JP took this gorgeous picture of our boys a couple of weeks back at the Wurstfest...
Sint in Houston
Sinterklaas arrived in Houston today. Rick by now is old enough to understand the concept (or remember if that is possible) after just watching some Youtube material for 20 min. As soon as the 1st pepernoten were in sight Rick explained to me he needed a 'zakje' (bag).
Something was up with Sint's horse so he arrived by stretched limo. May have been a smart plan as with the tinted windows no one could have spotted the Pieten and so not the same issues as in Vancouver where the Pieten were taken out of the celebration all toghether. The event was held at a local club on a cull the sack in a suburb so with a reasonable amount of privacy.
By Houstonian standards it was pretty cold. As we did not come prepared too well we had to cozy up to keep warm.
As you can see our celebration looked just like every other sinterklaas celebration - full of very focussed kids faces.
Whilst the older kids were paying attention Kaat was consuming at high pace all the pepernoten - or at least licking all of them at least once in the hope nobody else would want to eat them -;)
Rick was happy and understood much more hen we had anticipated. Except that he kept asking for his kapoentje...
the presents Sint brought also seemed to go down well
and as expected Rick needed to check out Kaat's present in detail as well whilst Kaat happily handed of her present to focus on al the left behind packing material. It is so nice to have teeth, and especially some that would make the easter bunny jealous!
Turkey Day 2011
Yesterday Kaat was 10 Months old - the whole country celebrated with us by having Holiday parades and eating Turkey.
For Kaat it was all very serious
whilst with Rick it was all smiles at the party
As usual there were floats, marching bands, cheerleading & dancing crews, cars, clowns, horses, fire trucks, scooters, old timers etc etc.
Thanksgiving in te US is even more a family event then Christmas these days and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with mine. Looks like I need some holiday time or what? (and a few spa treatments -;)
Rick these days is a real chatterbox and explains me all day how, what, why and when
Eelco by now is the Turkey specialist and his 3rd one was better again and prepared with less Turkey stress - so little even that I could nip out for a run in the park in the meantime.
The deservedly proud Chef
Our Texan kids surely enjoy the American side of their culture
as well as each others company
As usual between us all we did the whole traditional range with stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes w pecans, pecan pie an pumpkin pie. Just as Eelco's Turkey proved the 3rd time also even better again for the Sietske's pecan pie (sublime & divine this year) and the sweet potatoes (finally figured out how to avoid our teeth falling out of our mouths -;)
2011 was supposed to be a liquid one for the three Moms as finally none of us was pregnant or nursing this Thanksgiving for a change. However kids sleep schedules and visa problems got in the way of our plans. Nevertheless we managed to at least all have a glass together later on in the evening.
and the kids were happy to entertain themselves
and this is what the end of a successful Turkey Day looks like:
Happy 10 Months Kaatje!
Art
Rick these days at school appears to be making art work daily. The below collection covers about a month - from just before Halloween till last week. The main focus appears to be the themes - such as Halloween, Thanksgiving and Voting day, as well as shapes (he mainly has to to shape matching or number or color sorting), letters and food.
Rick is not emotionally attached to his art work and so far he has not been upset if I throw things out (and often enough he pulls stuff apart himself or wants to put it in the pool or gives it to Kaat to eat). However he is more proud then we thought as the other day when Eelco was busy taking Kaat to bed we had a friend over. By the time Eelco came back downstairs Rick was busy explaining about the big and the small squares and rectangles he made on one of these.
Niagara Falls
Yesterday Fleur and I went to see the Niagara Falls - Despite having spend 5 months in Ontario one summer I had never made it out before. As it was 0 C when we arrived and very windy we opted to do the tunnels first such that we could get the free Poncho.
We looked amazing in Yellow of course! The tunnels get you pretty close to the real action and the noise is so overwhelming that even Fleur and I were unable to keep much of a conversation going near it....that was a first I think?!
The viewing deck offered some amazing views.....
