Birthday Boy

Happy Valentines Day and Happy Birthday to Brice!  I can't believe he's 2 already, this time has flown by so fast.  Only two more years and he will be going to Dutch school. 

Saturday we had a birthday party for him, Elmo themed of course.  My friend Heidi made yummy cupcakes and my friend Annie was able to be here to help celebrate.  Brice was so excited when he woke up from his nap and there was Elmo and balloons all over our house! 

Brice's friend Paisley and her mom, Cameron

Brice playing with Titus and Paisley

He really didn't want to use his hands.  He just licked the frosting off

Sweet Ride

Well we finally broke down and decided we needed a new car.  It's been over a year since I've had a vehicle, and with our car in the shop we realized we need two cars.  So here it is!  My brand new mini van that will seat 7 people! 

Time to start traveling and for visitors to start coming!!

London, England

We left the base on a Monday night and drove on a tour bus about 2 hours to the ferry in Hoek van Holland, about 20 km from Rotterdam.  Border patrol checked our passports and we walked onto the ferry.  As we were pulling up we thought there was a cruise ship in the port, but that was our ferry!  It was huge, and about 2 months old.  It had a movie theater, duty free shop, casino, arcade, and 2 restuarants.  We had a cabin to sleep in overnight while we crossed the water, it had bunk bed, a couch, tv, and a bathroom with a sink, toilet and a shower.  It was a lot nicer than we were expecting.  We got up in the morning for breakfast when we pulled into port in England, Harmisch, if I remember correctly.  Our breakfast was included in the trip so that was nice.  When we got off we had a 2 hour bus ride to London, driving on the other side of the road :)  We picked up our tour guide next to The Tower of London, and he guided us around for about 3 hours.  We saw all of the major sites, plus some side streets and learned a lot about the city.  We definitely want to go back in the summer when the weather is nicer and there's no fog.

In our room

On the way to London

St. Paul's Cathedral

Tower of London

Brice fell asleep walking around the Christmas market

Tower Bridge

Here's to a New Year!

Well we ended 2010 with a great Christmas and a great trip to London.  The trip was sponsored by the Chapel on base and we had an amazing time.  It was only for a day but it was well worth it, great people and great friends, and a great ferry ride! 

Brice's first real time in the snow

Christmas Eve

Cookies and milk for Santa



A letter from Santa to the boys.  Brandon kept asking me who it was from.  Um...the return address says S. Clause in the North Pole, and it's signed by Santa, so who do you think?



Slacking

I have been lazy the last few weeks so I promise to update the blog over these next couple of days.  Last week was the worst but at least I got my driver's license!  This is the last week Cody has of school, then he's off for 3 weeks, Brandon is off for 11 days, and we're going to London for a couple days after Christmas! 

Sinterklaas

The Feast of Sinterklaas, or St. Nicholas, is an annual event which has been uniquely Dutch and Flemish for centuries. St. Nicholas' Feast Day, December 6th, is observed in most Roman Catholic countries primarily as a feast for small children. But it is only in the Low Countries - especially in the Netherlands - that the eve of his feast day (December 5th) is celebrated nationwide by young and old, christian and non-christian, and without any religious overtones.



Although Sinterklaas is always portrayed in the vestments of the bishop he once was, his status as a canonized saint has had little to do with the way the Dutch think of him. Rather, he is a kind of benevolent old man, whose feast day is observed by exchanging gifts and making good-natured fun of each other. It so happens that the legend of St. Nicholas is based on historical fact. He did actually exist. He lived from 271 A.D. to December 6th, 342 or 343. His 4th century tomb in the town of Myra, near the city of Anatolia in present-day Turkey, has even been dug up by archaeologists.


All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas (the name is a corruption of Sint Nikolaas) lives in Spain. Exactly why he does remains a mystery, but that is what all the old songs and nursery rhymes say. Whatever the case may be, in Spain he spends most of the year recording the behaviour of all children in a big red book, while his helper Black Peter stocks up on presents for next December 5th. In the first weeks of November, Sinterklaas gets on his white horse, Peter ("Piet") swings a huge sack full of gifts over his shoulder, and the three of them board a steamship headed for the Netherlands. Around mid-November they arrive in a harbour town - a different one every year - where they are formally greeted by the Mayor and a delegation of citizens. Their parade through town is watched live on television by the whole country and marks the beginning of the "Sinterklaas season".



The old bishop and his helpmate are suddenly everywhere at once. At night they ride across Holland's' rooftops and Sinterklaas listens through the chimneys to check on the children's behaviour. Piet jumps down the chimney flues and makes sure that the carrot or hay the children have left for the horse in their shoes by the fireplace is exchanged for a small gift or some candy. During the day, Sinterklaas and Piet are even busier, visiting schools, hospitals, department stores, restaurants, offices and many private homes. Piet rings doorbells, scatters sweets through the slightly opened doors and leaves basketfuls of presents by the front door.

Sunday, we were able to see Sinterklaas and Piets in town.  We waited over 30 minutes for them to arrive, when they came in the Piets were dancing and they played a song over the PA that all the kids were singing along with.  Piet shook Cody's hand, and then shook his foot, then he shook my foot.  He was saying something in Dutch but we had no idea so we just smiled :)  After that Sinterklaas was standing in the front looking at papers that I think were made for him beforehand by the kids, and we didn't know what was going on, so we tried sneaking out the back.  The man in charge stopped us outside and made sure the kids got a bag of candy.  That was half of the reason we went, so the boys could get the candy and cookies. 

Zwarte Piet and Sinterklaas

waiting............

after getting his foot shook

Food

This had definitely been the week for food!  Saturday we saw a weiner mobile on our way down to Schinnen:

Monday night my friend Cameron invited us to go to the Pancake House for dinner since our husband's are working late all week.  I had an apple and banana pancake with cinnamon sugar, and Cody had a pancake with Nutella.  These aren't like American pancakes, they're more like thick giant crepes.  SO YUMMY.  I have been wanting to go there since we got here and I'm glad we finally got to go. 

Apples and Bananas

This week the squadron is being inspected, so since they get stuck out there all day the wives cook lunch everyday.  My day was today, Friday, and I made hot dogs, burgers, potato salad, pork and beans, chips, and cookies.  The deli at the commissary doesn't have potato salad or anything like that, they just have meat and cheese, so I called Grandmom down in Georgia to get her potato salad recipe.  It turned out AMAZING.  And it's super easy.  Here's the picture as promised Grandmom!  It looked better in the bowl but I had to put it in the tray to take it to lunch.

I had to refrain from eating all of it.  I think I might make more for Christmas.

Lastly, today was the first day that Brice at a whole apple.  He actually ate two.  Here's a picture of him eating it, and a picture of what was left when he was done.

Tune in Monday for pictures from the Cologne Christmas Market and Sinterklaas!