While Drake is sitting watching a cartoon (in Dutch), I thought I'd try to complete a post.  Yes, we finally have TV although the kids aren't too happy that there are only a few channels in English.  Drake doesn't seem to mind though, and maybe it will help him learn some of the language.  Mike has a lot of sports channels in English, so he is happy.  I would like more...just have a few movie channels, E!, and food network, although the shows have all already been played in the US.  So, I'm hoping this slingbox thing Mike bought will work really well.  It's hooked up in the US, so we have to tape shows because of the time difference, but that's good enough for me.
Anyways, we've had a busy few weeks and I don't think it's gonna slow down anytime soon.  Mike has been traveling, me with running the kids everywhere and my Hints class, and the kids with all their activities.  I don't know why I thought it would be more of a slower pace here, but I did and it's not.  The kids are even in a lot less activities than they were in the states.  Preslee has only been doing volleyball, she is signed up for girl scouts but can never make the meetings due to volleyball.  Kade only has soccer a couple times a week.  And poor Drake just has school, but that's plenty for him right now.  I think its just that the school and activities are just a lot further away that makes it harder to do more than one activity at a time.  Preslee's homework and violin take up most of the rest of her free time.
Mike had to go back to the states last week for meetings.  I have to say that I was really jealous.  I am in the part of the move where I am really missing home and everything that comes with it.  Everything here is just a little more difficult and sometimes it just gets old.  Even getting and using a cell phone is aggravating.  There are different ways that you call other cell phones, other countries, and other landlines. I just miss the easiness of everything back home.  Knowing which store to go to to get certain things, knowing how to read the road signs and restaurant menus, grocery shopping....just the things that I definitely took for granted.  Mike had to bring me back chocolate chips, peanut butter, and slip guards for our rugs.  Things I can't find easily, if at all.  There is an American store about an hour from where I live that I haven't been to yet.  They brought some of the products to my class to sell, and they are so expensive.  I bought 2 small bags of gold fish, pop tarts, and a small box of fruits snacks for 17 euro, which is about $23!  So if you want it, you pay for it and I'm sure I will!  There is a British store close to me that I like too.  I can at least read what the product is (although I'm getting a little better at my Dutch and French, reading not speaking) and they have the cake mixes, etc. that the other groceries lack.  But we also told the kids that now we live here and will have to get accustom to how things are done and the foods that they have....easier said than done and I cannot live without peanut butter!  Mike and I do enjoy the food here and the restaurants are great..pricey but really good.
This past weekend we went to the Netherlands for Preslee's volleyball games.  It was only about 2 hours away.  We heard that there were Burger Kings and KFCs there so we were excited....I know, gross, but when you don't have it you want it, definitely learning that.  So we arrived at the American school there and watched the game.  Preslee is playing very well now, so that is exciting.  The girls won and Pres was off to stay with her host family.  We went to our hotel to settle in then got a cab to take us to the city center for dinner.  We walked around and found an outside place that was right beside a small carnival.  It had a few rides and some food stands.  We sat at the picnic tables and finally ordered (we are learning that sometimes service is very slow here), then the boys wanted to ride some rides.  It wan't expensive so they were able to ride a few times.  When I took them to ride, I discovered that there are no safety requirements at all.  No height restrictions, no belts,  and one roller coaster scared me a bit.  Of course the boys loved it.    I was just hoping the ride was over when Kade stood up to get off, it was a good 4 min ride.  Hopefully the video works... It's hard to see but a canopy goes over the ride and it's pretty fast, then it goes backwards too.  I didn't know if it would ever end!

Then we saw the candy booth...and wow, I don't think I have ever seen that much candy in one place.  The lollipops were huge and there were so many different things to choose from.  Mike and I skipped it and decided to hit the pastry booth instead..yum.

We made them get a small lolli....

The next day Pres had another game and they lost.  It was their first loss and she was a bit bummed, but maybe learned that they can't always win.  We decided to go back home since Kade had a soccer game, so we will have to explore Holland another time.  We did find some clogs though...:)

We didn't even go to KFC or Burger King...we ended up missing the exit and had to eat at a McDonalds, now I am REALLY getting tired of that place!

We are so excited to have our first visitors!!!  Grammy and Paps are coming this week!