Home Sweet Home

Well we have been home almost 2 whole days and what a great time it has been. We arrived in Calgary at 8:00pm on Wednesday, August 22 after a very long layover in London Heathrow but we finally arrived back on Canadian soil. We walked as we are on the worlds biggest mission: to get to the people we love who were waiting for us. We had a great welcoming party who were waiting for us: Frank, Yvonne, Dennis, Angelique, Sandy, Tara and of course 2 little boys who were very excited to see us: Jordan and Colin. When we finally cleared customs we walked through the magical doors and Tam walked right up to her little buddy, Jordan who had worked hard on making her a Welcome Home sign. Tears were shed as they exchanged the longest embrace and Patrick gave his parents the greatest biggest hugs ever. Frank had a parcel for Patrick that he gave him that Tam had shipped to their home address as it was easier to have Patrick's birthday present sent home and what was in the parcel you must be asking? But a Lego Volkswagon Van that Patrick said he would really like to have. :) Happy Birthday Honey, have fun building. We loaded the bags and headed to Airdrie to get a bite or drink and then headed to Red Deer where Patrick said goodbye to Dennis, Angelique, Colin, and his parents until Saturday as we were headed to Stettler to spend time with Jordan and Tam's family. It feels great to be home and we are looking forward to seeing everyone at Our Welcome Home Party on Saturday!
     We would like to thank everyone who helped make our Euro-trip possible. Thanks to Adri, Monique, Oma and Opa who opened their homes to us and helping us when we needed it. Thanks to Dennis, Angelique, Colin, Har, Karin, Rogier, Tamara, Rene, Geert-Jan and Roze for the fun times in Holland that we will never forget it. And of course to Marcel, Annette and Hans for the fun times too, they really meant a lot to us and hope to see you soon! :)We would also like to thank everyone who we met along the way who took us in and let us be part of your families we enjoyed absolutely every stop we made :) We of course would like to thank our parents for all the support, guidance and phone calls on our trip we couldn't have done it without you and now to start planning for our next trip whenever that may arise :)
Love From
P&T in Stettler, Alberta, Canada

Happy Birthday Patrick!

In the last 2 days we celebrated Patrick's Birthday 2 times. Double the fun, double the memories, and being able to celebrate Patrick's champagne birthday. The parties were amazing and we enjoyed that everyone came together so we could also say goodbye until the next time we meet again.

   

   Now it is my time to write something for my handsome Birthday Boy :) Happy Birthday to my best friend and my partner. I hope all your dreams come true and that you get everything you have ever asked for. I want to say you deserve the best in life and I will always be here through the good and bad times. I want you to know I love you and thank you for an amazing trip in Europe. Happy Birthday Honey!
Love From,
Tam in Deventer, Holland

Camping Success and a trip to Wijchen

What a success! Even with the rain we had our first

and last night we still managed to stay dry and enjoy our trip to Friesland. On August 15 we ventured to one of the Wadden Islands, Texel where Tam finally got to see a lighthouse and was able to climb up the stairs to the 6th level! She was so happy it brought a tears to her eyes. We got to enjoy the amazing panoramic view of the Wadden and North Seas. After we ventured towards De Koog where we stopped to play in the North Sea and watch Jesse and Patrick bury themselves under sand and make a sand castle. We also got to witness seals swimming in the sea and of course Tam collected more seashells :) WE crossed back on the ferry to Den Helder where we drove right into a huge rain storm. The rain just came down in buckets the whole drive back to Sneek but we arrived safe and sound.

    

Texel Lighthouse

Us on the 6th floor of the Lighthouse

The boys building a sandcastle

Tam enjoying the North Sea

Yesterday we drove to Wijchen to take Jesse home and say goodbye to Jesse's Dad, Cor and then continue onto Elizabeth's home. Patrick was greeted warmly by Guus and Suzanne and of course Elizabeth. They also gave Tam a nice welcome too! Elizabeth invited us to stay for supper and her husband, Gerard came home from a day of work and we had a nice visit with Gerard also. Elizabeth and Gerard were just married on July 6th! Congratulations once again! We had a delicious supper and had an amazing visit. We said goodbye sometime after 10pm as we had an hour drive back to Deventer. What an amazing night we had!

