First Visitors

March brought with it one of my favorite days - March 17th (as pictured here)

But, much more importantly, it brought some of my very favorite visitors. I feel so blessed to have such good friends living relatively close. Megan, Rijen and Fiona came from Germany to spend some time with us.

Megan is a childhood friend of mine and I am lucky to have this friendship continue into adulthood. While visiting one day, she asked me to say the first thing that came to mind when asked "How long have we been friends?"

My answer? "15 years"

Wrong!

Right Answer?? About 22 years.

It feels odd to say that, but it is true.

Rijen and Devin also have a history - albeit not as long as 22 years. They were friends from their missions and Megan and Rijen started dating before any of us ever made the connection that we all knew each other. It worked out so perfectly. They also have a lot in common, as you can see...

It was so wonderful to see them although it flew by too quickly. Clara and Jonas adore them all and Clara talked nonstop about Fiona for weeks before their arrival, to the point that her entire class knew about our visitors.

I felt the visit was the perfect blend of sightseeing and relaxing time at home. The kids had so much fun playing together and Megan and I had so much fun talking. We never seem to tire of new topics, do we?!

The first night, we stopped in Leeds for some delicious Indian cuisine and the kids got these suckers to help entertain them until the food came.

Clara wanted to be with Fiona as much as possible.

This meant walking with her:

feeding her:

reading to her (in a British accent, I might add - I discovered that she can turn it on and off while eavesdropping on this particular book reading session):

and even sharing an apple together:

As for Jonas? He pretty much just wanted to kiss her. What can I say, she's beautiful and has a cute personality - I approve!!

When at first you don't succeed, try, try again...

Success at last!!

When he wasn't trying to kiss her, he was showing off his belly while dining together. Who couldn't resist this face (not to mention this body) he asks?

As for the sightseeing, we spent one day (while Clara was at school - shhhh, don't tell) exploring part of the Yorkshire Dales. We drove to Bolton Abbey.

We had fun taking pictures of each other as well as the beautiful abbey.

Once we had been blown sufficiently by the wind, we stopped in Appletreewick for an amazing pub lunch. Absolutely delicious.

Another day was spent in York. We first stopped at Clifford's Tower where the daffodils were in full, beautiful bloom.

Afterwards, we walked through the Shambles. This is an old street in York with some buildings dating back as far as the 14th century. It was interesting to see these old buildings, many of which seem to be sloping quite a bit.

Next we made our way to Minster Abbey.

We had fun exploring and Megan and I even managed to fit in some shopping.

What did we do during our down time, you ask?

Megan and Clara had international dance-fest. This is where Clara suggests a country (or group of people) and Megan finds a cultural dance for them to dance along with on YouTube. Some examples, although not limited to, are Native American Hoop dances, Hula dancing, Chinese dances, Russian, Square Dance, Italian, Turkish. The list goes on and on. Clara loved it - but that should be no surprise.

Meanwhile, Fiona and Jonas practiced their mad walker skills. Jonas discovered that he loves walking outside and his speed practically doubled. He even pushed Devin's hands away when he tried to pick him up. This was a MAJOR breakthrough. I hope his enthusiasm keeps up. He is making huge progress. Fionas seemed to have noticed our excitement and decided she wanted to try it out. She was super fast and so cute cruising around in the walker.

Another favorite part of the day was when Megan would read bedtime stories to Clara and Fiona.

One of my favorite days was when Rijen generously offered to stay home with Jonas and Fiona while Megan and I walked into town. Harrogate is filled with upscale stores that I know would never appreciate me with my loud child strolling through. With this rare opportunity, we went into some beautiful, expensive stores and pretended to choose what we would get if we could get anything (I remember playing a similar game as a child looking through toy catalogues and choosing one toy on each page). At one point, while trying on some sunglasses, the sales lady seemed to think we could honestly afford them and it was a bit tricky getting out of that situation gracefully. Still, it was so much fun shopping together and having time together sans children.

It was hard on all of us to say goodbye at the end of such a wonderful visit. Thankfully we knew we'd be meeting up in Amsterdam in a week or so which made it a little easier. Still though, the house felt empty without Megan, Rijen and cute little Fiona.