Adrian’s First Sinterklaas

After two years of canceled trips and dashed plans, we finally made it to the Netherlands to see Ramon’s family and introduce them to Adrian. While the country was locked down, we couldn’t do much outside the house which was fine because it was priceless to visit our Dutch friends and family.

One of the passengers sitting next to us on the flight said Adrian was, “Exeplary”. He fell asleep going up, woke up once to eat and then woke up as we were landing in Amsterdam. Ramon’s parents picked us up from Schipol and it’s safe to say Oma and Opa were a hit from the start.

We spent a weekend visiting friends in Groningen. First stop being Hans, Renee, and Rens home.

We ate lunch at Gustacios, my favorite restaurant in the entire world.

We had a lovely Airbnb in the city just off Oosterstraat and we had friends visit us there in shifts due to the Covid restrictions. Adrian got to do all of his favorite things, like touching faces with beards and looking at himself in the mirror, with some of his Daddy’s good friends.

We spent some quality time with Oma and Opa playing at the house and going for walks.

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For several days we stayed at the Van Der Meij household. The house was beautiful and it was so great seeing Tanta Daphne and Ome Wout. Adrian and his cousins, Koen and Mare, got to know each other and had a blast playing.

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Oma and Opa came and stayed the night and we spent the whole next day playing. It was wonderful to get to see how fascinated Adrian was with Koen and Mare and how interested they were in him.

We took some time trying to get a cousin photo. Obviously trying to get them all to look in the same direction proved an impossible task: pictures were just as cute though.

We spent an afternoon in Hoorn posing for a professional photo shoot. The pictures turned out so good, they get their own post. We had a lovely night giving Sinterklaas gifts and reading our poems. The next morning Koen and Mare opened presents from Ome Ramon and Tanta Courtney as well as Robert and Linda.

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The trip was too short but soon we were back at Schipol and on a flight home. Adrian was the picture of patience and, while he was definitely more fussy and awake on the way home, we still got compliments on how well he traveled.

At U.S. customs, the agent looked at Adrian’s passport and then called over the counter, “Adrian!” and when Adrian looked over at who had called his name the agent nodded his head. Granna and Papa picked us up from the airport and Adrian was excited to see them after the long time away.

While Covid dictated the rules for our visit, it didn’t dampen our good time. Seeing everyone and introducing them to Adrian was a joy and we look forward to our next trip.