The real cake deal or grab cakes

And then we where not done with the parties. On Monday Miss Sadie from school put on a celebration fro Rick and his 2 buddies who are also born on June 30th and one who is from July 3rd. She did it properly American style and got them all what is called a 'grab cake'. Since Rick had not had one on any of his parties yet he was at first not sure what to do with it whilst Joshua, Jacob and Roddy waisted no time.

But Rick understood the concept pretty quickly

And got better and better

Reaching clearly Mastery level in grab-caking.

I thought the ladies where very very brave to put on an event like this as you can see the consequences where far reaching and some significant wiping down was required afterwards.

They are very very good with the kids as with a little warning here and there they all stayed in their seats and mainly ate their own cakes (except 1 who managed to steal the left overs from another).

Not actually sure how much cake went into those bellies!

Party of the year

We had already issued the invitations for Rick's Birthday party for the 11th long before Holland reached the World Cup final. So no other options then to combine the lot. Despite the outcome of the game it was a big success with some 23 Adults and 14 Kids showing up at some point in the afternoon, covering some 6 nationalities.

We prepared very well and managed to find plenty orange decoration

Even some of our non Dutch guests showed up in Orange

It got so busy & chaotic in no time that we forgot to take many pictures.

Rick normally a big fan of singing was not too sure this time around. Maybe he was done with all the cheering noises after the soccer.

He did like the cake though and it tasted great! The local baker did a very good job with the Dutch D Bruna Images but was clearly unable to resist adding other colors then orange -;)

The best part of it all was trying out the new pool and the old ones.

The pool fun helped to wash up the soccer sorrow somewhat and the 3 of us had a tiring but amazing afternoon!

PS we forgot in all the commotion to serve half the snacks we bought so if you feel like a drink and some finger food please do stop by and bring your swimming gear!

Hot in Holland

Herewith the last pictures from Holland....there are loads to choose from so quite a few. When we arrived it was freezing in Holland (well by no means summer temperatures) but soon after it got very Hot. And Rick? Rick was also very 'hot' in Holland. 

Hanging out with mom at one of the cool beach clubs.

Neeltje and Rick in the new hip Chocolate & Ice Cream shop in town.

Meeting mom's university friends and all their kids on a hot Friday afternoon.

Trust me Patrick says Rick - I live in Houston, I know about pools!

And thanks to the Jet lag Rick managed to hang in there a little longer then the other kids.

Then the numerous rides in the convertible

and yes even that can be almost too hot!

Testing the North Sea water was a success. Despite it being only 16 degrees Celsius Rick wanted to go back as soon as he was out!

So poor Papa had to get into the cold with him

Opa Kees had the better job of helping with the sand works.

And of course the best thing about being in Holland for Rick was about trying all the things that we and Miss Sadie at school will not let him do. Climbing on tables, putting your hands in other people's food etc. Of course Opa is only laughing!

1 Year Old

Rick turned 1 on June 30th so we had a small celebration whilst in NL.

It took Rick no time at all in the morning to tear half the decoration of his chair and he was somewhat sad he was not allowed to eat the colorful paper.

And then came the visitors (2 Oma's, 1 Opa and Aunt Neeltje w Bump) and the presents.

And the singing and the learning to do 'hip hip hurray's'.

And then finally Rick got to eat a big chunk of dutch 'Kwarktaart' and could not stop hurray-ing.

1 already!!! Eelco and I felt weird the whole day.

van Krieken

Somehow this year is the year of family reunions and whilst in Holland we also had a day out with all cousins from the van Krieken family. There are 9 of us, of which I am the oldest, but since our partners tagged along as well as Uncle Chris and Aunt Liz (who have to attend themselves as they contributed no 'cousins' to the family) we ended up with quite a group.

You can see that Uncle Chris is made for rowing us around.

Cathelijne, Vera and Karin managed to even look elegant in the process.

Dennis, Anne and Jasper were miles ahead of us for most of the trip .

Neeltje could not do much other then play ballast at the back of the boat in her condition and Eelco only had to show off his Florida tan as Chris kept on insisting that the rowing was good for his back.

We outsources Rick to his uncle Martijn who was sharing the boat with Pim, Eva and Aunt Liz.

And after dodging the rain in the pancake house we of course made a new group picture for Oma.

Can you tell who is related to who? I had to be on my knees in the front as I am by far the shortest of them all!

We will complete the trilogy of family reunions in September with a reunion of the Mensink family.

Jorritsma

Eelco's dad reached a significant milestone whilst we where in NL and hence there was of course a big party and a 'big' family reunion. The Family is not really that big but the event itself was big of course.

Sjoerd (Eelco's dad) was enjoying having everyone around, the weather was gorgeous and we were in pretty Zeeland close to the beach. Rick was also pleased to spend some time with his family, below with big cousin Jeppe.

The Jorritsma family is really quite small and ALL male....Sjoerd has 1 Brother (far left on the picture), who has 1 son (middle), and Eelco only has 1 brother (2nd from right) so until recently the family consisted of 5x Mr Jorritsma and their wives and that was it.

Fortunately - with the wives came the children and now there is a whole new generation Jorritsma's doubling the grand total to 10!

Rick, Jeppe, Pieter, Tjibbe and Martijn.

it appears all hope for a Jorritsma girl in this generation is invested in us.......(the last girls was 6 generations ago or so).

Staying over at Oma

We where in Holland for a couple of weeks and Rick got to spend some time at Oma's such that I could go to work. Oma of course waisted no time getting Rick onto a bike just like any Dutch kid should.

You can see Rick was not missing us at all sharing Banana;s with Oma in the forrest.

and watching TV with Jan (you can see Oma forgot the sunscreen for Rick -;).

And more bike rides including traditional dutch small ferry's!

Miss Sadie (Rick's teacher here) is convinced Rick got spoiled rotten whilst in NL as he stopped walking  almost completely and learned some other 'spoiled boy tantrums'. However we have evidence that Oma did continue the training in NL:

We are not too worried about the walking as Rick is just lazy like his Mom and Dad and there where quite a few new/other distractions. And of course miss Sadie wasted no time putting Rick on another boot camp as soon as he got back and within 3 days he is walking (somewhat wobbly) through the room again. The only bad news for Oma is that Miss Sadie thinks that Rick cannot go on another holiday anytime soon -;)