Blah, the 4th day in a row of thunderstorms. We woke up to a pitchblack sky and a severe thunderstorm. After all these years here, I still find it so unusual to have thunderstorms in the morning!
While the violence of nature does intrigue me (so long as there are no tornadoes involved, that is, one hit not to far from here on Wednesday), I'm bummed this morning. I really wanted to go for a run outside and was thinking that would work, as the forecast was for sunshine this morning and storms this afternoon. I have an almost insatiable need to be in nature these days. Maybe it's because we've had such a long and cold winter, but now that nature is waking up again, I just love being outside and there are so many places to go around here!
Our life really is never boring. I had kind of a quiet day planned yesterday, with a workout at the gym and then Christine and I were going to have lunch and then I'd get my nails done (I enjoy having well groomed hands, now that I have silk wraps, but the downside is, they require upkeep, otherwise they look even worse than regular bad nails).
But at the end of my workout, my cellphone rang and it was the clinic aide at Katja's school. Katja had fainted for the second time in a month, on the first day of her period. Last month, I did ask the doctor and he said to take extra iron, which she did. But now it happened again. She claims it's because of the serious cramps she has, but now I worry. She has needle phobia and hates the thought of having her blood taken, but I would like her to anyway to put my mind at ease. I'll for sure keep her home the first day next month.
After giving her pain medication, she perked up very quickly and we did end up going to the mall and getting her some clothes. I have to admit to thoroughly enjoying that little outing with her. She was chatty and fun to be with. I told her so and of course, she enjoyed it too.
Well, I guess I'd better start moving on my exercising. I'll have to think of an alternative. Rick happily told me to go jogging anyway, I guess he's not too worried about the lightning and thunder flashing left and right from me ;).
Thursday, May 08, 2003
The weather changed from cool and rainy to hot and rainy ;). But at least the sun comes out at times now. And I feel a lot better, it must be the temperatures that do it.
Yesterday morning, after dropping the kids off at school, Christine and I went off to the arboretum. Yes, I am getting addicted to that place! This time, we didn't just limit ourselves to the azaleas, but also walked through the fern area, which is very tranquil and beautiful, with mulch paths lined with honeysuckle and ferns, little streams with small stone bridges and knarled wood benches. Very peaceful and a nice, cool place for summer days.
We also visited the herb garden (the scents!) and the Bonsai museum. All in all, we walked for over 2 hours and felt we got a good workout in, it's up and downhill. How come I never visited this place before in my almost 20 years of living here?
We were home around 2pm and driving through Washington on the return, we were deciding, that it would be hard to live anywhere away from a big city. There is so much to do!
After a quick shower, Laura came and gave me a much needed massage. I *really* dislike the pain of the massage, but it helps tremendously. She brought some kind of black contraption that I could use to get out the trigger points. I'll try it a few weeks and buy it if I like it. It looks strange, but who knows?
Then at 4pm Saskia had gymnastics. She was supercute and we set on the bench in front of the house afterwards, waiting for the severe thunderstorm to hit. I love sitting outside just before a storm and hear the rumbling of distant thunder (provided there is no tornado involved, of course, there were numerous tornado warnings last night, luckily none hit). Saskia was telling me she hadn't had a very good day :(. No one wanted to play with her at recess and then a little girl was mean to her at gymnastics. For her, the little social butterfly, that was a tough day. We came to the conclusion, that today just will have to be better. We'll see :).
Kai had a friend over until 8pm last night and then had forgotten his homework, which resulted in somewhat of a drama, until we found the solution: he would go to school early this morning and do it there. So, at 8:10am, which is a rarity, we left the house for school. If the weather holds up, I'm going to pick Kai up early and go to Great Falls with him and Brynna. He's been wanting to go back all week, but the weather hasn't cooperated.
When I got home from the school, Denise called that she wants to go birdwatching at 11am. So I quickly did my weights workout and am going to take a shower now. If the weather holds, it's all going to fit perfectly timewise! I'll report about it tomorrow as I've never been birdwatching and I'm very curious about the attraction of it!
Yesterday morning, after dropping the kids off at school, Christine and I went off to the arboretum. Yes, I am getting addicted to that place! This time, we didn't just limit ourselves to the azaleas, but also walked through the fern area, which is very tranquil and beautiful, with mulch paths lined with honeysuckle and ferns, little streams with small stone bridges and knarled wood benches. Very peaceful and a nice, cool place for summer days.
We also visited the herb garden (the scents!) and the Bonsai museum. All in all, we walked for over 2 hours and felt we got a good workout in, it's up and downhill. How come I never visited this place before in my almost 20 years of living here?
We were home around 2pm and driving through Washington on the return, we were deciding, that it would be hard to live anywhere away from a big city. There is so much to do!
After a quick shower, Laura came and gave me a much needed massage. I *really* dislike the pain of the massage, but it helps tremendously. She brought some kind of black contraption that I could use to get out the trigger points. I'll try it a few weeks and buy it if I like it. It looks strange, but who knows?
Then at 4pm Saskia had gymnastics. She was supercute and we set on the bench in front of the house afterwards, waiting for the severe thunderstorm to hit. I love sitting outside just before a storm and hear the rumbling of distant thunder (provided there is no tornado involved, of course, there were numerous tornado warnings last night, luckily none hit). Saskia was telling me she hadn't had a very good day :(. No one wanted to play with her at recess and then a little girl was mean to her at gymnastics. For her, the little social butterfly, that was a tough day. We came to the conclusion, that today just will have to be better. We'll see :).
Kai had a friend over until 8pm last night and then had forgotten his homework, which resulted in somewhat of a drama, until we found the solution: he would go to school early this morning and do it there. So, at 8:10am, which is a rarity, we left the house for school. If the weather holds up, I'm going to pick Kai up early and go to Great Falls with him and Brynna. He's been wanting to go back all week, but the weather hasn't cooperated.
