Goals – and achieving them…..

At the beginning of this school year, Gideon was able to purchase his own Ipod Touch. During the summer he had worked as a painter around our home, earning extra money to purchase the Ipod, and had biked many a mile, to save up his train money toward this goal as well. As parents we decided to engrave the Ipod with the following text: “When you put in the work, the results will come”. It is a quote from one of Gideons’ favorite basketball players – Michael Jordan.

Gideon has worked hard over the last season in his basketball: practicing up to 6 times a week, with games on the weekend, biking to school, made for days that in general have him leaving the house at 7:30 am, often to return around 7:00 pm. But he keeps his spirit!

Last week was the last round of selection training for next seasons competition. Gideon got good news: He has been selected for the Under 16 first team of Rotterdam Basketball. This puts him with his team mates into the top league of Basketball players his age, in the Netherlands.

We are proud of Gideon: his diligence, perseverance, strength of character and goal setting has brought him this far. Maybe the text on his Ipod rings a bit of truth….

Now….. maybe it will also come through for his school work? Time will tell. In the meantime, we are proud that he works hard on the courts, doing what he loves to do with zeal and focus.

Job well done Gideon!!

New family members

Last year after returning from our USA visit, the boys once again expressed how much they would like to once again have pets in the house. Pets, not like fish, but real pets. Like a dog or a cat or so.
As I have shared that longing for a while, my regular answer was: ‘ask your dad’, knowing that Krister was none too ‘gung-ho’ about the idea. But to my surprise he said: ‘ well, if there is going to be a pet, I am going to choose what it will be, but your mom has had a wish for years, so maybe we should look in that direction’.
Another reason why the internet is great! Remember the cute ‘Whiskas cat’? Years ago, as a teenager, I had a subscription to an animal magazine (mainly dogs and cats). It would explain what the breed was, which behavior, things like that. All very fascinating. It was at that time that I was introduced to a British Shorthair Silverpoint Tabby. Having never seen one in real life (it’s not like Curacao was the perfect place for that), the internet gave us an update of what was happening in Purebread kittyland very quickly. British shorthair cats are still being bred, but so many more varieties today! Blue, Copper, Gold, Silver, and all kinds off different combinations: shaded, spotted, blodged, chinchilla, point and of course fold.

When Krister saw a Blue Fold, he was sold. That was a cat that would be allowed in his home! The boys and I liked it too, but most catteries do not like to place a kitten if other companions are not present. You see, British short hair cats are very social. And if they are by themselves they are miserable……
So a search for the blue fold of choice brought us to Antwerp, where Liliane had a beautiful blue kitten. He was shy, but liked being petted. He was only 9 week old.
Boy was he cute. Bucks was his name, and as a pure bread kitten does not come to your house for free, the name Bucks was definitely a stay. With his round head, and owl like appearance, he joined our household just before Thanksgiving 2009. Liliane spoiled us with bags of catfood and cat toys for ‘the first major change of days’, even with kitty litter, so that Bucks would feel at home soon.
He was glad to have the long ride over, and did really well traveling. By now Bucks ‘rules’ the house with gentle touch, is being toilet trained, and especially loves Levi who will carry him wherever Levi goes in ‘baby-style’. Bucks just loves him, and purrs whenever he is petted.

But also with the rest of the family he is a gentle and fun companion. Bucks makes unbelievable jumps to catch his ‘prey’, he loves laying on the couch to watch tv with Gideon, and will even join us on our laps in order to get our attention when we are working behind the computer. He is the ‘socialite’ of the pair that now graces our home…..

Pair? Yup, Pair.
About a month after Bucks came to our home, he was joined by his ‘girlfriend’ that we picked for him. I know, not too nice in this modern day and age to pick the spouse for the cat, but as they will never have babies together, we thought it wouldn’t be any problem. In the cattery ‘Hof van Logres’ Fado was born just before October 4, which in NL is ‘animal day’. She and her little sister Foxtrot were first introduced to us also at 4 weeks. Boy, was she small! They were still very close to mom, just little furballs, but already eager to play. Being from a Silver shaded line, Fado and her feline mom and dad are the smallest of the British Short hair breed. When we met her she was a shy, timid, kitten, but with plenty of spunk. Gideon, Levi and Willeke liked her immediately, as well as the cattery where she came from! When we visited again at 8 weeks, we were sure that Fado was going to join Bucks for a lifetime of fun. We figured Bucks being unique deserved a unique friend! At 12 weeks, on January 2, 2010, Andre and Astrid brought Fado to our home, and showered us with ‘baby’ gifts. The ‘scratch pole’ was by now sturdy and constructed for Bucks and Fado to enjoy, under strict supervision of Bucks, who somehow knew that what I was working on was for his enjoyment at some point!
Fado’s name, a Portuguese traditional (love) song is described on the internet as following: Portuguese fado music is known for its sad, mournful songs and powerful performances. Now usually our Fado is not sad or mournful, but she puts on a powerful performance!

