Hanging in Elst

For the last three days or so, I've just been hanging out with my family, mostly in Elst, although Mom and I did take a trip to Westervoort to run some errands on Tuesday. I loved driving though the Dutch countryside. It's so pretty here! Even if the trees have no leaves, and there's a thin skiff of snow - it's still pretty. For Thanksgiving, Mom invited many neighbors and church friends. The house was pretty packed. It was fun, except I didn't really know anyone, and that was just kind of awkward. The food was delicious, but it didn't quite feel like Thanksgiving because it was missing the whole big "Briscoe" get together. No bizarre dinner conversations this year. Instead, I think I explained at least three times to different people that I was going to college at BYU, not living at home, and majoring in Landscaping. It was fun to see some of the different foods that people eat here. I had to laugh when I got the whipped cream out of the fridge - it was in this huge metal canister and weighed two pounds or something.
My favorite food to eat was the stuffing. I haven't had stuffing in so long!!! And even if the sausage wasn't spicey, it was still excellent stuffing and made me happy to eat it. The rest of the food was pretty good, too.

Wandering around Nijmegen...or something like that

Today was quite entertaining, if not very adventurous. Mom, Alyna, and I took a bus to Nijmegen (sp?) around 11 am. Mom transferred buses and went to a doctors appointment, but Alyna and I got to go explore/wander around the city. I'd say our experience was less historically cultural than mother's previous visit, but permayhaps more currently cultural, and most likely much more entertaining. It was chilly and snowy in the morning, but cleared up later in the day. We started by walking through Kronenburger Park and taking many pictures. After growing bored of this activity (which took a while), we went into the shopping center area. We quickly put the city map into Alyna's purse and just wandered withersoever we felt like. Of all amazingly good fortune, it was Market Day! So we wandered around the shops and stalls for someting like 3 or 4 hours while waiting for Madre. My favorites were: my 5euro watch, and a fresh stroppe wafels (so much better warm and fresh than packaged!). Then Alyna and i made our way back to the park to meet mother. We were sidetracked by the deer and fat little goats in a pen. We fed the goats many leaves from the sidewalk, which entertained us for a ridiculously long time. We even named some of them. In this picture we can see Grandfather, Daphne, Rambo, and Great Uncle Aldo. Can you guess which one is Great Uncle Aldo? He's one of our favorites. Being bored is SO much more fun with a camera!

We don't have a daughter that's not Lisa!

First of all, I pity those of you who have not seen Oscar. That being said, this is my new blog. It's so people know what's happening in mine life. Plus, I felt compelled to create a blog, because everyone else in my family seems to have one now - even Mom! She even updates it sometimes. More than Andrew, at least. Lisa, your turn!
At this moment in time, being 2:38am, I am in Holland, and there is snow on the ground outside. So far it's been a fun trip, which I will write more exhaustively about at a later time. Like, tomorrow or something.