Monday, March 26, 2007

Our Europe Trip - Part VIII - The Voyage Home

The last days of a vacation... Always the ones you don't really want to experience. You start to feel the drag of the every day life again and the first days of the vacation are still too fresh to let go just yet.

However, those days always come and we actually used them well. On Friday we didn't do a whole lot. We started making some adjustments to the many, many pictures we took. Started the initial keep vs. discard procedure and still ended up with about 1000 pictures. That happens in photograpy families. Just part of the deal.

We did drive up to Zeist to meet one of my groomsmen, Pascal, his wife Climmy and their son Ramon. We talked about the upcoming weeks and looked at their wedding pictures. I was even in a few of the shots... ;-) We went out for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. Very good food, but I do have a whole new appreciation for non-smoking laws in restaurants and public places. Especially since it affects Jen like a bad hay-fever day.

We talked a bit more after dinner and had a nice drive back home where my parents were still up so we talked a bit more before we decided to call it a day.

On Saturday we went to the market in Helmond. Always a great experience to visit a local market wherever you travel. This time we just shopped for dinner, but I did buy Jen a beautiful bouquet of flowers filled with daisies, calla-lillies and roses. I love being able to buy those kind of things without taking a serious bite out of your budget. Flowers are so much cheaper in Holland, it's almost criminal... ;-)

Saturday night we had an engagement-party for my part of the family. Since most of them won't make it to the wedding in the States it was a great way for the family to congratulate us and to meet Jen (and vise-versa of course).

So the party was the final link in an impressive 10-day vacation which will be remembered forever. What a great time we had, and thanks to the blogs, we'll have a record of it as well. Sometimes IT actually is a good thing. The last couple posts are the proof...

Thanks for all the comments on the previous posts. We loved reading them!!

P.S.: Feel free to comment some more... I promise we keep loving to read them...

4 comments:

jens mom said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I am looking forward to hearing you are home safely, and to seeing all 1000 picures!!!!

Anonymous said...

I like this latest picture of you two the best!
I still picture Jen as a tiny tot, being bounced on her mother's shoulder as her Chi strolled around Gramma and Grampa Manthei's old house in Blackduck, and my sister singing along to whatever was playing on the record player!
uff dah, was that a life time ago?
The auntie Lore-lee

Unknown said...

Ok Niels...I read the whole blog! (well this part of it anyway) Congrats to both of you on a wonderful, God filled engagement!!! Looking forward to seeing pics and hearing more about all this in person.
I'll be praying for you guys!
brotherly love,
Jason

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