2005
Let’s see. The year starts in the US again. We were there for xmas last year and had a few weeks to spend in the US remaining! I think Sebastian had his first contact with real cold snow as it snowed there early that year! It was very cold I remember, and I don’t think Sebastian was so glad with the cold 
We did the usual things in the US again such as going to Malls at various cities, we visited family, etc etc, nothing you haven’t heard before ! Sebastian and Sammy the dog were big friends and Sebastian hasn’t parted with his Doggy addiction to this day. Every new stuff dog he got for a long time would always immediately get the name “Sammy” .
Back home we noticed that there was a speech delay in Sebastian and he had his own little language when he was on the phone with someone. It sounded really strange, and it always sounded like you kept saying the same things, but we couldn’t make out any of it! This year the first signs of a little trouble with Sebastian started to rise. We had contact with a speech therapist. We were sent to a different bureau for investigations, and we noticed that Sebastian developed obsessions. Sebastian would always line up his cars all facing the same way. I would take one car out and turn it around if he wasn’t watching, and he always caught onto what I did immediately On TV Sebastian couldn’t get away from the screen if “Knofje” was on, or Pippi, and was a very big fan of Teletubbies, as so many children of his age also were! We always thought that Teletubbies was mind numbingly boring, but Sebastian saw something in it that we must not have seen!
At the end of Jan we already were able to go to a playground in Germany that is relatively near us!There’s this mine train there and Sebastian would just sit in it all the time, it was never easy to leave that place! On top of that there’s also a railroad and a station in the back, so whenever Sebastian would hear the train he would always try to catch a glimpse of it! We often went to the nearby train station, and he would just sit with me for an hour or two on a bench, waiting for trains to pass by. I know that when I was little I was a little obsessed with trains, but with Sebastian it’s much much more than it was with me. When it comes to trains he has so much patience! It never gets boring for him on a train station!
As nice was the weather was back then, in March it turned horrible! Laura and I had arranged that we would meet Margaux and her mom in Amsterdam! They were taking the Thalys (lucky THEM!!!!!) from Paris to Amsterdam, and Laura’s mom had arranged a hotel for us outside Amsterdam (with employee discount so it was very very cheap). But there was snow on the ground when we got in Amsterdam, and I remember that walking back from the train station to the hotel was just horrible! There was a blizzard on the way back as well as on the way to the train station! We had a lot of fun with Margaux and her mom in Amsterdam! Sebastian really liked them! We went to the cheeky store across the oilily store in some little mall in Amsterdam and bought Sebastian a very cute outfit there, I wanted it, and normally , since I am a guy, I don’t care much for clothing! I do like the oilily brand a LOT but they have cute little dresses that are 100 euro, so I don’t think I will be getting a lot of that once our daughter is ready to show her face We went out to dinner with Margaux and her mom in Amsterdam on the “damrak” and I think this is when my problems with food started , I had a mushroom omelet, and it didn’t sit well with me, LOL! We did the usual Amsterdam thing with them, visited “de bijenkorf” , bought some toys, played with toys, had a hard time getting Sebastian to leave the toys, etc! We had to go back to central train station to get the train back to the hotel, Margaux was in a hotel on “damrak” so they were really close!
The day after we met with them again, and had some more fun that day until it was time to say goodbye and everybody had to go home again! They got to take the thalys again (lucky THEM!!!!!) and we drove the car back home!
At the end of March we went to Germany to go to a carnival there, and I wanted Sebastian to go in a children’s ride, but he wouldn’t have any of it! He did never liked carnivals too much, there’s just too much noise and he doesn’t like that at all! The rides themselves do fascinate them, but the noise level just turns him off! We did manage to all go in a “reuzenrad” where we had a really cool view off the whole terrain! Nowadays if we go to that carnival, it’s hard to even get there, because all Sebastian wants to do is go to the nearby (big) train station! We just stay there for an hour or two You got to give it to the Germans though, Sebastian just looooves everything that involves Germany! All he can ever think about is German trains , even though he likes all other trains as well of course, but he immediately recognizes a German train!
In May it was Sebastian’s birthday, and grandma got him the bambi DVD. Can’t count the amount of times he watched that movie, sometimes more than once in a row! Sebastian is not really a tv child though, just a couple of hours a day! Opa Oma and uncle Rob gave Sebastian a new little bike which he also loved!! Marleen also came on day and got him something for his biggest hobby: More wooden train tracks to add to his ever increasing collection! Opa landed himself in the hospital in May as well, and we had fun visiting him there! He was quite high up so Sebastian loved to stand in the window looking at the highway and passing cars! Opa had problems with the digestive system and was put on a strict diet! In Geleen there was another Carnival, so we went there as well! We tried to get Sebastian to ride a kiddy thing again, but once again he acted like it was the end of the world! We did manage to get him into another Reuzenrad again, that was good !The music there was particularly loud again, so that might be why he didn’t like it there!
