The Beauty of Stateside

Tomorrow we fly to the U.S. for winter break. I'm dropping the kids in Nashville and continuing on to NYC to spend the week touring real estate and schools with DS (well, partially together, since DS now has to go to Europe for meeting while we're finally stateside . . . but, such is our life right now!).

This is first time the kids have stayed at someone's house for an extended period sans parents. I'm so excited for them and for Nana. Our family network has been pretty small over the years, and one of the most exciting aspects of our move back to the U.S. (and specifically the east coast) is that we will be near family. Bring on the village! These private, individual moments the kids share with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and soon-to-be cousins are so precious, and so formative.

Here are few snaps from Nana's last visit, just this December. We can't wait to get on that airplane tomorrow.

The Rijks:

I've managed to carve out a couple of days before we head back to Amsterdam and, as always, look forward to some one-on-one time with my mom, which we try to do during our visits.

In December, we visited the Anne Frank House--a very moving experience and tragic reminder in context of today's current events. Anne Frank's hiding place was adjacent to the church in the photo below; you can just make out the line of people queuing to get in. I've written at length about the Anne Frank House from my previous visits.

And we also ate pancakes, a must for any visitor to Amsterdam. Ahem, it's my mom's fifth visit to Amsterdam. :-)

That's how they do pancakes here in The Netherlands!

Till tomorrow, Nana!