Christmas Trees

This weekend I went to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry with some of my family to see their Christmas Around the World trees.

The main tree in the center of the museum.

Here are Joel and I in front of the disappointingly boring Swiss Christmas tree. Eh, oh well.

After checking out the trees we Fast Forwarded to the Future!

Bam!

This is where Hunter was caught driving without a licence, oops! Luckily he got off with a warning.

When we came back from the future I realized my work was following me. Can’t I have one day off without being on an airplane?

If you’re a Staub you know how to CHEESE it up!

Speaking of cheesing it… My little sister Anna was extremely amused by the different colored stairs, especially the BLUE stairs.

That was my weekend. It’s always nice spending time with my family especially the ones I don’t see that often. Love you guys!! *mwah!*

My Little Dutch Holiday

I was feeling rather “homesick” so I decided to take a trip over to my second home, The Netherlands. Reason number 53 why I love my job: I fly standby and was lucky enough to get seat 1F. Yeah that’s right, first class baby. Ah! It was amazing. I ate a delicious meal, watched a movie and then laid my chair back and slept like a baby until it was time for breakfast. This is how an airline can treat their employees like crap and still keep them around because once you’ve flown somewhere like that it’s hard to imagine going back to seat 36E, back of the plane, middle seat.

Anyway, I got there without a hitch and feeling very rested I hopped on a train and made my way to Rotterdam to see my lovely Dutch family. It was a really fun, relaxing several days where I was able to just blend into their everyday life again and hang out with my girl. It was great. Then at the end of the week we celebrated Sinterklaas with Ineke’s sister Thea’s family. They were the family that I helped out three and a half years ago in Romania when their youngest was born.

Here are a couple pictures from my days there:

My little princess loved playing with my hair. She actually wasn’t bad at doing braids.

One of my favorite winter time treats over there is an oliebol. It’s a deep fried pastry dusted with powdered sugar and it typically has raisins in it although you can get many different varieties. It’s kind of like a giant donut hole actually. They only make them from mid November to early January.  They are absolutely delicious!

My iPhone was very popular with the kids because of the games. I barely got it back from them, haha. (I guess we know what will be on the list for next Sinterklaas, huh Ineke? *wink*)

For those of you who don’t know about Sinterklaas you can read about him here. Basically, Sinterklaas hands out gifts on the eve of his birthday in sacks like these.

Sinterklaas hid these in the basement of Thea’s house and left a note so the kids could discover them later.

Think there were enough? Sinterklaas even knew I was there somehow. Thanks again for all my beautiful presents Sinterklaas *wink*.

Another tradition is writing poems that tease the receiver of the gift and/or hint at what the present is.

Caroline is getting so freaking big! When I first got there she was only one, now she just turned six and she could read her own poem (with just a little help). *sigh*

Speaking of growing up, here is little Sam who I last saw when he was born! Now he’s three and absolutely adorable. If you look carefully at his mouth you can see he’s already had plenty of the candy that he’s eyeing.

So my visit this time was short but sweet. It was great seeing everyone again and hearing Dutch all around me. It just feels like home over there. As icing on the cake I even got a first class seat coming back home! It was a lot of fun and hopefully it won’t be too long before my company sponsors a trip back there for me. *crosses fingers*

A day at the apple orchard

I love fall. I love wearing sweatshirts and jeans. I love the colored leaves and how they sound when they crunch under my feet. One of my favorite things to do when fall rolls around each year is visit the apple orchard. Our favorite orchard is Garwood’s. This year it became a big family event. And when I say big I mean there were seventeen of us, all family.

The little kids and me walking to pick apples.

My dad and my little brother David on the tractor ride we took out to the apples.

Me and my moms.

The girls: Bekah, Beth, Liz, Me, Julia, Naomi and Cassie.

I couldn’t quite reach some of the apples, haha.

Not only is it the best place to get fresh apples but they have the best doughnuts EV.ER.

We all had tons of fun and by the end of the day we were all pretty tired. Anthony passed out on my shoulder on the way back to the car. Notice the drool. Nice.

I ate so much good food and had such a good time. I love my family so much. We’re big, noisy and sometimes a little late but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I can’t wait for next year!

P.S. For a short little video of our day check out Joel’s blog.

My Week

Apparently the crew desk loves me because these were my trips this last week…

There’s no place like home…

I finally got a trip to Amsterdam so I could see my lovely Dutch family. It was so great to see all of them again even though it was only for the afternoon.

The next day they gave me a trip to beautiful, sunny Puerto Rico!

I seriously love my life.