Surprise Surprise!!!

Well as most of you know I am back in the USA. I arrived back in Nashville on the 24th (my birthday), after I was stuck in Philadelphia for a whole day. So for anyone planning to fly let me not reccommend USAirways. They suck. When I got home no one knew that I was coming back except for my mom, sister, brother, and my Aunt Wendy ( kirby let it slip) so it was a complet surprise to everyone else when I popped out. I missed Connor sooo much. He just loved on me and hugged me when he saw me. It was so precious. The birthday party was so much fun. I hid in my mom's bedroom until everyone arrived and then I waited till everyone was in the kitchen singing "happy birthday" and right up until they said "Happy Birthday dear Ramsey..." I popped out and said "And ME!". It took everyone a while to figure out that it was really me. Hunter's face was priceless. I loved getting to see my family again but it also made me miss my European families too. I miss you guys and love you and I will call soon. Lucy Happy (early) Birthday.

4 Days of Nijmegen!

Ok so here in Holland there is a huge event every year called "4 Days of Nijmegen". Its where people walk 30,40, and 50 kilometers four days in a row! Its absolutely amazing how strong these people are. So every night in Nijmegen and Cuijk, Anneloes's town, held different events this past week. Tuesday night Anneloes and I went to here friend Linda's for supper in Nijmegen and then walked downtown to watch the fireworks. If you think we know how to party back home you are so sadly mistaken. There are rides, booths, and all sorts of things to do. Its madness but in the best way possible. Wednesday night Guus, Anneloes's brother, and I went to Marianne's house to cook supper for some of the walkers. Her husband Jon was also walking and has been walking in this event for several years now. He and Anneloes's dad are very good friends. It was alot of fun cooking and eatin with the walkers. Afterwards I met up with lucy and we met some of her friends and headed downtown. We went to the Matrix in the park which was pretty much a big concert of house music. Although its not what I'm used too it was very exciting. Thursday night me, lucy, and jeroen made pizzas and then walked downtown to Cuijk because they build a bridge across the river for the walkers to cross and spectators are allowed to test it before they set it up for good on Friday. We listened to an orchestra play which was good and would have been better if it had not rained. Sadly the rain continued for today but we got up anyway and went to see more of the walkers head through Cuijk before they headed back to Nijmegen. We met up with some of jeroen's family who was walking in the event. Oh and I even saw some U.S. soldiers walking but i was too far away to yell for them. I am so glad I was here to get to experience this event because i thought it was truly fascinating. Lots of Love

Trip to the Zoo

Today we went to Berger's Zoo near Nijmegen. It was really fun. Anneloes, Jeroen, Jesse, and I walked around and saw all kinds of different animals. My favorite exhibit was the Ocean with the sharks and different types of fish. My other favorite were the chimpanzees. When we came around it was time for them to eat and they all lined up and started clapping and waving their hands at the zoo keeper who was throwing them apples and oranges I think. It was so funny it was like they were saying "Over here! Throw it to me!". After the zoo we came back to Anneloes's parents house and ate supper. She made some delicious chinese food ( or indonesian i'm not sure) either way it was really good. Tonight i think lucy and i are going to watch a movie. Oh and by the way its just 10 more days till my birthday!!!! I'm getting so excited. Well TTFN ta ta for now!

All by myself....

Well today is a little bit depressing. Not that I'm not having a wonderful time but Mom, Callie, and Trevor got on a plane back home this morning. I'm gonna miss thim. I don't think I've ever been away from mom for so long. But with Anneloes and Tessi's help I'm sure I'll be ok. Today we just hung out at Anneloes's apartment and then we came to her parent's house for dinner. Marian, lucy's mom, is a wonderful cook. I think we might go to another museum or shopping since the weather is kind of wet for the rest of the week. Friday Tessi is coming to pick me up and then I'll be back at Anneloes's sometime next week. Well I love ya'll and I hope everyone has gotten their postcards I sent out. Take care of everyone till i get back in three weeks!! LOVE YA

