P made it to home from the hospital just fine. He had the surgery last Tuesday and he's been home since then. It's quite weird to have him home full time, normally he's never home. Amazingly, his biggest love - the Blackberry - didn't get too much attention and we really had the chance to enjoy his presence at home.
Since Miss A was home most of the time, she had all the time with daddy. They sat together, hand in hand as A always does, and read books. The kids sense when there is something wrong, nobody jumped on P or hurt him in another way.
We had good wishes from friends from school and his work. Paul stopped by one evening. We have now this half tree in our foyer, a present from P's colleagues. Chris and Fauzia were very nice to take care of the girls when P was in surgery.
P has been good patient, except his continuous request of coffee and thee. Ha ha, I'm teasing! Just couple more days and he is going back to work. Just couple more days...
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
P's call from Paris
A conversation you don't want to have in the supermarket is about your husband going into surgery. Almost, I should say. When P called, I understood that he had a surgery. A misunderstanding! Made me shiver!
He just found out in Europe that he is suffering a double hernia and he will have to be operated. He didn't have an acute operation, as I thought. Hopefully he will come home and have it. So I was at the supermarket, getting groceries with A, and talking to him. I got looks from the people around when I made weird exclamation sounds. Poor P, works so hard and gets all those health problems.
Looks like we will continue this story. I look forward to write that it's all behind and we are safe, sound and healthy.
He just found out in Europe that he is suffering a double hernia and he will have to be operated. He didn't have an acute operation, as I thought. Hopefully he will come home and have it. So I was at the supermarket, getting groceries with A, and talking to him. I got looks from the people around when I made weird exclamation sounds. Poor P, works so hard and gets all those health problems.
Looks like we will continue this story. I look forward to write that it's all behind and we are safe, sound and healthy.
Wild life getting close
Lately we hear screams in the night. Coyote live in the nature preserve close by and they hunt, probably in packs. I tell the kids it's dogs, trying to hide how the sounds disturb me.
This afternoon we went to the backyard to play with the snow. I saw a hole just 2 meters from the deck. The hole was full with hair and pieces of skin. No blood. I couldn't believe that the screams from last night came actually from our backyard!
I think it was a rabbit. Now I come to think of, because there was no blood, maybe the rabbit had escaped, or the coyote are very efficient. Anyway, it didn't look pleasant. I had to scoop the rests so that the kids didn't end up near or on the spot of crime. Yuck!
This afternoon we went to the backyard to play with the snow. I saw a hole just 2 meters from the deck. The hole was full with hair and pieces of skin. No blood. I couldn't believe that the screams from last night came actually from our backyard!
I think it was a rabbit. Now I come to think of, because there was no blood, maybe the rabbit had escaped, or the coyote are very efficient. Anyway, it didn't look pleasant. I had to scoop the rests so that the kids didn't end up near or on the spot of crime. Yuck!
Kids on Olympic Games
I introduced the kids to Olympic Games. We were watching men's figure skating. I was telling them how best of the best come and compete for the gold medal. They were amazed with all those incredible things those men perform on the ice. Miss A looked and looked and said "when you are the best of the world, you can jump like that." Well, the way she said it, it sounded very ... deep and spiritual!
Then came the women's luge. Miss F couldn't figure out what was so hard about it. It's just sliding. They saw soon how fast they were going. F started explaining A that it was about the speed. A asked "when is Luge coming." She thought it was a person. Cute!
Then came the women's luge. Miss F couldn't figure out what was so hard about it. It's just sliding. They saw soon how fast they were going. F started explaining A that it was about the speed. A asked "when is Luge coming." She thought it was a person. Cute!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Denver! baby
Last year at winter vacation, we were probably the only family staying at home. The whole school was gone out of state. This year, we joined the club. Ha ha! We went to visit Dave and Tena in Denver, the mile high city.
Denver is at just 2 - 2,5 hours flying distance. We are so used to fly overseas that it felt weird and great to be at our destination in such a short time. Even with the delay due to de-icing of the plane, we were at Dave and Tena's at the beginning of the afternoon. Leaving the snowstorm in Chicago, we were in sunny Denver! Date: Feb 10Th.
