Don = a lamb
The first somewhat bigger named tropical strom this year is Don. Don triggered an unlikely reaction with much of the population in Houston / Texas as it would actually be very welcome to pass through the area. What?!?!? Well Don so happens to have a relatively mild intensity and could bring with little grievances other then some strong winds alot of very much needed rain to our drought. Unfortunately Don is unlikely living up to expectations.
The header on the local news site therefor reads Don = a lamb
Sarah's Party
One of the recent Brithday parties of Rick's friends at the Children's Museum had a semi professional photographer present resulting in some cute shots to share. I am respecing the kids-picture-web ethics and am tryng to avoid posting pictures of other people's kids without permission hence it is only a limited selection.
Roddy's dad & Sister w Eelco & Kaat
Happy Rick
'Successful City'
We live in the worlds’ 11th most successful city according to a recent report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers grading global capitals in terms of Finance, Innovation & Tourism mainly due to very good scores on cost of owning business space, entrepreneurial environment, life satisfaction, commute time and cost of living. The top 10 is filled with the usual suspects such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, Sydney, Hong Kong and the maybe less expected Toronto and Stockholm. # 11 is not bad at all right? Especially if you think of places like LA, Seoul, Tokyo, Abu Dhabi, Beijing etc being lower on the list. The reason you might not really ‘see it’ is because Houston also attracts fewer tourists than any other comparable city.
Interesting question – what should Houston develop to become a tourist attraction? I would think it needs to involve Space, Oil & Cowboys.
6 Months
Today Kaatje is 6 Months. Already?!?! Yes that is what it feel like to me anyway and I would not mind if time went by a little slower. But I guess that means we are having fun right? Kaat is still a baby but no longer tiny....
We are not sure how she is stacking up against the 'norm' as we have not been for the 6 month check-up. Fortunately it easy to see that wherever she is on any curves she is just fine. The last few weeks Kaatje is really picking up skills and here favorite past-time is using her legs! Thank god for the exer-saucer (below) otherwise we would be holding her up all day. She is interested in toys now as well and gets frustrated when they fall overboard or if there is nothing to play with.
I guess Kaatje does not spend enough time in the Kitchen (like below with Rick) as she still has no real interest in any other food then milk. We try hard but she refuses (that is actually the word used on her daily diaper & food report from school as it so accurately describes the behavior - lips locked tight!) at home and school more often then not. At 6 months Big Brother Rick was having a go at all sorts of things including stuff on our plate but he also had his first teeth at 4 months and no sign of those yet with Kaat. No sign that the food effects her growth negatively as you can clearly see below.
Whilst Rick has discovered lounging & watching Toy Story (thanks Jeppe!) - well he actually is a little feverish -, Kaatje loses the ability to sit still more and more and is on the move below:
Rick appears to almost have an infinite amount of attention for his little Sis and is very very caring fetching her bottles and cleaning her face with 'doekies' and we think giving her lots of brotherly advise (we don't understand all of the conversation). So far even if she tries to grab Rick's toys he is ok with that and explains her calmly that these are not hers or even lets her have it - Miracle?
We just think she is the cutest girl on the planet and has the best smile ever. Easy & Sweet and these days always with a soaking wet front panel of any shirt or dress from drooling & chewing on it (No, really no teeth on approach even). I enjoy the shopping part a lot as well so Kaatje is the fashionista in her class -:)
Party Animal
Kaat still wakes up somewhere in the middle of the night. It appears these days mainly to have a party!
With huge smiles like those Kaatje concinces us it is the best thing in the world to get up at 2am.
After partying with her for a while we tend to put her back in bed - leaving her to party on by herself.
Mind your Manners
If you intend to be well mannerd here hen going out for dinner you run into some ‘issues’ as a continental European.
Sitting at any fancy Restaurant in town you will observe the following:
- You get 3 pieces of silverware (flatware in Texan) - being usually 2 forks and 1 knife for 2 courses.
- The well polished people at your table will eat their starter usually with only a fork in their right hand and their other hand in their lap. (assuming it is not soup)
- If a salad is served with the main course it will be brought out prior to the main course and you are supposed to finish it right then. It will be taken away once the actual main course arrives.
