Christmas 2009

We started out Christmas with the traditional present opened on Christmas Eve


The kids all got new pajamas and as you can see, they were overjoyed!


Presents were stuffed under the tree including 4 pairs of ice skates. However, these are extra cool ice skates because they also convert to roller skates and roller blades so they can be worn year round.


The kids opened the present found in their stockings. They each got a new pair of slippers.


Alex as well as all the kids, each got new socks and underwear as part of their gifts. How exciting.


Abby loves her Playmobile things and can always use more.


Isaac (wearing his new hat) got a set of "Creepy Magic".


Hannah loves her new guitar. She has started learning new songs via YouTube. The "Guitar for Dummies" book is on its way.

Here is a video of one of the rounds of present opening:


We had a great morning and then relaxed most of the day. The Higleys joined us for a Ham and Sour Cream Potato dinner and then a few games.

Now....if you are REALLY interested in experiencing the full Christmas morning, here is the slideshow of all pictures. It starts with a dinner at the de Jonge home where we had Christmas Eve dinner with the missionaries as well as a couple other families in the ward.

Snow in Holland...

It is official, winter is here. We are currently experiencing more snow than they have seen in decades here in The Netherlands. Over the last few days 20-25 cm of snow has fallen and people don't know what to do. Everyone is driving too slow, the buses stopped running yesterday and today the metro system was completely messed up. It has been an adventure.

Sinterklaas (Part 2)

Well...Sinterklaas came and went and we all had a very good time. I have explained Sinterklaas previous years but for those that missed it, you can read all about it at the trusty 'ol Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

We heard the doorbell ring and we all ran to the front door


We found a sack overflowing with presents. However, Sinterklaas came earlier than expected. We had still not eaten our dinner so we brought the gifts inside and placed them in the center of our living room. The kids all suffered as we ate because we informed them that we could not open presents until everyone was done eating.

Finally the time came...


Alex opened the first present and found something that the kids (and myself) always wanted...A Nintendo Wii.

They all got a little excited. Here they are caught in a celebratory hug.

The kids continued to open the gifts and found that there was definitely a theme. We all know that the Wii itself is not enough:

Abby examining the Wii Dance Mat for DanceDance Revolution. We ended up getting 2 of them so now they can have Dance-Offs.

Isaac opening Wii Resort. Though we have several games...so far the kids have only played this one. There is soooo much to do it keeps them (and me) busy. Great game!

Hannah with one of two guitars for Guitar Hero 5. We finally just tried this yesterday and it is very difficult. I have played a couple times with my brother Shawn but I have a long way to go. I think I played at 17%.
The kids got VERY excited while playing the Wii Sports Resort Canoeing game.

Well, one holiday down, 2 more Christmas days (the celebrate the 25th AND the 26th) and a New Years eve to go. December is a very exciting month.

Sinterklaas

Every year on the 5th of December the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas. This includes making 'suprises' for other people with a poem attached. This is something that Isaac and I cooked up for a girl in his class (it's a lot like secret santa where you are assigned someone to give to) who really likes dogs.

There is a lot of paper mache action going on here. And it has taken us about 3 days off and on to get it done but I think it has turned out pretty well.

If you pull on the tail, then it opens up and the real present is on the inside. Usually, the surprise is sealed on the outside and you have to break it to get to the good stuff, but we decided to do it this way for the sake of the poem that goes with it. By the way, we wrote the poem without any outside help with the exception of a little help from Abby and some proof reading from Hannah.

Here is the poem:

Sinterklaas is gekommen
op een koude nacht,
en hij geeft je een hond
zo dat je lacht.

Hij heeft 4 witte pootjes
en een witte neus
met 2 flodderige oren
en een bruine vlek rond zijn oog.

Dit puppy is lief
maar heeft een vervelende gewoonte,
hij wil alles op eten
dat hij heeft gevonden.

Het spijt me heel erg
dat je cadeautje is verloren,
want ik heb het op een stoel
achternagelaten.

Wij moeten het redden,
van zijn start op te trekken.

Wij vieren met soepen
toen hij het cadeautje uitpoepen.

Rough translation:
Sinterklaas has come on a cold night and given you a dog so that you smile.
He has 4 white paws and one white nose with 2 floppy ears and a brown spot round his eye.
This puppy is sweet but has one annoying habit, he wants to eat everything that he has found.
I am really sorry that your gift is lost, but I left it behind on a chair.
We must save the gift by pulling on his tail.
We will celebrate with soup when he poops out the gift.

It sounds way better in Dutch but we all thought it was pretty funny anyway.

We will be enjoying the evening with gifts and treats. Maybe someday we will learn all the songs that you are supposed to sing too, but for now we will stick with this. Hope everyone has a great Sinterklaas feestje!