The mountains in Denver are gorgeous. I realized how much I miss mountains as I saw the snowy peaks. From flat Holland to flat Chicago... I miss mountains. We spent 3 of the 4,5 half days vacation visiting them. I didn't get enough!
Beck was waiting for us at the neighbors. We could see that he was excited to have F over. He asked if F could bring him to school (he has pre-school in the afternoons). Dave was helping at Beck's class that day and F was allowed to stay. P and I had an afternoon with A. We decided to take a walk in the neighborhoods. We walked for two hours, got some flowers and wine for Tena and Dave, had a drink at a French style coffee place (we sat outside!) and went back to Dave's. Miss A had a great time, getting all the attention from us. It was cold, snow on the ground, but the sun shone and it felt warm.
That same day, we also met the altitude sickness. We felt lightheaded and nauseous. I suffered a bad headache. The only way to get rid of altitude sickness is to drink lots and lots of water. It took me that whole first day and night to get better! Luckily, the kids didn't seem to be affected.
F slept in Beck's room and A with us, in her little bed. We could hear F and Beck giggle for hours (which went on every night!).
The next day, Dave took us to Evergreen, a picturesque village on the foot of the mountains. After a nice lunch, we went ice skating on a frozen lake. The kids had a blast! even Beck who, as we heard, not so confident about skating, did very well. I was on skates, too and I didn't fall a single time. Gosh, I was proud of myself! I know nobody is interested in how I did but the kids. They did great! F is getting quite used to skating. P gives her sometimes instructions and she is following them. She dares to speed up, she has good balance. A is very cute on her double-blade skates. She runs couple steps and then slides for a meter, then runs again. She keeps on going.
I think we spent almost 2 hours skating. We all were tired when we came home. We were lucky that Tena had dinner ready for us. What a treat!
Friday was our big day of skiing. Yes, we went skiing. We left at 7 am to Winter Park, a nice ski area 1,5 hours from Denver. F and A had lessons, so we brought them to the ski school right away. I was so nervous, I could hear my heart pounding. The kids were, though, excited. It took us a 40 min to get their stuff and set them off at their classes.
Miss A went to her class (called "just because I am three") like she was going to school. Her program was to ski for a while, play, have lunch, ski a short while again and play etc.
Miss F was nervous, like me. she was going to ski the whole time, except for lunch.
They both had class till 3 - 3.30. A whole day!
After we dropped off the kids and got our stuff, we went to join Dave Tena and Beck. Beck goes to ski quite often, so he can join his parents.
We are not good skiers, so Tena and Dave took us to green and blue runs on those beautiful mountains. We did miss the sun, but it was a nice day for skiing. Too bad after a while Tena felt sick and decided to stop. Beck wanted to stay with his mother. So we continued with Dave. He took us to different runs. All of a sudden, it was 2.40, almost time to pick up the kids. We had to rush to the base - bad parents! - We unfortunately didn't get to see the kids with our own eyes - very bad parents! - And I had said that I was stopping early to see F. We just lost track of the time. To our surprise, Tena had taken pictures of F and we even had a short film taken by Beck. Thanks!
We found both the kids at A's class. They looked super happy. A had all the time over "at my ski class..." F wanted to go to the mountains with us. I think it was a bit too early to get her on even the green runs. We didn't do it. A was very disappointed that she was not coming back the next day. I was a bit sad, too. It was such a good start and just too short for both. We have to take them skiing again, I hope we can soon. We finished the day watching the opening ceremony if the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Saturday, it was P's turn to feel sick. He looked miserable the whole day, fighting a headache and feeling nauseous. He did join us, though, at our visit to downtown Denver, the"Red Rocks" and the Dinosaur Ridge.
Downtown Denver is small but looks friendly. We went to the 16th street, a street closed to cars. we had a nice lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant. Good food and nice entourage. Lunch potions were huge. My salmon fish and chips were one of the best I had.
