House of Houben

hello from Heerlen! i'm borrowing the landlord's laptop to type this. i'm sitting in an old 1927 house, where he was born. we are certainly enjoying our stay here in Holland! everything is so interesting and quaint. we've been here since Wed July 11. we met Aunt Jo on wed eve. She took us out for dinner at a chinese restaurant... yesterday we went to Sittard, 15 min. away by train. we shopped a bit....MOM, I bought you a really nice souvenir from Sittard. I also bought a saddlebag for my bike! I will use it as a carry on bag on the plane It's really neat. They use them all the time here in Holland. The cousins, Elly and Theu (prounounced Choo) are very nice. Elly picked us up in Sittard and we drove to her house which is very nice too with a lovely garden; all kinds of flowers, a fountain, and 2 stone elephants. I asked her where she got them, and she said in Germany. That's where a lot of nice things come from! Theu made the dinner: roast beef, roast pork, green beans, salad, small fried potatoes and gravy, and snap peas. It was delicious! We met 2 of their soingss ns. This laptop is doing funny things so i will sign off. I'll try to post when i can. Mom I'm sorry I missed your call on Thurs eve, July 12. we were having too much fun with the cousins and then instead of taking the train back to Heerlen we came in the car with Maurice and got home late. The problem with calling you is that it's the wrong time of day and it's so hard to find a phone booth that uses our phone card! I hope that all is OK back home! Take care! We miss you but we are not homesick yet. I'm sure Kelsie must miss us. Give her a squeeze from us! Dad Houben, Margaret and Wim...if you see this, we love it here and we especially love the relatives. Aunt Jo reminds us of you, Dad! Hi to Leona, Colin, Paul, Marie, Robert, Ashle;y and James! Hi to all my Chatty Cathy friends too. I'll go check comments now. Good bye! we are meeting Aunt Jo in an hour to go to Germany by train so must run! The weawther is overcast.