School Pictures - 2009 [Part II]

We hadn't gotten Hannah's pictures as well as Isaac's class picture yet when the last pictures were posted so here you go:

School PIctures - 2009

Abby, Alex & Isaac (you can tell that Alex is still trying to find his smile :)







Abby's Class picture

Alex's Class picture

Unfortunatly, we do not have a class picture for Isaac yet for some reason.

Abby in the news!

Abby is the 3rd one from the left holding up her paper which you will see below.
English Translation:
"Jordan wins golden pencil"
PRINCE ALEXANDER - The annual tradition of the Childrens Book Week at the Dr. Martin Luther King School closed with the reading contest and the awarding of the gold and silver crayons and brushes. The stories were chosen on the theme food and sweets. The golden pencil this year won by Jordan. Her story was drawing on the most among the eight nominated artworks. "As a school that really wants to educate properly, the Children's Book Week is very important to us, which is why we have throw a party" said one teacher.

Here is her paper with artwork:


It Reads:
Candy is nice but some children are allergic to sweets such as chocolate, ice cream and lolly pops and sometimes they may only eat a little candy on Halloween! But if you eat too many sweets you can get fat.

What a cute girl, we are very proud of her.

Language Problems

Coversation between Hannah and myself:

Me: "Hannah, I need your new schedule (class schedule for school). Do you have it yet because you should have had it by now. It's been over a week."

Hannah: "We don't have a vaste (this is a Dutch word meaning permanent or regular)..."

and then she sits there with this funny look on her face as she realizes that she can't think of the right word in English. After a couple of seconds of me laughing hysterically and her still sitting there with the same funny look on her face I give in and help her out.

The same night at the dinner table:

Abby: "Mom, can I have some...rice?"

I look at her strange and try to figure out what she is talking about because there is no rice at the table.

Me: "Do you mean the corn?"

Abby: "Oh, corn! I have to remember that."

2009 Vacation - Part 5 - Milan, Florence & Pisa

Our first stop in Italy was Milan. We traveled from Frankfurt, Germany, through the Swiss alps, literally, going through possibly over 100 tunnels, some as long as 8 km. We arrived in Milan late at night the 25th of July.

This was meant to be a short stop. My parents and I wanted to see "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Di Vinci. We figured the kids would be bored so they went on their way to the National Museum of Science and Technology which has some hands on things and scale models of Leonardo Di Vinci inventions. So, my parents and I headed towards the painting. It is in the convent of the Santa Maria delle Grazie ("Our Lady of Grace"). More specifically, it is in the refectory, or dining area, of the convent. On the night of 15 August 1943, bombs dropped by British and American planes hit the church and the convent. Much of the refectory was destroyed but beforehand they had sandbagged "The Last Supper" which protected it. For a long time, this old painting was out in the open air following the bombing.

There have been many attempts to move the painting to a more secure location but they have been unable to without destroying it. Instead, in the 90s they made the room climate-controlled to make it the ideal temperature and keep humidity at the ideal levels to keep the painting safe. When you visit it, you walk walk through one set of doors and when those close, another set opens, there is never a direct opening to the outside world.



We left Milan the evening of the 25th and arrived in Florence a few hours later. In Florence, we visited spent much time walking the streets. In reality it was a very dirty run down city but there were very interesting areas. We did see some amazing churches and the tombs of Raphael, Michelangelo and Galileo among others. We saw the statue of David by Michelangelo andf many other works of art.



The last stop before arriving in Rome was a quick stop in Pisa. Now, when I say quick, I mean it. I think we were there for a total of 2 hours. All we wanted to do was see the leaning tower.



After taking our pictures with the tower, we continued on to Rome. More about that coming very soon.

2009 Vacation - Part 4 - Frankfurt

On Friday, 24 July, we all got in our 9 passenger rented Ford to head on down to Italy. We decided to spend a night in Frankfurt and visit with my aunt and uncle, Ima Jean and Harold Oaks, who are serving a mission there. Ima Jean and Harold were absolutely great hosts. We saw the Frankfurt Temple, Braunfels Castle, Bad Homburg Castle, their mission office, the Area Presidency office, The Dome Church, some Roman ruins uncovered next to the Dome, and the Romer Plaza.

2009 Vacation - Part 3 - Belgium

We drove to Belgium to go to the Air Force Base to do a little shopping. Since my dad is retired military, he has access to all bases. I called before we left and they said it would not be a problem that we all go in as guests with my dads military ID. When we got there, they would not let us in. My dad could go in, but no one else. Either way, it was a nice drive and we were back in time to visit the small base here in Rotterdam. We would have gone there first but the store is very small with limited items.

2009 Vacation - Part 2 - Amsterdam

Here is Part 2. My parents and myself spent a day in Amsterdam. We visited the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum and took a canal cruise.

