We have AMERICAN friends!

Tonight we had an American family over for dinner that we know through mutual friends in Illinios. Their names are Ted and Alicia and they have an adorable one year old son named Dylan. They had been living in Chicago up until now, and they just moved here for the next two years for Ted's business. We had a wonderful time with them and are so grateful that they are here! More than anything, we can't believe how much we have in common with them! Here is a short list...

01 Ted, Alicia, Dylan, Andrea, and Nate

1. We all went to college at Iowa

2. Andrea, Ted, and Alicia all grew up in the same hometown and even went to the same high school in Wheaton

02 Ooooh! Can I play with your camera??

3. Our favorite band is Coldplay

4. Our favorite SNL skit is "The Noonies"

5. Nate and Ted are both obsessed with Hawkeye football

6. And finally, the craziest similarity that we discovered is that Ted and Andrea were next door neighbors (literally NEXT DOOR) growing up in Wheaton! And we never even knew it! What a small world!

Anyways, like we said, we are so happy that they are here! It is nice to have another couple from the US to hang out with and share our experiences with. We spent a majority of our time just comparing the culture of the Dutch to that of Americans and making fun of all of Hollands quirks!

And Dylan was our official entertainment of the night. He has so much energy! His parents were nice enough to have brought him several toys, but within about 5 minutes he quickly realized that there were MUCH more interesting things to play with- like the VCR, the telephone, pots and pans, our camera, and paper towels. By the end of the night his personal favorite had become a headset with a microphone that we use to talk to people through our computer with. He looked pretty cute with it on, and it was hard for him to let it go!

03 PLEASE!!! Give me your camera to play with!

It's so great to have the Skodols here! We are looking forward to making many more Dutch memories with them in the future!

04 Okay,.. the headset will do!