Talk to you all soon!

Love From,

P&T in Deventer, Holland

Camping to Friesland

Tomorrow we are headed to Sneek to go camping for 3 days before we celebrate Patrick's birthday on August 19th (his actual birthday is August 20). The exciting thing is we have another friend joining us on Tuesday night: Jesse Timmermans! He is taking the train up to join us and then will ride back home with us. We are very excited that we get to spend some time with Jesse before we head back home to Canada.
    Today we had to do the prep work to make sure we have everything for our camping experience. We set aside the tent, sleeping bags, extension cord, and all the other gadgets you need to go camping. We then went to the Lidl to buy some food to freeze for the trip to the campsite which is located on a farmer's field. We are very excited to go out and go camping and to enjoy the area around Friesland and even make a trip to Texel Island, one of the five Dutch Wadden Islands. We will get to view a totally different province within Holland and even cross the big afsluitdijk to get to Den Helder where we take the ferry to Texel. Tam sure is hoping we can find a lighthouse for her to go in as she has been looking for a lighthouse on this WHOLE trip. :) Here is to an amazing time in Friesland!
We will talk soon!
Love From
P&T in Deventer, Holland

Fishing with the Family

Last night we went fishing with Dennis, Angelique, Colin, Har, Rogier and Tamara at the IJssel. What fun we had fishing! Tam even went fishing, first time ever! But don't ask her to touch the fish because that definitely won't happen! They are gross and slimy! But we could definitely supply supper for our family, haha with our 7 tiny fish we caught between the 2 of us.

 Almost the whole family

 Har finally caught a fish and it was a BIG one! Good job Har!

 Oh yeah! There's supper! Yum

Fishing Beauty!

What a fun night! Thanks Dennis for inviting us out and also for the amazing fishing spot!

Love From,

P&T in Deventer, Holland

A Very Busy Weekend

On Friday we headed to Twello to spend a few days with Oma and Opa. Well as soon as we arrived Nick, the neighbor-boy was over ASAP to see us. We enjoyed a nice cup of tea and coffee outside then headed to the Twello Market. It was very sad as the Olive Guy wasn't there :( but we did get to say hi to the Cheese Man. He's the one that likes Canada :) After we headed out to a farmer to get special beans for supper and boy were they ever delicious! Then on the way back to Oma and Opa's we stopped by Hans and Annette's for a visit. We showed everyone our pictures of Ireland and had an amazing visit! What a great day!

Eating our delicious stroopwafels at the Markt

   On Saturday we visited with Oma and Opa and they even took us to Teuge Airport to see the parachuters land. Was it ever amazing to see them come in so fast and land so perfectly! It made me want to do it but maybe another day. After we went to the Fruit Farmer outside of Twello and got some fresh fruit. Then we headed back to Twello to visit over a nice tea and coffee. Nick was over immediately and Patrick was wrestling Nick on the grass. Nick won! After we went out back and played soccer with Nick. He's so full of energy. Then we enjoyed a delicious supper. After we got to have a Skype Date with Frank and Yvonne, what a great visit! They surprised us by bringing Tam's Shovel Buddy, Karl over to say hi. Tam shed a few tears she was that excited to see Karl. We visited for 2 hours and we are very excited to go home and see them and everyone else. After our visit, Marcel came over to visit so we visited with Marcel, Opa and Oma for a bit before heading to the train station to head back to Deventer as we are volunteering at the Boeken Markt (Book Market) with Monique tomorrow.