When I got home from the school, Denise called that she wants to go birdwatching at 11am. So I quickly did my weights workout and am going to take a shower now. If the weather holds, it's all going to fit perfectly timewise! I'll report about it tomorrow as I've never been birdwatching and I'm very curious about the attraction of it!
Tuesday, May 06, 2003
I've been so tired and achy again, argh! I hate it! The weather has been cool and rainy and I immediately feel it!
Yesterday, I was hosting our Bunco night together with my friend Mary. Because it was Cinco de Mayo, we had a Mexican theme. Mary brought the Margarita mix and tequila, Corona beer and red and white wine. I took care of the food, quesadilla's, stuffed jalapeno peppers (hot!) and yellow and blue corn tortilla chips and dip (guacamole, black bean dip, and 3 different kinds of salsa). Just about all the food disappeared without a trace!
On Bunco night, twelve women get together and play the game of Bunco. It's a popular dice game. I usually really enjoy playing, but yesterday, I was so tired, it wasn't as much fun. Even though I slept almost all afternoon. I hate to admit it, but I think organizing a night like that is too much for me. I really have to realize, that after 6pm, I'm just spent. It's hard to accept that, because so many fun things happen in the evening.
Last night I slept poorly as my neck and back were in one painful knot. So, when Katja and Rick left at 7am, I decided to sleep a little longer, even if that meant Saskia and Kai would be in school late. However, just after 7, the phone rang and it was my mom to thank me for her Mother's day gift. She probably thought I was short and not very talkative, but I was really groggy with pain and barely even remember what was said! I fell back to sleep right after and then woke up with a start again at 8am. I rushed Kai and Saskia through their breakfast and thought they might still be on time. But somehow, they managed to drag their feet for 15 minutes and as it was they were a couple of minutes late. Oh well.
At the school, I saw Claudia and we chatted a little and then she had to go off to class, but suggested we go for a walk in the afternoon.
Then I went home and returned the barstools I'd borrowed from Jeanne for last night's party. We chatted a while and I was starting to feel better, not physically, but at least emotionally. It is nice to talk to 3 people you care about in one morning. When I also talked to Christine and Ayesha after that, I was feeling very cared about :).
I decided to go to the gym and do a light workout and then sit in the hot tub to get my muscles to losen up. That helped fairly well and after lunch, Claudia called and we went for our walk, It's overcast and cool today, but at least the rain stopped, so the park was fun with the dogs. The park has great forest paths and of course no one was there, because it had just rained. Brynna enjoyed herself tremendously and I haven't heard her since. Walking her regularly definitely calms her down!
Tonight, Christine and Mallory are coming for dinner and I made an easy, but enjoyable crockpot meal:
Chop one bag of baby spinach and one bag of baby carrots very finely, mix with 1.5 lbs of lean ground turkey (this is for 8 people), mix in a half a package of taco seasoning mix and 3 tablespoons of ranch dressing and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours. Then fill pita's with the mixture and put some grated cheese on top. The kids love it and they don't even know they're getting 2 vegetables!
Yesterday, I was hosting our Bunco night together with my friend Mary. Because it was Cinco de Mayo, we had a Mexican theme. Mary brought the Margarita mix and tequila, Corona beer and red and white wine. I took care of the food, quesadilla's, stuffed jalapeno peppers (hot!) and yellow and blue corn tortilla chips and dip (guacamole, black bean dip, and 3 different kinds of salsa). Just about all the food disappeared without a trace!
On Bunco night, twelve women get together and play the game of Bunco. It's a popular dice game. I usually really enjoy playing, but yesterday, I was so tired, it wasn't as much fun. Even though I slept almost all afternoon. I hate to admit it, but I think organizing a night like that is too much for me. I really have to realize, that after 6pm, I'm just spent. It's hard to accept that, because so many fun things happen in the evening.
Last night I slept poorly as my neck and back were in one painful knot. So, when Katja and Rick left at 7am, I decided to sleep a little longer, even if that meant Saskia and Kai would be in school late. However, just after 7, the phone rang and it was my mom to thank me for her Mother's day gift. She probably thought I was short and not very talkative, but I was really groggy with pain and barely even remember what was said! I fell back to sleep right after and then woke up with a start again at 8am. I rushed Kai and Saskia through their breakfast and thought they might still be on time. But somehow, they managed to drag their feet for 15 minutes and as it was they were a couple of minutes late. Oh well.
At the school, I saw Claudia and we chatted a little and then she had to go off to class, but suggested we go for a walk in the afternoon.
Then I went home and returned the barstools I'd borrowed from Jeanne for last night's party. We chatted a while and I was starting to feel better, not physically, but at least emotionally. It is nice to talk to 3 people you care about in one morning. When I also talked to Christine and Ayesha after that, I was feeling very cared about :).
I decided to go to the gym and do a light workout and then sit in the hot tub to get my muscles to losen up. That helped fairly well and after lunch, Claudia called and we went for our walk, It's overcast and cool today, but at least the rain stopped, so the park was fun with the dogs. The park has great forest paths and of course no one was there, because it had just rained. Brynna enjoyed herself tremendously and I haven't heard her since. Walking her regularly definitely calms her down!
Tonight, Christine and Mallory are coming for dinner and I made an easy, but enjoyable crockpot meal:
Chop one bag of baby spinach and one bag of baby carrots very finely, mix with 1.5 lbs of lean ground turkey (this is for 8 people), mix in a half a package of taco seasoning mix and 3 tablespoons of ranch dressing and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours. Then fill pita's with the mixture and put some grated cheese on top. The kids love it and they don't even know they're getting 2 vegetables!
Sunday, May 04, 2003
Last night, we ended up having just one child at home! Highly unusual, because usually, our children count doubles on the weekends, when friends come and sleep over. Saskia went to sleep over at Mallory's house and was quite the social butterfly playing with the other kids in the neighborhood according to Christine. She came home after church this morning, her first time ever going to a church service and she enjoyed it (it was the children's program).
