Special Meetings

2 May 2008. A special meeting with Mark and Lynn Ver Steegt from Colorado USA.

Mark and Lynn's son Aaron sent me in 2006 an email saying that his parents were planning a trip to Europe in 2007. He asked if it was possible to arrange a meeting between his parents and me (Aat Versteegt) and my family.

Of course we immediately agreed to this proposal, but unfortunately the Mark's and Lynn's trip could not go on. Early 2008 Mark himself sent me an email saying that their trip definitely would go on at the end of April.  They were planning a 3 weeks trip to Europe and in that period stay for 5 days in the Netherlands. We soon could settle a date to meet. May 2, 2008  

 

We see here the 2 distantly related cousins Aat Versteegt and Mark Ver Steegt sitting in the backyard in the sun. There was a lot to talk about. Like how they are exactly connected to each other and what special places of interest in the Netherlands Mark and Lynn should really see during their trip. A visit later that week to our family mill in Cabauw was on the top of that list. Aat had already made arrangements with the miller for that visit.

For the afternoon we had planned to go visit some places of interest. While we live in the "Bollenstreek" (bulb-region) in the Netherlands a visit at the "Keukenhof" was a must. The "Keukenhof" is a flower exhibition in a park in Lisse. The wives, Lynn en Dicky, cleary had a good time over there.

Later that day we went out for dinner. Aat and Dicky's kids also joined us. In the picture below we see all Versteegt familymembers that were present. From the left to the right we see Mark Ver Steegt, Aat Versteegt, Lynn Ver Steegt, Ron Versteegt, Bianca Versteegt, Jan Lemmers and Dicky Versteegt.

You can clearly see that we really enjoyed ourselves. But time flies when you're having fun. The moment to say goodbye was coming really to soon, but we surely will continue to stay in contact.

26 December 2001. A meeting with Vincent  and Linda Ver Steegt and their kids.

Mindy Ver Steegt from Newton, Iowa studied from the end of August 2001 until the end of December 2001 in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Her parents Vincent and Linda also decided to go to Holland at the end of this period. In this way they could see a lot of Europe and then fly back home together. We used this opportunity of course to arrange a meeting between the Dutch and the American family members. This meeting was on December 26, 2001 at Aat en Dicky's place in Hillegom. In Holland December 26 is second Christmas day. Henk and Fieke also used this opportunity to meet their distant family members and were also present. The next pictures give us an impression of how it was.

 

The Versteegt family made an appointment to collect the Ver Steegt family at the train station. Here we see Mindy and Evan in front. Vincent is just getting out of the train.

 

We had a lot to talk about and presents were exchanged. At the left we see Aat, Fieke, Henk and Vincent.

 

Even with the dutch familymembers limited knowledge of English we managed to have an enjoyable day.

Of course we had to take some official pictures of this memorable meeting. Below we see in the first picture the kids (In front: Bianca, Mindy, Branson and at the back Evan and Ron).

In the other picture we see Linda, Dicky and Fieke in front. At the back we see Vincent, Aat and Henk.

It is obvious we had a really good time together and at the end of the day we were all of opinion that this meeting should have a continuation whenever it is possible.