4/7 Amsterdam

Today we got up and walked to the train station with Marion. We met Anneloes and her youngest brother ,Gus, and hopped a train to Amsterdam. This place was amazing. It was bustling with tourists and natives coming and going. First on our agenda was to visit the Anne Frank house. Stepping through the doors was like stepping back in time. It was a mixture of emotions intrigue that people lived like this, sadness for what they had to endure, and remorse remembering all of those people who suffered during that time. After going through the museum we walked down to the red light district. And let me tell you it was an interesting little walk. We passed "coffe shops"that didn't sell coffee lol but marijuana and even got to see a couple of prostitutes with their "red lights"on. Amsterdam is the only place in the world I think that red means go lol.After that we got on a boat and took a tour around the city. Some of us accidentally fell asleep(me mom and trevor) but it was fun. Then we went to McDonald's and some souvenir shops. It was a really fun day. Now we're back at Anneloes's parents house. They fixed us some Dutch snacks, fries, frickadel, crouqet, and some other things and they were all delicious. Well gotta got ya'll will be seeing most of the party in a couple of days. lots of love

Happy Fourth of July!

Its the fourth of July here on the other side of the world its totally different. The streets are not lined with red, white, and blue but Anneloes made us feel at home cause she made us some treats that were red, white, and blue. She made some muffins and m&m's (red and blue) and she put some cute little American flags in them. The past few days we"ve just been laying around at tessi's and last night we made mexican food for tessi's family. It was delicious. Today we're hangin out at Anneloes's apartment with little Jesse. Tonight we are going to her parent's house to eat dinner. I'm excited that we get to spend time with lucy now and she said she's got all kinds of fun stuff for us to do. well i'll update you guys soon. love ya

Fun in the Sun

Today we got up and went to the Xanten. We visited another cathedral there which was interesting and saw some cool local shops. Then we visited an old town which looked like a scene out of Gladiator. It was so cool. There was a temple like building and even a colliseum but not as big as "the Colliseum" in Rome. It was really fun to get to see all of that history. Then we went to a waterpark. Trevor, Leo, and I tried the waterskiing. It is nothing like waterskiing at home. You're not on a boat being dragged around the water but its on a lake and a cable system is hooked above yous so your pulled around the lake by a rope on skis but you still have to hold on. Man was I nervous because the guide couldn't speak very much english and I don't know enough german so the first time out.... let's just say this horse didn't make it out of the gate. The second attempt however was more promising. I never fully stood up but i was squatting on skis being drug around the lake. Trevor's first time was more successful than mine but his second attempt wasn't so good. Leo was an expert it seemed lapping us about 5 times before he fell off. After the park we came home and had a barbeque and Anneloes, Jeroen, and Jesse came over too. Then Tessi and I did an episode of Cribs 'European Style so i'll have to show everyone when i get home. Well ttfn ta ta for now.

Sorry I left you hanging

Ok so after the European Cup ( to my dismay Germany did not win) we crashed. We got to meet Tess's grandmother, aunt, and uncle. They are all very sweet. Monday we went to the city of Cologne and checked out the DOM Cathedral. It was huge. The art and history in this place was absolutely amazing. We decided to do some shopping and grab a bite to eat before we went back for the tour. Oh and ladies here is one cool thing about Germany, when we were parking in the garage there were spaces with a female symbol on it... yea those spots were reserved for females only. How cool is that. That would probably never happen in America. So we did some shopping and then took a tour or the DOM. After we stepped outside we saw some familiar gold arches... that's right we found McDonald's. Trevor was so excited! I think he had that look when kid's know Santa came when they wake up on Christmas morning. So we ate at McDonald's and then split into two groups to do some more shopping because we didn't want the boys to be stuck with us. We met back a couple hours later and then visited another cathedral the Grob of St. Martin. It was an older church and smaller too. A lot of these places were completely destroyed after WWII. So that ended our trip to Cologne and then we came home, at supper, and Jenny & Mary brought over some movies. The first one was 'I know who killed me' which was very creepy and weird and not just because it had Lindsey Lohan in it. Then to shake of the scary movie we watched my big fat greek wedding. It was so cute. Well that's all for now lots of love.