Doctors Swing By

What's the Connection: Leanna is my cousin - daughter of my dad's sister - can you see the resemblance? Same height and all, makes for perfect clothes swapping.

Why the Visit: Leanna and Paul (boyfriend) are now both Doctors! To celebrate graduating from Optometry school, they toured all the fabulous parts of Europe ... Greece, Italy and ended in Amsterdam for a visit.

Return of Ma and Pa

What's the Connection: Again, pretty straightforward.

Why the Visit: Mom and Dad get the award for being 2 time visitors. While we'd like to think they only came just to see us, the real truth is Annette and Marc were getting married in Switzerland (see blog). But it was rather convenient we're close by. They took a train via Cologne Germany to go down the Rhine and eat sausage and then hit Amsterdam. And that they did - we took the little boat out and they even got on bikes....such locals. We want to thank Delta for sponsoring their free trip over - lucky us!

P-town Cruises through Amsterdam

What's the Connection: Adam and Gina run the best public opinion firm in the Pacific Northwest (along w/2 other equally cool partners). I was lucky enough to work with them from the start of my Chalkboard days. We bonded quickly while traveling all over Oregon for focus groups and spending weekends going back and forth over email ... ah the good 'ol days. They kept it fun:)

Why the Visit: They are masters of cool cruises...this one stopped in random magical places throughout Europe. The ending point was Amsterdam, and since they did an extensive trip over a few years ago, they were able to feel right at home. And they were our first official visitors in our new place - good times!

Sue, we'll be seeing you soon

What's the connection: Where to begin with Sue? We bonded immediately my first few months in Portland after discovering we both lived in Sevilla. At the same time, she bonded with Geno in a whole separate world. (It took us a few months to figure out we kept talking about the same Sue.) And now, look out Croatia - we're all coming in June!

Why the visit: Well, thanks Nike setting up their European headquarters here, we end up with many cool visitors that we pretend are just her to see us. Sue is one of those. While Geno was gone for work, it worked in my favor cause I got more bonding time.