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.