When she arrived at our home, Bucks did not like an intruder, and she definitely did not like the ‘flat ears’! Flat ears means that the cat is ready to fight, and no matter how playful Bucks would approach Fado, the first week she thought he was there to fight her! So she would hide: under the shoe rack, behind the piano, under the couch, anywhere where her little body could fit – and that is a lot of spaces, even in just our living/kitchen space! Thankfully after about a week Fado decided that the way Bucks’ ears were positioned on his head, did not say the usual “back off” in cat lingo. And since then the two of them are friends. They swap leadership position, Bucks never far away from making sure Fado does not get into trouble. Last night Krister had closed the door of his office, thinking both cats were out. Not so, and Bucks miauwed loudly until Krister opened the door and let Fado out to the safety of the hallway and her friend Bucks. And that is how we have 2 new family members that continue to surprise us on a daily basis. But also Gideon and Levi surprise us. We could have never imagined that our boys would laugh and play so much with Bucks and Fado, and enjoy their company. Fado remains more shy, more eager to stay on her own 4 feet, Bucks is happy to be carried anywhere, by anybody. 2 different cats with very different personalities, but wonderful to have as part of our family!

Basketball!

Sadly enough I was not present at Levi’s game. According to his happy face and ditto moves, his Binnenland U12-2 team with coach Erwin ‘slaughtered’ the opponent Zwijndrecht with some unreal score like 70 – 20 or so……… It was busy in Almere at the Topsport hall, when I arrived there straight from my Moscow flight by public transport on saturday night. Train and bus got me there in time for me to see the 3rd and 4th quarter of the game. The game was not progressing the way the team would like to see it, but they were putting up a fight and working hard. Listening to a coach must be quite a challenge though…. At the end of the game it was into the car with the 4 of us, and we were off to home while the snow was falling allover the land. It made for a pretty ride, where Levi entertained us with his own vocal music compositions, and Gideon relaxed with his Ipod.

Sunday afternoon it was basketball again, but this time Gideon was playing with 16-1. Sadly enough 4 team mates are dealing with injuries, so Gideon was asked to fill in. He played hard, passing, defending, lay-up and even scored…… Pictures to come soon!

By 5 pm we were back in the car and off to home for an early night for the whole family. Basketball watching can be tiring!

Europe in a flash

Where was I, where am I, ‘ladies and gentlemen welcome to Madrid, welcome to Aberdeen, welcome to Glasgow, welcome to Moscow’….. all in a week. Ofcourse then there also was the part of ‘ ladies and gentlemen this is the flight to Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Amsterdam, and we are now fully ready for departure’………

But there are more exciting things than my PA text during the past week. I had the opportunity to be the first visitor to the ‘Mill House’ where the Enters family now lives. Amazing all the work they got done in about 10 days. Approximately 45 round trips with their 4X4 it took to move, as the moving van they were planning on using got stuck in the snow on the little road that they need to take to get to their new home. The place is beautifully situated, and it is just great fun to be able to spend even only a few hours with them. The resident ‘chauffeur’ waiting for me at the airport, a toast to their new home, a good night sleep (thank you Esmee!), breakfast with laughs, walking down and up the hill, emptying the Lush store , and then lunch before flight. It is just lovely to be able to do all that!

