maybe there, but not here

Over here the weather is mostly following the rules at the moment.
Fall it is, fall is what we get. It has been raining most part of the night and now, at noon, it is still raining. Today I turned up the heating for the first time during the day.
To us the weather in Florida will come as a shock I think.
But it will be a great way to soak up vitamins before we start the long gray winter months.

Rather unexpected I have been very busy the last week and it looks like it will stay that way for a while. Which is fine in it self, but I keep forgetting to get some things that we really need.
Although I gave up on the bathing suit. But my son and I both need a haircut and I have to find a decent pair of shoes. I should do it today so I can walk them in. I know I will get huge blisters otherwise.
But the weather is so terrible, I don't feel like getting on the bike and get soaking wet.
Maybe if there is a dry spot.
We'll see.

Only 13 days left.

Well, it didn't get dry, but...mommy has new shoes :-)

Global Warming in Harrisburg?

Where is Fall? It has officially begun but our weather here feels like the worst part of summer. Our average temperatures should be a high of about 24c/75f but the last several days have been highs of about 31/32c - 88/90f and very humid. Too hot to do much of anything outside. Yuck. I see the forcast is supposed to get normal again by this weekend.

If not, It looks like I will have to wait until I go south to Florida to get some cooler weather. LOL

A bit of the US in the Netherlands

Yesterday I took a little peek into what some people over here see as the American way of life.
A group of car owners named the American Sunday Cruisers visited the place I live and I went over to take a look.
There was music and a group of Harley drivers to brighten up the occasion.
Even though I do like looking at cars and motorbikes, I sure hope there is more to the American way of life than that.
Wouldn't want to hear country style music every day, certainly not with a very Dutch accent.
But it was fun to look at, these people live in a different way than ordinary people trying to be different. And in the same time they all cling together again, finding themselves in a group that does exactly the same as they do.
So much for being different.

Anyway, there were some nice old cars there.

Seriously Counting Down Now

We are just about to go under 20 days until we all get on the planes and head out to Disney World. I am getting very excited here. I am also realizing that I have a lot of things to get done before I leave. And as we both have seen this past week, everyday life goes on in the meantime and unexpected issues pop up that have to be dealt with. I think besides looking forward to a very exciting trip, just being away and on vacation will be great. The only decisions we will have to make there are what do we want to do next for fun. LOL

I hope Disney is ready for three kids to enter their gates. LOL

Sorry

at the moment we both are busy with work and other stuff.
We'll be back blogging as soon as we can.
Hopefully this weekend.

Speaking Southern

I was joking with Petra the other night that they may get a real flavor of the US south if we run in to some natives that were born and raised there. While many people in Florida have moved there or are visiting from other parts of the country, the real southerners will be easy to pick out. All they have to do is start speaking with their southern accent and peculiar words. LOL

There is an entire dictionary of southern terms but here are just a few that we might hear.

Dreckly - (Soon)......"We'll be gettin on that plane dreckly to go to Disney World."
Fetchin - (Attractive)......" Petra sure looks mighty fetchin to me."
Fixin To - (About to)......." I'm fixin to meet Petra at the airport"
Jewant - (Do you want)......."Jewant to see Mickey Mouse?"
Shouldenoughta - (Should not)........" I shouldenoughta have another glass of wine"
Wender - (Window)........"Open that wender, it's hot in here"
Zit - (Is it)......."My, time sure do fly, zit less than a month until we leave?"

As in all parts of this country, people have accents and words that are not really words at all that they use. I'm sure other than a unique accent that is southern, most people use proper english but we may run in to a few old timers that will have us scratching our heads and asking each other "what did they just say?" LOL

Memories

Yes we have started to create our own special memories and there will be many, many more to come. That was one of the best days I can remember. The weather was great, the scenery was beautiful, we did laugh and felt really close to one another. I can't wait to go there again. Thank you Petra for giving me one of the best experiences of my life.

Sharing memories

It may sound a bit weird to say, but one of my pictures is doing good at Flickr.
Normally I wouldn't mention it here, but this picture showed us that we are already sharing memories together.
Memories of going on the bike, taking walks, pointing out things to each other, laughing, being close and enjoying each others company.
Last night we talked about that particular day, what we did, how much we enjoyed it.
Yep, we already have memories together.

Halloween?

We don't have the halloween traditions overhere although you will see halloween stuff in the shops for several years now.
And in the cities some people will jump to the occasion and organize a party.
What you do see overhere is a lot of pumpkins as decoration since a few years and I have to say I like that.
It gives color to a period of time that can be very dark and rainy overhere.
But when it doesn't rain, fall can be beautiful overhere too.
Like yesterday, the trees aren't changing color yet, but if you look carefully, you will see all kinds of mushrooms in hidden places.
And yesterday was the perfect day to go look for them.

