Over the last 3 weeks we have seen Sinterklaas and his helpers at numerous locations:
- At the toystore: the kids got a little goody bag with toys and candy/chocolates
- At the company's Sinterklaas party: this was a good one, each kid got a very nice gift and a few smaller gifts. There were Kermis attractions for them and lots of candies and chocolates.
- At the school's Sinterklaas buffet (but here only his helpers showed up to give them chocolates)
- At school.
- At soccer practice.
- At the chiro
Not to mention at home - but this was at night and we didn't really get to see him or his helpers
Monday, December 8, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Another tooth came out - and how...
For a few weeks Elias had this loose tooth.
It was so loose, he could turn it in almost any direction he wanted, making it very difficult to eat.
Wim and I would feel sick to the stomach just watching him play with that tooth. Really, we didn't understand why it wouldn't fall out.
SOLUTION: let's tie a rope around it and have him pull it out
RESULT: it worked - that tooth flew through the kitchen and our son now looks like a pirate.
It was so loose, he could turn it in almost any direction he wanted, making it very difficult to eat.
Wim and I would feel sick to the stomach just watching him play with that tooth. Really, we didn't understand why it wouldn't fall out.
SOLUTION: let's tie a rope around it and have him pull it out
RESULT: it worked - that tooth flew through the kitchen and our son now looks like a pirate.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Halloween cookies
I finally used the Halloween cookie cutters that I bought more than a year ago.
It was a fun project - and tasty too :-)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Halloween tour in Wijgmaal
In true American tradition, we decided to go on a Halloween walk with the kids so on October 25, we (5 adults and 9 kids) went to neighboring town Wijgmaal.
We were supposed to make reservations (which was not mentioned on the flier) and since we hadn't we couldn't participate on any of the tours, except on the 10pm one. Way too late for our small kids.
Since these kind of tours are leading through local meadows, forests and downtown, we would be walking mostly on "public" property rather than private property, so we just started on a tour by ourselves (without paying).
We did make it a point though not to accept any soup and snacks during the walk (which are offered to the paying participants).
The walk goes as follows:
- you follow a path marked by tea lights and/or arrows.
- The path starts downtown but then leads you through 'it looks like' swamps. Not really swamps but a werewolf told us it is and because of the soggy pathways the kids really believed it (and screamed because they came too close to the swamp and they were afraid they were going to be taken by swamp spirits or something).
- The path went by a graveyard. There was a coffin with scary music and smog and someone in the coffin stuck his hand out. He apparently came out as well but I never saw that since Mendel pulled me away too quickly.
- Then we had to walk next to a corn field (of course people in there were running by scaring us), it was almost pitch dark at this point - no tea lights.
- At one point there were 2 withes and a wizard singing songs (really good)
- It ended with a skeleton playing the piano in a very nice park (a bit creepy at night because of all the old buildings and statues).
We walked for about an hour before the tour was over. The kids were very scared at times but they also had fun.
At one point during the tour we told some of the performers that we were a non-paying group and that was why we were not accepting food/drinks, but they decided to tell us a story anyway and directed us to the next stop. Phew ...
It was FUN !!!!
We were supposed to make reservations (which was not mentioned on the flier) and since we hadn't we couldn't participate on any of the tours, except on the 10pm one. Way too late for our small kids.
Since these kind of tours are leading through local meadows, forests and downtown, we would be walking mostly on "public" property rather than private property, so we just started on a tour by ourselves (without paying).
We did make it a point though not to accept any soup and snacks during the walk (which are offered to the paying participants).
The walk goes as follows:
- you follow a path marked by tea lights and/or arrows.
- The path starts downtown but then leads you through 'it looks like' swamps. Not really swamps but a werewolf told us it is and because of the soggy pathways the kids really believed it (and screamed because they came too close to the swamp and they were afraid they were going to be taken by swamp spirits or something).
- The path went by a graveyard. There was a coffin with scary music and smog and someone in the coffin stuck his hand out. He apparently came out as well but I never saw that since Mendel pulled me away too quickly.
- Then we had to walk next to a corn field (of course people in there were running by scaring us), it was almost pitch dark at this point - no tea lights.
- At one point there were 2 withes and a wizard singing songs (really good)
- It ended with a skeleton playing the piano in a very nice park (a bit creepy at night because of all the old buildings and statues).