Red Rocks is a stage, an amphitheatre set up between a natural formation of rocks that creates great acoustics. Many well known performers, Beatles, Santana, U2 gave concerts at the Red Rocks. In the winter, people climb the stairs for training - and we are talking about a lot of stairs - It was quite impressive.
Dinosaur Ridge is just couple minutes further from Red Rocks. At one spot, the rocks forming the side of the hill are covered with dinosaur foot prints. Pretty cool! It is quite hard for kids, especially for A, to understand that the dinosaurs are extinct. She wanted to see them, she was quite sure we would see at least a baby dinosaur. I don't know what she understood of the foot prints, but when she grows up, she can look at her pictures next to them. F has of course a better understanding and she is lately interested in dinosaurs. Such an interesting place to be for her.
The kids also enjoyed climbing on the rocks. They proved us that they are little monkeys!
Just a hundred meter from the dinosaur foot prints, starts a trail going to the top of the hill. Beck and F went up right away in such a speed that Tena and Dave had to follow them. I though we would have to carry A all the way up, but she was amazing. She went all the way up, almost running on her small feet, and all the way down. I am supposed to tell he teacher at school that she climbed a mountain top and went back all by herself. She repeatedly asked me to tell her teacher. Maybe I will write a note to her on Tuesday. P and I were so proud of her endurance. It was quite a climb for a little girl and she did it!
Sunday morning, Beck was sick. Looks like we had a virus going around, first Tena then P, then Beck. That was too bad, because the kids couldn't enjoy the last morning before we left. Our plane was at 12.40.
I think most of all, F is going to miss Beck. The kids played so nicely for the whole time, without any fight, it was amazing. The two older ones were sometimes picking on A, but she was okay with that - or she simply didn't understand. Dave and Tena were great hosts. Good food, good friends, what can we ask for more??
We arrived to Chicago on time, which was good, too. P didn't even come home but left for Paris. He brought us to our car parked at long term parking and we brought him back to the Departures. Back to normal life!
Denver is at just 2 - 2,5 hours flying distance. We are so used to fly overseas that it felt weird and great to be at our destination in such a short time. Even with the delay due to de-icing of the plane, we were at Dave and Tena's at the beginning of the afternoon. Leaving the snowstorm in Chicago, we were in sunny Denver! Date: Feb 10Th.
The mountains in Denver are gorgeous. I realized how much I miss mountains as I saw the snowy peaks. From flat Holland to flat Chicago... I miss mountains. We spent 3 of the 4,5 half days vacation visiting them. I didn't get enough!
Beck was waiting for us at the neighbors. We could see that he was excited to have F over. He asked if F could bring him to school (he has pre-school in the afternoons). Dave was helping at Beck's class that day and F was allowed to stay. P and I had an afternoon with A. We decided to take a walk in the neighborhoods. We walked for two hours, got some flowers and wine for Tena and Dave, had a drink at a French style coffee place (we sat outside!) and went back to Dave's. Miss A had a great time, getting all the attention from us. It was cold, snow on the ground, but the sun shone and it felt warm.
That same day, we also met the altitude sickness. We felt lightheaded and nauseous. I suffered a bad headache. The only way to get rid of altitude sickness is to drink lots and lots of water. It took me that whole first day and night to get better! Luckily, the kids didn't seem to be affected.
F slept in Beck's room and A with us, in her little bed. We could hear F and Beck giggle for hours (which went on every night!).
The next day, Dave took us to Evergreen, a picturesque village on the foot of the mountains. After a nice lunch, we went ice skating on a frozen lake. The kids had a blast! even Beck who, as we heard, not so confident about skating, did very well. I was on skates, too and I didn't fall a single time. Gosh, I was proud of myself! I know nobody is interested in how I did but the kids. They did great! F is getting quite used to skating. P gives her sometimes instructions and she is following them. She dares to speed up, she has good balance. A is very cute on her double-blade skates. She runs couple steps and then slides for a meter, then runs again. She keeps on going.
I think we spent almost 2 hours skating. We all were tired when we came home. We were lucky that Tena had dinner ready for us. What a treat!
