Sunday, September 24, 2006

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Coolness quotient

I was just looking at ebay for a new Mach 5 for Douwe. I can't get him the Expanding Mach 5, but I can get him a toy.

So which has a higher coolness quotient, a cast metal Mach 5, about a foot long or so (1:18 size if you have small boys) or a plastic one the same size that is a radio controlled car? If you are turning 7, that is.

Decisions, decisions.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

What? More zoo?


Today Nel decided we should go to the Dutch equivalent of Lion Country Safari. Is there still a Lion Country Safari?

That is, it's a wildlife preserve where the animals wander abround and you drive through in your car. Except that there is also the option of going through by boat, bus, or on foot also. The "on foot" part takes a different route, and there the animals are behind fences, never fear.

It was also fun, and Eldest has now decided that this is where he wants to go for his birthday. He held out for Chuck E. Cheese for a long time, until we finally impressed on him that flying overseas with a few of his closest friends was Not An Option. So: Lion Country Safari. Er, Beekse Bergen, I mean.

We may actually do it, as he only wants to invite three kids for his birthday.


With the rhinos.
















Whaddaya mean, he looks just the same?

Monday, September 11, 2006

How do I love thee

Well. Because Christmas is a Monday this year, I have been looking at flights and all the options suck. Except one. We can fly non-stop both ways, it doesn't leave at an indecently early hour, availability is good, and it's cheap too.

With one small drawback.

It means we would be flying on Christmas Day.

I suppose I could make a tradition of it. Fly with silly Santa hats or something. Can you bake cookies at angels thirty?

We would be arriving early afternoon probably, around 2. Hey, I know, you guys could all come down to the airport en masse to pick us up and wear Santa hats, too.

This would require some logistical operations; I would certainly have to sent my Christmas presents ahead at a minimum.

Urg.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Photos, we got photos

So we went to the Antwerp Zoo on Saturday. It's a nice zoo. It is also right in the middle, I mean the very center, of Antwerp. So it has not entirely made the shift to the "new style" zoo, where the animals are sort of roaming about in little habitat-ettes. Being surrounded on all sides by, basically, Antwerp, they probably haven't got the room.

They still have the big cats in basically what I think of as bear pits (You remember, those spaces down lower than ground level so you stand and look down at the animals) and surrounded by moats. The medium sized cats are in cages, just like they used to have at the old Atlanta Zoo. It was actually sort of jarring, I had forgotten what a regular zoo used to be like to tell you the truth.

However, I have got pictures. Which is all you lot care about.




The fellas hanging out with the penguins.















This is Douwe with his new friend. He hung out with this turtle for a really long time. Actually, the reptile house was amoung the larger hits. That and the nocturnal house, which is entirely dark inside for the animals that are, well, nocturnal. He really liked the bats. ick.








Obligatory tourist shot. By the time I took this picture, Douwe had figured out that we were getting ready to leave and was trying to run away to go back into the zoo. So he's not in the shot.

Here's why

So today we were discussing the impending change to Papa John's Race Car. Those of you who do not know, Papa John's Race Car is about to change from red-on-black to blue-on-white. I need to prepare my children for this eventuality. I also need to buy Papa John some lovely slipcovers for those white seats so they will have a chance of staying white through our next trip.

Or maybe I should make some instead and let the kids decorate them with fabric markers. Out of sailcloth by preference.

So Eldest said: "Why does Papa John want the race car blue?"

And Youngest said, without missing a beat: "To match his house".

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

spending money

My children each got 10 euro about a month ago as a present from their great uncle and aunt. They put them in their wallets and left them there, as any amount of money over about a euro is really more than they know what to do with. But they think it's cool, in the way people think foreign money is cool.

Today, Eldest decided that we were going into town to go to the toy store because he wanted to buy the Expanding Mach 5. * I told him I had no money for toys so he said, I do. I have 10 euro and that's a lot. Well, it is a lot. And it's his money. Youngest was immediately on board of course so off we went to the toy store.

Eh, they needed new shoes anyway. Do little boys always need new shoes?

At the toy store we spent a lot of time discussing what could be bought for 10 euro and what could not (Like, say, the X-Box) and how much change you would get back and so on. It was actually pretty good fun, if hectic.

But then, well, Eldest spotted the Plug In Steering Wheel. It's one of those thingies you plug into the television and has various racing video games in it. ** So he brought it to me with shining eyes full of hope. Damn, I thought, I was going to get him that for his birthday.

But it's like 35 euro, so my birthday gift is safe. Then I flipped it over and realized that it was on sale for 20 euro. So I told Eldest that it was 20 euro so it was too expensive and put it back. Then I headed over to the cool toy cars display talking about the great stuff they had there to buffer his disappointment.

I was alone. One dark head, one light head, were conferring with great intensity over the Steering Wheel.

I went back prepared to pry them away from it. And they announced to me that ten and ten was twenty. I am, as you all know, a little slow on the uptake. So I agreed to this basic math fact and went on talking about toy cars. Whereupon Eldest said, "I have ten and he has ten. That's not too expensive then?".

Right. Once I recovered from this proposal I took Youngest aside to assure myself that he actually was in for this and had not had his arm twisted. + And off we went to buy the Steering Wheel.

We actually had a funny moment in line, as Eldest had a 10 euro bill and Youngest had two fives. So when the two fives came out, Eldest looked at them doubtfully and then started to go put the box back, because they didn't have enough money. So he is up to 10 + 10 is 20, but not quite up to 5+5+10 is 20. Daan knew nothing about it except that he had been told that these two pieces of paper were 10 euro, so he didn't sweat it a bit.

So now, what am I supposed to get him for his birthday?

*The Expanding Mach 5 is a race car which is regular Matchbox sized and then at the push of a button expands to real life size so you can sit in it and drive away. Eldest has now accepted that the fact that he can imagine that car does not mean that it exists. However, he says he is going to make one.

** It also has Space Invaders. Who remembers Space Invaders? Well, they don't call it Space Invaders but it is anyway. Youngest is now totally hooked, he wants to do nothing but play Space Invaders.

+I have an elder sib and I was an elder sib so I know all about this phenomenon.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Me too, me too


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Let's see how this works

Or if.



Fingers crossed....



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Moonlight serenade

As I mentioned, the kids have both got colds. This means they are sleeping lightly and it also means a certain increase in the amount of sleeptalking going on. They both talk in their sleep now and again. I hear that I do, too. Also an increase in the amount of waking up and crying, at least from Daan.

So last night at midnight, as I was lying in bed I heard a sound. Since I have been out of bed three or four times a night for two nights running, I listened to see: would this be a little fuss-and-go-back-to-sleep sound? Or a full blown panic fit? Waking in the middle of the night unable to breathe is after all not very much fun. Nothing for blowing out those sinuses like a full on primal scream after all.

Instead, I heard a little boy soprano drifting through the darkness:

Little bunny Foo-foo, hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head....