We walked for about an hour before the tour was over. The kids were very scared at times but they also had fun.
At one point during the tour we told some of the performers that we were a non-paying group and that was why we were not accepting food/drinks, but they decided to tell us a story anyway and directed us to the next stop. Phew ...
It was FUN !!!!
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Highlights of my trip to CA
I went on a little CA (shopping) trip because I had a ticket that was about to expire.
I left on Oct 3rd.
Here are some highlights of what I did on this trip:
- It was great to see Jan and Estela again, and of course their kids Julian and Camille. I stayed over on the first night of my arrival and we ended up talking till 2am. The next morning we went to see Camille's soccer game - too cute to see her play.
- For the next 4 nights I stayed over at April's house. I was happy to help out a bit in the household (doing laundry - changing drapes - cooking soup and dinner) since she has been through a hard time. It was nice to chat at night and keep her company.
- Let's not forget the shopping, shopping, shopping,....
- I visited the Monticello school to hear the unfortunate news that Trinh's husband David has just been diagnosed with colon cancer. I really hope it's not too wide spread and treatable.
Sometimes I wonder why so often bad things happen to good people...
- I was able to catch up with Becky over Starbucks coffee - we mostly talked about a certain operation I had done (hmm... someone else is interested??) haha...
- It was so great to get together with my old Cisco crew - we had lunch together, lots of talk and ended up going for pearl tea and even coffee. I miss them, it was always a lot of laughter when we were together (and tears but that was mostly because of the managers :)
- On my last night I stayed over again at Jan and Estela's house, again talking till 2am (ouch - it was a working day for them the next day). We all got up at 5:30am (everyone except Camille) and they waved me out ... snif snif....
And then I had to fly back:
- First of all, with two heavy pieces of luggage and one rolling hand luggage, it was really hard to get all of that to the train and to the check-in counter (no carts in sight).
- Then I spend two hours at the check-in counter because it turned out that they charged me too little for my trip (I payed 250 Euro to change the ticket dates, you would think that was enough). I was arguing that you can't change the ticket price on my halfway my trip - that isn't fair. About one minute before boarding time they let me go, so I had to run through the security checkpoints (cutting in line before everyone - giving me mean looks) and barely made it in time to my gate. It's now 9am and I didn't have breakfast.
- Instead of flying to Philadelphia we made a stop at Phoenix where I was supposed to change my ticket (I still didn't have the correct ticket to fly to Brussels). When they took care of that I had to run back to the plane (still didn't eat).
- When we landed in Philadelphia, I asked another passenger what time it was, it was 7:40pm, while my next plane was boarding at 7:45pm. Again I had to run like crazy to make it to that plane. And again I hadn't eaten - I was starving !!
- I must admit: I refuse to buy food in the plane since I really hate the taste of cold soggy bread. Even when extremely hungry, I can't eat that.
- I was pleasantly surprised on the plane to Brussels: I had 3 seats all for myself. I was gonna get some sleep here !!! A girl asked if she could sit on one of those seats, but thinking back to my tough day so far I just said "no - I want to catch some sleep". Awful huh - but she found another seat where there was lots of space.
- I have never enjoyed a pasta more then I did when they served me dinner :)
- I fell asleep after dinner and woke up when they were serving breakfast. PERFECT!
So these were the highlights of my trip....
I left on Oct 3rd.
Here are some highlights of what I did on this trip:
- It was great to see Jan and Estela again, and of course their kids Julian and Camille. I stayed over on the first night of my arrival and we ended up talking till 2am. The next morning we went to see Camille's soccer game - too cute to see her play.
- For the next 4 nights I stayed over at April's house. I was happy to help out a bit in the household (doing laundry - changing drapes - cooking soup and dinner) since she has been through a hard time. It was nice to chat at night and keep her company.
- Let's not forget the shopping, shopping, shopping,....
- I visited the Monticello school to hear the unfortunate news that Trinh's husband David has just been diagnosed with colon cancer. I really hope it's not too wide spread and treatable.
Sometimes I wonder why so often bad things happen to good people...
- I was able to catch up with Becky over Starbucks coffee - we mostly talked about a certain operation I had done (hmm... someone else is interested??) haha...