In June, we planned another visit with Margaux! This time we went to Brussels!She came with the Thalys again (LUcky her!!!!) and we took the car there! It’s only a one hour drive for us! Margaux had bought the Canon 350d camera and she took 250 picture of Sebastian that day! We really liked her camera, the images were so crispy clear!!All people that saw us take so many pictures of Sebastian must have thought that he was a celebrity kid or something, We also took 50 pictures or something!It was such a warm day that day though. On the way back, the Airco in the car went into overdrive and it stopped working at the end, because it had been on so much that there was too much ice attached or something! The day after we went for Groceries, and suddenly I was going uphill, and all the lights inside the car went flashing and the car just stopped in the middle of the road! So we call the ANWB and they came quickly. My alternator was fried.. So they charged the battery in the car , jump started me, and drove me to the garage. It took a week to get a new alternator, so until then I was forced to take the bike everywhere! I remember that we had to call my cousin to come pick up Laura and the groceries, and Joyce came with her car and delivered Laura at home! That was really nice of them! I didn’t have any idea who else I could call at that time Laura and Sebastian went with my parents to the Gaia Park, which is a local zoo. Sebastian just loooooved the monkeys that were just climbing around there!
In August of 2005 Sebastian went to school for the first time! It was not an easy time, he didn’t want to be there, but we actually took the advice of the CB and made him go to school! It was only 2 mornings and 2 afternoons (I think) a week, so it wasn’t much, but it made Sebastian much more social, and he got some friends there as well! Frankie was a girl that he loved to spend time with! Her parents were from the UK though, so she was raised speaking Dutch and English! Sadly we always knew that they wanted to move back to the UK once the opportunity knocked, so they weren’t going to be friends forever! In August we also planned a trip to Paris to stay with Margaux! Wow, the third time in one year! It was searing hot in Paris. We took the car there, we found Margaux’s meeting-place really easy! She arranged to meet us at a kentucky fried chicken , and then she would navigate us to her place. That wasn’t so easy though! To the subway was always a little bit of a walk. But from then on it was easy to go anywhere we wanted! Margaux’s room had the sun on it the whole afternoon, so you could bake in her room! We had a great time visiting all these parks there, playing with French children! We visited Eifel Tower on a daily base, and figured out the subway system easily! The total pics of that trip was almost 450 images in just 4 days, haha! Paris is such a great city, we just love to go there! Only the first time wasn’t such a success, but all times after that sure were! On the way back we stopped at a place near the train tracks, and the trains there were making SUCH a weird noise!! Like a UFO or something It didn’t sound like trains at all, but that’s because they are driving so fast there!
First of Oct, we picked up our Canon 350D camera! Margaux bought it before us, but Laura had been all excited about getting it! It was always clear that Laura had a passion for taking pictures! With out HP cameras we made like 20,000 to 30,000 pictures already, so we were up for a better camera! It was going to go on sale at the place we bought it the week after, so they already gave us a 50 euro discount, and we used that to buy a nice bag for it! Also in October, Laura’s dad and his wife Nancy came to visit us for 2 weeks! That was going to be great fun!