- Once the main course arrives (called Entree on the menu) most people will proceed sticking the fork vertically into their food, holding it in a fist, whilst cutting off in quick sucsession bite size pieces from their meal. Once done the knife is put down, the fork moves to the right hand and the left hand moves to the lap once again and eating commences.
- No matter whether any of the other people at your table are done your plate will be taken away at the slightest hint that you may have finished eating.
- Even in the fanciest place you will be offered a ‘to go box’ for whatever remains on your plate to have later.
- If you are after 3 or even 4 courses not out of the Restaurant in under 2 hours you have received bad service and likely can skimp on the tip (normally 15 - 20%)
So here we sit in the Restaurant trying to have a fork and a knife in our hands with every dish, munching away at our way too big 1st course as we thought the entree was the starter. If we leave the cutlery side by side in the 2nd quadrant of our plate to signal we enjoyed the dish the waiter responds annoyed and puts our used knife back on the table. Whilst we are awaiting the kids at the table next to us being reprimanded for having their hands under the table during dinner, we eye the salad but are saving it for the main course, only to see it being taken away untouched once our main dish arrives. We try to elegantly cut up our dish with the way too blunt knife without looking as if we are ‘attacking’ the dish and see people looking at us not in understanding but amazement. If I put down my cutlery to have a sip of wine and smile to my husband as we have all the time of the world on our rare date night I need to fend of the staff 3 times as they try to take away my still 75% filled plate.
Oh well, I guess the 1st rule of manners is to adjust to your company / environment, and with a child in your lap it actually is easy eating with one hand! The more unnerving issue is to find myself in one of my first parenting dilemma’s. I realize now 1. that I care about table manners more then I ever thought and 2. that I actually think there is a right way and a wrong way and 3. that I hence want my kids to learn the ‘right way’ whilst there is no reasonable explanation to claim one manner to be more right then the other.....All these people we see in the Restaurants behaving as the above are perfectly minding their manners.
Fortunately, I can teach them and blame Oma Joke (as I promised her my kids would eat not with just a fork in return for them being allowed to call her ‘U’ and hence learn the more formal vs informal version of You which does exist in Dutch but not English) and I found out I am not the only mom who was ‘irked’ by it all - right Barbara?!?
Phone Dump
Occasionally I remember to download the pictures of my phone finding usually a few hidden gems...a little rough and unpolished but cute & sweet memories nevertheless.
Rick & Mees at the playground (which is so quiet because it was waaaay too hot)
Rick taking pictures of himself with my phone (mmm...I know someone else who always takes pictures of himself with any camera he finds -:)
Posing for Mama
Posing in her own way I guess....
2x Posing with their cutest smiles
So if that hand does not work maybe the foot will?
One of the gazilion trailer parks along the Texan roads. This is one of the better ones as it actually has a wall and some trees!
Birthday Bash
Rick's Birthday Bash was a bigger success then we expected. Especially as the rain in Houston after 6.5 months finally made an appearance about 90 minutes before the party! We turned the garden into one big water play area so the rain just contributed to the theme and as it had the decency to stop 15 minutes before the party all was good. We told Rick only about the party when we got him up from Nap time some 5 minutes before it all started. Just in time for him to test it all out in some privacy:
Every time one of his frieds walk donw the steps into the backyard Rick welcomed them with a 'Hi Mees' Hi Joshi (Joshua)' or 'Hi Sarah' as if it was all very normal they showed up at his place. About 20 minutes later the place looked like this:
The Birthday boy was pretty pleased with his own candle blowing skills, and so was Mom as you can see!
Eating the cake tends to result in the kids eating the icing and then proclaiming they need 'more!'.
The ice cream also goes down well not too long after (Rick prefers Fishies).
'Coach' Fernando managed the batting practice and made those awaiting their turn sit on the Bench
As you can see the Coach had some good Authority and Rick LOVES his baseball set.
The Party ended a good 3.5 hrs later as it had started, with Rick on his own being very content in the back yard. As you can see we may need some fresh water in the pool!
No tears, no tantrums - just huge smiles! Rick even still had energy left to unpack his presents, amongst which a lot of very well received Duplo ('Ricki make') and a By-Sik-Y-Ball Set (Basketball) from the same series as his Baseball gear.
Little 2 year old Rick has Paradise at the house now!
