Splashing

The weather is amazing the past few days with 35 C temperatures already. e are not quite ready to get the pool out but I got the kids a water table such that we now have something wet they can play with somewhat unsupervised or without me needing to get in a bathing suit too. WIthin no time Kaat happily came to show me she had pored water over head - so I assume she approved of the new play thing.

I had stripped Rick down to a diaper as I assumed he would climb in the water table in no time. But someone beat him to it....

 So he squeezed in too and I can report that one #4 pamper and #5 pamper together can absorb about 1/3 of all the water in the water table -;)

 So we got out the swim gear and added some tubs

 I remember some pictures of me at the same age in the same pose...

 Sunday morning bliss for all!

 happy happy happy

 I think we are in for a mega nap from the young lady today after all that

 and they did not even have to get out for the Sunday morning skype sessions....here talking to Opa Sjoerd en Labrador Kaatje

Never Walk Alone?

Kaat still refuses to walk...-:( She will walk along everything, she will walk sideways at school if food is involved, she will climb on everything and get off herself. She gets around faster then Rick and she will walk on our hands.....but she refuses to walk alone.

Happy Reunions

We have had a very busy but very very nice couple of days here in Houston with our friends from everywhere. The visit started (whilst I was still in California) with the Janko, Rebecca, Jannes, Ana Louise and their newest addition to the family Hank. Friends from Aberdeen, Houston & Big Bend now living in Brunei. Rick LOVED spending time with Jannes and admired his lego skills.

 Ana happily entertained Kaatje

 and Janko entertained the kids (demonstrating the strength you get from spinach)

 Rick & Ana were sooooooo cute together (sorry Mees!)

 On friday Fleur joined in from Toronto and we moved the whole crew straight to the Rodeo where the Turkey legs proved popular 

 to all

 and everyone (except for the me)

 we all felt happy being surrounded by friends & cowboys

 Kaat remained close whenever I was with Hank but accepted him with curiosity

 and showed off her acrobatic skills to all. Despite being prone to showing off and being perfect with strangers or visitors around she still could no be coaxed into walking.

 the kids taught Fleur how to take care of them

 and showed her their new favorite hide out.

 much to soon did we have to say goodbye to the Reinders family, but with 24 hrs the house was filled again with the van Gestel Clan - new-ish friends to us but old friends to Fleur.

 By then Kaat had figured out that the older kids left many good treasures on their plates and scavenged the table for more good eats.

 Pretty Fleur & baby Fleur together (Rick calls anyone who is a girl and younger then he is baby or 'Jasper's Kaatje' - Jasper is Rick;s age and Fleur's brother)

 but ultimately, very late last night the happy reunion came to an end and the reality of early flights home and the start to the workweek kicked in. Kaat expressed our feelings best:

why did it have to be over so soon?!

Little Chef

Rick these days helps to get the bowls out for Kaatje to play drums. With a still somewhat limited attention span she is done with that quite quickly after which Rick takes his turn.....not to play Drum but to turn them around and cook!

He also gets better and better at making cookies here under supervision of Papa and Oma Marijke via Skype.

 and Rick has a never ending imagination to cook all day, anything and anywhere.

2 vs 1

We reversed roles for a change and I was away to Bakersfield for work whilst Eelco was being the single dad. It appears that some in the household teamed up against him -;)

being so cute makes getting away with things in life so easy!

Symphony under the sea

This morning I took Rick to his first classical concert by the Houston Symphony. The concert was set up especially for kids and was planned for 1 hr only with in advance all sorts of related activities for the kids in the big fancy concert hall. As Houston in the past 36 hrs was going through some torrential down pores and as Eelco wanted to run a 10k race in that weather even earlier this morning we got there a little too late for Rick to try playing a trombone or a trumpet.

Seeing the fancy concert hall, the nice fluffy red chairs and all these musicians on stage made us even more excited with anticipation.

The conductor (Robert Franz) appeared on stage in a bright orange (quite lose fortunately -;) 20's swim costume, with flippers on and a scuba mask & snorkel on top of his head and conducted the whole concert in that outfit whilst the orchestra was in the usual impeccable penguin outfits (black & white suits /dresses). The conductor also explained about the music and talked the whole thing somewhat together.

The program:

Suite from Water music; VI Alegro deciso (Handel/Harty) 

Overture to The Flying Dutchman (Wagner) 

Cartoon Capers (Arr B Cerulli)

Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Opus 33a; IV Storm: Presto con fuoco (Britten)

Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffman (Offenbach)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat (Arr. R. Ricker) - yes of course they got us all to sing!

Hands Across the Sea (Sousa) - conducted by a 12(?) year old girl, daughter of one of the cellists

Suite from Disney's The Little Mermaid (A. Mencken / C. Beck / M McGury) - sung by a high quality high school choir

Rick absolutely loved all of it and was moving his hands along and his head and the rest of his body at times too. He was telling me all about the water ghosts and the fishies and the dolphins and everything else he heard in the music. There will be a series of those throughout the year so I guess we will be back!

Family trip to the Rodeo

The Rodeo is still in town and yesterday I made my 4th trip there this year. This time as a real family outing.

 It was raining BIG time al day so we went there a little later then planned and were more or less restricted to the indoor venues after we visited (and tried some) in the big BBQ tents.

 None of that bothered Rick much

 Who was quite happy to ride the pony again (kind of debating with me whether a pony is a horse or a donkey)

 With a vivid imagination, dreaming the carrousel away Rick pretended he was a jockey (we watched 'Sekretariat' a lot together lately)

 and plenty of animals inside too

 as well as lovely ladies with free animal cards

 For a change we made it into the show before it started and so we witnessed the daily grand entry with - Bush Sr and Barbara!

The Grand Entry is exactly that - grand - and it takes a while. Rick pointed out that it looked like a Pretzel. I told him I thought it looked like a snake. So quite happy we now call it the Pretzel-Snake-Parade. 

 Then follows the Prayer and the national Anthem accompanied by a lady bare back on horse with a flag culminating in fireworks inside the stadium and from the top of the ladies' flag pole

 At that point Kaat started to be more entertained as well flirting endlessly with the boys seated behind us.

Trying to consume papa's beer

 giving attention to her new found fanclub - kind of throwing herself into it!

 and competing with Rick in a popcorn eating contest

  In the mean time we watched the Tie down roping, Bronc Riding, Team roping, Saddle Bronc Riding and the Steer Wrestling - literally throwing yourself of a running horse on top of the steer and wrestle it to the ground.

like so

 Then follows the even more spectacular bull riding... 

 quite a few got thrown off yesterday and got trampled on before they could be saved by the Rodeo clowns

After that follows the calf scramble - 40 teenagers trying to catch 1 of 14 calfs to keep - then the chuck wagon race and the barrel racing (all female event). Last but not least is the Mutton Bustin' - 5/6 year olds trying to hold on as long as possible to a running sheep. Most claim they practice on their dad.

And then follows the concert. In this case mother or the Tina Turner or Willeke Alberti (although naughtier!) of the Rodeo: Reba McEntire. She clearly has done this a zillion times before as she has a great band and is a good entertainer and it all sounded good which is an achievement in the somewhat huge arena (60,000 people or so?) with odd little rotating stage in the middle and no time for a proper sound-check.

Rick loved it all and loved her, and Kaat thought all cowboys were cute and that Reba sang some great lullabies as she fell asleep within the first song of the concert. We hope to get one more visit in next Friday before the Rodeo leaves town again. I am a fan!