The Vos Feest

Saturday was the Vos gathering - 39 people from my mother's side of the family. In the morning, Jesper, Lisanne and I helped Cor and Coby get the food prepared. And then before you knew it the house was full of people! It was a very nice time - these are people I have met before or have at least heard of!

I'm not sure what to call her, but Melanie, the daughter of my cousin, and I shared fuzzy memories of my last trips here. When I was 7 and she was 5, I remember us making mud pies on someone's sidewalk. She remembers - and still has - a rainbow necklace I gave her, which must have been during the trip we made when I was 13. I was VERY into rainbows back then... I think I successfully convinced her and her fiance to come to Seattle in the summer of 2008!

There were a lot of blond little children running around - at once point there were 9 under the age of 5! Plus Ron and Han brought their dog, Youpie. It was hard to talk to many people because of the activity and sheer number - I wish I could have had more one on one time with everyone. I have a much better grasp of everyone's names from this group - here is a pretty good idea of who was there and how they fit it. Actual attendees are in bold. All names on the left are my Mom's brothers and sister.

Oom Dirk/Tante To - Kees (son) and his wife Joke, son Jesper, daughter Flortje.

Oom Jaap/Tante Yo - Marja (daughter) and her husband Loutje, daughter Anouk and her "friend"( what the Dutch call someone you have children with but aren't married to) and 3 daughters, Marja and Loutje's son Andy and his 2 daughters.

- Robert (son) and his wife Thea and their sons Jamie and Wesley.

Tante Jenny - Ronnie (daughter) and her husband Han, daughter Melanie and her "friend"and their son Thomas and daughter, Ron and Han's daughter Marsha and her "friend"and their twin sons Wes and Raul.

- Cor (son) and his wife Coby and their son Jesper and daughter Lisanne (the party hosts and who I am staying with)

Oom Leen

Mom, Dad and Me

Hopefully that makes sense. I seem to be missing someone... Oh well! Here's the pics:


Marsha, Thea and Wesley


Han with he granddaughter


Loutje, Marja, my Dad and Oom Leen


The spread


Loutje, Anouk with her youngest daughter, Robert and Wesley looking at something cool on the computer


Tante Jenny, Tante Yo and me


Andy, Dad, Han, Melanie's "friend", Marsha's "friend"


Marsha, Melanie's "friend", Flortje, Joke and Jesper


Ronnie and Han (no, Ellen - you don't look alike anymore!)


Dad, Mom, Oom Leen, Tante Jenny, Tante Yo and me


Raul and Wes


Mom, Thea, Marja and her youngest granddaughter


Jesper making the zalm sla - salmon salad


Lisanne wrapping up wursts


The moie zalm sla (pretty salmon salad - decades of "odd" summer salads have been explained on this trip)


Melanie, Thea, Andy's youngest daughter, Marja and her youngest granddaughter


The smoking circle - Thea, Tante Jenny and Mom (who was just keeping them company)

Woerden and Rotterdam with the Lodder's

Today we spent the day with Luuk Lodder, a cousin of my Dad's on his mother's side, and his wife, Connie. We were picked up at 10 AM (far too early for me - I was not my normal pleasant self just then
:-) ) and went to their house in Woerden, where we were promptly served coffee and baked goods, of course! After some talking we had a lunch of soup and broodtjes (sandwiches) and then Connie, Mom and I took a walk around the neighborhood while Luuk and Luke were supposed to take a nap. Well, Luuk takes one everyday and we thought it would be a good idea if Luke would, too! When we came back, both men were sitting up talking - apparently the phone rang a few times interrupting any possible nap, but I think Luke might have had something to do with it, too!

We then headed out to Kinderdijk to look at the windmills. I have a bit of a thing for windmills so despite seeing them practically around every corner, I was excited. This is a site of about 20 windmills and was pretty cool. I wish we were there earlier when the sun was still shining but the greyness adds to the pictures, I think.

As the rain started, we got in the car and headed to Rotterdam. Luuk and Connie had the great idea to have dinner in a restaurant that was built on the dock where my parents boarded the ship that took then to the United States 55 years ago. The Hotel New York is in the building where the Holland-Amerika Lijn had its offices, and where my parents were dropped off by their parents and friends oh so long ago. It was a fantastic idea, which Dad really appreciated. We were joined by Luuk's brother, Ari, and had a delicious dinner.

When I got home, I watched a little bit more of the World Cup Speed Skating Final from Calgary - an event that barely registers a blip on any other country's radar but here is shown on TV in 4+ hour blocks over several days. I gave up after a few of the women's 3000m races - my brain is reaching overload from translating Dutch to English as well as having to attempt to speak it beacuse my father has told everyone that I can speak it fluently after my 3 continuing education courses. Sigh... Off to bed - tomorrow we go to Belgium to see my aunt and uncle, and need to be on the road by 9 AM. I will post about the Vos family gathering soon - it's too much to do yet tonight.

Oh! And thanks for all your comments! I am glad you are enjoying this blog so far - keep the comments coming!


A canal in Connie and Luuk's neighborhood


Connie and Mom talking and walking


Crocuses in bloom!