Circus
The circus is in town! And as I am a real Dutchy and a member of my Companies Employee Club and won some discount tickets in the lottery we went...(thruth is more that if I would not have gotten an e-mail from the Employee Club I probably would not have really known!). Anyway, we thought we where in for an entertaining but relatively simple show. Wrong! Despite the fact that the Circus had to perform 3x that day the show took a good 2.5 hrs (including intermission) and had apart from extensive show elements, a huge quantity of Acrobatics acts, about 25 clowns, Lama's, Horses, Tigers, performing Dogs and Elephants!
As you can see there were not just a few of either the Tigers or the Elephants....
Rick LOVED the acrobatics, which as no surprise as 'Jump' and 'Fy" (meaning fly in papa's arms) are his favorite words - often combined with some dancing on his side. Kaatje appeared also content and was drawling at hearts' content trying very hard to stay awake for it all.
Eelco and I really enjoyed ourselves too (hence the lack of better pictures -;)
Better keep a tab on those employee club deals if this is what it entails -;)
Real Food
Kaat, @ 5 months and 22 days ate her first real food today - Prunes. It may not look like much but it is the first time something edible other then milk made it past her lips. (Of course most toys in the house as well as all of Kaatjes clothes & bibs etc have been there already -;)
Once she got the hang of it she was complaining, as we remembered from Rick, that dad was not spooning it in quick enough! Since it was Prunes I am glad we just switched to a larger size diapers today. At least we stand a chance at containment of the after effects now.
Texas = Texas?
Some weeks all headlines in the news about Texas seem to confirm the prejudices. Headlines from the past week:
- A 16 pound (Almost 7.5kg) baby was born in East Texas. Kaatje was only 6.5 kg at her 4 month check-up, which is already somewhat ahead of the curve.
- Texas is in the process of passing a law which requires all women who want an abortion to watch a sonogram of the fetus prior to the abortion. She also would be expected to view the fetal image, hear a heartbeat and listen to a description of the image. Although she could decline to view the sonogram, she would not be told of that option. The law made it through the Texas house in Austin last week with an overwhelming majority.
- Houston is the fastest growing city in the US (measured over the past 10 years). Followed by a few other major Texan cities such as Dallas (#2), Austin (#11) and San Antonio (#13). All four cities are also in this weeks’ Forbes list of cities to see most economical growth in the upcoming 10 yrs.
- With the last Shuttle flight ongoing now there is plenty of buzz and speculation on the future of NASA here in Houston and its Houstonian Employee base.
- The Texas Legislature has passed a bill allowing employees to keep guns locked in their cars while at work. Lawmakers also had considered allowing concealed handguns to be carried onto college campuses. The main issue being discussed is ‘Does it do good or harm to have thousands of Texans legally carrying concealed handguns?’ They interviewed someone undertaking the relevant training to get a CHL. Her reasoning: "They don’t know if that person has a weapon, they might think twice about it," "I’m thinking it would be good for self-defense." Currently guns are not allowed at our office premisses which includes the parking lot. I have however never seen anyone inspect all the gunboxes on the pickup trucks parked out there.
- Texas executed a Mexican National last week who was convicted of Rape & Murder. The UN considers the occasion a breach of international law and says there are doubts whether the man had received the appropriate legal support. The Mexican government also asked for a stay but the execution was completed as planned anyway.
- An excessive heat warning was issued for the past few days with Heat Indices reaching 105F (Actual temperature + additional heat experienced from Humidity) being 40+ degrees C.
- Former Pakistan President Musharraf met with Texas Governor Perry to get some insights in Texas success in economic tough times. Governor Perry is considering running for president but considered potentially ‘too Texan’ for America.
Driving Rural Texas
Whilst we made the trip to Corpus we spend a few hours driving some very typical Texan countryside – this time an Area what is called the ‘Texas Coastal Bend’.
Herewith the 10 main characteristics of a drive like this:
1. Outside any city limits 2/3 of the accommodation is trailers or extended trailers. I know that many of my colleagues who own a Ranch (read mainly the land) and have no dwellings on there have a trailer at or near their Ranch site. However judging by the surroundings & the amount and type of cars etc near these trailers most are inhabited by (too many) people permanently.
