Dewey and Dina left Saturday the 26th. After seeing them off in the van, which they were going to return to Schipol, we went to the Saturday market in Zwolle. It's a bustling affair and we walked up and down the stalls enjoying the smells and sights. The boys bought some souvenirs and I bought a toothbush and toothpaste to replace the one that is apparently still in France. We also sampled a plate of fried fish bits that seemed to be quite popular with the locals. When in Holland...

Back at home, the boys and I tried our hand at fishing in the canal behind the home. We had lots of bites, but they were small and hard to hook, so we turned to feeding our bread to a gaggle of swans that were cruising by.

Had a quiet evening at home watching a video (in English with Dutch subtitles).

Sunday the 27th. Today we had arranged to have our friends, Menno and Corinne from Amsterdam, join us for supper. Menno is Nancy's second cousin (their grandmothers were sisters). When Nancy and I were briefly in Holland on our way to Africa back in 1994, Menno and Corinne were our tour guides and dinner hosts. We really enjoyed our visit with them and were looking forward to seeing them again, after more than 12 years later, and meeting their children, Pepjin and Malou, who have been born since.

Menno and Corinne were coming over around 3 PM, so in the morning we headed down to Appeldoorn (about 1/2 hour south) to visit Apenhuel, a monkey/primate zoo that had been recommended to us. Apenhuel is unique in that, in parts, it is a free range park, where they allow the human and primate species to interact in the same space. We were able to watch little capuchin monkeys scamper across the path in front of us or forage for food among the leaves, lemurs in the trees overhead, or just be feet away from Japanese macaus as they groomed each other.

The highlight was to explore a large treehouse structure where the capuchins were scampering all over. We came to a place where several of them were being frisky, Nancy crouched down, and within seconds she had 2 or 3 on her looking in her hair or pockets and another 2 or 3 fighting under her. The boys crouched down too, and soon had several climbing all over them looking for edible tidbits in their hair as well.

It's all fun and games though until a child screams. Apparently the little guys were hurting Gideon and he started hollering as if they were reaching down his throat and yanking out his spleen. We had to shoo them away after that but it was magical while it lasted.

It was not the best executed outing though. We took too much comfort in the semi-clear skies and so weren't prepared when the heavens opened up; us with no umbrellas and me with no jacket. This was our first introducution to a very wet Holland and what has been the wettest August on record since they started keeping records back in 1856. Setting a 150 year weather record is noteworthy, but not when you are there on vacation! As well, I also forgot the camera and so was not able to get some photos of Nancy and the boys interacting with the capuchins on the treehouse. Bad daddy.

We had a nice visit and meal with Menno and Corinne and family. It was a plelasant evening in between rain showers so we went for a walk through the fields and along the Ijssel River ( a branch of the Rhine). Again our kids spoke no Dutch, and their's no English, but they still managed to enjoy each other's company and have fun.

Gideon, Jonas and Malou

A typical European barge. Note the owner/family's car perched above the stern.

Malou with one of the boys' caps. She looks innocent enough, but I think that she's teasing one of them!