It's not all about Vacation

The summer, though a bit rainy at times, has been pretty nice out this way. Though we had initially planned to make a family voyage back to the States, we ran into a bit of a snag with Avery's tonsils & adenoids.

Worried that the terrible two's would run far into Avery's teen years, Stacie started poking around the internet after we noticed Avery's funky sleeping patterns (chest nearly touching his spine on each inhale, snoring louder than his Papa & Uncle Daren, random bed positioning, not breathing for seconds at a time, etc.), she diagnosed what the doctors would eventually confirm, sleep apnea. The only way to get around this is to have his tonsils removed as well as his adenoids, which aren't supposed to be visible, but are hanging down visibly into his throat. Though a bit apprehensive to venture on a minor surgery in a foreign country, we have had great luck with the specialists that we have met with and are very comfortable with the hospital facilities that we visited over the past few weeks. The little Ace is scheduled to go in on Monday, August the 4th, and all signs point to him being a new kid after it's all said and done. We will only have to bear through a few days of a sore throat that we plan to smooth with loads of ice cream and popsicles.

Onto the other little rascal... At first, we thought the only thing he was going to get out of this place was a damn British accent. It has come to be that Carter has learned more in the past year than we could have expected and has made some great friends along the way. The approach that the British School of Amsterdam takes in teaching is different than the "American Way" or "KC's way". Carter had been learning a lot from KC at his old day care, so our expectations were quite high. At first, we were a bit skeptical, but looking in the rears, we couldn't be happier. Not only is he picking up a lot, but he can't get enough of it. Only in school for 4 hours a day, he was constantly asking us if we would sign him up for a full day like the rest of his friends. He is totally excited about moving onto Reception (US pre-K equivilent) next year as Avery will also be starting back in the same Nursery class that Carter was in this past year. Oh, and, whew, that accent of his.......it's gone!

As we finally got some great weather this past week, we took advantage of it by heading over to the Sower's house for a good ole fashion Bar-B-Que, and boy, was it tasty. As Stacie was enjoying their wine, and they were sipping on our "dog shit" blend (a funny-had-to-be-there story), the girls got the idea to head down to Paris for the weekend. So off they went early Saturday morning to spend a couple of nights along with all of the other Tour-De-France fans.

With Stacie gone, it was just the boys to hold the house down. This was my first weekend alone with them since we had moved out here, and we couldn't have had more fun. After some pancakes on Saturday morning, we picked up Ron and headed out for a day at the beach in Bloemendaal (yes, it is topless). With some beach chairs, sand toys, sandwiches, Capri-suns, Heinekens & beautiful weather, we couldn't had hoped for a better day.

Thinking ahead to Sunday, I gave the boys a heads up that I wanted to take them to see Kung Fu Panda (their first theater experience). Oh, how this has resulted in some funny out-takes leading into the trip and more so after the theater. Over breakfast on Sunday morning Carter offered to Avery the following: "I'm a better ninja than you, and mommy and daddy and you are last on the ninja list".

After filling the morning up with some grocery shopping on the Power Wagon and a trip to Praxis (Dutch Home Depot), we ate some lunch and headed out for an afternoon matinée. The kids were excited about the Kung Fu Panda popcorn and "Gatorade Water" that they got to snack on during the flick and Dad was even more excited that you could buy a big bottle of Grolsch. Boy, were they good (both the boys and the beer)! The only sound out of the boys was the following:

(During the pre-movie commercials): "Daddy, I need to go poop", said Avery.
(Throughout the movie): Whispers from both of the boys asking for more popcorn.

After getting off the tram when the movie was out, we had about a block to walk back to our house. The short walk was filled with Kung Fu practice moves by both boys and some accompanying commentary....

Carter: "I learned more kung fu moves than you, so I'm a better ninja"
Avery: "I'm the blue tiger and you are the green tiger"
Carter: "No, I'm the blue tiger and you are the green tiger"
Avery: "Hi-yah" (Kung Fu sound bite from Avery)

Though I have to say, the funniest of them all came when I went to pick them up at creche (Dutch day care inside of the gym) after my workout. After silently observing both of the boys applying their new martial arts techniques on each other, I asked if they ate their snack. To this Carter replied, "No, we ate Kung-Food". (The lady whom worked there said Carter came up with this new term on his own).