2. 50% of the cars on the road are pick-up trucks. 80% of those pick-ups are so big that they easily would fit a king size mattress in the truck bed. Also 50% of all cars are mounted with bull racks (frames at the front of the car), dear trays (metal frames on the towbar suitable to carry shot dear or mega coolers) or extra wheels
3. A ‘normal’ size tanker truck (as in VrachtAuto or Camion) is ‘a very small truck’ if you are identifying trucks and their size with your 2 year old and your X5 feels like a compact car
4. The main industry along the road are stations to process agricultural or petrochemical products
5. You don’t have to drive > 3 Mile to see a cluster of nodding donkeys, a rig or a pumping station
6. Every town no matter how small has at least 3 petrol stations and 3 different drive through fast food places
7. There is a John Deer dealership every 50 Miles
8. The skies if cloudy look Dutch and the scenery is equally flat (ish) but there is no mistaking the heat you see ‘hanging’ over the road in front of you at the horizon. The corn fields look brown (almost burnt), but the low trees and bushes everywhere are still green.
9. You never have to drive > 1 Mile to find a metal Star emblem or a Texan flag, you only see half as many American as Texan flags.
10. Every 15 Miles there is a Smoke House which will serve an assortment of BBQ-ed meat and served if with refried beans, proper coleslaw (not drowning in Mayo), Potato Salad, Greens & homemade BBQ Sauce. Most of these places will also sell homemade Jerky (dried meat). Don’t be surprised if your server looks like someone who should have retired 10 years ago and if your very high quality meal only costs you about 10 USD with ‘bottomless’ (iced) tea.
…and if you would drive further then we did….you know you are in Texas because you have driven > 8 hrs and still not encountered any border other then the County lines.
Herewith the 10 main characteristics of a drive like this:
1. Outside any city limits 2/3 of the accommodation is trailers or extended trailers. I know that many of my colleagues who own a Ranch (read mainly the land) and have no dwellings on there have a trailer at or near their Ranch site. However judging by the surroundings & the amount and type of cars etc near these trailers most are inhabited by (too many) people permanently.
2. 50% of the cars on the road are pick-up trucks. 80% of those pick-ups are so big that they easily would fit a king size mattress in the truck bed. Also 50% of all cars are mounted with bull racks (frames at the front of the car), dear trays (metal frames on the towbar suitable to carry shot dear or mega coolers) or extra wheels
3. A ‘normal’ size tanker truck (as in VrachtAuto or Camion) is ‘a very small truck’ if you are identifying trucks and their size with your 2 year old and your X5 feels like a compact car
4. The main industry along the road are stations to process agricultural or petrochemical products
5. You don’t have to drive > 3 Mile to see a cluster of nodding donkeys, a rig or a pumping station
6. Every town no matter how small has at least 3 petrol stations and 3 different drive through fast food places
7. There is a John Deer dealership every 50 Miles
8. The skies if cloudy look Dutch and the scenery is equally flat (ish) but there is no mistaking the heat you see ‘hanging’ over the road in front of you at the horizon. The corn fields look brown (almost burnt), but the low trees and bushes everywhere are still green.
9. You never have to drive > 1 Mile to find a metal Star emblem or a Texan flag, you only see half as many American as Texan flags.
10. Every 15 Miles there is a Smoke House which will serve an assortment of BBQ-ed meat and served if with refried beans, proper coleslaw (not drowning in Mayo), Potato Salad, Greens & homemade BBQ Sauce. Most of these places will also sell homemade Jerky (dried meat). Don’t be surprised if your server looks like someone who should have retired 10 years ago and if your very high quality meal only costs you about 10 USD with ‘bottomless’ (iced) tea.
…and if you would drive further then we did….you know you are in Texas because you have driven > 8 hrs and still not encountered any border other then the County lines.
Lady Lex a.k.a. Blue Ghost
Corpus Christi is the base of the USS Lexington (CV-16), a.k.a. the ‘Blue Ghost’ or the ‘Lady Lex’. This WWII Aircraft Carrier is now a Museum.
Her nickname was due to the fact that she was not painted in camouflage (but Blue) and that the Japanese never managed to sink her as she was very heavily armored (the re-appearing Ghost). The ship also was used as the scene for the Movie ‘Pearl Harbor’. Personally to me it felt more like a scene in Top Gun.
