Touchdown

Landed today after an all-nighter on the KLM/Northwest nonstop from Seattle to Amsterdam's Schipol Airport. Sophie slept a little. Ben opted not to sleep at all but wasn't too bad, remarkably. Probably had something to do with the nonstop movies we fed him via the display in the seatback in front of him -- gave new meaning to the notion of "on demand."

Josy's mom, Jeltje, and her sister, Froukje, met us at the airport. Helped us with the critical path -- namely, getting espresso and croissants for us, and milk for the kids at the nearest cafe. With our blood sugar and heart rates on the rise, things started to look up.

We divided up our 18 bags into Froukje's car and a taxi van, and schlepped to our new, temporary apartment in downtown Amsterdam. After unloading all our stuff and depositing the children in front of the TV for momentary "visual sedation," we took a moment to gaze out the window over the nearby park.

Clouds overhead. Rain falling. A balmy 50-something Fahrenheit...

Just like home.