Kai went to sleep over at his friend Tyler's house and is still not home! He had a great birthday party yesterday and I admired Rick for going to the movies with 9 11-year old boys! Apparently, X Men was "cool".
I chose not to go to the movie, but shop instead. A lot of clothes were on sale, so I got some fun new outfits. I love that the fashion is capri's, they look good on me and on Katja and Saskia too.
This morning I did a weight workout and Mary came by to discuss stuff for our Cinco de Mayo Bunco night tomorrow. After Saskia got home, Katja, Rick, Saskia and I drove downtown to the National Arboretum. We walked around for about an hour, the azaleas were beautiful and so is the rest of the park. Amazing they carved out such a large area in the middle of the city!
Tonight we're going to Yama's, a Japanese restaurant, I'm looking forward to the sushi, yum!
Kai went to sleep over at his friend Tyler's house and is still not home! He had a great birthday party yesterday and I admired Rick for going to the movies with 9 11-year old boys! Apparently, X Men was "cool".
I chose not to go to the movie, but shop instead. A lot of clothes were on sale, so I got some fun new outfits. I love that the fashion is capri's, they look good on me and on Katja and Saskia too.
This morning I did a weight workout and Mary came by to discuss stuff for our Cinco de Mayo Bunco night tomorrow. After Saskia got home, Katja, Rick, Saskia and I drove downtown to the National Arboretum. We walked around for about an hour, the azaleas were beautiful and so is the rest of the park. Amazing they carved out such a large area in the middle of the city!
Tonight we're going to Yama's, a Japanese restaurant, I'm looking forward to the sushi, yum!
Friday, May 02, 2003
Wow, where to begin? I didn't consciously take a break from blogging, but life got so busy, I didn't often have the energy to write things down at night. Now I've been asked by several people to start again and I do enjoy the chance to talk about our lives and all our adventures. I have come to the conclusion recently (duh! should've realized this years ago ;)), that we do lead quite an eventful life and that most of those events are quite enjoyable.
For spring break, from April 11th through April 20th, we went to Walt Disney World in Florida. I'll be writing a separate blog about that trip this weekend and post the link here.
The week before spring break, the Cherry blossoms in downtown Washington were in full bloom and, though the weather didn't exactly cooperate, we were able to visit twice and I took a bunch of pictures. The first time the kids and I went after school on a gorgeous 75 degree day. We drove down and it was super crowded, but we were *very* lucky and got a parking spot right in front of the FDR Memorial. Kai and Saskia rode their scooters around the Tidal Basin and Katja and I took pictures (and we saw Channel 7 weatherman Doug Hill live).
That Sunday, a cooler, but just as beautifully bright blue sky day, Christine and I walked around the Tidal Basin, to the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean and Vietnam Memorials, then along the Mall, where we watched rugby games and kite flying to the Capitol, which was surrounded by blooming magnolia's and cherry blossoms, beautiful! Behind the Capitol, we walked by the beautiful buildings of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court and then it was lunchtime and we had a wonderfully luxurious lunch buffet at the National Gallery of Art. After a day in the city like that, I always feel like I've been on a short vacation! (Note: the links I found for the Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court include really cool virtual tours of those beautiful buildings).
After we came home from Walt Disney World on Easter Sunday, the cherry blossoms were finished, but the Dogwoods and Azaleas were starting to bloom. I had never been to the National Arboretum, but I'd read the azaleas and dogwoods there are unbelievably beautiful. So, on Thursday, which was a gorgeous day, I called some friends to come with me, but no one had time. So I decided to go on my own. The azaleas were not completely out yet, probably 30%, but it was one of the most beautiful parks I'd ever seen nonetheless. I must have taken 200 pictures, probably just as well no one came with me, they would have been annoyed with all the times I stopped to point and shoot :).
That same day (April 24th) was take your sons and daughters to work day, so Rick took all 3 kids to his office. They had all kinds of activities planned for the kids to learn about their parents' work. Very well done. Katja had to write a brochure about it for school and did a great job, because she had so much information.
On Monday, I took Kai and Saskia to Gravelly Point, which is a large parking lot right across the water from National Airport. If you stand near the water, the planes come over so low to land, that you feel you just have to reach up and touch their wheels. Kai thought that especially cool. We took a nice long walk along the Potomac and I was wondering why I don't do that more often, there is so much parkland around here!
On Tuesday, the 29th, Kai turned 11 years old! I can't believe my little boy is getting so big. I keep wanting to shrink the kids again, but on the other hand, they're very enjoyable as they are. He treated his class to cupcakes (which I ran out just before school to get, as I'd forgotten them) and for his birthday dinner, we went to Rainforest Cafe, always a favorite. For the more diet conscious (me :)), they have a great appetizer which can be eaten for a meal, Leaping Lizard salad wraps I think it's called. It's marinated chicken, chopped peanuts, noodles and pepper salad that you wrap in a big leaf of lettuce. Very good!
Thursday morning 8am, the phone rang and it was my friend Marie Anne, who lives in Singapore (she is in the process of moving to Tokyo). She was in New York and wanted to see if she could spend the night with us on Thursday night. Of course I was thrilled, she is one of my best and oldest (in length of friendship time then) friends! So Saskia and I went to National Airport to pick her up, but as I tried to start the van (just picked up from the dealership), it wouldn't shift out of "Park". After some trying, Rick succeeded, but I didn't dare to drive it downtown. So I took Rick's car and the van went back to the dealer yesterday to get fixed. Of course they claim it just being serviced and the problem were not related. Uh huh!
