7

Unbelievable!!! Tobias is 7 years old! It seems like only yesterday that he got his first (toy) guitar… and started singing “Blowing in the Wind”. Well, now he is seven an I got him his first real guitar! And boy, did I have fun just getting that thing :-). I got him a 1/2 model classic guitar. We have been playing one of my electric guitars from time to time. He kept coming back to that, although I might have needed the littlest of hints to believer he did…, but anyway, he has his own now and is ready to take some lessons! He says he wants to be better than Jimi Hendrix :-). Right now I am teaching him, but I guess I should be looking for a real teacher sometime soon. Currently he is able to play one song on one string: Frère Jacques :-).

Of course that’s not all he got. As usual, he had three parties: school, kids from school and adults. Well, I guess he kind of had four because on his actual birthday we took him out to dinner. Most of what we did in terms of celebrating was his own idea this year. We went to dinner in a Greek restaurant, his choice. We took his friends to the bowling alley, his choice. We had a pizza party for the adults, his choice. I think he had a good time, although he was pretty tired by the end of Saturday (bowling and pizza…).

Having three parties also got him a lot of gifts. It was not like he didn’t get any for Christmas or Sinterklaas… so, he has so many new toys now!

We had a nice time to, but once again, I can hardly believe I have a 7-year-old boy now…

Safari

While in New Braunfels we went to a Safari Park. It was a four mile ride through an area with lots of different animals, including Zebras. Some of the animals stay off the road, but others some quite close (or even partly into) the cars, like this guy. When you go into the park you get a baggy of food to throw out the window. I guess the animals know that, and some of them can’t wait for the people to throw it, they just stick their head in. This guy kept trying to stick his head into the car (and in doing so scaring Tobias :-)). Note Tobias’ finger sticking up. I should probably add a text-balloon to this one for you to fill… Well, I’ll fill it for you: “No no no…” is what Tobias screamed :-). We had a good laugh over this, too!

Baking Cookies

Baking cookies with Aunt Shelli has become a Christmas Tradition of sorts… Even when we are not in the US Tobias has been baking cookies with her. So, we could not miss out on that one this year. Tobias has made all sorts of cookies with Aunt Shelli, but this year it was chocolate chip all the way!

Not only that, but this year Lorelei participated as well. During the mixing she was primarily a spectator, but during the cookie-making (and bowl-licking) she was an enthusiastic participant…

Oh, and the cookies turned out great!

Comal River

While we were in the US we took a trip to New Braunfels to visit family. While we were there we did some exploring as well. We went to a Safari Place, we played in the park, and we visited the Comal River Spring. That was something Tobias had never seen before so, that was an interesting experience. The river basically comes out of a rock, as you can see. Apparently the Comal River is the shortest river in Texas (Texans seem to always be looking for something largest, smallest, tallest, shortest or whatever other extreme you can imaging :-)). We threw some sticks and leaves in it to see how fast they would move. Well, they move pretty fast… Also I had Lorelei feel the water and it is pretty cold :-).

I doubt Lorelei was quite able to grasp the significance of a River spring yet, but Tobias was quite impressed!

Baseball

As I have written after previous visits to Dickinson, TX we try to expose Tobias to some American traditions and culture, including sports, like Baseball. This year Santa brought Tobias a baseball bat, a baseball glove, and some little league baseballs. We started with playing catch. He did quite a descent job at that, although he had to get used to the weight and speed of the ball. He missed sometimes resulting in two bumps on his head… :-). He kept playing though…

Then we tried to hit some balls, but the real bat was a bit to heavy for him. So, we picked up the plastic bat and ball from two years ago. And again I was amazed by Tobias’ hand-eye coordination. Two years ago I had to toss the ball up and slow in order for him to hit it (and hit it quite well I might add). This time around I could take quite a distance from him and throw it at him full swing, and he would slam it to the back of the yard!

We have a baseball team in Gouda. Tobias starts in March :-).