Recovery

After a manic weekend, some restless packing days & sleeping in a hotel in Houston and then a night on the plane (even though it was in Business Class) we where done. More then done and needed sleep. So Thursday night we all went to bed before 9pm. Making a night of > 12 hrs for us and > 14 for the kids. Looked like we all needed it -;)

Farewell

We did lots of farewells with many different people in many different settings. It is always sad to move again - no matter how ready you are for the new adventure and no matter how often you have done it. Houston has been a special place to us as we had many happy reunions here with old friends, started our family here and actually spend more time here then we have in any other place together yet.

I will miss the Rodeo and the Truck and the easyness of life in the US such as online shopping, anything is for sale and everything is always open. I will not miss the lack of public transport and ability to walk places - although my lovely lovely truck has made that much more bearable in the last year of course. Social life here,  especially with colleagues is not as easy as we have known it in other places - mainly also due to the vast size of this city and potentially due to teh importance of the church communities here.

Our holidays here and from here have also been amazing and Texas itself it gorgeous in many places and interesting and larger then life and a great place to make some road trips. 

I will really really really miss the kids school. To me that has been a major support system and a place my kids where very happy, I learned some parenting and gave me the piece of mind to develop my career in the past 4 years at the same time. We expected Rick to really start noticing everything going on and being affected by it all. However despite the fact that they made this huge sign in his class and me and the mommies of some of his friends and his teacheres struggeling all to keep back the tears he was fine and really liked the picture book with all his friends they gave him.

He clearly loves all his current teachers. Ms Zara,

Ms Yuri,

And his current favorite Ms Jennifer. (As Rick explained in the car that morning - it is ok to like one teacher more then the other - "there are different kind of kids who like different kinds of teachers")

 
Kaat was actually much more affected and 'off' from the weekend onwards in different ways. At school she was being clingy & difficult, she did not eat or sleep well and when I tried to take some last pictures with her teachers I would just get these foul looks. I hope she will settle soon in India and forgive me!

Last but not least I will also really miss my first mommy friends - some of the key ones already left in the last couple of months - but I will also still leave a few more behind myself.

It is time to go though and we are as ready as can be. Stocking up on a few things & a little Sinterklaas and family time in the NL for a few days and then it is on to the new place!

Packing up the the Green house @ Waverly

Monday & Tuesday our house in Houston was packed up. It took 4 people all Monday and 5 people all Tuesday to pack everything in boxes and stuff a 40 ft sea container with 337 items (no an item # 338 would NOT have fit in), 630 lbs Airfreight and a few cabinets, a Piano, a fur coat and 2 cow hides for the Netherlands - mainly as none of these items would likely sdo well in Indian humidity or culture.

Monday nights the kids came to the half packed house for a little bit. I had not planned to have them there as I was afraid it would be upsetting for them but they appeared at first very unaffected just watching some Mickey Mouse whilst waiting for us to wrap up some loose ends.

Then I took them upstairs to see their whole room being in boxes and they actually got very very excited.

And together checked both Rick's & Kaat's room out.

When the realized mommy & dady'sbed was not packed yet they decided it was fair game to go play there. No sad faces at all!

On Tuesday afternoon a bright orange container arrived and everything got loaded twice. Halfway through the first session things potentially started to 'not all fit in'. After some panic waves on my side and some re-packing & stacking they somehow managed - about 1.5 hrs after they where supposed to be done.

Bye bye Waverly Street!

Tuesday night the kids also came back to the house and started a screaming & echoing match....also fun! No tears from them. For us there where some but not for the house. It has been a great place for us with many fond memories but without us or our things in it it already feels less like home.

It is being cleaned & touched up and will be staged to go onto the market soon. Will post some staging pictures when they are ready.

Pow Wows

Thanksgiving is established to thank the Native American's for helping out the 2nd wave of immigrants what to plant and how to survive on American land after the 1st wave of immigrants more or less perished (and then it got expanded to being thankfull for much more - including mainly having the freedom to live the American dream). Prior to thanksgiving many schools and offices organize things like Pot Luck Lunches or Pow Wows - Food centred gatherings of some sorts involving sharing. Rick & Kaat both have one at school.

Rick's was last week and outside - after 2 washes the mulch is still on Rick's jacket and now travelling in the seacontainer to India -;)

Any food centred event is of course welcome with our kids.

Rick enjoying his last few days of company from his bestest friend Roddy.

And fortunately when done eating it is time to be silly & play. 

Kaat's Pow Wow was this Monday so we kind of also used it as her farewell. Again great enthusiasm for the food part.

Receiving some love from Kaat's first ever real (girl) friend Vivian.

And also being silly with other 1st real friend Michael 

Not as long as Rick's friendships but Kaat & Michael have spend almost every week together since May 2011. Michael also thinks Kaat has a really cool big brother who is always very nice to him.

And Kaat with her favorite teacher (if she really has to choose anyone after daddy and Mickey Mouse that is -;) - Ms Debbie.

Gymnastics

The other weekend we had a Birthday party at the Gym. It was a huge hit with our kids.

Kaat of course wandered off in no time into parts of the gym she should not be at... 

Somehow I managed to make a very scary looking picture of Eelco dropping Kaat into some play pit.

But she was clearly happy with the result so don't worry!

Earlier that week at Wurstefest I was not even allowe to stand next to Rick on the 'merry go round' (draaimolen) as Rick was not old enough to go alone, because I was pregnant and hence that was too dangerous (WHAT?!?!) - so I did not even attempt to go near the trampoline like the other moms after that. 

