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.