Anyway, we picked Marie Anne up and had a wonderful visit on Thursday night and yesterday morning she had to go to Washington for a meeting and I went with Kai's fifth grade class on a field trip to Great Falls, Virginia, which was gorgeous, by the way, which made me immediately think I'm not visiting these awesome nature sites close by nearly enough! We were both back at around 2 and Katja and I took her to the airport to fly back to Singapore. Her schedule is something I seriously wouldn't survive. I'm really impressed how she juggles it all: an extremely demanding job, lots of travel and a son at home. She's the kind of friend that I may not talk to for months on end, but then when we see each other or speak to each other, it's like that time just melts away. Truly special.
Last night, the kids' school had a Fun Night. I was supposed to come and face paint in the last hour from 7:30 to 8:30, but the lady that was there already was having so much fun doing it, she told me she'd do it for another hour. Fine by me! So we socialized with people we knew (these types of events are starting to feel like family reunions, after 7 years with kids in the school, we know a whole lot of people, lots of fun!) and Kai and Saskia played on the playground.
This afternoon, Kai is having his birthday party. They're going to the X Men 2 movie. First they're coming here for cake though and we couldn't find an X Men cake. So Rick printed out a picture from the Web and that's being screened onto the cake now. So cool! I'm really curious what it's going to look like!
I have no interest in the movie, so after dropping the boys off, I'm leaving them to Rick and am going shopping at the mall across the street. Christine is coming to pick up Saskia for a sleepover, so we have more space in our cars.
Tomorrow, Rick and I are going to the Arboretum (I hope), as now the azaleas are completely out and it's supposed to be a nice day. Well, I think I've hit on the highlights of the past month. I'll be starting on my Disneyworld blog next and hopefully finish it by the end of the weekend.
For spring break, from April 11th through April 20th, we went to Walt Disney World in Florida. I'll be writing a separate blog about that trip this weekend and post the link here.
The week before spring break, the Cherry blossoms in downtown Washington were in full bloom and, though the weather didn't exactly cooperate, we were able to visit twice and I took a bunch of pictures. The first time the kids and I went after school on a gorgeous 75 degree day. We drove down and it was super crowded, but we were *very* lucky and got a parking spot right in front of the FDR Memorial. Kai and Saskia rode their scooters around the Tidal Basin and Katja and I took pictures (and we saw Channel 7 weatherman Doug Hill live).
That Sunday, a cooler, but just as beautifully bright blue sky day, Christine and I walked around the Tidal Basin, to the Lincoln Memorial and the Korean and Vietnam Memorials, then along the Mall, where we watched rugby games and kite flying to the Capitol, which was surrounded by blooming magnolia's and cherry blossoms, beautiful! Behind the Capitol, we walked by the beautiful buildings of the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court and then it was lunchtime and we had a wonderfully luxurious lunch buffet at the National Gallery of Art. After a day in the city like that, I always feel like I've been on a short vacation! (Note: the links I found for the Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court include really cool virtual tours of those beautiful buildings).
After we came home from Walt Disney World on Easter Sunday, the cherry blossoms were finished, but the Dogwoods and Azaleas were starting to bloom. I had never been to the National Arboretum, but I'd read the azaleas and dogwoods there are unbelievably beautiful. So, on Thursday, which was a gorgeous day, I called some friends to come with me, but no one had time. So I decided to go on my own. The azaleas were not completely out yet, probably 30%, but it was one of the most beautiful parks I'd ever seen nonetheless. I must have taken 200 pictures, probably just as well no one came with me, they would have been annoyed with all the times I stopped to point and shoot :).
That same day (April 24th) was take your sons and daughters to work day, so Rick took all 3 kids to his office. They had all kinds of activities planned for the kids to learn about their parents' work. Very well done. Katja had to write a brochure about it for school and did a great job, because she had so much information.
On Monday, I took Kai and Saskia to Gravelly Point, which is a large parking lot right across the water from National Airport. If you stand near the water, the planes come over so low to land, that you feel you just have to reach up and touch their wheels. Kai thought that especially cool. We took a nice long walk along the Potomac and I was wondering why I don't do that more often, there is so much parkland around here!
On Tuesday, the 29th, Kai turned 11 years old! I can't believe my little boy is getting so big. I keep wanting to shrink the kids again, but on the other hand, they're very enjoyable as they are. He treated his class to cupcakes (which I ran out just before school to get, as I'd forgotten them
Thursday morning 8am, the phone rang and it was my friend Marie Anne, who lives in Singapore (she is in the process of moving to Tokyo). She was in New York and wanted to see if she could spend the night with us on Thursday night. Of course I was thrilled, she is one of my best and oldest (in length of friendship time then) friends! So Saskia and I went to National Airport to pick her up, but as I tried to start the van (just picked up from the dealership), it wouldn't shift out of "Park". After some trying, Rick succeeded, but I didn't dare to drive it downtown. So I took Rick's car and the van went back to the dealer yesterday to get fixed. Of course they claim it just being serviced and the problem were not related. Uh huh!
Anyway, we picked Marie Anne up and had a wonderful visit on Thursday night and yesterday morning she had to go to Washington for a meeting and I went with Kai's fifth grade class on a field trip to Great Falls, Virginia, which was gorgeous, by the way, which made me immediately think I'm not visiting these awesome nature sites close by nearly enough! We were both back at around 2 and Katja and I took her to the airport to fly back to Singapore. Her schedule is something I seriously wouldn't survive. I'm really impressed how she juggles it all: an extremely demanding job, lots of travel and a son at home. She's the kind of friend that I may not talk to for months on end, but then when we see each other or speak to each other, it's like that time just melts away. Truly special.
Last night, the kids' school had a Fun Night. I was supposed to come and face paint in the last hour from 7:30 to 8:30, but the lady that was there already was having so much fun doing it, she told me she'd do it for another hour. Fine by me! So we socialized with people we knew (these types of events are starting to feel like family reunions, after 7 years with kids in the school, we know a whole lot of people, lots of fun!) and Kai and Saskia played on the playground.
This afternoon, Kai is having his birthday party. They're going to the X Men 2 movie. First they're coming here for cake though and we couldn't find an X Men cake. So Rick printed out a picture from the Web and that's being screened onto the cake now. So cool! I'm really curious what it's going to look like!
