Eindhoven

This past weekend we packed up the VW and hit the road for a good ol' fashion road trip. We headed all the way to the southern part of the Netherlands. Only an hour and a half later, including a slight detour because the highway/freeway was closed for widening, we arrived in the 5th largest city in the country, Eindhoven. Eindhoven was merely a small village back as early as 1900 but has grown exponentially due to the arrival of Philips, which was founded here. The population is now in the 200,000's.

As we drove further south we noticed more and more farms. Eindhoven has a city center as well as a technology campus but reminded us of Issaquah, as there are lots of trails, woods, and farm land surrounding the center of the city. Maarten, Marja, and the kids live in a very nice neighborhood which is only a ten minute bike ride from the barn they ride at. In fact Philine can ride her bike there by herself in order to tend to her pony. The neighborhood also has a nice small wooded area just across the street from their house where the kids can play.

All of the books we have been reading about the Netherlands claim that Dutch kids are some of the happiest in the world. We have found that children here are given much more freedom than they are in the U.S. They can ride their bikes almost everywhere on their own. On our way out of Aalsmeer on Saturday we were driving behind what must have been a 10-year old boy and his younger brother, who we estimate was no older than 5 or so. They were riding their bikes through town all on their own right down the middle of the street, yet cars yield to bikes here, so you don't really have the same worries about being on a bike, that you do in the U.S. No one here bothers to wears bike helmets either! Since arriving we have probably seen hundreds of thousands of bicyclists, but not one with a helmet (not even the kids).

Once we arrived in Eindhoven we had a little time with just Danique and Niels, as Philine and Marja were still at the barn preparing for Philine's horse show the next day. It was great to have a home cooked meal for the first time in a few weeks. We also very much enjoyed an evening catching up with everyone. It was so wonderful to see how the kids had changed since being back but also how much has remain unchanged. All three of the kids have picked back up the Dutch language. Philine and Niels are even learning to read and write in Dutch at their school.

The next day Maarten, Niels, Danique, and Fudge took us on a mini tour of parts of Eindhoven (Philine and Marja were back to the barn to prepare for the show). We arrived at a wooded area where the kids could dig for pirate gold around the lake and Fudge could chase countless sticks (and small trees) into the lake. We had the place all to ourselves, at least until church let out. Once church let out the area was flooded with other people exercising their pups and their horses. We lucked out and enjoyed a beautifully sunny day! Here are some pictures.

The mini lake

Danique

Niels

Fudge

Yup, we saw this ;-)

After seeing some more sights around Eindhoven (lots of horses) it was time to go watch Philine in her first horse show since moving to the Netherlands. Not to mention her first horse show on her very own pony! She did a wonderful job and we were so happy that we were able to come cheer her on!

Philine and Dancing Girl, getting warmed up before the show

Preparing to enter the arena.

After the show we headed back to the house for some lunch and more play time. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Aalsmeer. We are both adjusting to life here, more and more each day, but it was wonderful to spend some time with "family". Tracy will head down to spend a couple days with the kids at the end of October while Nick is on a work trip. There is also a trip with them to Switzerland in the works for Christmas. We couldn't be happier to be in the same country again!

Tomorrow is moving day for us! No more hotel!!! Woo-hoo!