Poolside advise

Rick has been getting a lot of advise from all sorts of slightly older kids in the past few days. So far the winner was provided today by Kaira who's dad is a cop-policeman and who's brother does not laugh at her jokes, which she does not like, and who is 4 and will be 5 next summer and the winter after she'll be 6....Some fast growing girl -;).

Here it comes: 'Ricky you should not dive in the pool at the shallow end as then your skull will crack open en your brain will float to the surface." "Your brain floats, everybody knows that!'

Rick did not seem to care about the wisdom bestowed upon him...

I love my Sister

Sleep Ricky Sleep

These days when it comes to Nap time Rick spends the first 30 - 60 minutes of nap time reading to himself and playing with toys in his room. The result is that he sometimes falls asleep behind the door of his bedroom, or sometimes he does make it to his bed. Not sure that is any more comfortable though...

Kaatje holds nap time anywhere really

Cowboy Style

A family day was organized for all expats from work - Cowboy Style

In reality it was one of the sticky-er hot Houston summer days and looked more like this

 Rick liked the cowboys & the sad songs they played

 Even the snakes came out

 But Kaat did not care much for any of it

Visiting Elfi

Herewith some cute pictures from Rick's pool & BBQ date at Elfi's house last week...

Not Raptured

It appears the Rapture did not occur  - I am pretty certain of that as little Kaatje & Rick would have been saved without a doubt and they have not been 'taken up'. Judgement Day was supposed to start yesterday, Saturday May 21st, at 6 p.m. By now it is Sunday everywhere in the world...

I was very glad to see that the US media spend more time reporting on the cynics then the followers. All sorts of after parties were organized everywhere for those who would be left behind - Party like there is no tomorrow must have been the theme for many of them.

Some people got pretty smart. One guy apparently sold insurance or care packages for pets to the believers. These people paid almost 150 USD to ensure that if they were saved the people staying behind would look after their pets. As the insurance was non refundable some customers must be having a tough time today dealing with the double disappointment.

I have been searching the web for a reaction from the apocalyptic prophets to the 'non-event' so far it remains very quiet.....In the meantime we'll keep on enjoying life as we know it!

'Papa embroek aan!'

So Rick understands very well that if he wants to get into the pool Papa needs to put on swimming trunks too. As Rick cannot walk past the pool at all, I now park the car in front of the house when I come home with Rick to avoid the issue. Especially if I am home alone with Two kids. As Eelco was back from some business travel today Rick clearly had no time to loose. He did not care Kaatje needed a bottle first. Papa needed to get into his swimming trunks - NOW!!

Once they are in there they easily spend > 1 hr in the water and he is happy & content for a good few hours after so he appreciates Papa getting in. And as soon as he and Papa are in he starts 'Mama in' pointing at the still very cold water...

E.T. phone home

a.k.a 'I want that Camera!'

Voor Papa

Dear Jon,

We had a great time last night at your Concert. Of course I was a little disappointed that even though I was wearing my new extra skinny’s, your trousers were still tighter then mine. But then again - you have been one of the ambassadors for the look since about 30 years or so. I am very glad you guys are still around making new albums and touring. I mean most of my initial hero’s in the musical industry seem to have vanished or chose less exemplary lifestyles,...Whitney, Rick A, Wet Wet Wet....well maybe now I think about it I had all of them on vinyl and you guys on CD so maybe you did come a little after them into my life. Oh yeah and then there was the Dutch band ‘Doe Maar’ - Their music I only had on tape, copied from my mom’s friend’s older daughters and one of the songs was cut off at the end of the tape - Anyway they write songs for Sesame street now so no need to get a babysitter if we go to any of those performances. 