So, for next weekend, I think we will have to head out to some noodle soup for lunch to keep my little ninjas sharp.

Weekend trip to the beach

We took advantage of the 4th of July weekend to get out to one of Holland's beach locations. Up off the north west coast of Holland, there are a number of small islands that continue into Denmark. You can actually take a guided walking tour through the ocean to one of them, though we opted for the ferry ride as Avery's legs are still a bit short for that one. For a Friday and Saturday night combo, we took up a hotel room on Vlieland. We really couldn't have picked a better way to relax for the weekend.

The island of Vlieland is an hour and a half ferry ride after an hour's drive from Amsterdam. Once getting to the island, you find that there are only about 10 cars and buses on the whole place. People generally just use bikes or walk. You can walk from one side of the island to the other in about 20 minutes.

After a short bus ride from the ferry station and dropping our bags at the hotel, we walked a few meters down to the beach and took up a seat at the restaurant over-looking the ocean. We ordered some dinner and drinks while watching the waves and people playing on the beach. After the kids were done with dinner, they played on the beach while we enjoyed a couple of cold Heinekens.

The hotel was great as well. Located just steps from the beach with great views of a serene & isloated island, it also had all the amenities to keep us all entertained (an indoor & outdoor pool, tennis courts, two playgrounds, a bowling alley, 3 restaurants & organized activities for the kids). Carter couldn't get enough of the pool. He is pretty anxious to learn how to swim without the floaties, though "gave it a go" (see British slang) and realized a bit more practice was needed.

After getting up on Saturday morning, we took a nice walk from our hotel into the village to grab a few snacks for the room and for our beach picnic. The day was shaping up beautiful from the get go. We woke up to clear sunny skies that carried through the whole day. After getting back from our walk and lugging our groceries (cheese, beer & cookies) across a whole island, we quickly proceeded to the beach where we lounged in near 80 degree weather for a little over 5 hours.

The only minor snag in the trip was that we forgot to grab our beach chairs when getting off the ferry on Friday. Though a bit worried that we had seen the last of them, we came to find them untouched and nicely placed in a lost and found area at the terminal. It's nice to know that there are places in this world that don't take advantage of the lost goods.

Upon our return to our parked car, the sunshine disappeared and gave way to a major rain storm. We sure lucked out on the weekend weather!

Yep, We're Still Here....And Euro As Ever!

Okay, so this is REALLY bad.....our last post was in January! We have been so busy travelling. Yeah, we know, really rough, you say. But our time has also been eaten up battling the world's BIGGEST 2 and a half year old!

Let us break down what's the haps since the New Year struck:

In February, we were joined by our friends Bryan and Erica on an Alps ski trip. We left our house in Amsterdam at 6:00am and drove through Germany on the Autobahn to Kitzbuhel, Austria. The trip took 12 hours with only two stops.....one gas stop and one Mickey D's stop! The boys did great in the car.....aside from Carter's motion sickness!

On a side note, we have to say that international McDonald's restaurants are really amazing! They are equipped with leather couches, plasma TV's, and individual bathrooms that are clean and lit up with fancy colored lights!

Austria was amazingly beautiful in landscape, architecture, and weather! We finally got to experience some California weather (well, almost)! Snowboarding on the Alps was great, and so was drinking beer at the top of the mountain! In the middle of town there was an "oasis". An indoor swimming pool and water slides. We got to show off our newly acquired pastey white Amsterdam skin! The pool was fun, but the waterslides were even better. They were like the water version of Space Mountain....all dark with neon lights. I hadn't had so much fun in so long. I am sure that all of the teenagers at the top of the water slides were cracking up at "that old lady" screaming and laughing every time she went down the slides!


We took a day trip to Bruges, Belgium in March. We walked around and toured the sights, and even took a horse carriage ride.