We picked them up in Brussels airport and drove home! We showed them around here, all the places that we always went to! We started with our town, Heerlen, we went to Germany to that playground I talked about earlier, and the park that is adjacent to it. We went to Amsterdam, and had a great day there! We parked near the van Gogh museum, but we only went to the National Museum there! They admired all the really old paintings that were hanging there! I remember that we had trouble locating “de nachtwacht” , which is the most famous one I think! They of course had to go to the Anne Frank museum! Laura and I had already been there, and there was a long line outside, so we opted out and waited for them outside! It was a long day in Amsterdam, and I think we got home late in the evening! The next day we had dinner at my parents, where dad and Nancy saw my brother for the first time! He didn’t want to come to the US when I got married for some reason, so this was the first time they saw him! We had dinner, things that they had never had in their lives, and after that I drove us to a place in the Netherlands where , in the woods there’s a place where 3 countries meet. Netherlands, Belgium and Germany! That was a fun treat for them I bet! When do they get to see a spot where you can be in 3 different countries? The next day we went to Aachen in the morning, visited the most nearby Starbucks coffee place! Always a treat and worthwhile going to Aachen for, even though its a very nice city! After that I drove us to Maastricht where they went to a subway restaurant for food! How American of us huh? There was also a day when we went to Cologne! That was fun! We parked outside the city in a garage, and walked to town! Quite far! Then we saw the cathedral and they all wanted to climb the tower! Funny, Laura’s dad works out on one of those running machines, but I was by FAR the first one that was up in the tower!! They all had lousy physical conditions! It was not fun walking up though! Tight round corners constantly and people walking down all the time as well! That was annoying!! The train station was just around the corner, we looked at some trains there, sadly for Sebastian he wasn’t there that day, but luckily for us, otherwise he would not have left the train station without a fight We also visited some peeps that we had seen at church in Iowa, in the town they live at : Veghel! It’s funny, but they are actually missionaries? Like people who come HERE to ‘promote’ the christian faith back to us? That’s weird! Didn’t Christianity as they know it in the US start in the Netherlands and/or Germany? What are they doing here then? Do they think that if they work hard enough , that we will all go to church again on Sundays and that the Netherlands will be like the US where we just blindly follow anything our leader says just because he goes to Church on Sundays and acts like nothing is wrong? I don’t think so ! Religions like theirs will only put us back in time for another 3 decades! I also took them to Madurodam in Scheveningen! They loved that place! Holland in miniature! We planned to go to the beach in Scheveningen as well, but we got time pressured, and it wasn’t great weather so we didn’t go there! On the way south we had dinner om a really cool Chinese looking restaurant! Laura and I had a hard time picking something but we managed! The day after I took them to see Valkenburg, which is really close to us, and a very tourist orientated city! So it was time again to say goodbye to Laura’s dad and Nancy! We drove them to Brussels, we had a traffic jam and barely made it. Margaux and her mom were shopping a few days in Brussels, so they decided to look us up in Brussels airport! We had lunch together and took some pics and then we drove off in separate directions again! Amazing how many times we saw Margaux that year !!!
the end of 2005 came, and we had another trip to the US planned! This is one that truly sticks to mind, because something major happened on the way to the airport involving my car and we can be glad that something higher than ourselves was watching over us , lol! It was a horrible night, and we had to get up at 5:30, which is always fun if you are planning a big trip! This time we planned a trip leaving from Amsterdam! Usually we fly from Brussels or Dusseldorf because Amsterdam sure is a more expensive airport, but we must have gotten the best deal from there, seeing that we were flying to Minneapolis! A friend of mine and his wife drove to our place, and they were driving with my car to Amsterdam and were going to drive it back. Parking at an airport for over 2 weeks seems to cost more than a plane ticket, so that’s never a good idea! It was crowded in the car! We had lots of luggage to take into account, a stroller and car seat for Sebastian, carry on luggage, and big suitcases, so it was stressful at the start already! It was a cold morning, below freezing and once we hit the road I noticed that the wiper fluids weren’t coming out of the sprinklers, and once I turned the wipers on, the windshield turned white from all the stripes of the freezing rain.. I could still see through, but it was annoying! So we stopped one time a a parking place and put some water on the windshield! This helped, but once we were driving again, splattering from other cars made the situation just as bad again! There was only one reason possible : We must have been out of wiper fluid, because it wasn’t cold enough by FAR for the sprinklers to be frozen! So we were about an hour away from home at that time (trip to schiphol takes 2 hours), and we stopped at a gas station and I was going to buy new fluids, just to put more in, because we weren’t out of fluids in the first place. I signalled Laura in the back to give me some money so I could go buy some. She was like.. Uh? I don’t have your wallet! I told her it was in my blue backpack with everything else that was of any value.. She then said that she didn’t see it, and after looking in the trunk there was only one conclusion: We left it at home on the sidewalk!! Aaaaaaargh!! It had passports, plane tickets, our Canon 350D with all accessories we had back then, a regular camera and a DV camera, all in that one backpack.. I quickly called my dad to immediately get out of bed and drive to our place, and we were going to head back immediately! I