May 17 – 27: DeJong Visit

Finally, the long-awaited DeJong Visit blog. Keep in mind that there were over 1000 pictures (about 975 from the DeJongs) to go through.

We had our first non-family visitors to Düsseldorf in May: Liz & Jerod DeJong, from ABQ, NM. Liz had a trade show in Italy for a week, and the couple decided to extend her stay and have Jerod meet up with us for a Counts-DeJong holiday (Urlaub for your Germans). The DeJongs were able to leave JD w/ Grandma; so poor Zach didn’t get a playmate with the holiday.

We were very busy and tried to get in as much stuff, including just seeing how we live, as possible. A not-so-quick timeline of what we did:
Thursday, May 17: Liz arrives from Italy




Friday, May 18: Jerod’s flight arrives an hour early to DUS and he has to sit around waiting for Art to come get him. They pick up the rental car and head back to our apartment. We pack up the car while Jerod freshens up a bit and we all leave for Gouda, Holland. Not surprising, we get lost, but finally end up at our B&B. Onno and his two older kids (he has a newborn as well) Tycho & Yke met us at the B&B and we all went for a quick lunch at a bakery. Then off of a fantastic tour at a full-working farm that makes Gouda cheese as a by-product of their farm. It was just the 8 of use, including the 3 kiddos, so it was a private tour. It was wonderful to learn all about how cheese is made, see the cows, pigs, sheep, bunnies, and farm equipment. Best of course were the tastings – cheese after the video, and ice cream (made from their own milk) after the tour. YUM! We bought some cheese to take back w/ us of course. Then back to the B&B for a rest before heading to Onno’s (via a quick tour of the city) for dinner of Indonesian take-out. A nice evening of sitting around talking and snacking after the kids went to bed (Zach got to use Sybe’s new bed since he wasn’t in it yet.). Saturday, May 19: AMSTERDAM Thanks to a suggestion by Onno, we parked the car at the Ajax stadium and took the train into Amsterdam. Once there, we found a little bar off the beaten path to have lunch, then off to a canal tour. This time was more enjoyable because I could hear the entire tour, but we didn’t all get to sit together, and it got pretty hot on the boat. We did a lot of walking around and saw Rembrandt’s house, the Red Light district (I think L&J were pretty shocked), and lots of little things around the city. We all decided to try and get back to Düsseldorf at a reasonable hour, hopefully in time for dinner. That didn’t happen, we had to eat dinner at a rest stop which ended up being pretty good food for a cafeteria. Sunday May 20th: We still had the rental car, but we made L&J take the train to church with Zach & I, just so they could get the feel of what our life is usually like. We were nice and let them ride home in the car though. I did stand up and introduce them at church, much to Art’s chagrin, though Liz enjoyed getting applauded. Liz was nice enough to stay in the nursery watching over a sleeping Zachary while Jerod helped us out w/ the youth group, InsideOut. Then a nice relaxing afternoon at home after Art and Jerod returned the rental car. We took Dexter and Zach outside in the front garden to play. After Zach went to bed, we watched School of Rock.

Monday May 21st: Mostly a relaxing day. Art went to work, Jerod slept until 1pm, Liz, Zach and I went to the N&F, we all ate lunch, then went to the Plus and the fruit market. After dinner, we all headed downtown for Jerod’s birthday. We stopped first at a famous bar, then moved onto walking along the Rhine and making our way over to the Fox brewery. Jerod got a massive piece of meat while the rest of us got dessert. Zach would NOT sleep, and I finally got irritated, put him in his stroller, covered him up and went for a walk.