- It was so great to get together with my old Cisco crew - we had lunch together, lots of talk and ended up going for pearl tea and even coffee. I miss them, it was always a lot of laughter when we were together (and tears but that was mostly because of the managers :)
- On my last night I stayed over again at Jan and Estela's house, again talking till 2am (ouch - it was a working day for them the next day). We all got up at 5:30am (everyone except Camille) and they waved me out ... snif snif....
And then I had to fly back:
- First of all, with two heavy pieces of luggage and one rolling hand luggage, it was really hard to get all of that to the train and to the check-in counter (no carts in sight).
- Then I spend two hours at the check-in counter because it turned out that they charged me too little for my trip (I payed 250 Euro to change the ticket dates, you would think that was enough). I was arguing that you can't change the ticket price on my halfway my trip - that isn't fair. About one minute before boarding time they let me go, so I had to run through the security checkpoints (cutting in line before everyone - giving me mean looks) and barely made it in time to my gate. It's now 9am and I didn't have breakfast.
- Instead of flying to Philadelphia we made a stop at Phoenix where I was supposed to change my ticket (I still didn't have the correct ticket to fly to Brussels). When they took care of that I had to run back to the plane (still didn't eat).
- When we landed in Philadelphia, I asked another passenger what time it was, it was 7:40pm, while my next plane was boarding at 7:45pm. Again I had to run like crazy to make it to that plane. And again I hadn't eaten - I was starving !!
- I must admit: I refuse to buy food in the plane since I really hate the taste of cold soggy bread. Even when extremely hungry, I can't eat that.
- I was pleasantly surprised on the plane to Brussels: I had 3 seats all for myself. I was gonna get some sleep here !!! A girl asked if she could sit on one of those seats, but thinking back to my tough day so far I just said "no - I want to catch some sleep". Awful huh - but she found another seat where there was lots of space.
- I have never enjoyed a pasta more then I did when they served me dinner :)
- I fell asleep after dinner and woke up when they were serving breakfast. PERFECT!
So these were the highlights of my trip....
Monday, September 22, 2008
Our family portrait (from Elias' view)
Elias' teacher keeps a blog where she posts pictures of the kids when doing projects in the class. It's great to see them doing all those things - very high tech as well (for Belgium).
I was checking out the day they were making family portraits and found this picture of Elias:
He was the only child that drew a family member with a sad face (Mendel). I guess I'll have to find out what that was about, but still, it's a bit funny.
I was checking out the day they were making family portraits and found this picture of Elias:
He was the only child that drew a family member with a sad face (Mendel). I guess I'll have to find out what that was about, but still, it's a bit funny.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Mendel turns 5
Mendel's birthday(s)
As is becoming the tradition, we had multiple birthday parties to celebrate the fact that Mendel turned 5.
Of course we had to have a little something special on the day itself, even though it was a regular Monday and the day before we left for our vacation.
Alyssa and Caitlin came over..........
Then on the 23th of August, we had a family party with the aunts, uncles and grandparents. The weather wasn't cooperating so we spent most of the party inside. On times like this, it's good to have a small family.
But her REAL party, with all her friends, was on the 30th of August. She had a joined birthday party with Louise who turned 4 (daughter of our friends and a very good friend of Mendel). We rented a pink bouncing castle, decorated with pink/white balloons, made a face painting booth, had a "wand-making" activity, of course the regular swing and trampoline and two hostess moms dressed up as princesses.... did I mention it's a princess party"...?
We were so lucky with the weather! It was the warmest day of the week, lots of sun, and it stayed warm till late in the evening (hence the BBQ that followed).
As is becoming the tradition, we had multiple birthday parties to celebrate the fact that Mendel turned 5.
Of course we had to have a little something special on the day itself, even though it was a regular Monday and the day before we left for our vacation.
Alyssa and Caitlin came over..........
Then on the 23th of August, we had a family party with the aunts, uncles and grandparents. The weather wasn't cooperating so we spent most of the party inside. On times like this, it's good to have a small family.
But her REAL party, with all her friends, was on the 30th of August. She had a joined birthday party with Louise who turned 4 (daughter of our friends and a very good friend of Mendel). We rented a pink bouncing castle, decorated with pink/white balloons, made a face painting booth, had a "wand-making" activity, of course the regular swing and trampoline and two hostess moms dressed up as princesses.... did I mention it's a princess party"...?
We were so lucky with the weather! It was the warmest day of the week, lots of sun, and it stayed warm till late in the evening (hence the BBQ that followed).
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