Like Rick, Kaat is very strong in her upper body and was pulling herself up pretty easily. We should not be surprised actually that a couple of days after this Kaaqt pulled herself in teh dark out of her bed (up ~ 1m) onto the changing table  - covering the 20 cm gap between bed an dchanging table in the process.....

At the end of an hour of that we had some very tired happy sweaty kids!

Guess we need to find some Gymnastics in India. 

Truck & Bump aka 'Hot Mama'

The dy is approaching that I have to get writ of the truck. Very sad as it was (is) a lot of fun to drive one. Considering we where actually in a location a truck belongs and the weather was nice Eelco took some pictures of the Truck and the belly. According to the doctor I am loosing weight - but as you can tell the belly is sizeable enough at a little over 5 months in the pictures.

 A little moment of silence before the last Texas road trip -;)

Within a 9 day period we managed to rake up almost 1200 Miles so - decent farewell. If we ever move back to the US, Canada, Australia or Alaska (I know = also US) I will get anotehr truck. You can count on that.

Kinderpret (kids fun)

Around Wurstfest we spend the weekend in Gruene with our friends & their kids. What a blast! Not enough sleep but lost of smiles & giggles.

All kids except baby Xander got to go into the bath together and then watch a little Miffy (Nijntje) to 'calm down for bed' (yeah right!) Someone decided that with a t-shirt like that Rick needed an alternative hairdo.

The next morning the dads claimed that by Dutch standards the weather was still perfect to use the pool. Jasper is only a couple of days younger then Rick and Fleur is about 3 months older then Kaat. Quite well matched up!

They did actually also made it into the pool and forKaat Rick's splashes could not be big enough!

After the regular pool we managed to get 5 adults and 6 kids into the hot tub. Baby Xander and pregnant Maartje just enjoyed each other and daydreaming instead -;)

After all that it was a pretty easy 2.5 hr ride back to Houston!

Quilt Festival (Nov 2nd)

Despite all the madness & chaos going on I could not give up my last chance to go to the quilt festival, so somehow I managed to find a few hours and go, all by myself, enjoying the artwork and browsing for fabrics whilst daydreaming about how my love for fabrics & textiles is going to be completely satisfied in India! The Dutch had done well this name and plenty of quilting prizes will be taken back to Holland.

As usual the winning quilts, and most others on display where astonishing. The winning one has a true patriotic American theme "America Let It Shine" and 4,886 Swarovski crystals embedded in the quilt representing the words of the constitution + the star spangled banner + the pledge of allegiance. My picture really does not do it justice as it really does shine and sparkle and has an infinite amount of detailing. 

The #2 price went to a Dutch lady! She made this whole quilt by hand and it took her 4 or 5 years! Mrs Ted Storm of 's Gravezande. Again the piece is gorgeous and the detail amazing. You have these 'quilt minders' or whatever they are told who with gloves on show the 60,000 visitors to the festival the details. I loved the Delft blue detailing on the back too but really don't understand how anyone in the Netherlands these days can find enough time and sit still long enough to do this! Middle of nowhere Wyoming maybe (the winner) but in the Netherlands the national past-time appears to be being too busy.

And the 3rd main price for a machine maid quilt also was won by a Dutch lady. She made this quilt with hand dyed fabrics after one of her own pictures. She was actually there at the time I came to look at it so I talked to her for a bit. A very friendly lady from Friesland (Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga). Even without almost 3 kids and a full time job I am not sure I would ever have the patience or the dedication to even make something 1/100th time as elaborate as these quilts.

Another one I personally really liked is this one here which was made of fabric & lace - I would love to put that up on my wall at home!

The exhibition part of the festival has a mix of traditional and modern quilting. The below is made entirely out of jeans.

And another Dutch winner, this time with a Monet inspired piece. I bet this is no what most of you have in mind when you think about quilting!

No pictures of the endless aisles (20 long ones) of quilting stalls, sewing machine booths & demonstrations, some tell sell stands, fabric stores & tool makers. It was fab to have a few hours of this in all the madness and a nice reminder why at a personal level I also think I will be quite happy in India! Some day I do want't to come back to this festival though.

Wurst Fest Friends

On November 3rd we went to Wurstfest. Some of you may remember we went last year with friends with kids and it was a huge success. Wurstfest is some wurst themed variation to October fest in New Braunfells in the Texas Hill Country (with many german sounding towns). I did not quite fit in my bayerisch maid costume anymore with my pregnant belly but my Dutch Apron also did the trick. Fully kitted out we went in for the Fest.

The Wurst (Sausage) options consist of Wurst on bread, Wurst on a stick (with a bun to soak up the leakage), Wurst on a platter with Sauerkraut & Potato Salad or a randon selection of pieces of Wurst on a stick. Rick out of all of us was last year who ate the mist sausage. This year Kaat gave him a run for his money.....

The festival area is purpose built fro Wurstfest and in the middle of town next to the river which has its attraction on boys of all ages.

The kids entertained themselves by throwing stuff in the water.

Running up & down the hill

Playing with Papa 

 Dancing & listening to the music

Hanging out with Mama

Empty beer jugs

People watching & good conversations

Playing in the shade & peace and quiet under the beer tables with the carnival tokens

Cleaning up mama 

 Eating and eating and eating and eating

Being cute and trying on everyone's accesoiries

and finally hanging out in your own zone with the Lion King whilst everyone around is getting happier & louder.

Considering everything we have going on and the fact that I was by far the most sober person there I just gave in and managed to look reasonably relaxed right?

 It was a happy Wurstfest!