A flight with Basketball via Text (SMS)

Last night I ‘escorted’ Kristers’ parents back to Cairo, after their vacation with us and other friends. We had had a great time, mixed with firm discussions, disagreements, music, computers and laughter. As I was off to the airport with Mom & Dad for a KLM flight, Krister got the boys in the car to the Alexanderhal in Rotterdam where Gideon was playing with Rotterdam Basketball 16-2 against opponent Goba ……
At 8.28 pm I sent Krister a text: We are off- 5DEF. Luv u!
At 8.31 pm I received a text: Enjoy! 18-18 here.
As it was snowing, and boarding was done quickly, I sent Krister another text @ 9.37 pm: Still @ gate, waiting 4 de-icing. Curious how G’s game is…..
from K @ 9.40pm: 59(roba) – 62 @ 35 sec!

Now grandma got excited! Wow what a score! Must have been an exciting game, too bad we couldn’t see the game….. but the SMS (text) messages kept coming with regular bleeps from my phone in an otherwise quietly expecting cabin of the Boeing 777…. bleep,bleep …..
from K @ 9.40pm – Gideon has done Awesome
from K @ 9.41pm – 60 62!
from K @ 9.43pm – 1 sec, roba ball!
from K @ 9.43pm – Time out. Hi from Sophie
from K @ 9.45pm – Foul, time out. Amazing how much can happen in 1 sec.
from K @ 9.47pm – Afgelopen (game over). Have a great flight
from me to K@ 9.50pm – I’m assuming the final score was 60 – 62. Must have been an awesome game. boys deserve dessert@mac my treat. We re moving! lv u back

Our flight finally took off, after de-icing around 11pm. With a relatively short flying time, we landed in Cairo around 2.30 am. Our flight was quiet in the relatively low booked C-class. Dad & Mom enjoyed the fish and I had the chicken. We tried a variety of good wines and champagne (with plenty of water). Dad watched a movie, I read a book and chatted with Mom. Mom’s flight was filled with giggles as she read through ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ – a novel in cartoons by Jeff Kinney. Levi lent it to her for the flight and I carried it back. By 8.34 this morning I landed back in Amsterdam, got the train to The Hague at 8.58 am, followed by a short bus ride and was in the APCH church service by 10.02 am

It had been another experience that none of us will forget soon.

Been there, done that…..

From a Wednesday at the end of July until about 3 weeks later, Gideon, Levi and undersigned traveled to the USA West Coast. The ultimate reason of travel: to visit lots of friends (long time not seen) and an Evenhouse family reunion with Kristers’ parents, all his brothers and family. We arrived in Los Angeles to the smiling faces of Chris and Sandy and their wonderful home. They were so patient in getting us over our Jetlag, while we roamed their house at ‘all hours of the day’. Thank goodness that by the time we were leaving, they could still laugh and sing ‘Always look on the bright side of life….’ while giving us a lively display of what that means to them. They even arranged a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain for us. A day not documented on camera, but still alive in our minds with all the great rides we had! Gideon and Levi got their first opportunity to swim in the Pacific Ocean (oh, fun!) and we visited ‘Chip Foose’s workshop – yes the guy from Overhaulin’ – a great program on Nat Geo station. But before we got going to San Francisco area, we flew up to Seattle so that Gideon and Levi could participate in a 5 day, ‘all-day’ intense basketball camp by NBCCamps in Spokane. The boys loved it. Came back with ’9 points to a perfect shot’ which includes things like Spinach and a Cookie Jar……
I spent the week Couch Surfing: a wonderful way to meet great people who offer the hospitality of their own home, if you offer your ‘couch’ to the Couch Surfing community as well. And so during the time the boys were in camp, I spent time with Debbi and Robert. It was so much fun to see a bit of Spokane from their point of view, to realize that living in NL is really not bad at all, and that fresh fruit during the summer in Washington State is just that: Fresh, ripe, fragrant and Juicy. All ingredients that made Gideon play catch up on the fruit he missed during camp in just one night it seemed.
We traveled back from Spokane to Seattle with an extra passenger for the remainder of the trip: After a super long day traveling, Krister made it from NL via Minneapolis direct to Spokane, only to leave that city again about 9 hours after he touched down in it.
But dear Steve and Dana had cleared ample space for us, and we got right down to ‘bay living’: a wonderful beach campfire, special Brazilian ice cream, a walk through downtown Seattle, and for the ‘moms’ even a martini and some shoe shopping around dinner time to celebrate an anniversary and a birthday. All this in pure, wonderful sunshine that lasted until about 8 pm each night.
On Monday we were off to head south by car. We wanted to stay close to the shore, but decided to do that part just from the northern part of California. We saw awesome beaches, amazing mountains and hills, and highways that just go on and on, in order to make it to our next Couch surfing destination: Misty.
Misty showed us the majesty of Oregon, by steering us through some of the wilder rapids of the Rogue river. Not a place to take a camera, so once again, a memory in our minds, but beautiful. The Rogue river has rapids that take all strength to maneuver, but calms too where we could drift in our life jackets and lazily eat lunch, or search for wildlife. We actually saw some deer, and then more deer. But as we had been looking for turtles (didn’t find any) we adopted the second deer under the term: ‘turtles’. Very satisfying to look at nature that way
After 2 nights of couching with Misty, we were headed south again – but this time we wanted to stay close to the coast. So off we were to find Highway one, with it’s mysterious views of the Pacific ocean, Huge redwood trees and misty beach towns. We slowly transited into the valleys of vineyards and orchards and finally saw signs that said: San Francisco!
After a few great nights with our dear friends Kevin and Teresa, we actually got a day together exploring San Francisco. We visited the Golden Gate bridge, SFMOMA, took a ride on the ‘Hop-on-Hop-off’ and ate Pizza on one of the piers, saw Alcatraz (from shore) and even the lazy but noisy beached Seals.
Then we headed down to Santa Cruz, where we ended our vacation with a wonderful time of sharing and enjoying our family. Cousins from the age of 7 weeks to 14 years were present and all the parents and grand parents too. It made for a wonderful time. Krister took more family portraits during this trip than ever before, but having a new bag to carry all the equipment and a fast computer to process it all, made for a wonderful time and memory that will last for all. By August 18, Krister was back on a plane, headed for Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, while Gideon, Levi and I left the family a little later to travel east, back to the Netherlands in the comfort of KLM’s business class. Sometimes life is just awesome……