Friday was our big day of skiing. Yes, we went skiing. We left at 7 am to Winter Park, a nice ski area 1,5 hours from Denver. F and A had lessons, so we brought them to the ski school right away. I was so nervous, I could hear my heart pounding. The kids were, though, excited. It took us a 40 min to get their stuff and set them off at their classes.
Miss A went to her class (called "just because I am three") like she was going to school. Her program was to ski for a while, play, have lunch, ski a short while again and play etc.
Miss F was nervous, like me. she was going to ski the whole time, except for lunch.
They both had class till 3 - 3.30. A whole day!
After we dropped off the kids and got our stuff, we went to join Dave Tena and Beck. Beck goes to ski quite often, so he can join his parents.
We are not good skiers, so Tena and Dave took us to green and blue runs on those beautiful mountains. We did miss the sun, but it was a nice day for skiing. Too bad after a while Tena felt sick and decided to stop. Beck wanted to stay with his mother. So we continued with Dave. He took us to different runs. All of a sudden, it was 2.40, almost time to pick up the kids. We had to rush to the base - bad parents! - We unfortunately didn't get to see the kids with our own eyes - very bad parents! - And I had said that I was stopping early to see F. We just lost track of the time. To our surprise, Tena had taken pictures of F and we even had a short film taken by Beck. Thanks!
We found both the kids at A's class. They looked super happy. A had all the time over "at my ski class..." F wanted to go to the mountains with us. I think it was a bit too early to get her on even the green runs. We didn't do it. A was very disappointed that she was not coming back the next day. I was a bit sad, too. It was such a good start and just too short for both. We have to take them skiing again, I hope we can soon. We finished the day watching the opening ceremony if the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Saturday, it was P's turn to feel sick. He looked miserable the whole day, fighting a headache and feeling nauseous. He did join us, though, at our visit to downtown Denver, the"Red Rocks" and the Dinosaur Ridge.
Downtown Denver is small but looks friendly. We went to the 16th street, a street closed to cars. we had a nice lunch at the Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant. Good food and nice entourage. Lunch potions were huge. My salmon fish and chips were one of the best I had.
Red Rocks is a stage, an amphitheatre set up between a natural formation of rocks that creates great acoustics. Many well known performers, Beatles, Santana, U2 gave concerts at the Red Rocks. In the winter, people climb the stairs for training - and we are talking about a lot of stairs - It was quite impressive.
Dinosaur Ridge is just couple minutes further from Red Rocks. At one spot, the rocks forming the side of the hill are covered with dinosaur foot prints. Pretty cool! It is quite hard for kids, especially for A, to understand that the dinosaurs are extinct. She wanted to see them, she was quite sure we would see at least a baby dinosaur. I don't know what she understood of the foot prints, but when she grows up, she can look at her pictures next to them. F has of course a better understanding and she is lately interested in dinosaurs. Such an interesting place to be for her.
The kids also enjoyed climbing on the rocks. They proved us that they are little monkeys!
Just a hundred meter from the dinosaur foot prints, starts a trail going to the top of the hill. Beck and F went up right away in such a speed that Tena and Dave had to follow them. I though we would have to carry A all the way up, but she was amazing. She went all the way up, almost running on her small feet, and all the way down. I am supposed to tell he teacher at school that she climbed a mountain top and went back all by herself. She repeatedly asked me to tell her teacher. Maybe I will write a note to her on Tuesday. P and I were so proud of her endurance. It was quite a climb for a little girl and she did it!
Sunday morning, Beck was sick. Looks like we had a virus going around, first Tena then P, then Beck. That was too bad, because the kids couldn't enjoy the last morning before we left. Our plane was at 12.40.
I think most of all, F is going to miss Beck. The kids played so nicely for the whole time, without any fight, it was amazing. The two older ones were sometimes picking on A, but she was okay with that - or she simply didn't understand. Dave and Tena were great hosts. Good food, good friends, what can we ask for more??
