time to say goodbye

and so my brother and his family's time here in holland is over.

tonight we spent some time checking out cds, burning, eating dawn's pizza roll/loaf, while ricky watched a movie downstairs and rena wtched "pride and prejudice" (bbc production) upstairs.

we did many fun things such as seeing the lighthouse, dezwaan windmill, pigeon creek north pier, sanctuary woods walk and a swim at tunnel park. we weven went to grand rapids to the children's museum. did i mention that already in a previous blog? perhaps.

it was exciting to see the kids walking ahead of us in the woods, following the trail in the woods, then climbing up an alternate trail up the dunes, then finishing up exhausted. then seeing their reaction when we arrived at tunnel park. they immediately went to climb the dune befroe jumping into the water without hesitation. (they said they'd never been to the beach before.)

my brother and maricella enjoyed the farmers market, the windmill and the candle-making at dutch village.

overall they thought good of holland. i'm glad. it's a good town. they were surprised by the cleanliness of it. and it is, for the most part.

it's been a whirlwind of activity. last night mark and alan came over and we hung out until nearly 4 in the morning. this morning we felt crappy. but we had much fun playing cards, eating hot dogs and just chilling, or trying to with the high humidity.

and so in a few short hours, six to be exact, they'll leave holland and head back south through large stretches of farmland in illinois and long, long stretches of texas.

and dad? well, he was not far from ourminds this whole time. there were phone calls to texas and from texas. i talked to him tuesday night. he sounded so-so. mom was complaining about her ankle. she did a number on it.

i think in many ways my brother is happy he's going home. he feels he should be there in case something happens to my dad. i don't blame him.

i'm already sad that they're leavin, though, seeing the joy on rena and ricky's faces when they saw something they liked or just having my brother and maricella around to chat with. good stuff.

it's not every day that i get my relatives up here for a visit. they are the second ones in three years. hopefully they can come next year, maybe linda and arnold can, too.

but as for most good things, they must come to an end. and we wait for the next good one to head our way. hopefully not to far away.