What have we been up to?

Last week I started building chairs for our new kitchen table. I have not built a chair and long ago I started researching standard sizes etc... Most chairs have a back that tilts at a 5 degree bend. I found that the best way to bend wood it by steaming it in a steam box. I went ahead and built a steam box to hold the wood and let the heat and moisture go through the wood which makes it more pliable. Well, after 6 unsuccessful attempts at bending the 5mm square pine wood, I decided to try a straight backed chair. The chair is strong and would work OK but with the straight back, it just is not comfortable. Now I am going to try bending the wood after just soaking it in water overnight, or in this case, over the weekend and see if I can bend it without it cracking. Wish me luck.

This last week I took off work to hang around at home, just a vacation at home. Wednesday the family went swimming and then we went and saw the awesome movie 'Kung Foo Panda'. If you have not yet seen this movie, I suggest you should. I also saw a few other movies. In fact, I saw a movie on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I am proud of that. Should I be?

I have also been looking into the possibility of buying a used car. I decided to go to my bank and apply for a little cash so I can go shopping. After much discussion I found that the banks are all scared to loan to an American because of the current financial troubles the good ol' USA is going through. This really does not make sense to me because I work for a company registered here in the Netherlands and get paid by Euro not the weakening dollar. Oh well, it is better to pay cash anyway so it will wait a bit.

Something interesting in France

I just pulled some pictures off my phone and found some interesting ones that I forgot about. I was walking from our hotel in Paris, France to get something for the kids to eat. About a block or so from our hotel I saw a group of people gathered and upon closer inspection, a couple cameras. Just when I joined the crowd, I saw a man stop a car, ask the driver to get out, and someone in a very bad wig started to change the hood of his car into a dining table. They asked the man to sit down, gave him a menu and served him dinner. All this time cars were stopped dead behind him on this one-way street. It took only a couple minutes for people to start honking, a couple more for the yelling to begin. It was very fun to watch. Eventually they clearded they table and allowed the man, and trhe pissed off people, to continue on their way. I guess it was some sort of comedy, on-the-street shows that was being filmed.



A couple of months ago, Alex had a program at his school. Here they sang songs about kikkers (frogs) and other animals. He was a stud as usual.

Hannah went rock climbing

For Young Womens last Friday, Hannah went rock climbing. Looks like she is a natural...

A Few Odds and Ends

Hannah and a friend got their money together and bought a little boat to take on the ponds and canals. Here her and Alex are out on a pond near our home.

I decided to take my remote control boat and attack them. Needless to say, I won!

A tradition here in the Netherlands are birthday hats. The kids made this for me on my birthday, isn't it cool! I think I wrote this in the past but birthdays are a big deal. When kids have birthdays, they take a treat and/or a small present for each of their classmates. I have found that this not not stop in adulthood. About every other day I get an email at work to come to a certain room because someone has brought in some treats of some kind to celebrate the passing of another year of their live.

Here is one reason living around ALOT of water is not so fun. There are many mosquito's around and it is difficult keeping them out of the house. Now most windows have screens so it helps but we are still killing them daily.

Our new dining table

I have spent my extra time the last couple of weeks building a new larger dining room table. It has been a fun project for me because I have had challenges because I started the project with no tools. I built it butcher's block style and gave it a dark finish which took 4 coats of stain. It has a very rustic and old look to it, like it has been here for years which I love. My next project is to build matching chairs.

My injury

Today I was finishing up a table I have been building. I was using a wood chisel to make room for a support on the underside when the chisel slipped and cut into my left hand. The cut was about 1 1/2 inches long and through at least half of it, it was very deep and required 3 stitches. Here is a picture of the damage: (click on the picture to see it really up close)

Alex counting...is it Dutch or English

At parent teacher conference, Alex's teacher told Kristal that he is now doing something quite funny. He has learned to count to 20 in Dutch which he does quite well. When asked to count to 20 in English, well, see for yourself:

Don't ya hate it when birds block traffic?

I was riding my trusty bike to work this morning when I saw these swans casually crossing an intersection. Being surrounded by waterways it is not surprising that there are water birds EVERYWHERE! Taking the kids to school in the mornings, I often see a couple of swans and recently they have been joined with their 2 babies. On the way to work, I usually see a couple of cranes many, many ducks including weird ones with a pointy beek (I am having a brain fart, how do you spell beek? I know that is not right, oh well, you will get over it) and usually, more swans among other animals. There are also rabbits everywhere. When we walk to the store we pass this grassy area on the side of a building with a few bushes. We have seen rabbits hop along in the grass many times. You would think that living in the city would be different. We see more wildlife every day that I think we saw the whole time we lived in Eagle Mountain. Really cool actually.