I have no interest in the movie, so after dropping the boys off, I'm leaving them to Rick and am going shopping at the mall across the street. Christine is coming to pick up Saskia for a sleepover, so we have more space in our cars.
Tomorrow, Rick and I are going to the Arboretum (I hope), as now the azaleas are completely out and it's supposed to be a nice day. Well, I think I've hit on the highlights of the past month. I'll be starting on my Disneyworld blog next and hopefully finish it by the end of the weekend.
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Spring has sprung! It's going to be 75 degrees today! And as I look out the window, I see all kinds of trees starting to bud and bulbs around. Consequently, we've been outside *a lot* and my computer time has diminished even more.
Actually, I think that's a good thing, because it prevents me from going to the news sites all the time and worry myself with what's going on in Iraq and the rest of the world. We're once again under an orange terror alert and there is a lot of controversy here in the county about the emergency plans the schools are devising in case of a chemical or biological attack. Everything seems so dark sometimes, when it comes to the future!
Therefore, I'm working hard at concentrating on the present. Since I updated my blog last, we had Katja's birthday. She's 13 now! And what a great kid she is. I'm very, very proud of her. We had dinner at the Melting Pot and on Saturday, she had her party: shopping at the mall, then pizza, movies and a sleepover with 8 friends. She also has a really nice group of friends, some were new since she went to middle school.
Last weekend, we (Katja and I) unexpectedly flew to Massachusetts to celebrate my nephew's first birthday. We flew out on Saturday and back on Sunday, short, but it was well worth it.
Tomorrow, Kai and I are going to do things together. I'm allowing him to stay home from school to spend some one on one time with him. Well, off to enjoy spring some more!
Actually, I think that's a good thing, because it prevents me from going to the news sites all the time and worry myself with what's going on in Iraq and the rest of the world. We're once again under an orange terror alert and there is a lot of controversy here in the county about the emergency plans the schools are devising in case of a chemical or biological attack. Everything seems so dark sometimes, when it comes to the future!
Therefore, I'm working hard at concentrating on the present. Since I updated my blog last, we had Katja's birthday. She's 13 now! And what a great kid she is. I'm very, very proud of her. We had dinner at the Melting Pot and on Saturday, she had her party: shopping at the mall, then pizza, movies and a sleepover with 8 friends. She also has a really nice group of friends, some were new since she went to middle school.
Last weekend, we (Katja and I) unexpectedly flew to Massachusetts to celebrate my nephew's first birthday. We flew out on Saturday and back on Sunday, short, but it was well worth it.
Tomorrow, Kai and I are going to do things together. I'm allowing him to stay home from school to spend some one on one time with him. Well, off to enjoy spring some more!
Monday, March 10, 2003
This weekend it was *finally* warmer! Yesterday, it even got to be 61 degrees, before another arctic front swept in and made it freezingly cold again today (it's 35 degrees as we speak, brrrr!!!!).
On Saturday, Katja and I went to work out together and then went into the hot tub. It was fun to go with my daughter, I can't believe she's almost 13! Rick jokingly said "I'm shopping for a cane" this weekend, but really it does feel so old! (ok, I know everything is relative ;))
In the afternoon, I engraved a glass for Rick. It's the first one I've done in many years. I used to engrave them for everyone and on commission. But they hurt my fingers, so I can't do it as well anymore. What I do is write the first name in calligraphy, scratch it in the glass and then draw flowers or grasses or vines on it (depending on the type of glass). It's a very satisfying hobby as the result is always very unique. I just wish I could produce more!
Yesterday, after working out, I went to Michael's, to get some spring stuff for the house and supplies to make a door decoration. I like to make new ones every season, the Valentines ones were outdated and now I have cute Easter ones hanging. To cheer up the house a bit, I got some Easter accents as well: eggs with designs on them, yellow and orange candles and a huge pluche duck who hangs over the back of one chair. Rick declared that the duck doesn't do anything for him ;).
Today, I first went to work out with Christine, all the way in Centreville, but traffic on Mondays is so bad she would take forever to get to my neck of the woods. Then I rushed to Fresh Fields, where I love to shop, as they have so many good things and many tastings too.
I was back just in time to get the kids from school and pick up a friend's little girl. My friend just lost a baby after a 20 week pregnancy and my heart just aches so much for her! Saskia and her little girl played very well together and I just took her back home and stayed to talk. I'm glad we have such a great community, she's getting help everywhere and for weeks on end people have signed up to bring them meals.
Ironically, tonight, I have to go to a baby shower for my neighbor. Life goes on.
On Saturday, Katja and I went to work out together and then went into the hot tub. It was fun to go with my daughter, I can't believe she's almost 13! Rick jokingly said "I'm shopping for a cane" this weekend, but really it does feel so old! (ok, I know everything is relative ;))
In the afternoon, I engraved a glass for Rick. It's the first one I've done in many years. I used to engrave them for everyone and on commission. But they hurt my fingers, so I can't do it as well anymore. What I do is write the first name in calligraphy, scratch it in the glass and then draw flowers or grasses or vines on it (depending on the type of glass). It's a very satisfying hobby as the result is always very unique. I just wish I could produce more!
Yesterday, after working out, I went to Michael's, to get some spring stuff for the house and supplies to make a door decoration. I like to make new ones every season, the Valentines ones were outdated and now I have cute Easter ones hanging. To cheer up the house a bit, I got some Easter accents as well: eggs with designs on them, yellow and orange candles and a huge pluche duck who hangs over the back of one chair. Rick declared that the duck doesn't do anything for him ;).
Today, I first went to work out with Christine, all the way in Centreville, but traffic on Mondays is so bad she would take forever to get to my neck of the woods. Then I rushed to Fresh Fields, where I love to shop, as they have so many good things and many tastings too.