But it took numerous attempts to get anything in the picture as the wind, the ice cod water, the mittens, wet camera's and our amazing but huge poncho's all added to the challenge.
It actually really was a very nice and sunny day - just near the waterfall it looked at all times as if a major rain front was passing. The result was pretty rainbows everywhere!
On the above picture the Casino's are all based just up the hill to the left. The Bridge crosses into the US and to the likely much less impressive American side of the Falls. From further up above the view also was somewhat calmer and less wet.
And from further out it becomes much easier to see why everything ear the falls is so super wet and why visibility there is so poor. The shear volumes of water coming through the falls cause a permanent cloud above the falls which can be seen fro miles away (apparently also form the sky pod at the CN tower 120 km away).
We loved all of it so big smiles all around.
The Americans have to make do with some smaller falls of to the side. The main bummer is that the best view on their falls.....is also from the Canadian side!
After a quick scenic tour of the surrounding we had to make it back to Fleur's beloved Toronto so I could fly home again.
By the time I landed in Houston (near 9 pm) it was still 25 C! Thanks Fleur for a lovely weekend.
Ambassador to Toronto
I spend the weekend with the Ambassador to Toronto: my BFF Fleur. Fleur left the oil industry to attend the Schulich School of Business in Toronto and has since fallen in love with the place. For me it was great to spend time with my friend and it was even more fun to see someone you care about so happy about the place they live in.
We made our way up to the Sky-Pod on the CN tower where Fleur taught me about Toronto, we watched the Holiday Parade progress slowly downtown and where I tried to avoid looking down too much!
The CN tower, build by the Canadian National railway company, held the record of the highest building for 34 years. Recently it lost the title to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. To me this was high enough and the Burj Khalifa is not yet open to the public anyway.
Apart from amazing Toronto the lake on the other side of the viewing deck also offered some great views with the shadow play and the gorgeous wintery skies.
We made it up to the 2nd smaller 'pod' above the main decks.
Tall or what?
We also checked out the Hudson Bay company (I'll have to go back AFTER I win the lottery) and its amazing Christmas displays in the window. In this one ever little thing moved.
I personally liked the Mice in the basement in this one.
I am not moving to Toronto just yet and already knew I liked Canada in summer. In winter is might not be a bad place either.
A little woman making a point
So,...I guess after last weeks post by me about Kaat and her literally 'dirtiest' secrets she had of course every right to be upset with her mom. She was not though....I got the most amazing (very wet) kisses and cuddles all week. Kaat felt no need to get upset about the issue and in a very dignified way made her point.
This week, every day, I picked up Kaat in the same clothes I dressed her in that morning. No blow outs, no spills, no messing up. Nothing but a very very happy and smiley Kaat (and happy teachers too -;).
Kaat you are amazing!
Women worth knowing
It was time again for the annual Texas Conference for Women. Everyone was a little worried as the event is hosted by the 1st lady of Texas – Mrs Perry. As she refrained from any political messages though everyone started breathing again after the first 10 minutes. With > 5000 women there you can imagine the chatter levels. Despite missing Barbara -:( I had a great day. As I don’t watch Oprah or any other major US talk-shows I did not really know much about any of the names. However I think there are a few for all worth knowing about:
Rose Mapondo: This lady is the Humanitarian of the Year for 2009 and does a lot of very good work to get the world to work on peace & reconciliation. Her story is awful yet very inspiring and had especially all moms in the room sitting there with wet eyes. In Rwanda in 1998 she spend 16 months in a death camp. Her Husband was killed shortly after arrival there, she lived on a concrete floor with no sanitation watched 24/7 by guards with guns aimed at them at all times. Turned out she was pregnant and she delivered her 2 boys on that concrete floor prematurely (not knowing she had twins till she delivered). She tied off umbilical cords with her own hair and made the boys after 2 of the captors to keep them alive (hoping they would feel some affiliation). Miracles do happen and Rose now lives in the US and spends all her effort in helping others. Her main message is focused on reconciliation. What a woman!