broke the speed limit all the way home, driving like 160Km/h so we made it back in 3-45 mins I think! My dad had just arrived in the streets when he saw that a woman was looking into the bag, and he yelled “That’s my sons bag!!!” , so the woman left and dad secured the back with EVERYTHING still in it! We were sooo lucky that my dad was still able to get it! If that bag had been gone, our vacation was totally over before it even began! We didn’t have hours of time either, because they expect you to be in the airport 3 hours before in case of international flights, so we had to hurry back to Amsterdam again! By now it was getting closer to rush hour, and there can be hours of traffic jams on the way to Amsterdam! The weather had become better and it wasn’t so cold anymore, but the wiper fluid still didn’t work! I managed to drive us back to Schiphol again, and we were still able to make it on board of the plane! Before that my friend Dirk sent me a message that on the way back with my car, the wiper fluid was working again! Isn’t that amazing? A car is just an object with no feelings, no mind of it’s own, but if it hadn’t been for my trusty Daewoo, we wouldn’t have made that flight! If the wiper fluid had come out like it should, we would have never even noticed that the blue backpack was missing, and that we didn’t have our tickets or our passports, and if we had arrived in Schiphol and if we had only noticed there that those items were missing, it would have been all too late! That blue backpack would have been gone, there was no time to drive back and forth anymore and still made it back on time! As it turned out, when we arrived at the airport, there was only 90 minutes to spare. Of course, Sebastian always loves to make things more complicated as well, so he peed through an outfit at the airport, so we had to go change him into something as well! We flew UA and of course we had a collision with a flight attendant on the first trip! Sebastian always sits in his car seat in the plane, which is the most safest for a child his age. So this one lady was really giving me ATTITUDE with the car seat! I think the problem was that we were sitting in the middle, and Laura and I sat next to each other, and Sebastian was next to just one of us, so not in the middle of us I think? According to the F.A. that was not the proper way to have a child, because in case of danger one of us could get into trouble? I was getting tired with this person’s attitude and asked her how SHE wanted the seat to be then! She rolled her eyes and took off..I wasn’t going to let her away with it though, I have wondered on more than one occasions who these Flight attendants think they are? Are they flying the plane or something? Are they the police in an airplane? I flagged another F.A. and told her that I didn’t like how I was treated by the other woman, and the new F.A. went and got her back to us. Funny thing, the rolling eyes woman even apologized to us for how she reacted. Wow, miracle huh? The flight was no doubt filled with other incidents that I don’t recall anymore We landed at Washington Dulles, and I think it was here that we had to wait AGES before they finally got our stroller out of the baggage area of the plane, so after that we had to take a bus to the international area, and go through customs. We then boarded the plane with little time to spare before it was going to take off, but faith was not on our side again, because the pilot had paperwork and was delayed , then some luggage didn’t make it, so we were left standing at the gate for a long time! This flight was another 2 hours, and I got a migraine.. I rarely get them, and at home I have medicine, but we hadn’t brought that of course, and we couldn’t have either. That medicine helps me within 15 mins, but I don’t have any strength anymore after I take half a tablet! At home that usually means that I stay in bed for an entire day, and you have no option doing that while you’re travelling, so I had to just sit there hoping that I would toss my cookies in the lavatory. At least it would be over then! I don’t recall if that ever happened though.
We arrived at Minneapolis and waited for the airport shuttle to bring us to the Holiday Inn near the Mall and near Ikea in Minneapolis! I don’t think we had much strength to do anything anymore after we had settled in! The day after we had a busy day planned at the mall. Laura had a haircut planned, so Sebastian and I were on our own! I decided to bring him to the Aquarium at the basement! Figured he would like to look at fishies! He did, and we had a great (long) time ther. They also had a display there with all the fish that were the main characters in Finding Nemo! The bottom feeder, the blowfish, Nemo, Dory, they were all there as real fish! Sebastian just was amazed! Until this very day I didn’t know that they were based on real fish either, so I was surprised! We shopped a lot there, I remember the Hanna Anderson store and really liked some of the things they had there! I am sure we bought quite a lot of things there! We must also have seen the Crocs there the first time because I bought my first pair there! Black ones! I didn’t have the guts yet to buy a different color but I wanted to! It’s always SUCH great fun in the Mall of America! You can really be there for hours and hours! Sebastian and I went into the Discovery store, and foolish me, I bought a train DVD set there. It was 6 dvds with each 2 scenic north american routes on it. I had no idea that I would watch these DVDs every night for a year or so Until none of them played decently anymore! Sebastian would always fall asleep while watching one of these incredibly boring journees The day after Laura’s mom and Uncle Dennis came to the hotel to pick us up there. I think we went to the Ikea that day, and later for a shorter time to the Mall again, to eat and do some more shopping! Then we drove back to Iowa! I think when we entered the north of Iowa I noticed that they had this HUGE windmill park there, and I was amazed how energy aware they suddenly became! This was sure news to me! But in future I would notice more of these signs that the Americans were changing their way of life already as well! I am sure I am forgetting a few things that happened at the end of the year, between christmas and New Year but I can’t think of anything now