We’ll give you a 10/10 for entertainment and a 10/10 for the looks (Very good for 49!!! And because of those Jeans, and because David Bryan looks & moves like Rowlf which should make everyone smile) and a 9/10 for making us Happy. That last point was down to the fact that I was starting to miss my kids once you started to use your Maracas. Maybe my son Rick could join the band now Richie is in Rehab. He is AMAZING on Maracas, really, and all the clapping you got us to do, I think he would be great at spurring on the audience....Yeah! Then again that guy you had to stand in for Richie was also really nice. Great his Mom was there too. Not out of place at all as there were plenty of Mom’s there. It appeared that all the people from the ‘Grab a Granny’ clubs in Aberdeen have aged - just like us - by about 10 years and moved to Houston - just like us - to then came to your show - just like us. Even my hermit colleague came, which is great as now I know he does leave his office sometimes or what it takes to get him to do so!

Just wanted to apologize also on behalf of my brother in law for his less then positive comments about you when he was here - don’t worry - he was really just jealous so maybe you can give him some free tickets next time you will be playing in Holland. No need to send my sister any tickets as she is into Brad Paisley now since the Rodeo,....and ehm as he is ‘Still a guy’ I don’t think he endorses your earring, the jeans or the highlights much. Shame as he is a Cowboy too and he does not ride on a steal horse of course but he has plenty of ‘mud on the tires’ - maybe he can stand in for Richie a few nights actually - that would be a great combination! I think all guys should adopt some of your timeless 80’s rocker look so I left Eelco the choice, earring, tattoo or skinny jeans....he appeared on board by the time we had reached ‘Livin on a Prayer’

Anyway - glad to hear you are not into Bieber. Neither are we. We just hope you guys will keep going strong and will be ‘there for us’ when Kaat starts to show an interest into male music stars. We’d rather have her have a poster of you at 60 then Bieber (nicer for me to look at -;). Neither one would be great (Eelco prefers her to never idolize anyone other then us 3 and fictional characters) but at least you are one of the last celebrities who has not given up on Obama so soon and that is better then a famous teenager meddling in the Israeli - Palestinian conflict I’d say!

So thank again - we had a great night - simple but good feel good entertainment. If you don’t mind though, I think I do very well on the principles of ‘live whilst I am alive part’ and ‘now or never’, but with two kids and a job I do now need to sleep, even though I am not dead yet, if I don’t I am pretty sure I will be Dead Tired otherwise.

Thanks,

Maartje

100 Days

Kaatje passed the 100 Day mark. To me it feels as if time is flying and she is growing very very fast. But I guess I should not complain as that is exactly what she is supposed to do and our little girl is Happy & Healthy.

 Here with Mees' (Rick's girlfriend) brand new Sister Lina (< 2 weeks old in this picture)

 First day at the Daycare. Kaatje is in theLittle Daisies group with seven other babies ranging from 3.5 (Kaatje) to 7 Months.

After 100 days I decided it was time to take down all the cards we received for Kaatje which had been hanging in the living room. Thanks to a card made for Kaat specifically her name was spelled on the carpet in the morning sun every day. Don't worry - all cards will go into Kaat's baby book Rebecca made for her & me for the baby shower.

 Here with Lina again @ 3 weeks. The girls were in matching outfits (you may recognize Lina's shirt...the Girls are exchanging clothes already -;).

 Big Brother Rick is still very loving and caring towards Kaat and she in turn is his biggest fan. Here he started out reading to her,....hence the adoring looks from Kaat,...but ended up pretty soon reading more to himself.

 Not sure anyway wether Kaatje completely understood the story. She was happy though as you can tell by the curly toes! 

She starts to enjoy Rick's famous green chair, much also to Opa Kees' delight for whom she did the premiere over Skype. 

Eelco in Japan

Two weeks ago Eelco made a short trip to Japan. Despite recent developments there most of the country is deemed safe. After approval from the Japanese Country Chair Eelco and a colleague were allowed to travel to Japan and attend a so called pre-Production meeting at a pipe mill.

Due to flight schedules etc they had some spare time in Tokyo and did a little Sight seeing Japanese style - meaning all sites of the whole city in a bus trip of a couple of hours. The tour was also the only sign of the recent events as the Bus was only filled with 8 tourists. The Guide explained that normally they have 3 full tours / hour and now only 1. Also she normally worked 3 days a week and now only once a month so tourism is suffering.