The parachuters

 Yesterday we were up at 5:30am to get ready to help out at the Boeken Markt, the largest Boeken Markt in Europe. There were over 800 stalls and 120,000 people came to visit this wonderful sight. We helped set up the stand by running back and worth to grab a car load of books. Good thing is Tam remebered to drive on the right side of the road and not the left after driving in Ireland for 2 weeks. We then waited for people to come to our stall to look and buy books. Tam did a great job and even sold 3 books by herself and spoke dutch to the customers. "Twee euro alsjeblieft" and after "Dank je wel." She was nervous but she did it! What a long day it was though, we left at 1:00pm to come home and eat some food and have a nap before heading back at 4:00pm to help pack everything up. We sold over €700,- worth of books! What a great day! And what a sight to see all those stands and books and people, another story to our trip :)

Patrick working at the Boeken Markt

Love From

P&T in Deventer, Holland

A Day of Thinking

I cannot believe that our trip to Europe has gone by so fast and people always ask me what's my favorite? I can honestly say I can't pick a favorite... this has been the trip of a lifetime and I loved all of it. Everything from the culture, to the sounds, to the food to the countryside it has all been amazing. I can say though I am pretty lucky that I could share it with my love, Patrick and 16 amazing days in Ireland with my Mom. I am a pretty lucky girl. I have met some amazing people along the way and even made some new friends. I have learnt so much from this trip and found myself and where I want to go in my life. I have to say thank you to my parents and Patrick's parents for the support they gave us on this journey. I couldn't have done it without you guys. But of course, I have to thank Patrick for sharing everyday with me and showing me his old life in Holland. I also have to thank him for putting up with me during my sad, frustrated, crazy, funny and happy times. This trip will be apart of our lives everyday and we will be able to overcome obstacles that may face us in the future. I couldn't have asked for a better travelling partner; I got to travel with my best friend and boyfriend and we got to know each other on a much deeper level. We got to share many first's and see the excitement in each other's faces and also support each other through the difficult times. I cannot believe we have less than 3 weeks until we come home to Canada but I know that we are both very excited to see our families and friends. We will be able to share our amazing life experience with everyone and of course numerous pictures. It will be something we will never forget. Our Euro-trip 2012 :)

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

 “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill



See you soon!
Love From,
Tam in Deventer, Holland

Galway to Dublin back to Holland

On July 29 we ventured along the West Coast and what a beautiful drive. It was really worth going back for! We arrived in Keem on the beach and watched a sailboat come towards the bay and we got to see the most amazing view ever!! There were 3 dolphins beside the boat! If we were any later or sooner we would have missed it, we sure were lucky to see that. We made the trek back to Galway and enjoyed a delicious supper. After we packed our bags and got ready to head back to Dublin on the 30th. We arrived in Dublin and delivered the car back to the rental company, Tam teared up a bit as she was letting go of her baby for the 2 weeks we had her. It was an amazing car and we really put the kilometers on her. Over 4,000kms to travel all around Ireland and see the beautiful greenery, cities, countryside and enjoy Mom's company. We just vegged in Dublin the last 2 days because we had to be up at 4:30am to head to the airport to catch our plane for 7:00am and Mom's plane departed at 10:40am to Heathrow, then carried onto Calgary. Tears were exchanged this morning as Tam had to say goodbye to her Mom. She really did enjoy having her Mom come over and share the experience of Ireland with us. It really was the most amazing part of our trip and one that neither of us will forget. It is an amazing thing we can share and talk about for the rest of our lives. Mom just texted us and said she found her gate in Heathrow with 15 minutes to spare, good job Mom! Tam says its because of the lucky clover she gave you before departing today :) We knew you could do it. We arrived safely back to Adri and Monique's but will have to get used to a 2 person trio, Mom will be missed dearly especially with the giggles Tam and Mom got! Thanks Mom for an amazing experience and wanting to share it with us. We love you so much! Now onto our next adventure; it will be full of surprises! See you next time readers! Mwahaha

Tam & Mom before departing



Love From
P&T in Deventer, Holland