A Visit from John

One of my former colleagues from Nordstrom, John, lives in Amsterdam. He usually visits us once a year or so. This past visit, he brought one of his neighbor's children. He has done this before, he is kind of like a godfather to the kids in this family. He spends a lot of time with the kids, giving them exposure to conversational English and bringing them places like Germany or Belgium for a day to show them something different from what they know and practice their English. In the past, John brought the eldest, Pim. But Pim is now 17 and probably has cooler things to do. (I know I would think that way if I were 17!) So John brought Pim's younger brother, Siep.

Jay and Siep got along beautifully. Siep kept an eye on him, made sure Jay didn't do anything dangerous (like run into traffic) and held his hand on busy sidewalks. I think that Siep was happy not to be the youngest for once. I have to say that Siep and Pim are terrific kids- very well-mannered, polite and friendly. Siep is also pretty talented. He acts in a lot of musicals, once even performing for the Queen.

Jay was so dead at the end of their visit that he fell asleep on the tram ride home. I had to carry him and push Nils in the stroller- not easy! And Nils was pretty done too, after a day of riding around with not so much playing.