Bloody Mary aka Bobbie Wiener: At 46, after 4 marriages to well of guys this lady ended up with nothing and no-one. Going in for her last decent haircut in a while her hairdresser apparently suggested she should go to make-up school. She did but was horrible at making people look good – she was and is however very good at making people look not so good and since she was responsible for the make-up on all the dead floaters in the movie ‘Titanic’ this lady has grown her business bigger and better in interesting areas such as providing all face camouflage paint for the US Army, Navy etc and sports fan custom color make-up as well as make-up for the funeral industry. Unfortunately this lady was part of a panel and did not get too much airtime. A happy, interesting & fun story!
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard: Founder of Vera Bradley (flowery fabric bags that are VERY popular in the US). I don’t really get the bags – but wow this women – I got her totally. She was very funny, very down to earth and really a nice role model if you ever want to start a business. She keeps it simple but realistic and has a great sense of humor. One of the funny stories – she and her partner back in 1982 both borrowed 250 USD from their husbands for their business. These days she said many younger women say to her – but was that not also really your money? She honestly said she did not think of it that way back then but with humor then said ‘the worst is that we actually paid them back!’. She also only does business with people she likes which sounds all wrong if you read most marketing books but is great to hear as a women that she still manages to keep that up even now her company went public (Trading @ NASDAQ). Other funny story – they had a customer who owed 100 USD. He did not want to pay and at some point even said ‘I doubt Vera Bradley is going to roll-over & die because I don’t pay my 100 dollars’. Vera Bradley was Barbara’s mom and had passed away that week. They send this customer a note with the obituary with 2 lines: ‘She Did’ and ‘You Do’.
A few of the other presenters: The widow of Patrick Swayze (Lisa Niemi Swayze), Cindy McCain & per video Link Ben Affleck her partner on the Eastern Congo Initiative (fighting Rape), Tory Johnson (another TV personality + small business guru), Mel Robbins (TV and Radio star & life coach) on how to ‘stop screwing yourself over’ or for me at least with some sensible thoughts on how to get your fried mommy brain to function better & trick yourself -:) and Martha Beck (on Oprah etc & Writer) on getting through the rough patches in life by trusting all will be ok, giving up your job as Harvard Professor to do what you really want. These last two though very different were great speakers: being motivational , funny and real whilst still sounding practical and not like a never ending flow of buzzwords .
Rose Mapondo: This lady is the Humanitarian of the Year for 2009 and does a lot of very good work to get the world to work on peace & reconciliation. Her story is awful yet very inspiring and had especially all moms in the room sitting there with wet eyes. In Rwanda in 1998 she spend 16 months in a death camp. Her Husband was killed shortly after arrival there, she lived on a concrete floor with no sanitation watched 24/7 by guards with guns aimed at them at all times. Turned out she was pregnant and she delivered her 2 boys on that concrete floor prematurely (not knowing she had twins till she delivered). She tied off umbilical cords with her own hair and made the boys after 2 of the captors to keep them alive (hoping they would feel some affiliation). Miracles do happen and Rose now lives in the US and spends all her effort in helping others. Her main message is focused on reconciliation. What a woman!
Bloody Mary aka Bobbie Wiener: At 46, after 4 marriages to well of guys this lady ended up with nothing and no-one. Going in for her last decent haircut in a while her hairdresser apparently suggested she should go to make-up school. She did but was horrible at making people look good – she was and is however very good at making people look not so good and since she was responsible for the make-up on all the dead floaters in the movie ‘Titanic’ this lady has grown her business bigger and better in interesting areas such as providing all face camouflage paint for the US Army, Navy etc and sports fan custom color make-up as well as make-up for the funeral industry. Unfortunately this lady was part of a panel and did not get too much airtime. A happy, interesting & fun story!
