Welcome to the Van Marel family Blog. In today's world, it takes a special effort to stay connected, but this may be some small effort! The third Van Marel family reunion was held in the country of our forefathers. Distant cousins Willem and Joop van der Marel along with their wives Rina and Ann offered to put a family tour together and invited us to attend their family reunion during this 2- week period from June 15 to June 29, 2011. There were 24 family members who flew from the United States to be part of this celebration. The tour included a visit to all of The Netherlands provinces. A great time of bonding and seeing some very interesting sites was enjoyed by all. The next family reunion is being planned to be back in Orange City, Iowa, during the 3rd weekend of May, 2013, which is the time of their annual Tulip Festival. Four van der Marel's from the Netherlands have already committed to join us. The grandchildren of Jake and Kate Van Marel will be coordinating this reuni...