Ice-Skating

What else can you do in a winter wonderland? I know: Ice-skating, which we did past sunday. Here is Tobias on his skate with Jelte on his boots. Tobias and I spent quite some time on this lake on our skates. It was nice. It took Tobias some time to get back into it, but eventually he even tried to skate without holding my hand a few times at his own request. That had never happened before.

Skating does wear one out, including Tobias, so every once in a while we had to stop for a short break. One of those times Tobias made snow-angels :-)




For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Americanization (continued)

When we got back from our trip to the US this past May, I wrote about Americanization. Well, we did some of that this time as well. Of course the whole Christmas celebration in the US is quite different and more elaborate than in the Netherlands. And then, we got to enjoy some real live American sports events! Well, on top of all that Nonny had bought Tobias a baseball bat and we played a lot of that. Tobias is quite proficient at hitting that ball all the way into the neighbors' yards (and making me or Lisa run after it :-)). So, another American game has been added to the list... Tobias really enjoyed it. So much even, that he mentioned that he wants to play baseball in the Netherlands. It so happens that Gouda does have a team and that one of Tobias' friends (who is a few years older) plays on it, so, who knows....

Also, Tobias got the sequel to Granddaddy's class on Fire Hydrants.... Granddaddy took him to the Dickinson Fire House. That was quite overwhelming with the big fire engines and the big helmets and the big guys. It was an exciting experience though in which Tobias got te wear his very own fireman helmet! I did not get to take too many pictures because I think Tobias was actually kind of impressed... he was staying quite close to me. He did get to see all the stuff though, including inside the fire engine, the helmets, the hoses, inside an ambulance, all the tools they use, etc....




For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Game On!

Granddaddy took Tobias (and me) to his first live sports game! We went to two events, a Houston Rockets basketball game and the Texas Bowl, a football game. The basketball game was quite the challenge because it was at night. We were worried that Tobias would fall asleep, but he did not. As a matter of fact he got quite into the game waving his foam finger everytime the Houston Rockets scored and pointing it down everytime the opponent (New Orleans Hornets) scored. I think he had a great time actually. As you can see he also has a Houston Rockets T-shirt....



The football game was in the afternoon and we had great seats, quite close to the field (thirds row) as you can see in the picture. The game of football apparently is not a clear as the game of basketball. Despite the better time of day it was harder to keep Tobias interested throughout the game. He did enjoy the experience, but we spent more time walking around (and to and from the restrooms...) than we did at the basketball game. Of course the football game is much longer too, which may have made a difference, and of course there is more time where there is no play going on...

Anyway, he got his first taste of a live sports event and I am quite convinced he enjoyed it a lot, as did I!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Gifts Gifts Gifts

Christmas is an exciting time, especially for kids. In anticipation of Christmas the main questions Tobias had were:
1. Will I get everything that is on the list?
2. Will I get the most presents of us all?

In regards to question 1, Sinterklaas had disappointed him somewhat because he did not get a toy camera or a toy gun and those were on his list. Well, of course Sinterklaas and Santa are in close contact when it comes to synchronizing lists... So, that questions was sufficiently answered...

In regards to question 2 Tobias determined that him and me would get the most presents. Well, he was, quite obviously, wrong. Even though he insisted, even after the gifts were handed out that both him and me had the largest pile of presents, it wasn't even close to the actual situation. Tobias got soooooo many gifts, which, I guess, was to be expected. Pretty much everything in this picture is his. He did end up getting a toy camera, he did not get a toy gun... but that was OK, because Santa does not like guns.



It is funny how children can react. He was so excited about all his gifts, yet he was still disappointed that he did not get a robot that can vacuum the house for us.... (I have no idea where that came from, although apparently one of his friends has some kind of robot that can move around on it's own without touching anything...).

It was a busy day for Tobias because he also helped Lorelei unwrap her gifts...


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle