Hanukkah sameach & Happy birthday!

Been celebrating my daughter’s birthday with family but it’s also the beginning of Hanukkah. At my mother’s house, my older sister lit the first candle this past evening on the 18th and said the blessing and I helped…

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!

December 19th has just started now and that means my daughter’s 19th birthday has arrived, as has my aunt’s 86th birthday…

My aunt has had a very difficult fall and has (almost) gotten back to her old self again which makes me so very happy. And my daughter is turning into such a wonderful young woman, doing well with college and with friends and in life in general, I’m very proud of the person she has become and can’t wait to see how she develops on! Happy birthday to both these wonderful December 19th ladies!

Seoul

Mini me is in Seoul right now, visiting my 22 year old niece who studies there (in the blue jeans in the first picture), accompanied by my other 17 year old niece (riding piggy back in the green sweater below). They’ve been having a blast there.

Earlier this evening the news reached us that something horrible was happening in Seoul. Apparently at Halloween festivities in the city at least 146 people have died and 150 have been injured in a mad crush of the crowds. We contacted mini me and were assured that she and the girls were fine. She told us that the three of them and a fourth friend were also headed to that Halloween party but on nearing the area found it all too crowded and had decided to turn back. They were safely back at my niece’s apartment when they heard how bad it all really was. Thank goodness they are all fine! My heart breaks for the terrible loss of life and all those who have been injured. Our thoughts are with Seoul tonight.💔

There she goes!

My 18 year old daughter (dressed in black) and my 17 year old niece are off to Seoul in South Korea. We dropped them off at Schiphol Airport this afternoon.

They are off to visit my other (22 year old) niece who is studying and living there and they are somewhere over Azerbaijan now, according to our flight tracker. It’s a 12 hour direct flight from Amsterdam and my daughter will be gone for two weeks. It’s a little scary, knowing she is so very far away from us in such a different world, without us there to help guide her, but it’s also a comfort that she’s not on her own and that the girls will be hosted by my 22 year old niece who already speaks Korean and knows her way around Seoul (she’s been living there for two years now). We really are happy for mini me that she has this opportunity, she will learn and see so much, and we are sure the girls will have a marvelous time together. Little girls grow up so quickly…

Diploma!

This evening my daughter had her high school graduation…

We’re so very proud of her! On to the future, chasing her dream of becoming a paramedic…

How is it July already?

This means I only have two weeks to finish a ton of work before my summer holiday starts. Eeeek! I got a lot done from home today, then went in to work for two hours at the end of the afternoon because I needed to speak with someone who just started with us this week. Mini me came with me because the library that I needed to be at this afternoon will be the same library she will be using when she starts unversity in september. Afterwards she walked through the city a bit while I finished work and she took this picture…

Quite stunning, right? She says that if university doesn’t work out, she can always try photography.

Anyway, glad the weekend is here because it’s been so super busy. Time for a catch up on chores (blech!) and doing fun stuff, like going to see our national Dutch women’s football team play Finland in a practice match tomorrow (yay!). Here’s to switching off for a bit…