March was wonderful because it brought us back home to California. Again, the boys did great on the plane. They got to sit with the pilots and wear their hats. They got wings pinned on their shirts, and loved every second of it! Carter's motion sickness visited again on the ride to Grandma and Papa's house. Tony had to work the two weeks we were home, but Stacie got to shop! I couldn't wait to get to the mall and Target! The ATM machine (or what some of you close to my heart call "the ready teller"!) was smokin'! We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Easter with our families. The Easter Bunny was good to us this year.

We spent the last part of our trip home in SoCal. We got to stay in a Marriott Villa in Newport Beach. We took the boys to Disneyland. They had no idea what Disneyland was, but, boy, they sure do now! They absolutely loved it, and are excited because they know that next month they will get to go to Disneyland Paris! We went to the Character Breakfast in the morning, and got to eat breakfast with lots of the Disney characters. They even signed the boys' autograph book.

We returned to Amsterdam the first part of April.....with another great plane trip......and another visit from Carter's motion sickness! I always wondered if anybody REALLY used those barf bags for anything other than spitting old gum into. Unfortunately, my question was answered by my son!

April held a trip to the tulip farms (Kuekenhof), a visit to Volendam (an old fishing town with nice shops and views), and a visit from Doug and Jenni (Tony's cousin and his girlfriend). We also journied to Bloemendaal--a sweet reminder of a California beach bar and grill, where the kids can play and the adults can drink a beer (or if you're the Q's, two)! April also marked the end of training wheels for Carter. He mastered riding his two wheeler within days and looks like a true Dutchman now! Only one nasty fall for Evil Kneivel so far. The last day of April is the biggest party day of the year in Holland, especially Amsterdam. It is called Koninginnedag (Queen's Day for those of us that don't speak Dutch!). Every canal in the city is jammed with boats. Every cafe, coffeshop, store, sidewalk, street, etc. is packed to the point of gross. Everybody wears orange and it is one big ol' party. Great to experience it once, but we will probably head to a different country next year for the weekend.


The beginning of May was greeted with a visit by Stacie's parents. A few days after they arrived, we all went to Paris. A few days after Paris, Tony and Pete went to Scotland for some serious golfing. We would love to share our latest pics of Paris, Scotland, Amsterdam, and Avery now wearing undies, but some jackass on Easy Jet decided to steal our cameras and I-pods so that's not possible.

OK, back to Paris. A short train ride from Amsterdam brought us into the heart of the city. Our first task was to find a taxi to take us to the apartment we rented. After being jockied around, we finally found someone to drive us the 10 mins. to the apt. for a reasonable price. This is where we would insert pictures of the beautiful Parisian chalet we were going to call "home" for the next 5 days, but since someone else is enjoying the pics we took, that's not going to happen. Let us enlighten you.....

***The doorknob was broken, so in its place was a pair of scissors you had to turn to the left to get the front door open.
***The kitchen was inhabited by ants and crumbs and dirty dishes.
***The shower was SO SMALL Stacie had to stand OUTSIDE of it to shave her legs.
***The bathroom had to be bleached before we could use it
***The TV, internet, and phone did not work.
***The fish tank was held together with string and duct tape (yes, we were in charge of keeping the fish alive)
***The ceilings in the "TV room" and bathroom were peeling apart
***There was an unmarked jar of mysterious red sauce in the fridge, along with some mayo, mustard, and cheese
***The freezer not only held ice cube trays, but also a spilled, frozen, buillon looking substance
***There was a wet shower towel hanging in the bathroom when we arrived

Oh, the list could go on and on....if only we had our pictures!

We really enjoyed Paris, but it was jinxed from the get-go.

Carter had a fever, the flu, a rash, a cough, and his eardrum ruptured. Avery got a really bad case of pink eye. His eyes were glued shut every morning. Pete and Bonnie were attacked by bloody noses. Pete, Bonnie, and Stacie were battling allergies which turned into coughs and colds. And of course, Tony escaped it all! On the plus side, Avery is no longer wearing diapers!!! Side note: NEVER potty train in a foreign country!

Okay....on to Italy!

We started out in Florence. We rented another apt., but actually had a "normal" place this time. We saw all of the beautiful sights...St. Marco Square, the Duomo