Barbara Bradley Baekgaard: Founder of Vera Bradley (flowery fabric bags that are VERY popular in the US). I don’t really get the bags – but wow this women – I got her totally. She was very funny, very down to earth and really a nice role model if you ever want to start a business. She keeps it simple but realistic and has a great sense of humor. One of the funny stories – she and her partner back in 1982 both borrowed 250 USD from their husbands for their business. These days she said many younger women say to her – but was that not also really your money? She honestly said she did not think of it that way back then but with humor then said ‘the worst is that we actually paid them back!’. She also only does business with people she likes which sounds all wrong if you read most marketing books but is great to hear as a women that she still manages to keep that up even now her company went public (Trading @ NASDAQ). Other funny story – they had a customer who owed 100 USD. He did not want to pay and at some point even said ‘I doubt Vera Bradley is going to roll-over & die because I don’t pay my 100 dollars’. Vera Bradley was Barbara’s mom and had passed away that week. They send this customer a note with the obituary with 2 lines: ‘She Did’ and ‘You Do’.
A few of the other presenters: The widow of Patrick Swayze (Lisa Niemi Swayze), Cindy McCain & per video Link Ben Affleck her partner on the Eastern Congo Initiative (fighting Rape), Tory Johnson (another TV personality + small business guru), Mel Robbins (TV and Radio star & life coach) on how to ‘stop screwing yourself over’ or for me at least with some sensible thoughts on how to get your fried mommy brain to function better & trick yourself -:) and Martha Beck (on Oprah etc & Writer) on getting through the rough patches in life by trusting all will be ok, giving up your job as Harvard Professor to do what you really want. These last two though very different were great speakers: being motivational , funny and real whilst still sounding practical and not like a never ending flow of buzzwords .
Dewberry Farm
Our fun and action packed weekend was concluded on Sunday by a Birthday party at Dewberry Farm. The place is an actual farm but makes most of its money from the Farm-themed entertainment park they have set up on the land.
It was blowing a whooly out there but nevertheless the party was fun and we found out that Kaat actually can drink through a straw already.
Rick as usual ate no cake just lots of icing so was happy on his sugar high
And as Kaat was doing a new trick on the drinks front Rick wanted to show a new trick too. Glad he picked dad's drink to demonstrate as the backwash is still significant -;)
After the cake, singing & presents we made it out the the animals which Kaat clearly prioritized lower on the list the Wurstfest as she actually slept.
Just before Halloween the farm has a huge pumpkin patch and you can come out and borrow a wheelbarrow and pick up your own pumpkins here (paid by the pound). Then before christmas you can come back and pick out and cut down your own Christmas tree. No opportunity though to come pick out your Turkey. They only had 1 live one (and sold plenty of Turkey legs from the BBQ) and it did not look fat & juicy enough to us...(as if we are real Turkey experts)
The farm has a huge playground, animal sections, a maze, all sorts of fun rides etc etc. Rick of course loved all the water based games and is here concentrating 700% on getting his duck to the other side of this drainage pipe.
Kaat appeared to be utterly unimpressed and indifferent by almost all activities but Eelco had fun and part of the reason of having kids is to do all these things right?
Rick also clearly loved the tracktor pulled cow-barrel ride and did about 3 in a row before we could get him out again.
After a good few hours Kaat was still not crying but had showed no real interest in anything other then eating, drinking & chewing on cardboard...that was until we found the corn shed. Kaat had landed in paradise!
Both Rick & Kaat were super interested at what all the bigger kids were doing and spend a good amount of the time staring at them....mmm wonder who they got that from?!
If we don't count the large numbers of corn kernels we peeled out of Kaat's mouth then Rick managed to trap most in his clothes and diaper but mainly only because Kaat was wearing a onesie. Miraculously if Eelco would have been in the competition he would have won. He never got into the shed at all and still managed to pull a big Eelco hand full of corn from is pockets...we are still wondering who of the two gave him that secret stash.
All in all a fun day at the farm. such a shame the place is only open a couple of weekends in fall and spring -:(
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