A windmill


Several windmills


Luuk and Luke talking, not walking


More windmills


Dad, Mom, Luuk and Connie in front of a windmill


The Nieuw Amsterdam - a ship similar to the one my parents came to America on


Luuk, Connie, Mom, Dad and Ari


Hotel New York

Pooped

I am too tired to write about today's events right now. I have stayed up waaay too late the past few nights blogging and the days have been so full. I am going to bed to rest my brain. I'll try to post tomorrow morning before I have to leave - it's Luuk Lodder Day!

Meet the van Golens

Today was the day I got to meet a whole part of my family that until about 5 years ago and the magic of the internet, we never knew even existed. My Dad's dad had 2 brothers, and until about the end of WWII, their families mingled. Around that time, my grandmother forbade any interaction with the rest of the family and they essentially faded from my Dad's memory. One of the sons of those brothers became interested in his family tree and found me, my brother and Dad in various internet searches, and although the spelling was a bit different, he thought the "Luke"and "John" he found might just be the cousins he remembered playing with as a boy. Close enough! Long story short, stories were exchanged and relationships built. Pieter is one of 8 children, and they are a close family. On recent trips to Holland by my parents and later my brothers, Pieter and his wife Anna organized a gathering of all their family so they could meet the other Vangolens. Today was my turn - I got to meet about 30 members of my family I never knew before. It was cool - awesome - great! They are a wonderful bunch of people. It is a very weird feeling to know all of the sudden that there are so many people out in the world that you share a history with. Weirder still - seeing resemblances in those people to the people in your family. One of Pieter and Anna's daughters, Maaicha (pronounced "Micah") has a 9-month old son that reminded me so much of my nephew Andrew when he was little. And a daughter of my Opa's other brother looked and acted so much like my oldest sister, Ellen, it was freaky.

And then we ate. Hours later - I am still miserably overstuffed because from the time Pieter picked us up at 10 AM until we were dropped off at 9 PM, our mouths never went empty for more than a few minutes. Or so it feels! My Dad finally had his haring (we were unsuccessful in finding an open shop in Amsterdam the other day) and Mom had her beloved advocaat - twice! And me - I had my first serving of vla. And my second. :-)

And now it's time for bed - we get to do the family thing again tomorrow, this time with 30 members from my mother's side of the family. And I KNOW there will be kroketten - I helped buy them the other day!



My Dad on the Waverbrug that he and his brother played on as children with Pieter and his brothers.



This little yellow sticker above the toilet paper in Pieter and Anna's bathroom gives instructions on what to do when you hear the flood alarms sound - similar to our instructions for lahars, earthquakes or tornadoes . I thought it was interesting, although I think they think I am a bit off for taking this picture!



Pieter and Anna's house. There is a little canal on the left side.



This would be said canal.



Maaicha and Joachum, who really does look like Andrew, although not so much in this photo. It was when he smiled.



Opa Pieter playing sjoelbak with his grandsons.



Florence, who is Ellen's doppelganger (standing).



Mom eating her advocaat. Lekker!



Everyone.



Coe, Anna, Hans and Maartin.



Pieter, a very sweet woman whose name is escaping me right now (Kees' wife), Kees and Dad dishing up.



Eating...



Pieter and Kees.



Boys will be boys...

And finally, a video of the group singing Lang Zal Ze Leven, the Dutch version of Happy Birthday, for Maaicha's birthday, which was today. Sorry about the shaky camera work - I was caught off-guard!

Action shots

I think I figured out how to load video to YouTube and thought I'd share some church bells ringing in Amsterdam and the wind in action at Oosterscheldekering.

The War with Water (and Today - Wind)

Today we went down to Zeeland to see the Oosterscheldekering - a dam that the Dutch built across a major inlet from the North Sea as part of its answer to a major flood in 1953 that killed over 1800 people and flooded much of the southern provinces. The Dutch have long battled the sea, turning much of into land. Being the stubborn folk that they are, they weren't going to let a flood like that happen again and created a plan called the Deltawerken. The engineering behind the Oosterscheldekering is often mentioned in the plans to help New Orleans be prepared for the next hurricane. This science nerd thought it was pretty cool - the tenacity (audacity?) and ingenuity of the Dutch is quite amazing. It was a beautiful day - but waaaaaaay windy. The windmills were cranking away, and we did our best to not fall over. And yes - there were broodtje krokets for lunch!







Mom and me in the theatre with our 3D specs on


Typical windmill scene seen in the car on the way home

A day of rest

Did not a whole lot of anything today - I'm on vacation - I'm entitled. I could have spent the day with my parents and their old chums from back when they lived here and were dating, but I chose to not do that - they can reminisce without me! Got to see Holland's version of Costco - Makro - as we did shopping for Saturday's Vos family feast. Even in this bulk warehouse, the portions are, well, proportionate. When you buy the 3-pack of shampoo, it's 3 bottles that are about 8 ounces each - usable in one's lifetime. Everything here is like that. Space is at a premium so you don't do grocery shopping just once a week - you have no where to store it. You go almost every day to get what you need. Packages are not super-sized and you can actually get the fresh fruit dealer to cut a head of cauliflower in half if that's all you want/need. It's a good thing!

OK - off to bed - it's the Delta Works tomorrow!