A Visit from Friends

On the 18th of October we welcomed our friends, Trevor and Jo, and their children, Niamh and Owen for a very nice visit. Trevor, by the way, was the best man at our wedding. It is ALWAYS a blast to spend time with the Arthur-Bevans clan, and this visit was no different.

We had an excellent visit, the highlights of which included a visits to Madurodam and Amsterdam and more than one visit to a local pannenkeukenhuis. We travelled by bus, tram and train (and a canal boat tour) which the kids really enjoyed. You'll see in some of the photos a small bear...this is Star Bear which belongs to Niamh, and Jo likes to photograph Star in all of his adventures :)

We played several games of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit - Alex teamed with Jo and I with Trevor. Alex and Jo won the first evening, and Trev and I came in strong the next night for the win.

Alex had 'won' a pair of tickets for a UEFA Champions League football game in Eindhoven at the silent auction at the Pink Ribbon Gala, so Jo and I sent our men to the game on the Wednesday evening while we made a delicious meal of slow roasted lamb and played a game of Finish Lines - also quite a bit of fun.

Niamh (6) and Owen (3) are two of the most well-behaved and charming children I know. Even when we went to Amsterdam to explore the Van Gogh museum they never whined or complained - they are simply delightful. I will say that Owen's pronunciation of my name "Lez-a-lee" and his desire to hold my hand and skip everywhere we went gave me warm fuzzies. I taught the kids to say "how you doin'" in the style of Joey Tribiani...Really it is a laugh to hear two children with British accents mimicking this famous line from Friends. Very, very funny.

It was such fun to have our dear friends visit (although the visit was simply too short) and we look forward to their return perhaps next year.