Tuesday May 22: Köln: Art got up early and went to work so he could clock in. Then we all went to the train station to head out to Köln. It is quite an impressive sight to walk out of the train station and be right in front of the Dom Cathedral. We spent a bit of time taking pictures of the outside, then off to the El De Haus. First, we stopped at some souvenir shops so LJ could get some stuff. Then we had lunch in this cute little café that had a live parrot. We all got pancakes w/ stuff in it – mine was bacon, Art & Liz had apple cinnamon, and Jerod had salami or some other thing like that. Liz and I got hot chocolates, each with our own pitcher and mug, and it was quite yummy. Then off to the El De Haus, which is a museum that used to be an old Gestapo headquarters. So lots of history there. We basically ran out of time, b/c we needed to be back at the cathedral at 2:30 for the English tour. The tour of the church was quite good, but I had to bail early b/c Zach just kept losing it. It was way past his naptime, but wouldn’t go to sleep – not even in the ‘sleeper hold’ of old. Then I had to change him as he’d peed through everything, and he refused to let me on the pew (sacrilege maybe?), so I had to change him on my lap – not my favorite. But I knew I would get to do the tour next time when my mom was in town. After the tour, Art & Jerod decided to climb the 354 (?) stairs to the top of the cathedral tower while Liz and I chilled. I ended up walking Z outside under the cover of his blanket so he would fall asleep. After that we all went to a bar, deceptively called the Bier Museum. Hmm. Then back to the train station for snacks for Art and Jerod at the Köln station, and nutella crepes for all at the Düsseldorf train station! So YUMMY!
Wed. May 23: Düsseldorf day. Jerod sleeps late (lucky him!), Art goes to work, and after lunch, four of us (minus Art) head to the BMW bike dealership for Jerod to go gaga over bikes seen here that are not released in the US yet. Even though I am not a bike person, it was pretty neat to see all of them. Then we headed back to a Bier Garden near our house, but BOO, it did not open until 4pm (it was 3), so we headed back to the apartment. Art came home early, and we played some hoopla (or WILD hoopla for Jess and Janneke) until dinnertime. After dinner we had to pack and get ready for leaving on Thursday to Bavaria. Thursday May 24: Nuremberg. Art goes into the office early for a few hours while the rest of us try to hurry to get ready. I had to run to the Schlecker to get some baby food. Art and Jerod went to the airport to pick up the car and came back and we all packed up. It was a nice BMW w/ a nav system in ENGLISH this time, unlike our France trip. We stop for a picnic lunch at a rest stop that was TOO hot. It was a window into the rest of the weekend. We arrived at our B&B (more like hotel) in time to unpack, take a little rest, and meet downstairs for dinner at the hotel restaurant, out in the Bier Garden. It was a wonderful, relaxing place. They waitress loved Zach and asked if she could take him into the kitchen to show him off. Odd, but ok. Europe is so different that way. I would never in a million years feel comfortable to do that in the States, but for some reason, Germany is just so baby crazy that it seems ok. Zach got put to bed at his normal time of 8pm, and we all sat downstairs in the bier garden to play cards (Ziggity and Rummy) and chat. It was a wonderful location, b/c our hotel window was right by the tables, so we could hear Z if there was any issue. It was better than having a babysitter. Art and I got to go out with friends w/out Zach AND w/out the worry of wondering if he is ok. Absolutely perfect.
Friday May 25: Inglostadt. Today was Jerod’s BIG DAY in Germany…a day catered specifically to Jerod’s desires. We all got up, had a great breakfast at the restaurant, outside in the garden. Then we leave for the Audi factory in Inglostadt, about an hour or so away. We get there in plenty of time before our 12:30pm tour and decide to look around a bit as well as have another picnic lunch. Jerod was so jazzed he couldn’t eat. The tour was about 2 hours long and very cool. I loved that they gave everyone their own amplifying headset, so you could hear the tour guide, no matter how far away you were. Plus, the factory was very loud, which worked out great b/c no one would have heard Zach making any noise. However, it was wasted on him, as he was well behaved and not at all complainy the entire time. Art was way freaked out by all the robots. They did look pretty scary at times, as though they may turn on you at any moment! My favorite assembly line part was a little chair the workers sit in that is attached to an arm that lowers them into the car (where the seat would be) so they can work on the inside of the car w/out actually touching it. Then of course I got a little geeky when they started talking about JIT and such. After the tour we had a little snack in the restaurant then off to the museum. I would have enjoyed the museum a lot more if I had not been exhausted, but it was still very cool, AND bonus, all the plaques were in English as well. We got back to our hotel close to 7 and decided to go ahead and eat there, since it was getting late for Z and we wanted to be able to eat w/out any major meltdowns and get him to bed on time. The four adults hung around outside again playing Rummy and chatting.
Saturday May 26th: After another yummy breakfast at the hotel, we sadly had to leave. We were off to Rothenberg, a medieval town. It was neat to walk around and see everyone in period costume. We ate lunch at a little café that had nice huge beer steins. After lunch we went to a Criminal museum which was way better than I expected. We all enjoyed it quite a bit. You should ask Art about the walking wind sometime if you want a funny story. There was also a lady whose low-rise jeans were SO low, when she sat down, they were almost totally off her bum…yes, I felt obligated to take a picture. We headed back after that and made it in time for dinner at the house – frozen pizzas again. Art and I prepared for our youth group lesson the next day and everyone went to bed early, after watching some football (soccer) on tv, and chatting on the phone (Liz).
Sunday May 27th: Art takes Liz and Jerod back to the airport and returns the car. The three of us are back to just us again and make our way back to church where we give a horrible InsideOut (youth group) lesson that probably scared away 2 people from ever going back. We were just exhausted. Hard to believe that it went by so fast!

ZMC – He’s a biped folks!

Yes, FrankenZach has arrived. As many of you know, Zach took his first steps by himself on Mother’s Day – May 13th. Since that moment, he has been practicing his walking more and more, generally back and forth between two people. He is called FrankenZach because of the Frankenstein way he (and all new walkers) holds his arms out in front of him, or above his head for balance. This past weekend, with his Nana in town, something finally clicked in Zach’s head about walking. He realized that it could be used to go where he wanted to, not just a fun thing to do for short distances. On Saturday, we were at the Palace Loo in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, and he started walking on his own quite a bit, with some idea of where he’d like to go. Then on Sunday, before we had to take Nana back to the airport, he finally got it – he was able to walk where he wanted. And BOY DID HE! He started walking all over the house, from the bedroom through doorways and into the kitchen. Turning around, stopping, bending down, all things he mastered on Sunday. It was amazing really that once that bit of info clicked he was like a madman. I was shocked to be in the kitchen, turn around and see him walking into the kitchen. Crazy. Now walking is his primary means of transportation. He crawls only when he needs to pull up on something to continue walking – he has not learned how to stand up on his own yet. So now begins the onerous task of teaching him to not walk off, and that he has to hold onto the stroller or our hand when we say so. Sigh. When did he get so big? I guess it is official, we now have ourselves a toddler.