Levi op Kamp (geweest)

Levi has been to camp – Here he tells of his experiences. Translation below….

Ik ben op kamp geweest en ik heb tijdens het eten een yell gemaakt met mijn groep de Leeuwen!
De Leeuwen, de Leeuwen
koning van de dieren – al eeuwen
we eten jullie op
en laten niemand staan, het zit in onze naam!

Om anderen een beetje te plagen hadden wij nog meer yells bedacht!
Voor de Kangaroes:
Kangaroes, Kangaroes, Kangaroes in de buidelhoes
Wij zijn naar een wc op zoek
Poepend in de buidelhoes

voor de Zebra’s:
Je bent een Zebra, een Zebra
Echt een mislukt paard
Zwart met wit, wat ben je nou?
Je yell is zo verjaard!

Voor de Tijgers:
Je bent een Tijger, een Tijger
echt een wilde poes
S’ochtends smiddags savonds laat
je wilt je appelmoes! miauw!

Ook ben ik twee keer naar het zwembad geweest in Zelhem. Het zwembad heette de Brink. Het was leuk, maar ik heb er wel twee schaafplekken erbij, want ik ging op mijn buik van de glijbaan!

Ik was mijn horloge kwijt, maar gelukkig heb ik hem in mijn tas weer gevonden. Ik heb lekker patat gegeten bij de snackbar. Ik heb heel veel snoep gekocht van mijn zakgeld! Ik heb geslapen in een grote tent, en wij hadden de netste tent van het kamp! daar hadden wij een 9.9 voor! Ik heb ook geleerd hoe je heel goed een Frisbee en een Boomerang kan gooien.

——————————————-
Levi was at camp and with his group they made a yell. Their tent group was the Lions.
Their yell : The lions, the lions, king of the animals for ages, we will eat you and will not let anyone stand!
We also had yells for others, which we did during dinner time:
The kangaroos, the zebra’s and even the tigers heard from us!
Levi learned how to throw the boomerang and the frisbee, he had leadership that had GPS on their phone – very convenient there is a dropping He also went swimming twice and scratched his tummy because he went off the slide the wrong way! He was worried he had lost his watch, but thank goodness it was in the bottom of his backpack! Now he is singing: ‘ this little light of mine….’

And Daddy just called from the UK, so I got to tell lots of things to him. Now it is time for healthy meal of french fries!