I was back just in time to get the kids from school and pick up a friend's little girl. My friend just lost a baby after a 20 week pregnancy and my heart just aches so much for her! Saskia and her little girl played very well together and I just took her back home and stayed to talk. I'm glad we have such a great community, she's getting help everywhere and for weeks on end people have signed up to bring them meals.
Ironically, tonight, I have to go to a baby shower for my neighbor. Life goes on.
Thursday, March 06, 2003
Oh, dear! I went almost a month without writing! Oh well, sometimes a break is good, makes everything new and exciting again. To recount a whole month would take way too long, but the highlights were a major snowstorm on President's Day Weekend, of which we still have mountains left along the roads. I can't remember a time we had snow so often during the winter *and* it stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around. We missed another round of snow narrowly today, thankfully, it was warm enough to be rain, but New York got snow.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Oh, dear! I went almost a month without writing! Oh well, sometimes a break is good, makes everything new and exciting again. To recount a whole month would take way too long, but the highlights were a major snowstorm on President's Day Weekend, of which we still have mountains left along the roads. I can't remember a time we had snow so often during the winter *and* it stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around. We missed another round of snow narrowly today, thankfully, it was warm enough to be rain, but New York got snow.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Oh, dear! I went almost a month without writing! Oh well, sometimes a break is good, makes everything new and exciting again. To recount a whole month would take way too long, but the highlights were a major snowstorm on President's Day Weekend, of which we still have mountains left along the roads. I can't remember a time we had snow so often during the winter *and* it stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around. We missed another round of snow narrowly today, thankfully, it was warm enough to be rain, but New York got snow.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Oh, dear! I went almost a month without writing! Oh well, sometimes a break is good, makes everything new and exciting again. To recount a whole month would take way too long, but the highlights were a major snowstorm on President's Day Weekend, of which we still have mountains left along the roads. I can't remember a time we had snow so often during the winter *and* it stayed cold enough for the snow to stick around. We missed another round of snow narrowly today, thankfully, it was warm enough to be rain, but New York got snow.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Yesterday the temperature reached all the way to 60 degrees (16 degrees for the metric users), a taste of spring and then it was sooooo hard to go back to the 36 degrees it is currently (about 3 degrees Celsius) at 3:50pm. Sniff!!!! When that groundhog raced back into his hole because he saw his shadow, he wasn't kidding! Six more weeks of winter is coming to pass so far. I long for fresh green trees, blossoms and bulbs, color! Also because of the way I've been feeling thanks to this bone chilling winter.
But, I have to be honest, I do like the snow while it's falling and just after. It's so pretty and kind of exciting.
This past weekend we went to Hidden Valley, Pennsylvania , where we skied in the fog and snow, but it will always be a very special place to me as I took ski lessons for downhill for the first time in my life!
This week has been busy with something going on every afternoon. Today was fun, though. First a workout, then getting our nails done (yes, I have fallen for that, I really like having well groomed nails instead of the bitten off stumps I used to have). And then we (Christine, Carol and I) went to lunch at the Reston Town Center, at Paolo's.
Carol and I both have almost 13 year old girls and she had watched Dr. Phil (who I never watch, I have to admit, but apparently I miss something major then) yesterday. He had been talking about oral sex and teens and how that apparently is such an epidemic these days. Yuck, I really don't like having a teen in this day and age. The kids and I do talk about these things regularly, so hopefully that'll keep the lines of communication open. Katja is pretty down to earth, though, always has been, that makes me feel a little better. She is however already coming into contact now with things I didn't even know about until I went to college. Kids are much less sheltered from the world now, I find. Or it must just be the difference between where I grew up (small village in Holland not much going on) and where she is (large suburb in the US near a major city), though I don't think that's what it is.
Next week Friday is Katja's birthday and she still wants a party, so I guess I'd better start looking for ideas. What does one do with 13 year old girls?
Back to the weather, please request some sunshine for our area. It will make me feel much better! I hope to not neglect this blog so much anymore, but then that's what I wrote the last time.
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
The skiing trip was WONDERFUL! I'll start with that, as the rest of the week has been *very* stressful for me :(.
On Friday, we left around 12noon. The kids were off from school, as it had snowed 7 inches overnight and now they have to make up a snow day on the 17th, President's Day. Fine with me, because this played well into our hands.
On the way to West Virginia, we realized that Saskia gets carsick when driving through mountainous terrain. After about an hour or two she started to complain about nausea and it got worse and worse. So we stopped, got Dramamine and gave her that. That made it a longer drive and when we finally arrived at the last mountain pass before our resort, the weather had gotten quite bad! It was snowing hard and the visibility was minimal.
Our resort was a left turn off a downhill road and Rick couldn't make the turn and had to turn around and go up the hill. That's the first indication we got that our tires didn't have much traction, as the van should have easily pulled up the hill and it didn't. But around 4pm we pulled in front of our cabin. Our friends had already arrived in the cabin next door.
The cabins were very cozy, with all wooden walls and a fireplace and a loft area with a bunk bed for the kids and a bedroom with a queen size for the adults. Very comfortable! The view was gorgeous too and there was a ton of snow, walls higher than ourselves!
That night it was really windy and it snowed hard and we felt like going to a cozy restaurant. So we piled in the cars and first checked out the ski resort, Canaan Valley, where we'd be going the next day and then stopped at the Deerfield restaurant. We had a wonderful (though slow service!) dinner there.
On the way out of the parking lot, Rick managed to drive one wheel of our car in a ditch. Luckily, a big truck came by and had a pulling cable and pulled us right out. We'd had enough of driving then and spent the rest of the evening watching movies and socializing in Chuck and Christine's cabin.
The following morning, the kids were supposed to be in ski school between 8 and 8:30. So we got up around 7, ate breakfast and got ready. Chuck and Rick were going to take them in our van and Christine and I were going to take their 4 wheel drive to another resort, that offered cross country skiing. But after trying for about a half an hour to get up the hill in front of our cabin on a very slippery road, Rick gave up and Chuck took the 4 wheel drive with all 4 kids to get them signed in at the ski school (this was the first time skiing for all 4 and they were very excited). He was then supposed to come back for us.
