8 years of Ennio!!!

8 jaar Ennio! Wat herinner ik me die geboorte nog goed, maar ook: wat vliegt de tijd! Ongelooflijk dat mijn baby al 8 is! Hij was super happy en vooral heel gelukkig dat er zoveel cadeautjes op tafel lagen. Dank je, Oma Eva, je was weer veel te gul! Ook Lily gaf het commentaar dat het precies Kerstmis was! (er waren ook een aantal cadeautjes voor haar erbij van oma). Van ons kreeg Ennio de figuren Bullseye en Slinky the Dog van Toy Story, van Lily een pet van Knotts Berry Farm (had ze vorige week van haar eigen centjes gekocht voor Ennio!) en van oma vooral boeken over vliegtuigen en kleren. Dank je wel!!!

Ook bezorgde ik een traktatie aan de klas. Ik hield het simpel, maar vond het stiekem wel een superleuk idee! Ik kocht enkele cakes in de supermarkt (geen tijd om die zelf te maken), sneed die in "frietjes" en spoot er een toef slagroom op: voilà, fake frietjes met mayonnaise! En zo deden de kindjes nog een cultureel weetje op ook: in België eet men frietjes uit een puntzak en niet met ketchup, maar met mayonnaise! Ze waren er allemaal gek van: missie geslaagd!

April Activities!

Hanging out in our court yard!

Getting a haircut and ice cream after!

Sleepover at Leon's!

Going on rollercoasters with Ford!

Easter Brunch!

Lake Tahoe!

Lily and Ennio with Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Rolla

After many, many years, we finally managed to meet up with Marilyn and Rolla Ogle, my 3rd host family when I was an exchange student in Ukiah in 1993-94. Marilyn might possibly be the best host mom you can ever imagine. Even after I left and returned home to Belgium, she kept in touch by writing cards for every single holiday occasion (not just Christmas, but also Valentine's Day, Saint Patricks Day, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving,...). After our kids were born, she started writing to them, sending birthday wishes and inviting us to come see Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Rolla. Last year, when we received their card for Lily's 10th birthday, I realized I indeed hadn't seen them in over 12 years and they had never met our kids... and we live in the same state!!! Time to change this! I was determined now! I got in touch with Marilyn and we quickly found a weekend that would work for both our families (March 30 - April 2 which included the Cesar Chavez holiday).

We decided to meet up at their chalet in Lake Tahoe, and I was able to book our flights to Reno with accumulated miles from my credit card. Yippie, this was getting more and more exciting! Of course, I had to explain to Lily and Ennio who these people were, but they quickly accepted that they in fact had a third set of grandparents: the mommy's host (grand)parents.

I'm so happy I finally made this happen! Rolla and Marilyn are such great people, we had so much fun hanging out with them! They are fantastic skiers and know all the ins and outs of the Tahoe ski resorts. We skied for 2 days at Diamond Peak (Incline Village) and Northstar. The kids took ski lessons on Sunday, and skied with us on Monday. Marilyn proved to be an excellent teacher for Ennio, and Lily was on a roll!!! It's amazing how much she has learned from her classes with Famiski in December and how well she can ski now. She was able to join us on the highest peaks of the resorts!

It was nice seeing the kids get to know my host parents, especially Ennio who was intrigued by Rolla and his "honey"-business (Rolla is a wholesale distributor of honey) and kept calling him Mr. Beekeeper, so funny!

We said goodbye, in the hopes that it won't be another 12 years again to meet up! I'd love to make this a yearly tradition!

Our Jeep!

Our home for the weekend in Kings Beach!

 Incline Village: the kids loved to slide down the mountain!

 

Diamond Peak:

Northstar:

Thank You, Marilyn and Rolla!!!