Iphone invasion to the Evenhouse home

Oh no, it has happened. Just the day I left, Krister walked over to the nearest phone store, and -on release day here in NL- got himself the Iphone 3GS. Now I, leaving for Bangkok, thought this a nice distraction for the husband while I was in the far east. However, having been back for over a week, I have noticed something strange: this Iphone is not leaving our household, in fact, it is taking over a large part of the senior male members’ time! But boy, I have to admit, it is fun. Just now he shot a video, edited it on his Iphone, and is now posting it to his Face Book account. Thought I should at least note it, and take a picture of it, before it becomes another ‘thing that is normal’ around here. Note the EFG Design company color cover for the treasured Iphone. Courtesy of the wife picking up some covers in Bangkok. Oh, and he did just bake a wonderful looking strawberry rhubarb pie while Gideon and I made Tomato Jam, so it’s not like the world is completely passing him by…. yet…..

An unusual work trip

On the late afternoon of Friday June 26, I was on my way to the airport for a 7 day trip to Bangkok with an in between to Taipei, and back home on Thursday July 2. But this time it was different. My friend Claire was hoping to travel with me. A first for me in almost 20 years, I figured why not try? Claire had told me before that in her younger days, she had held Cabin Attendant ambitions as well, but alas, her petite figure was not tall enough for the KLM standard. So about a month ago I blurted to her: ‘pick which one you want – Singapore or Bangkok, they are both on my schedule!’ And now here she was on the train, and after some tense hours of waiting, on the plane and in Bangkok.

Boy did we have fun! We shopped endlessly, pestered my trusted tailor with our wishes (thank goodness for the Dolce & Gabbana catalog for Claire), got a massage when the rain came down, and behaved in general like 2 not-so-grown-up girls on a short whirlwind trip. We visited the Royal Palace and Wat Phra Kew with all it’s gold. We saw the contrast of beggars in the street, and drank from a freshly opened ice cold coconut at the market. We bargained like pro’s over a 20 cent difference and burned our tongues on spicy Tom Yum Kum. The majority of food on the street was unfamiliar, and yet the pancake that the food vendor made for us was incredibly delicious. We behaved like 20 year olds, and finally got that Tattoo that our husbands have always dreamed of seeing on us, but it will only be temporary…… I introduced Claire to Singha beer and Kao San Road and the famous Thai Massage.  At night we relaxed in our beautiful ‘suite 2107′ at the Lebua At State Tower on Silom Road. What luxury and a wonderful way to be able to fully recharge even with a total of about 40 workhours flying (for me). The food we tasted everywhere was definitely a highlight, as were our fully loaded suitcases on the flight back……And she made it back on the flight with me as well! It makes for an amazing experience, full of fun. An experience worth repeating with a friend grown more dear. Thanks Claire for sharing this with me!

Birthday Boy Levi hits double digits

If ever being sick is inconvenient, it sure was this June! Right before Levi hit the big 1-0, I was hit by a bug – a serious flu bug, which brought a viral throat infection and general feeling blue for a bunch of days. But still it worked out! On the sunday before Levi’s birthday, family and friends came to visit. Then on the big day itself, we woke Levi up with singing, gave him some gifts he loved (more Captain Underpants books and a CD by Jason Mraz). He treated his class to ‘Poffertjes’ (Dutch mini pancakes) on a stick!

I took him out for a very sunny lunch at his choice Lunchroom ‘Le Bonheur’. He treated his choir buddies with Icecreams as the weather was hot and sunny and he ended the day playing basketball. On thursday it was his birthday party, where 5 friends joined him in the fun. Games that were executed blind folded, games that you just did, because they are so much fun, and finally games that got you wet if you were not careful! And did the boys have fun. I noticed that some were eager to ‘go somewhere’ or ‘do something away from the home’. But when it became clear that this was a ‘stay at home’ kindof event, the guests got into the games, food and entertainment with gusto. It was fun to hear some of the feedback from moms later in the week. This one I remembered: ‘ My son could not remember what he did at your party, but he loved it so much!

He said it was unusual and he played with boys that he otherwise would have never chosen to team up with!’ So much for ‘simple play’. The total budget for this awesome, friend sharing, fun making  3 hour party? Approximately €30 including all food. Okay, it did take me about 5 hours of prep work, but it sure was worth every minute of it for Levi and friends……….