My Projects
As some of you may know I managed to work on a few of my aspired skills (weaving & quilting) during my maternity leave and as a result of it have created some pretty decent things if I may say so myself. Herewith a small gallery.
My first proper quilt block (this block type is called pineapple)
My Delft Blue tile themed quilt
Fabric selection partially sponsored by Neeltje - thanks Sis!
One of my first 'freestyle' weaves (i.e. not a homework assignment)
Fancy techniques in progress
Brilliant colors thanks to amazing materials
one of my 'homework pieces' with woven lace
Dick Bruna style stroller or pram rattles and pull string musical toys.
Flags for the birth of Mees's sister
From a while ago but still cool - a puppet theatre for Jannes
Perfect Saturday Morning
Rick started Swimming lessons again in the local outdoor pool early on Saturday morning. The whole event is one of Eelco's favorite moments of the week. In proper Dutch style he can cycle with Rick to the pool. They do the lesson together (and of course Rick is still an absolute hero in the water) and then on the way home they stop by the local farmers market (read yuppy style organic deli) to buy fresh bread for breakfast and a 'pain au chocolat' for the swim star. The lollipop he gets after the lesson (and which he would not get to keep if it was up to mom -;)
Kaat Update
Kaatje is almost 5 months and is doing great. She is tall (65 cm) but lean-ish (6.6 kg), makes all the developmental steps she is supposed to take and is doing well in the daycare as well.
The only 'but' is her eating behavior. She is still very much a snacker and eats frequently but not a lot. On friday the note from the daycare read something like 11am 3oz bottle, 1.30pm REFUSED, 2.30 REFUSED, 3.30 2oz....Not anything we recognize as Rick was doing 6oz per feed at 9 weeks and 8oz at about 3 months. Oh well, she does not look as if she doesn't get enough I think.
If you put her down on the floor to play Kaatje starts to move around quickly now. She can roll over and sort of roll back too. She is also in love with her own feet.
Kaatje still 'crashes' pretty suddenly after some entertainment or heavy exercise, resulting not always in the most sensible sleeping places or poses.
Monday Morning
How can you have a bad start to the week if your kids look like this whilst you are getting ready and organized...
Swamp Tours
Swamp Tours Inc has set up business in our backyard. For a smile Crocodile Man Eelco will float you around to harts content.
Michiel, Karen & the Boys
A quick visit last week before they took off on their 3 month road trip...
it almost appears as if Kaatje is trying to copy facial expressions whilst Rick was just mighty pleased with the older boys in the house.
Fathers Day Suggestions
With Fathers Day coming up we received the BassProShops Sales offers in the mail. The retailer has a superstore in Katy (Houstons #1 Suburb) of 138,000 square feet (almost 13,000 square meter) and sells any type of outdoor gear and kit you could possibly think off. A true tourist attraction for any non-Americans.
Herewith some of their suggestions for fathers day:
The store originally started out as a fishing outlet so maybe we'll just stick with one of the 500 fishing rods they offer for Eelco. Much more peaceful!
By the way as school holidays started here ads for any type of summer camps or summer family activities are everywhere. The Bass Pro Shops also offer 4x per week Family activities such as Archery, Shooting Basics, Fishing Basics, Bird Watching, Camping Basics, Outdoor Pets (about how to keep your pet safe in the outdoors), Plants & Insects, Animal Identification and Hiking Basics.
The store even offers training in making S'mores - which is a campfire treat of Melted Marshmallows with a layer of chocolate sandwiched between some biscuits.
Rodanthe & Cape Hatteras
During our trip to the OBX we also ventured onto Hatteras Island. This tiny but long, elbow shaped strip of land also is referred to as the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' as the currents along its cost were used often by sailors to speed up their journeys but also posed great danger in term of storms, shallows etc. No wonder Blackbeard camped out there for a while - plenty to loot!
Cape Hatteras, in the corner of the elbow, has the tallest lighthouse in the US and also marks the point protruding furthest South East for the USA.
Very pretty but we were not allowed up with Kaatje and Rick - too hot, too cramped, too many stairs. So rather the looking at it from up above we went to the beach instead and 'touched the cape'.
The bulk of Hatteras Island is national park but it also has a few very relaxed, mainly surf oriented, beach towns. One of which you may remember from some movie, not with Pierce B (Sorry E) but Richard Gere; Rodanthe. Rodanthe is actually more famous for the Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station.
The station is now a museum but ones was the most successful life saving station in the US and has some pretty heroic stories in its history. The rescue stories, especially looking at the very simple but effective gear are very exciting. The living quarters as usual were of less interest to us as between our grandmothers houses and Warthill (Eelco's Aberdeen Castle) we recognize almost everything in there.
To us the 1874 Station building actually looked Norwegian. Very pretty! In the far background to the right you see 'the apparatus' on the beach. It is some kind of mast actually effectively used in some rescue operations if it was possible to tie the wreck in some way to it.
Our advise - if you make it to OBX - Stay on Hatteras! It appears the best medicine to utter relaxation and if you are there on Thursdays you can even see the Beach Apparatus Drill being re-enacted.
Travel w Kids
Travel with kids in our case does not tend to equate to any real horror stories. As you can see by the time we reached the Airport Kaatje was pretty excited and ready to go. No pictures on the plane as we are 'too cheap' to buy the kids their own seats yet so we both had a kid in our lap and no hands left over other then for some books and magazine and any cocktails, sippy cups & milk bottles
Longer drives which exceed nap time create the need for some entertainment but half the time Rick is happy to take care of that himself.
Sleeping (alone) in a grown up bed in a big room in a strange house also appears to be mainly fun.
And sleeping for naptime....Well if you spend the whole morning on the beach or in the dunes you do not care much anymore where you crash I guess.
Kaatje spend most meal times in her car seat on the table, next to the table at the house or in Restaurants or even during cocktail hour on the beach.
Rick is so used to eating out with us he even knows how to pay the bill and tip enough!
Skype sessions on location; Rick & Kaat live from OBX
When it comes to wheels I would not have minded the big one but the smaller one (the stroller) served us very well and was sizeable enough to haul around!
Kaatje also spends happily hours at a time being carried around and fortunately like Rick has no objections to copious amount of sunscreen and us covering her head.
And although buses are really cool - it appeared Rick was rather sad we made it back home.
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