I guess you can say I love fall also.

Yes!!!

Another step closer, today the tickets for the bus came as well as the tags for our luggage. Thanks Jack.

Favorite Time of Year

You did not scare me off Petra. LOL It's funny how the best of plans always seem to get snags in them.

In one month I will be getting on the plane to meet my favorite people in the world at Disney World. The weather there will seem like summer to us but at home we will be entering my favorite time of the year. The leaves are turning color and the nights are getting chilly.

It is also the time of year that over here a big deal is made of Halloween. One tradition in my neighborhood is for some of us to get together one evening over food and wine and carve pumpkins. I can't wait until Petra is here at this time to enjoy the fun and the beautiful scenery. We will see these sights on our walks near the house.

We will get a taste of the season though. We have tickets for the Disney's Halloween Party on Thursday night so you will see what this is all about over here.

After my rant

Just to make sure Jack knows it is save to return...

Frustrations

After a week of silence I finally found the courage to up date our blog again. Last week was a disaster, things that could go wrong, went wrong. At a certain point I got so discouraged that I told Jack the whole trip might fall through for me.
Most important were the dogs to me.
While it looked like they were taken care off, I mean, they had two places to go to, I am having a really hard time getting there.
Right now it looks like it is working out, but arghhhhhhhhhh.

All it came down to, is one of my biggest frustrations for years now.
And usually I am scared to say it out loud because at times people don't even believe me, but I don't have a drivers licence.
And with so many dogs, it is turning in to a huge challenge.
One of my other huge frustrations... I have to depend on other people for transport a lot. Unfortunately, train and bus won't take me everywhere , or if they do, not always on time.

Going for your licence in the Netherlands is, as one of my sisters just found out, a long, expensive and (I hate to use the word again but...) frustrating experience.
And right now it looks like I won't be taking that road yet, thanks to other things that went wrong last week.

But to end this rant (sorry this turned into one) it looks like it is working out for the dogs.
And I really have to thank Jack for his patience with me. He kept telling me things would turn out fine.
He is right, but oh boy, some moments I wanted to hit him on his head with those words.
But it was probably just what I needed to hear at those moments.

In the meanwhile, it is becoming fall here, it is cold, wet and windy.
Time for socks and sweatshirts.
Hard to imagine that we will be wearing t-shirts again in just over 30 days.

It's All Coming Together.

I will make sure that you can get ribs Petra. More than once if you want them. LOL I love them too.

Things seem to be coming together and time keeps moving on. It will soon be just a month away. It has gone a lot quicker than I thought it would.

Today in the mail I received our luggage tags for the Disney Express. What is supposed to happen is that we put these on our bags and then we don't have to wait at the baggage claim after we get off of the plane. Disney people will pick them up for us and deliver them to our rooms. It sure sounds good and I have checked reviews from lots of people who have done it and they say that it works just fine.
I don't know. Somehow I have this feeling that letting someone else pick up our luggage and deliver it is a disaster waiting to happen. I guess we just have to trust the "system" in this case. Oh boy are we in trouble. LOL

Ditjes en datjes

It does look like we won't have any trouble getting food during our stay.
And we might even get to try real American food.
~sigh~ I love spareribs.
LOL, think that it was one of the first things I told Jack. I love food, but don't take me to a fancy place. Because I would totally embarrass him.

Today I sent out an emergency mail to the dog rescue group I volunteer for. Asking extra effort to get the 11 year old greyhound whippet mix re homed that I am fostering for weeks now.
It doesn't seem fair to have him stay again in another place, I would like to see him in his own home.

For the rest, October can't get here fast enough. Weather over here looks like fall, lot of rain and wind for days now.
I am longing for sunshine and warmth.

And an arm around my waist.

Whispering Canyon

If we aren't tired of going out for dinner by Friday, maybe we can go to the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge. I am sort of anxious to see this place because it is styled after the great Lodges that you would find in the Rocky Mountains at Yellowstone or Glacier National Parks. They even have a Geyser. LOL A real american "all you can eat" Cowboy Skillet meal of chicken, bbq ribs, sausage, corn on the cob, baked beans etc. might be a good way to end this adventure to the US.

One thing we have talked about is that our plans will be flexible so if we want to change them or skip them entirely to just hang out at the pool in Old Key West, we can do so and just order in some pizza. We may all need to slow down and just be lazy every once in awhile.