Our Adventure in Europe

So our flights were rather uneventful, aside from having to go through security at each airport (Columbus, Chicago and Dublin) – take off shoes, jackets & belts, now pull out laptops, cameras and hard drives, bag of non-hazardous toiletries and place on security belt, & proceed through line, simultaneously grab luggage, shoes, belts, bags, & electronics awkwardly and proceed barefoot to the nearest chair to reassemble and head to the gate.

We made it to Brussels in one piece to discover two of Jeff’s bags (golf clubs and clothes/shoes) did not arrive with us. We made the decision to skip waiting in line with 100+ other people to file a claim, so that we could meet Jon on the other side of customs and deal with this later. A trip back to the airport later in the day to file a claim found a shorter line to deal with, but also resulted in a mild fender bender (fortunately no one was hurt). Ah, Jon and Christine must be so happy to have us here. Anywho, the car is getting repaired, the trip to Paris has been postponed, but everyone is safe and sound.

Marcus (our 7 month old nephew) is absolutely adorable with these smiles that just light up his face and you can’t help smiling right back at him. Jeff and I are very lucky to have such a gorgeous nephew and beautiful niece – we only hope the genes work for us some day too! So, we are going to help teach little Marcus English since he mostly hears Dutch every day. We will have him saying, “Aunt Staci and Uncle Jeff rock!” before we leave. Click picture to view gallery.

Good news – Jeff’s bags have arrived. Let’s hope the next trip to the airport is less crazy. Well Jeff and I are off to walk to the local pharmacy and pick up some formula for Marcus. Let’s see how good our Dutch is now shall we? Hallo! Ik heet Staci. See, we are proficient already! HA!