Life: Idiotropic

Honestly, though it's only 10:30, I'm too tired to really think straight let alone be creative. Not necessarily physically tired, but mentally done with to-do lists and menial tasks, thinking, planning, wondering... the move that doesn't seem like it should be stressful, but some how, in the back of my mind is, and though my days don't seem harried, my mind is working overtime. Creativity is relegated to the duties of picking out children's school outfits and cell phone ring tones. Pretty sad.

That being said, thankfully, spring is not sharing my mental state. Even the dandelions are celebrating and I have to take some joy in them. The Germans don't seem forever bent on their demise and so along roadsides and in round a bouts, across fields and scattered throughout backyard lawns, the ever sturdy dandelion is splashing the countryside with fuzzy bright yellow. The bit of sun is helping too and the flowering trees rain pink petal confetti with a bit of a gentle breeze. It's nice.

Just three weeks ago it was winter... frosty grass in the mornings, rain, icy car windows, brrr. Then I spent a rainy week in Belgium, then a sunny week in Berlin... and now, I think (fingers crossed) that spring is here to stay for a while. I leave for London on Sunday, then Belgium on Wedesday, then France on Friday. Sounds like a crazy story book, but such is my life. After that it's packing cleaning, and purging. Only 69 days left until I hit the road for Spain.

Thankfully, it is officially spring and finally ice cream season. Our long winter was quick to go so within a crazy two week period we went from bitter cold frosty mornings to warm shorts and t-shirt weather that brought all the blooms to the roundabouts and opened the doors to all the ice cream shops. Cafes are now more outdoors than in with chairs spilling out into market squares more than doubling the sizes of the restaurants themselves. Bicycles are everywhere and happy people are sitting with ice cream or beer relaxing, smiling, and enjoying the season. It feels good to be outside.

Today we went to Sittard on some Easter Bunny errands, but took a moment to enjoy an ice cream from Die Twee. Smurfijs for the girls - they love that blue stuff. And though I've asked random ice cream servers for the last 3 years what flavor exactly is a Smurf, today I finally got the long elusive answer - Caramel! So now you know. According to Dutch and German ice cream makers, Smurfs definitely taste like overly sweet caramel - a flavor and a color that my girls absolutely love.

Enjoyed the city today. The market area was absolutely packed with folks relaxing in the sun at cafe tables. We wandered and took pictures and bought some good cheese so my visiting Uncle could try some and see a bit of The Netherlands. Felt good to wander and relax. A nice afternoon.

Played Easter Bunny tonight... everything is ready. Going to hide this letter now to save. Arianna wrote to the Easter Bunny. Our friends might not be able to join us tomorrow for dinner because one of the kids is sick... my girls are all very concerned and sad that their friends won't be able to be here. Here it is:

Today, in between packing, cleaning, laundry, and submitting the yearbook, I went to Aquana, an indoor water park with Kirk and the girls. I sat at a table with a book, relaxing, acting as a home base for everyone, and people watching with Tiara. We decided that men should definitely stick with the American style swim trunks and avoid the Speedo altogether. Some of the visuals were quite disturbing. We've also decided that Americans are not the only ones with a weight problem and that we're grateful that the obese in the US have the decency to wear one-piece bathing suits. Yes, it may be catty, but we were bored and fake tans and Speedos make easy targets for idle chat.

The kids had a blast and by the end, Luci was going down the big water slide all by herself and Elise had mastered the little one and even made a couple German friends. It's come to my attention this week that Elise has retained a lot more of her German than she's let on and she's using it quite a bit while out and about locally.

It was a nice diversion - a bit loud - but nice. I needed to escape the house. And, when I got home I was able to completely finish submitting the yearbook online along with the required paperwork so that I can finally say that it's completely done and there's no looking back. Now I'll have time to tackle a lot of these pre-moving projects and may be even catch up here a bit.