The ship was decked out even more then normal in Stars & Stripes for the 4th of july. We just used the stage as a 'watering hole'. (and of course Rick did a show for the other visitors too)
Rick understood intuitively he was at the bottom of the hierarchy and was starting with cleaning duties first. He found the sign tucked away behind a partition - got it out - set it up to only then put it away again.
Rick loved all the wheels and managed to find the 'poop deck' to play on.
Despite the soaring heat (96% humidity, no breeze at all) Rick had enough energy for a little sprint across the deck. Not quite fast enough to take off fortunately!
On the ship as part of the Museum is also a large iMax theater and you can actually stay overnight if arranged in advance. The Museum also hosts a summer camp for 1 week – how cool would that be! (Kids here have 3 months summer holiday whilst most parents only have 2-3 weeks leave / year hence the camps). I also found inspiration for another potential project -;)
Slashparks
One of the better inventions of American entertainment. Every Aquarium, Zoo or other child friendly family park in the Southern US has one....a Splashpark. And at the temperatures we are seeing here all summer it is the best thing ever and often more popular then the main attraction. So wherever you go - make sure you pack some swim diapers and a spare shirt.
I would not mind at all designing one of these. I think it would be great fun to dream up all the different water running, blasting & balancing mechanisms. Eelco can we get a house with a bigger yard so I can make us one?
Corpus Christi
We spend the 4th of July Weekend in Corpus, a city on the Texan coast some 3.5 hr drive South of Houston. Corpus is the 6th largest port of the US mainly focussed at Petrochemical & Agricultural products. Corpus has > 300,000 inhabitants and is the birth places of quite some sports stars and the TV/Movie Stars Farra Fawcett, Eva Longoria & Lou Diamon Philips. There are also a Naval base and some other Military camps in the city. We went to Corpus because of the Beaches on nearby Mustang & North Padre Island and in Corpus itself.
We had no problem enjoying ourselves and Rick and Kaat were very cooperative so we alsmo managed some very nice meals in very nice places.
Rick did not mind partying till late in the evening and gave away quite a few dance shows.
Kaatje appeared content as well in her party dress!
When even Rick started to down his drinks we decided to call it a night -;)
This time we stayed in a Hotel and Kaatje was pleased with the luxurious accommodation.
The main attraction remained the sun & the sea. All Rick really needs is 1 bucket, seawater & sand....'More Water!' was the occasional order in our direction.
Sitting and or playing in the sea with Papa also was still popular. 'Jump in the water'.
Kaatje is a seasoned beach babe and although it provides us with a major challenge to find her enough shade, she is pretty easy and does well in the heat. Humidity levels reached > 96% in the weekend so we needed the water to cool off and were happy with any sea breeze.
People Watching...
Apart from the beach Corpus also offers the Texas State Aquarium (with Dolphin show), some pretty decent museums, the 'Lady Lex' (about which more later), the home base of and hence flagship 'Whataburger' restaurant aas well as some of the biggest offshore yards in Texas.
The environment was nice and we enjoyed our stay but to us Corpus remains a somewhat puzzling place. It feels very very remote, but has all the luxeries we Dutchies only expect in the biggest most central cities such as extensive malls with a wide range of shops, plenty fancy restaurants, big marina's, lots of high end and or well funded & maintained attractions (incl culture) and yet the housing looks horrible in most places, old, dilapidated, mingled with barren plots, empty and deteriated commercial dwellings and random urban planning. We almost wondered if recent hurricanes were the cause of this all - but not so. The city is much more Texan then Houston which is visible in its population. More Spanish spoken & more Cowboys and/or Ranch folk!
The environment was nice and we enjoyed our stay but to us Corpus remains a somewhat puzzling place. It feels very very remote, but has all the luxeries we Dutchies only expect in the biggest most central cities such as extensive malls with a wide range of shops, plenty fancy restaurants, big marina's, lots of high end and or well funded & maintained attractions (incl culture) and yet the housing looks horrible in most places, old, dilapidated, mingled with barren plots, empty and deteriated commercial dwellings and random urban planning. We almost wondered if recent hurricanes were the cause of this all - but not so. The city is much more Texan then Houston which is visible in its population. More Spanish spoken & more Cowboys and/or Ranch folk!
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