Paris By Scooter...

During our stay with our friends near Paris we went into Paris one afternoon. We had brought the stroller with a board attached that Tobias can stand on. The main purpose of this is that Tobias moves at the same speed we do and that he doesn't get too tired. Well, Valentine had a scooter for that same purpose. She can ride it pretty fast and doesn't get as tired as she would walking all that distance.

Tobias thought the scooter was quite interesting and wanted a go at it too. He got the hang of it quite easily and started "racing" (as he called it) down the streets of Paris... Nice huh?


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Easter Egg Hunting

We went to La Celle Saint Cloud (near Paris) for easter. We have friends there that we went to visit. This trip to Paris is kind of an Easter tradition. This year the kids were big enough for a real easter egg hunt! In and around Paris there were some organized hunts and we had planned to go to an outside hunt. Well, it was raining so we changed plans and went to an indoor one instead. It was in the Hard Rock Cafe of all places! It was nice, but not as nice as was expected, especially by our friends....

Fortunately, later that day the sun came out. So, we had a second hunt in the back-yard of our friends' house. That was really nice and both Tobias and their girl Valentine found and shared quite some chocolate eggs. Needless to say they had way too much candy that day, but hey, it is only easter once a year. It was quite obvious they had great fun, and so did we!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Trekkar

Lisa went back to work yesterday so, today I had my first daddy-day with my two children, all by myself. It is not like I haven't spent time with them all by myself, but somehow this is different. And I have to tell you it was a wonderful day! Tobias of course had to go to school so, I got to spend lots of time with Lorelei. Most of that time she was sleeping, but we also played and cuddled and everything else....

So, when school was out we went to pick up Tobias. When we got back to the house Lorelei was sleeping again and Tobias and I played. I picked this game and initially he said that it was to difficult for him. I asked him to explain what we need to do and told him I would help him. Well, it is a game in the English language and you have to take a picture card with a word on it and then spell the word with the letters. He picked wagon and he read: "wuh - aeh - guh - on, wagon". Then he said: "Papa, we have this thing in school, it is a 'trekkar' (literally: "pull-cart"), but we have to do it in Dutch because we're together." So I said OK and he started saying "t - rrr - aeh - kh - ah - rrr, trekkar. Ok, so first I need a t". And that way he went on, with some, but not a whole lot of help from me and spelled the word "trekkar"! He even realized there are two k's in there... And all that without the pointer of the word on the card because of course the card says "wagon", the English word...

We went on to do two more words in Dutch. I was quite amazed and quite proud of my little boy!


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Spring is Hither!

Yes!!! You gotta love the springtime. We went to the beach for the first time this season last Saturday. All of us went together. Lisa spent some time feeding Lorelei in a restaurant while Tobias and I played soccer on the beach. It was not very warm, but the sun was out together with quite a few but not too many people. We had lunch in the restaurant and then we all walked (and kicked a ball) along the waterline for a while.

I love that time when not everybody goes to the beach yet (or anymore, when it is fall), but it is nice enough to be out there. Easy parking, not too many people and loads of fun! Also this time and of course I had to bring my camera along. I took some nice pictures including this one. We built a mountain and Tobias is applying the finishing touch: some seashells. As you can see it is a very delicate process :-).

(By the way, this weekend was nice but this week has been rather crappy...)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Having fun with Second Cousins...

Given the current circumstances, Lisa and I estimate the likelyhood of Tobias having cousins rather small..... (no pressure or pun intended....). The question is whether that has to be an issue. Well, judging from all the fun Tobias had last saturday on our Family Reunion, the answer to that is quite simply: NO!

My mom is one of 7, with quite a bit of offspring with quite a bit of offspring. So, Tobias has quite a few second cousins and he proved last saturday that you can have lots of fun with second cousins too! Especially with Jurgen (who was born on January 18th 2004. Yes, that is exactly one year before Tobias!). They played, inside and outside, pretty much all day. Understandable, because they are so close in age, but fun nonetheless. They played soccer, dinosaurs, and, as you can see here, car carrier.

Maybe we should have family reunions more often....? :-)


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

The "Music Maker"

The other day I was finished taking a shower and stuff and Tobias and Lisa were still getting ready. I decided to put Lorelei on her pillow and play her some songs on my guitar. As soon as Tobias was done he came to see what we were doing. He sat down next to her pillow and enjoyed the music with her. That was nice.

Shortly after that something even nicer happened.... I put my guitar away after a while and left the room for a few minutes. When I got back I encountered the scene in this picture! Tobias had picked up his own guitar and was playing for her, but not only that, he was singing as well: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", her favorite song (or so Tobias said). He said: "Papa, look, I am the music maker and you and Lorelei are spectators!".

I didn't know what to do or say, other than just to sit down and enjoy the show......


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle

Getting Serious

As I wrote before Tobias has all new furniture in his room. One of the items is a desk, but he hasn't been using it that much... So, we decided to move some stuff and toys to his room. This past weekend we went up there and played. I think I told about the school project about Italy. Well, during that project they read a lot of Pinnocchio stories and Tobias went on and on about that. He was telling fibs and pretending his nose grew and bumped into things, like the ceiling :-).

Anyway, we went up there in his room and he wanted to color. He told me he wanted me to look up some coloring pages on my computer and print them. He even told me he needed the printer in his room! :-). Well, that didn't happen, but I did print a few pages and as you can see he was rather serious about coloring them... And as a matter of fact his coloring skills have significantly improved over the past few weeks. He did quite a good job staying within the lines and using rather appropriate colors. An interesting thing was that every item he colored got a new color and he was done when he had used all his colors once.


For news on Tobias' sister Lorelei visit: Lorelei Michelle