Dan & Madeline moved to Amsterdam in February 2008, and since then I haven’t seen them until today. They called a month ago to say they’d be in AZ around New Year, and we realized our schedule would overlap just for this evening. We flew back from Pittsburgh this morning, got a ride home, picked up the dog, had lunch and watched the Cardinals kill the Falcons before Dan & Madeline got here with dinner.

Their daughters are 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 and Claire’s 3 1/2, so we all figured our house would be better than going out. It was freshly clean since we’d not been here so we quickly agreed for them to bring dinner.

Dan’s an Intel engineer doing an Expat program, and while Madeline’s in Amsterdam she’s picking up another law degree. Lilliane and Amelie are enjoying learning from the nannies and taking in a culture many american children aren’t exposed to at this age. We spoke of family, holidays and work over a nice meal, which was finished with cake and black tea for Dan & I and wine for the ladies. The girls played nicely together after the Mahoney girls realized Claire’s agressiveness was mostly just excitement to have her friends come over. (I know she shouldn’t remember Amelie, but I sure bet she remembers Liilane.)

We talked, enjoyed each other’s company, watch Peyton bite it in HD, and then we all said goodbye so they could head back to the hotel to pack and fly back to the Netherlands tomorrow.

Yesterday I turned 34. It’s not the biggest of birthdays for sure, but it was a nice day. Nothing too wild, and I remember when it’s my birthday more when I am at work on a birthday (not again until 2010). The highlight of yesterday would be when Laura and Emma came to visit. I’ve not seen them since summer of 2007, and they moved away in December of 2006 to Portland. I can’t blame them since it’s so damn brown and dry here, but it sure was nice to see them.

Dan from Amsterdam Skyped with me, Alan from Iceland said hello, I talked to my parents, and I’ve not had a chance to talk to the in-laws yet (my fault).

We had the girls out playing in the backyard all afternoon before giving them a group bath. Laura’s birthday is tomorrow, so we hit Macaroni Grill for a celebration dinner. The Penn Rustica rocked as did the Tiramisu dessert, but the Sangria was nothing to write home about. It was bland, boring and expensive.

After dinner we hit a carnival that was in a local parking lot. Laura wanted to ride the Zipper and I love the Ring ‘O Fire, so we did both. Mind you this was after we gorged ourselves. We were fine until the Ring ‘O Fire person sent us through the ride twice! I wasn’t the same after that.

Laura and Emma ended up staying over last night, so we went to Cracker’s Cafe for breakfast before the drove across town to see other friends. Beautiful mild birthday with some thoughtful gifts from Donna and Claire. Really enjoyable.