Trains, planes and automobiles!

Ian is officially 3. On August 1st we celebrated by taking a train ride into a near by town, Utrecht! The kids loved it. From where we are living now, in Ermelo, Netherlands, you can hear the trains zooming by as they head to the next station!! Ian loves the trains. The train ride was a good 40 minutes of sitting still and gazing out the window at the grass covered, cow grazing, uniquely Dutch landscape. I have to admit that it made me a little nostalgic. It was nice to sit still and see that this experience of living in Holland has already found a special place in my heart.


On a really funny side-note: leading up to Ian's birthday, Ian would say on several occasions, "I don't want my birthday! I don't want to be 3." I think what he was really trying to say was, "I don't feel comfortable with all of that attention. I don't know what to do with it all." Anyway, when it was time for him to blow the candles out of his cake he proceeded in the same manner of opposition!! Unbelievable display of will. He was not going to blow the candles out. Nope, no way, no how! We filmed it all. I waited a good 7 minutes or so for him to blow them out. I tried every trick in the book and finally in the end he delegated the duty to one of his buddies that attended the party. phooosh! It was close because the candles where starting to melt all over the fondant icing. You had better believe that I will be pulling that documentary out on several occasions to get a laugh out of friends and his future love interests.

Ian, we love you! 3 years seems like such a small drop in the bucket! And I feel truly blessed to be a part of this journey that you will call "life"! I love your questions, your strength, your crazy hair in the mornings and your sweet cuddles. You warm my heart in so many ways. I admire your love for your Papa, and enjoy sitting back and watching the two of you wrestle. I even kind of like the mischievous grin you have when you are doing something you shouldn't. (I will try to hide that giggle, next time) You like to smell butter, pindakaas, nutella, and all of the assorted spreads in the morning. You have a fascination with elephants and say 'no' to almost everything. You are persistent and have a love for animals. I love holding you, even if you are getting to be so heavy that I can really feel it in my back and have to remind myself, "lift with your legs, not your back!!" There is so much that goes into making you, you! Love you little buddy.