birthday boy and his adoring kiddos

Maeve turned 10 months the same day. Her first teeth are just starting to poke through. She's over just sitting around. She wants to pull up on things and stand with our support.

Yesterday was also a big day because of the Dutch elections. We were really fearful that a Trump wannabe, Geert Wilders, was going to win. Anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, anti-EU. The polls had him leading for months. We tried to check in on the results as they came in, but couldn't make any sense of the graphs used!! 

We awoke to fabulous news! We won't know for sure for a few weeks as the votes are being hand counted due to concerns of Russian interference. For real. 82.2% of eligible voters voted, which is amazing!

It was a great start to a beautiful spring day, which ended with our first dinner outside in our garden. I hope we can eat outside from now on- cleaning the floor beneath Maeve's high chair in the bane of my existence. Leave it for the birds and our friendly neighborhood cat!

Our new hammock is set up. Jude insisted I also get in and then it broke and we all fell to the ground. We're ok and the hammock is fixed!