 Knowing Eelco he would normally taken the time to read each and every sign and be able to repeat every little detail. Doing a tour Japanese style there was little time for that. The above is the 'Sake' Collection wall of one emperor. Apparently the next one made a Wine wall on the opposite side. 

looking at the pictures i realized again how pretty Japan is. Very tidy, beautiful parks, no crime (to tourists), good food! After the sightseeing it was time for the 300km/hr bullet train to Nagoya

And the meeting - it apears to have gone well judging by the faces. But who knows as facial expressions are nothing to go by in Japan. By the way Eelco is wearing a Japanese 3XL below.

Four Cousins

Cousins Tjibbe & Jeppe were over in the states the past couple of weeks, weahaa! Rick & Jeppe immediately found each other being reasonably close in age and hence interests. Jeppe was clearly the older of the two and would read to Rick.

 Or explain him his movies.

But as soon as more difficult games were at hand the help of Tjibbe was happily enlisted like here in Gatorworld in Orlando with the waterguns.

Tjibbe & Kaatje also happily spend time together.

 And Bernadette enjoyed the sight of it all here at the George Ranch - and actually ended up on some pictures rather then making them all.

After buying some new cowboy boots everyone got them dusted with real cowboy dust at a real ranch with real cowboys.

 Jeppe and I, we had a lot of calls to make to Buzz and sometimes to Zurg (Toy Story) about all sorts of matters ranging from phones, to beans to ice cream and Dolhins. Here at the Docks in Galveston.

 Tjibbe & Eelco discussing Dolphins on a harbor tour. Rick in the meantime attempted to feed the fish his snacks (which also happened to be fishies) and his cup....

 At the Beach on Galveston Island. One warmer blooded cousin (or some would say with a little more padding) lasted a little longer in the water and missed out on the cuddling session with Ber.

 As you can see, all in all the visit was a big success!

Easter Egg Hunt

An Easter Egg Hunt is a real sport, and if you are 21 months old it may or may not be an understandable one. Rick and I had been practicing at home by me hiding plastic eggs in the living room and Rick finding the 1st, starting to play with that one and forgetting about the other 9. Somehow the effort did pay off though as at school Rick did manage to fill a basket (of course all the girls at school found 2x as many eggs as the boys) and did know what an easter egg was and that they were filled with goodies.

2 Days later Rick got to do it all again with his cousins in Dutch.

 Rick proved a quick learner and was enthusiastically shouting out 'Paas-Ei!' in Dutch this time around (copying his cousins)

Not being overly ambitious after about 3 or 4 eggs Rick was already pretty pleased with himself.

 Afterwards whilst the big brothers were coaching one another through the easter egg decorating process....

...the younger cousins enjoyed their loot.

Not sure in the end who enjoyed it the most in the end. I would love to be the Easter Bunny every weekend!

Magic Kingdom

Two weeks ago we went to Orlando to meet up with Eelco's brother & his family there. Of course the attraction of all the amusement parks there also conquered us and so we went to the Magic Kingdom (Disney World) for a day.

You have to be at least a little impressed by the attention to detail in the park. Everything is 'in theme' and everyone and everything is happy (what's there or who works there - no judgement here on the reality factor -;)

The parades in the park with the little ones were very nice. Rick was too in awe to dance along and even with Three boys we were equally interested in the Princess Parade. Rick & Eelco next to uncle Wybe Jan and cousin Tjibbe.

 Kaatje enjoyed us mainly - here with Auntie Bernadette.

 All the fun rides were too action packed and too fast and short to take any pictures but we did attempt a group picture at the end of the day. So we asked some stranger to take a picture of ALL of us.....

Nice picture but something was missing.......so we needed another attempt.

The boys did great but were pretty exhausted at the end of the day. Kaatje also again proved to be a real trooper.