We arrived to Chicago on time, which was good, too. P didn't even come home but left for Paris. He brought us to our car parked at long term parking and we brought him back to the Departures. Back to normal life!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Californian girl who never had fresh orange juice!
My dear friend Chris was at our house for lunch. I made crepes for the kids and a salad for us. I know she watches her calories. I was squeezing fresh orange juice as a little treat. Chris asked what I was doing. "Making fresh juice" was my answer. "Don't you have juice in your fridge?" she asked. Well, I had 3 packs, but...
She never had fresh juice before. The girl from California had her first fresh squeezed orange juice from my hands! Thank you dad for the fresh juice you prepared six mornings a week when I was growing up! Love!
She never had fresh juice before. The girl from California had her first fresh squeezed orange juice from my hands! Thank you dad for the fresh juice you prepared six mornings a week when I was growing up! Love!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Restaurant weekend
We dedicated this weekend to checkout new restaurants.
Abigails in Highland Park: close to the Ravinia train station - do not look for it in downtown Highland Park - is this tiny little restaurant packed with people. They don't take reservations, so you might want to get there early and put your name on the list. The sitting area is very small but the tables are set up in a nice way that doesn't feel crowded. The menu is... different. I will not talk about all the food we had and how they were, I am not a restaurant/food critic anyway. I just want to say that the stuffed dates with bacon (whatever they called it - it was a special) was OMG!
We had a very nice company, P's boss and 2 other colleagues with their spouse. By some weird luck, the spouses work for the same company, so I was the only one who wasn't a colleague - of course also the only one who didn't work!
La Casa de Isaac in Highwood: do not try to call them to make a reservation. I tried Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, I couldn't get a hold of them. They are Kosher Mexican, if you really want to talk before you go, try calling after 6pm, that's what they told me. Again a small restaurant but also packed. They didn't waste a square meter, there are tables everywhere. When you are waiting for your table, the people at the tables around literally have to stare at your bottom while eating. It's not fun to wait, and we had to wait long. Then finally we got our table, luckily at bit further from the people still waiting. Huh, after last comment, wouldn't it be funny to see us staring at some bottoms.
I don't exactly know what Mexican kosher is, but I definitely liked my salmon. I think our whole company would agree with me that the food was delicious, good Mexican. I was a bit disappointed that the waiter looked at me confused when I wanted to finish the meal with a Drambuie. He had never heard of it. Oh well, next door at Miramar's the knew exactly what it was.
I could go there again, but that waiting part kind a turned me off, I would think about it twice. Such good food though! Maybe I will try it again, but not to fast.
When we will visit more restaurants, I will continue my "restaurants we went to" stories.
Abigails in Highland Park: close to the Ravinia train station - do not look for it in downtown Highland Park - is this tiny little restaurant packed with people. They don't take reservations, so you might want to get there early and put your name on the list. The sitting area is very small but the tables are set up in a nice way that doesn't feel crowded. The menu is... different. I will not talk about all the food we had and how they were, I am not a restaurant/food critic anyway. I just want to say that the stuffed dates with bacon (whatever they called it - it was a special) was OMG!
We had a very nice company, P's boss and 2 other colleagues with their spouse. By some weird luck, the spouses work for the same company, so I was the only one who wasn't a colleague - of course also the only one who didn't work!
La Casa de Isaac in Highwood: do not try to call them to make a reservation. I tried Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, I couldn't get a hold of them. They are Kosher Mexican, if you really want to talk before you go, try calling after 6pm, that's what they told me. Again a small restaurant but also packed. They didn't waste a square meter, there are tables everywhere. When you are waiting for your table, the people at the tables around literally have to stare at your bottom while eating. It's not fun to wait, and we had to wait long. Then finally we got our table, luckily at bit further from the people still waiting. Huh, after last comment, wouldn't it be funny to see us staring at some bottoms.
I don't exactly know what Mexican kosher is, but I definitely liked my salmon. I think our whole company would agree with me that the food was delicious, good Mexican. I was a bit disappointed that the waiter looked at me confused when I wanted to finish the meal with a Drambuie. He had never heard of it. Oh well, next door at Miramar's the knew exactly what it was.
