Life in Lent, Part 1

We've been in the Netherlands for almost a month now. It's gone by really fast. We're so pleased with where we're living and are glad to be here. We're finding whereever we go around here the people are friendly and patient, and our neighbors seem to be especially so.

Here's our "street," Dokter Huijgenhof. It's a group of 36 houses situated on an oval where the front of the homes look out onto the oval street and the green space and a playground in the center. It was all built 3 years ago and only one house had been sold in that time, so everyone knows each other. Also, there are tons of young kids around; we were told around 50.

Almost all the homes have a bench or chairs out front and often people sit out and talk or sit on the grass to visit. I think our home definitely needs a bench out front and we need to get our tushes in it. It is a great feel in the community to have everyone out so much.
Lots of homes are close together to save space and go straight up. Here's the tall view of our place.
Outside people ride bikes and other wheeled things in and around the oval, and kids run around playing games. Last Saturday it was warm so there was a great water gun fight most of the afternoon.
Below are kids at play again. Ian is in the red shirt with the ladybug umbrella and Dominic is the one hanging 1/2 off the platform. Steve and I have been so impressed with attitudes here. Everyone is generally calm, kind, friendly, and accepting. We even see it in the kids. Ian wanted to play "Red Rover" one day, so Dominic taught everyone and now we hear them playing it sometimes even when the boys aren't outside. Here someone has taken down the line. They play for keeps!

Here's a tour of some of the inside of our place. We really enjoy it here. On the ground floor there's the entry way - with a purple wall, even!

The living room...
And the kitchen. We both think the green cabinets are really fun. And there's a little garden area outback that also has the shed where the bikes and things are.
The we have some steep, slick stairs up to the second floor.
For the first time ever, they boys each have their own room. Here's Dominic's. He enjoys being about to look out the window every night as he's falling asleep. Which, by the way, is difficult because it doesn't get dark until after 10 p.m. here and their bedtime this summer is at 9.
And Ian's room. Ian really likes to look at the big map above his bed.
I guess I either ran out of camera batteries or steam here, but I don't have pictures of our bedroom, or the third floor that has the laundry, guest bed loft, and office.

And I'm out of steam again, because that's all for today. I'll do a part two soon about riding bikes, the area around here, and the animals and scenery we get to enjoy here.

Thanks for indulging all these pictures. We really miss you all and wish you could come visit, so this is my way to share and feel like you're here, too.

Take care!

Stacy (and the rest of the family, too)