2009 Vacation - Part 1 - Rotterdam

For those interested, here is a slideshow of our vacation this last summer. This slideshow includes pictures from activities we did around Rotterdam and home when my parents came to visit at the end of July. I will post individual pictures later.

Click on the slideshow to view pictures larger or to download individual pictures.

Isaac's Performance - "Back in Town"

On Sunday 5 July, Isaac performed at the Theater Zuidplein, Rotterdam, Netherlands for Noes Fiolet Studios in their annual performance.

Henry Visit

Towards the end of April, my dad and Merry, my new step-mom, came to see us and we got to show them some of the sights in the Netherlands. We had a lot of fun and it was great to finally meet Merry, who we definitely approve of:)

The Netherlands is famous for it's tulips and that is where the first two pictures are taken at. It is called the' Keukenhof' and is acres and acres of beautiful flowers. All of these different vendors come with their new variations of flowers to show off and they have different landscape designs each year. It is open for only two months a year and since they were here in the spring, I decided that they should see it, with their approval of course. Chris refused to go because he "didn't want to pay good money just to see some stinking flowers!" so it was just the three of us.

Dad and I taking a snack break above and below is Merry and Dad trying on some really big wooden shoes.



These next two are of Queen's Day which is the day they celebrate the Queen's birthday. You see a lot of people wearing orange (it is the royal house of Orange-Nassau) and everyone takes their old junk out and trys to sell it on the street. We were in Amsterdam last year the day before Queen's Day and it was already crazy with the partying and drinking, so we decided that we never want to go back on this specific holiday. We happened to be in Delft this year and we walked up and down streets lined with people and their junk The kids had a lot of fun while we cringed at all the worthless stuff that they were purchasing with their allowance. The picture above is Dad with Hannah and Chris all decked out in orange.

After what seemed like days of walking, we stopped and rested on a bridge behind some street performers. You can't see it in the picture, but the little house behind us looked like it was about to fall in the canal.

One of the things the kids wanted to show off was the Kinderboederij, which is a glorified petting zoo, that is close to our house. Lots of baby goats and other farm animals. The kids would probably live there if I would let them. This one is of Merry and the kids.

We went to the 'Mariteim Museum' in Rotterdam and the best part of it was the huge ship that you could tour. It was lots of fun with all of the hands on stuff for the kids to try out. Chris, holding Alex, me, my dad, Hannah with her friend DeeDee, Abby and Alex. Merry must've been taking the picture.


These next three are at 'Madurodam'. It has minature buildings, airplanes and everyother thing that you can think of. Even the bushes are pruned to look like trees. It is basically a minature of the Netherlands with all of it highlights. Pretty cool although after the third time, the kids don't ever want to go back. Grandpa, Hannah and Abby.

The kids and I trying to find our way around? We look confused...

Hannah, Alex, Abby and Isaac sitting in and on a really big wooden shoe. You can see the minature ships and bridges in the background.

Whenever anyone comes to visit us, we always take them to 'Kinderdijk' which is not far from our home. It is nice little area where you can walk or ride a bike along the canal and see around 18 windmills all together. You can even tour one of them to see how people used to live. These were all used to pump water at one time and were all built around 1740. Ken and Merry.



This is grandpa and the grandkids. Can you tell the kids were not thrilled about being here again.

Isaac and Alex in the Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem. This is where Corrie and her family hid 6 people from the Nazis while they were led off to a concentration camp. It was a very small room and if you have never read 'The Hiding Place' I highly recommend it.



Here is a fabulous picture of us on the streets of Haarlem. Haarlem is my favorite city here by far. Beautiful and very old.

This is the Euromast in the background. It looks lots smaller in the picture then in real life.

The view from the Euromast. The kids were very afraid at first.

Rotterdam is renowned for it's architecture and these are the 'Kijkkubus' or cube houses. Isaac, Chris, Kristal and Ken.

Here we are inside one of the houses. Merry, Ken, Kristal with Abby, Chris with Alex and Isaac. Hannah must be taking the picture here. A very interesting house design.

More architecture in the background (the Erasmus Bridge) with Abby and Alex in the front. These next three pictures are of us on a boat tour on our way to Kinderdijk. It was a bit chilly and I would never do it again. The diesel exhaust was not worth the trip.

Hannah being bored and maybe a little tipsy from the fumes.

Don't we look like we are having a great time.

We wanted to show our guests how we get around in Holland so we went on a bike ride close to our house. It was a great day for a bike ride and we got to see the nice trail area that we have so close to us.

Part of our bike ride included a little hike up one of the only hills in our area that also has a strange piece of art on the top of it. I have included pictures of this before, but here are some spring ones.

Here we are posing in front of it. Ken, Kristal, Alex, Hannah, Abby, Chris and Isaac.
So, there we are...our visit in a nutshell...anyone else up for adventure?