Not 5 minutes after he left, the resort people put down rocks on the slippery road and Rick was able to get the van up the road. So we drove to Canaan Valley to meet up with Chuck. We saw a part of the kids' lessons and then Christine and I took off for Whitegrass to go cross country skiing and have lunch and Chuck and Rick hit the downhill slopes at Canaan Valley.
Christine and I had a great time. We took a little lesson in cross country skiing, as neither of us had done it for years! I was glad we did, as there were quite a few hills and I wouldn't have known how to get up them without the lesson. We skied for about 2 hours in the most beautiful scenery! Then we had a very nice lunch at the very interesting little cafe there. Spinach, barley and mushroom soup, yum!
When we were done there, we drove around a bit, she allowed me to take my pictures I was itching to take and we went to check out some of the other resorts around for future trips. This is not a developed area yet and the valley was very full with deer. So when we drove along, we saw herds of them grazing along the road. They were not afraid of people at all, didn't run away and some even walked right up to our car. It was clear they sometimes get fed by the passersby.
At around 2pm we returned to the Canaan Valley Resort and went in search for our families. The first thing we saw were two very ably skiing girls, who, on further investigation turned out to be Katja and Saskia. It is so fun to see just how much they learned in one day! Katja was helping the instructor's teach, that's how well she did and Kai (who we met later) had gone down an intermediate slope already.
But the moment we saw Katja she exclaimed that Mallory had gotten hurt and that she was in first aid and that Katja was getting Mallory's shoes. This scared Christine of course, so off to the first aid we went. We had heard from another instructor, that it wasn't anything serious, but that a snowboarder had run into her and her hip was hurt. It turned out to be just a bruise, thankfully, but Mallory's ski's had been returned already and she wanted to go back out. So we decided to try tubing, to appease her and Saskia, who was also done skiing. Unfortunately, the tubing was sold out, so we had some very disappointed girls.
Since Rick still wanted to take Katja and Kai to the intermediate slope, Christine, Chuck and I took the little ones with us to look at the deer. That did it for them! They loved that, especially when a deer came within touching distance of Mallory's window.
When the others were done skiing, we went back to the cabins and ordered some take out Italian food. We were in no mood to again sit in a restaurant for 2 hours and this gave us a chance to watch some of the movies we had brought.
On Sunday morning, we cleaned up and washed the bedding and then took off to do some tubing. The previous day had been gorgeous blue sky weather, though very cold, but on Sunday it was snowing again. And the wind blew hard! The tubing was a lot of fun though, even little Saskia happily slid down the mountain on her little orange tube.
We did that for 2 hours and then had lunch and said our goodbyes. Our friends left for home and we went back to the cabin, since we had borrowed it from friends, to clean up some more. Around 3 we left for home and were home much quicker than we got there.
On Monday, Rick left for Seattle again and the kids and I went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had such a great time, laughing and giggling all the way, I was really enjoying them, thinking how much fun it is they're getting a little older now.
Yesterday, guidelines about how to prepare ourselves in case of a chemical or biological came out and included taping up our windows with plastic and duct tape. Well, I found some rolls of paint tarp and cut those up and some rolls of duct tape. I also ordered some of the stuff they recommend and water. I figure that's all I can do, but it makes me feel better to know I did it.
Today, I went to the gym and then had to do something totally for me, so I got my nails done. Nice and frivolous ;).
Now I have candles burning and the fireplace on, as it's another cold night. Chuck and Christine are coming to keep us company on this last night (hopefully) without Rick. Off to get things ready for dinner.
On Friday, we left around 12noon. The kids were off from school, as it had snowed 7 inches overnight and now they have to make up a snow day on the 17th, President's Day. Fine with me, because this played well into our hands.
On the way to West Virginia, we realized that Saskia gets carsick when driving through mountainous terrain. After about an hour or two she started to complain about nausea and it got worse and worse. So we stopped, got Dramamine and gave her that. That made it a longer drive and when we finally arrived at the last mountain pass before our resort, the weather had gotten quite bad! It was snowing hard and the visibility was minimal.
Our resort was a left turn off a downhill road and Rick couldn't make the turn and had to turn around and go up the hill. That's the first indication we got that our tires didn't have much traction, as the van should have easily pulled up the hill and it didn't. But around 4pm we pulled in front of our cabin. Our friends had already arrived in the cabin next door.
The cabins were very cozy, with all wooden walls and a fireplace and a loft area with a bunk bed for the kids and a bedroom with a queen size for the adults. Very comfortable! The view was gorgeous too and there was a ton of snow, walls higher than ourselves!
That night it was really windy and it snowed hard and we felt like going to a cozy restaurant. So we piled in the cars and first checked out the ski resort, Canaan Valley, where we'd be going the next day and then stopped at the Deerfield restaurant. We had a wonderful (though slow service!) dinner there.
On the way out of the parking lot, Rick managed to drive one wheel of our car in a ditch. Luckily, a big truck came by and had a pulling cable and pulled us right out. We'd had enough of driving then and spent the rest of the evening watching movies and socializing in Chuck and Christine's cabin.
The following morning, the kids were supposed to be in ski school between 8 and 8:30. So we got up around 7, ate breakfast and got ready. Chuck and Rick were going to take them in our van and Christine and I were going to take their 4 wheel drive to another resort, that offered cross country skiing. But after trying for about a half an hour to get up the hill in front of our cabin on a very slippery road, Rick gave up and Chuck took the 4 wheel drive with all 4 kids to get them signed in at the ski school (this was the first time skiing for all 4 and they were very excited). He was then supposed to come back for us.