I could go there again, but that waiting part kind a turned me off, I would think about it twice. Such good food though! Maybe I will try it again, but not to fast.
When we will visit more restaurants, I will continue my "restaurants we went to" stories.
Monday, February 1, 2010
How to survive when husband is gone over the weekend
If P is gone during the week, I am so busy with the kids, I don't really think about it. Weekends can get long, though. As the end of the week approaches, and P is on some trip at the other side of the world, I feel this slight panic coming up: what are we going to do!
Here's is my last husband-less weekend:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Here's is my last husband-less weekend:
Saturday:
- Wake up at 7 and try to stay in bed another five minutes (beg the kids, get angry, try to hide under the blankets, try to ignore the kids jumping on my head)
- Get up grumpy, but well, it's weekend so feel relaxed and happy
- Bake pancakes (because I love them)
- Go ice skating with Fauzia and her kids
- Go to Brook's for delicious home made pizza (which I didn't make!)
- Drink a lot of wine, because the weekend makes me nervous
- Sleep
Sunday:
- Wake up at 7.30 and try to stay in bed for another five minutes (beg the kids, bla bla...)
- Talk to husband and say that we are having great fun
- Take the kids to Church school. They love it and I get to read my book for 45 minutes
- Come home and make pancakes for Fauzia and her daughters
- Eat, watch the kids play, play some table tennis with Fauzia
- Wave friends goodbye and clean up the kitchen
- Take the girls ice skating - of course Fauzia, her kids and other friends are there, too
- Meet Kerry and Shelia, go out to dinner
- Kids are exhausted, but after eating some food, they get an energy boost and they almost cause us to get remarks from the tables around us. Shhhhh.
- Drink some wine, I am still a bit nervous about the weekend
- Hey, it's already time to go to bed? What happened to the weekend?
- The kids are still exhausted from the overloaded weekend, because their mother had this panic attack!
The Dutch Blood
Our number one is a real Dutch girl. She is a copy of her father in so many ways, like their identical mouths, and hair and they are never cold... She is on the ice skates and she skates like a little Dutch would do. She is on the bike since she is one year old, plus she learned biking on two wheels on her first try.
Number two is "my daughter", I say. First of all, she is cold all the time. She walks into tables and doors, just like her mother. Biking....disaster. I took her ice skating with F and a friend of hers, she sat on a chair and let other kids push her for an hour. I also think she more looks like me, but I wouldn't dare writing that, we don't want to hurt daddy's feelings.
But... of course there is a but, otherwise, why would I bother posting this in my blog. But, last week, I took Miss A to ice skating, while her sister was at school. It was a beautiful sunny day, no wind at all. So even I wasn't cold! The first ten minutes, she was holding my hand and making little steps on her skates. After that, she was at the other side of the rink by herself, running, skating, falling and getting up - all with a big smile on her face. Last weekend, we went skating twice. She was doing so well! It's definitely not my genes, after all A has some Dutch blood.
By the way, I tried it too and I didn't fall, not even once! I should ask my parents, maybe I have some far Dutch ancestor??
Number two is "my daughter", I say. First of all, she is cold all the time. She walks into tables and doors, just like her mother. Biking....disaster. I took her ice skating with F and a friend of hers, she sat on a chair and let other kids push her for an hour. I also think she more looks like me, but I wouldn't dare writing that, we don't want to hurt daddy's feelings.
But... of course there is a but, otherwise, why would I bother posting this in my blog. But, last week, I took Miss A to ice skating, while her sister was at school. It was a beautiful sunny day, no wind at all. So even I wasn't cold! The first ten minutes, she was holding my hand and making little steps on her skates. After that, she was at the other side of the rink by herself, running, skating, falling and getting up - all with a big smile on her face. Last weekend, we went skating twice. She was doing so well! It's definitely not my genes, after all A has some Dutch blood.
By the way, I tried it too and I didn't fall, not even once! I should ask my parents, maybe I have some far Dutch ancestor??
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