Thanksgiving Parade

The Thanksgiving parade in Houston is sponsored by HEB a local Texas Super Market Chain - hence apart from any school bands, sports teams, fire and police brigades and other local clubs & societies we had a cheerleading type act with.....yes Shopping carts! It was 'real nice y'all' but not as professional as the Macy's parade in New York so Miss Piggy above at some point had to do a limbo dance under some electric wiring HaHa!

The local TV channel had a Holiday Themed float.

And we had many balloon type floats as well ( a sun, a dog from the local newspaper, Miss piggy above and the Pink Panther as well as the frog below).

It was 9am and still somewhat cold so Little Rick got to try out his new coat and was smiling at Oma Marijke who bought it for him.

Grand Cayman (Part II)

On November 20th Eelco made his 100th Dive! (I am up to 98 as I stayed an extra morning with Rick). Below a pretty picture of my favorite sea creatures - nudi branches!

Rick and I mastering the art of relaxation.

Out for dinner

Posting his first ever holiday cards

and back on the plane.

Constable Patrol & more fires

They still have not caught our Arsonist - we are up to 18 Fires now and although the frequency has gone down it is disappointing that it appears to be impossible to solve the issue and find the Arsonist.

At the same time there is an initiative to get a neighborhood constable patrol in our area. (Een Wijkagent). Apparently the property taxes we pay do not suffice to have sufficient police patrol in our neighborhood. Since the Heights, where we live' is a gentrified neighborhood it still has more issues then some of suburbia. (Gentrification = a process by which 'richer' people take up residence in a traditionally 'poor' area of a city, changing the character of the area). To get the constable patrol 300 people in our direct neighborhood all need to pay US 255 / year and then we will get 1 patrol officer 5 days a week, 8 hrs / day. Contribution is all on a voluntary basis so it all depends on the perceived problem people have. So far it does not look like we have enough 'takers' as the deadline has been extended a few times but we are still at 200+ contributors only.

No illusions though that constable patrol may prevent our Arsonist from keeping up his campaign but it potentially could have prevented our attempted break in a few weeks ago. Mind you my only experience with constable patrol in other neighborhoods has been nothing but negative - they always pull me over if I ignore another Stop sign -:( So we might just be paying someone to give me more fines. Our neighbor is also a retired cop which is apparently well known in the neighborhood so local criminals will probably stay away from our house.

Anyway - I find the whole approach rather interesting. As a Dutchie it is hard to imagine - being asked for voluntary contribution to hat some might consider pretty basic civil/council services. Happy Thanksgiving!

Grand Cayman (Part I)

Hi to ya'll from Grand Cayman

Captain of the sunk ship

Rick is enjoying the pool - Very much the Captain of his own Ship

Eelco is taming the sting rays two at a time

Rick and I out on the water

Pyama party at the Hotel

Eelco having a moment...

Apple Action

PS Rick has new sunglasses for our upcoming holiday to the Caymans. We think he may be trying his poses to make sure he fits in once there -;) 

Halloween

This year all 3 of us celebrated our first ever halloween.  Halloween is a BIG deal here and people decorate their houses (with skeletons in the yard & pumpkins and spiders etc). I found Rick a little crocodile/dragon costume first at a garage sale for 1 USD but then I found a 2nd croc suit from fleece which was more like an all in body suit. As the weather at the moment is all over the place both came in handy. With Rick having such a cool costume I had to make us some as well. I made Eelco a matching green crocodile outfit and made a jellyfish costume for me.

Rick's school (the day care is called Esperanza School so we call it school) each year organizes a Halloween Carnival. Due to the weather it was postponed by a week so we started of Halloween instead with a party at a friends house. There where some 8 couples and 16 kids and all where dressed up. 

Unfortunately when we went to the Halloween party Rick's teething was at its peak so he was not enjoying himself as much as usual. He had bright red cheeks and was screaming quite a bit. His friend Elfi (who was a ladybug) was very sweet to him and tried to console him but nothing worked. He only wore his suit for like 2 min!

Then we had the postponed carnival Yesterday and it was really nice. The school is walking distance from the house and the party was in the evening. Food & booze was served for the parents and there where lots of activities for the kids. A petting zoo, a carrousel, a haunted house, camel rides, a little train, a band, Giant Wheel for kids (so not that giant), cartoons etc.

Rick & Miss Sylvia (nobody can make him smile like she!)

Rick, Papa & Miss Sati. Miss Sati opens Rick's house in the daycare in the mornings and adores little Rick.

Maartje, Sally, Cash & Rick (a mom from the neighborhood I befriended for evening walks with the boys)

The Halloween actually already started for us on the 24th as with some people from the Playgroup we went to Zoo Boo - Halloween at the Houston zoo. That was funky too with the monkeys eating from trick or treat baskets and throwing around pumpkins to dancing with animals (dressed up dancers in animals costumes) and Lions attacking pumpkins with their dinner in it.

Rick & his friends - a fairy, a pumpkin, a monkey, Rick, a bear and one in a black & orange halloween attire.

For a change the monkeys also had something interesting to look at!

Pear

Three days ago Rick was still gagging when we tried to feed him some mashed fruit with a spoon (I think it was the 3rd time we tried). Today as he was chewing on my finger Eelco wanted to try again. 5 min later he had finished the whole jar!!! What a little miracle he is our little Rick, After 3 spoons he kept his mouth open awaiting the next spoon and moved his head forward towards the spoon. 

No lack of appetite as he got a normal size feed from me afterwards.

Look at Houston in a different light

Yesterday was election day in the US with many different local elections on the agenda nation wide. In Houston this election also includes the position of Mayor. The Election yesterday ended up undecided as no candidate had more then 50% of the votes so there will be a runn-off in December between the top 2 candidates.

I think many people outside the US (and maybe even inside the US) would be surprised to hear that for the city of Houston the voters must now decide whether an openly gay woman should lead Houston for the first time or if a former city lawyer will become the city's second black mayor. These two candidates yesterday had 31 % and 26% of the votes respectively.

With Houston being this country's fourth-largest city - The Houston City Mayor position is pretty powerfull role. Also considering Houston is the nations Oil capital, is an epicentre for the nations medical industry and has NASA.