South Florida Road Trip

Today we took a road trip. Sorry Martijn - we have to admit that non of us had Will Smith on our iPods but we found an 80's radio station which made me want to buy leg warmers within 5 Miles and actually suited the surroundings. Somehow when we turned onto the highway from the Hotel Rick Astley came on (I know this is embarrassing) and it came back on just as we excited the highway to turn off to our hotel some 8 hrs later?!? Freaky?

Anyway we had decided to venture out to the Miami Seaquarium and Since we thought Rick would wake us early we ordered the rental car for 8. Of course we overslept but we where nevertheless at the park 3 min before it opened and we where pretty pleased with that.

The park was definitely organized in an American way. Very efficient. There where shows or demonstrations every 30 min, they all lasted 20 min which gave you just enough time to make it to the next one. So we did Sharks, Manatee's, Coffee (skipping the tropical fish) and the top deck Dolphins.

Yes that is my finger, yes we did get soaked, no Rick did not mind.

Then there was another Dolphin show with the original Flipper and Rick LOVED it. After that we saw the crocodiles and turtles and a Sealion show. Our tour ended with the prima act of the park a combined Killer Whale an Dolphin show.

It was very very impressive and again quite wet. There was loads of action, loud music, plenty entertainment. Guess what Rick did in the midst of the grand finale.....

Yes - he did. Big time. He never woke up till 90 min and some 20 miles later! As it was the memorial day weekend after all and as it was very very hot we did not fancy touring downtown Miami in a rental car. Instead we decided to finish of the day with a late lunch in the Florida Keys.....Tough life -;)

Chillin' in Florida

It is Memorial Day Weekend in the US and so we have the Monday off. We decided to book a last minute trip to Florida for some family time and relaxing. We ended up in a lovely 4 star Resort in Ft Lauderdale. (Lago Mar Resort and Club it is called for those of you feeling the need to look it up on google earth). The first day we where relaxing so hard we took no pictures at all. By day two we managed to get up by 10 am.

Rick started that day by sticking his head in his new beach toy basket.

Then Rick and Eelco hung out in the pool for a while. We taught Rick to jump in (which he loved!) and he was not so interested in his floating device. He preferred to drag along on Papa's back whilst trying to swim with his feet meanwhile checking out all the girls (of any age!)

Rick also loved playing in the sand. Sitting on top of anything his dad built and playing with anything that was not a beach toy.

Somehow he also liked putting his head down in the warm sand with the following result.... (he did this a few times and was not bothered by the result at all!)

Rick lasted till Happy Hour and was happy to entertain us all day long.

The boys ended the day with a meaningful father to son conversation.

Rick @ 11 months

We can't believe it. This weekend Rick will be 11 months old! He's got 7 teeth, is almost walking, talks back and imitates sound, is no longer easily fooled and gets his fingers in EVERYTHING. He still smiles plenty, eats well but wants to try all our food, and sleeps well to. He loves water and music and is a good dancer too. I can't believe that a year ago I was still walking around with a big belly!

Rick's face is changing a lot at the moment too and he has loads of hair.

He still puts things in his mouth but he has become more selective. He wanders around the furniture all day and if the gap between things is too big he just pushes one along till he can reach the next piece of furniture. So we constantly have to re-arrange our room by the time Rick has gone to bed.

By now you can have real conversations with Rick and he gets better at imitating all the time.

Rick stays away from most cupboards in the house and also most other 'no go' zones without much extra effort. He is however super interested in our pantry and is in there every time he can, mainly to play with our booze supply.

Camping

Last weekend we went to one of the Texas State Parks for a night of Camping. Texas has some 93 State Parks so plenty to choose from. Soon it will be too hot to go camping and so we decided to take the opportunity and picked a new park (as in one none of us had been to). We selected the Stephen F Austin park some 30 min driving from the edge of Houston.

It is lovely to be away from the concrete jungle for a bit and relax. In the Picture you see Iris & daughter Elfi. Janko and Rebecca and their kids Jannes and Ana Louise.

As you can also tell it is not exactly a 'light weight' camping trip and we where by no means 'roughing it'. That is what happens if you live in Texas and have a huge car and a huge garage and all the (camping) gear costs 50% or less of what it costs in Europe.

The kids clearly loved it too.

No skunks in the tent this time and little excitement but that was just fine with us!

Countdown to hurricane season

"As many as 14 hurricanes could hit the Atlantic basin this year, the top US climate agency says. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts 14 to 23 named storms. Eight to 14 of these could develop into hurricanes, it says.

The season could be one of the most active on record, with between three to seven major hurricanes, the NOAA said. "In short, we urge everyone to be prepared," added a spokesperson for the agency said.

Major hurricanes can reach category three or higher, which means they bring sustained winds of at least 111mph (178km/h). The NOAA says the seasonal forecasts have a 70% probability.

The hurricane season begins on 1 June and runs until the end of November. "

Guess we have our work cut out for us next weekend......

Oil Spill

All news currently coming out appears to be very subjective and emotional. Especially here in the US there are hourly updates and a gazillion news outlets all trying to bring their version of the story. We are starting to see the effects in work and in our social life with some of our friends and colleagues being called in to help out.

It is impossible to find an unbiased story at the moment, but the technical information in this article from the economist is pretty good if you want to understand more of that part of the incident. 

http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16160853 

Kusje van Rick

Rick is 'way' behind at school. Almost walking but not quite and 2 of the kids in his group are now 'feeding themselves' - (Rick is 2 - 3 weeks behind some of his peers so, read with some cynicism). Anyway, the good news is Rick knows lots of other far more useful party tricks,.....like blowing kisses to all the lovely and friendly people in the world.