Not 5 minutes after he left, the resort people put down rocks on the slippery road and Rick was able to get the van up the road. So we drove to Canaan Valley to meet up with Chuck. We saw a part of the kids' lessons and then Christine and I took off for Whitegrass to go cross country skiing and have lunch and Chuck and Rick hit the downhill slopes at Canaan Valley.
Christine and I had a great time. We took a little lesson in cross country skiing, as neither of us had done it for years! I was glad we did, as there were quite a few hills and I wouldn't have known how to get up them without the lesson. We skied for about 2 hours in the most beautiful scenery! Then we had a very nice lunch at the very interesting little cafe there. Spinach, barley and mushroom soup, yum!
When we were done there, we drove around a bit, she allowed me to take my pictures I was itching to take and we went to check out some of the other resorts around for future trips. This is not a developed area yet and the valley was very full with deer. So when we drove along, we saw herds of them grazing along the road. They were not afraid of people at all, didn't run away and some even walked right up to our car. It was clear they sometimes get fed by the passersby.
At around 2pm we returned to the Canaan Valley Resort and went in search for our families. The first thing we saw were two very ably skiing girls, who, on further investigation turned out to be Katja and Saskia. It is so fun to see just how much they learned in one day! Katja was helping the instructor's teach, that's how well she did and Kai (who we met later) had gone down an intermediate slope already.
But the moment we saw Katja she exclaimed that Mallory had gotten hurt and that she was in first aid and that Katja was getting Mallory's shoes. This scared Christine of course, so off to the first aid we went. We had heard from another instructor, that it wasn't anything serious, but that a snowboarder had run into her and her hip was hurt. It turned out to be just a bruise, thankfully, but Mallory's ski's had been returned already and she wanted to go back out. So we decided to try tubing, to appease her and Saskia, who was also done skiing. Unfortunately, the tubing was sold out, so we had some very disappointed girls.
Since Rick still wanted to take Katja and Kai to the intermediate slope, Christine, Chuck and I took the little ones with us to look at the deer. That did it for them! They loved that, especially when a deer came within touching distance of Mallory's window.
When the others were done skiing, we went back to the cabins and ordered some take out Italian food. We were in no mood to again sit in a restaurant for 2 hours and this gave us a chance to watch some of the movies we had brought.
On Sunday morning, we cleaned up and washed the bedding and then took off to do some tubing. The previous day had been gorgeous blue sky weather, though very cold, but on Sunday it was snowing again. And the wind blew hard! The tubing was a lot of fun though, even little Saskia happily slid down the mountain on her little orange tube.
We did that for 2 hours and then had lunch and said our goodbyes. Our friends left for home and we went back to the cabin, since we had borrowed it from friends, to clean up some more. Around 3 we left for home and were home much quicker than we got there.
On Monday, Rick left for Seattle again and the kids and I went out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had such a great time, laughing and giggling all the way, I was really enjoying them, thinking how much fun it is they're getting a little older now.
Yesterday, guidelines about how to prepare ourselves in case of a chemical or biological came out and included taping up our windows with plastic and duct tape. Well, I found some rolls of paint tarp and cut those up and some rolls of duct tape. I also ordered some of the stuff they recommend and water. I figure that's all I can do, but it makes me feel better to know I did it.
Today, I went to the gym and then had to do something totally for me, so I got my nails done. Nice and frivolous ;).
Now I have candles burning and the fireplace on, as it's another cold night. Chuck and Christine are coming to keep us company on this last night (hopefully) without Rick. Off to get things ready for dinner.
Thursday, February 06, 2003
Well, Katja has been sick all week! She's finally getting better, just in time to go skiing tomorrow (well, actually, we're driving to West Virginia tomorrow and go skiing on Saturday).
This is our first ski trip in years! I can't believe how bulky all the stuff is, ski bibs, ski jackets, fleece tops! It's going to be quite cold, in the low 20's during the day (between -5 and -10 for the Europeans) and much colder at night.
We're going to the cabin of friends and Christine and Chuck are renting the cabin next door to ours. We're bringing lots of snacks and hot chocolate and movies to watch in the evening. We'll be there for 2 nights.
Christine and I are planning on trying snowshoeing, the kids are going in a day camp with lessons and the guys are going downhill skiing. Then we'll all meet back up to do some tubing.
We're expected 4-6 inches of snow here tomorrow, so we'll have to drive through the snow, which I'm not thrilled about.
This is our first ski trip in years! I can't believe how bulky all the stuff is, ski bibs, ski jackets, fleece tops! It's going to be quite cold, in the low 20's during the day (between -5 and -10 for the Europeans) and much colder at night.
We're going to the cabin of friends and Christine and Chuck are renting the cabin next door to ours. We're bringing lots of snacks and hot chocolate and movies to watch in the evening. We'll be there for 2 nights.
Christine and I are planning on trying snowshoeing, the kids are going in a day camp with lessons and the guys are going downhill skiing. Then we'll all meet back up to do some tubing.
We're expected 4-6 inches of snow here tomorrow, so we'll have to drive through the snow, which I'm not thrilled about.
Thursday, January 30, 2003
Today was a day off for the kids and Rick was out of town again last night. So I emailed my friends Christine and Jeanne, whose husbands I knew were also traveling and suggested a "poor lonely wives club" night for last night. It turned out to be so much fun! Christine and Mallory came to spend the night and Jeanne came for dinner with her boys.
All the kids played and played and we had some nice wine. Then my neighbor Lorraine called and we invited her over. We ordered Greek food and just chatted and chatted. Before the food came, my friend Mary called that she wanted to bring by the Longaberger catalog for me to look at, since I can't make it to her party on the 9th.
So, she came over and of course had some wine with us. Before we knew it, it was past 10pm and Jeanne and Mary left. Lorraine stayed longer and the kids just stayed up, bad mommies that we were!
After Lorraine left, Christine, the girls and I watched Celebrity Mole (with Frederique van der Wal, the Dutch model, who I'm sure is the Mole!). Christine fell asleep in mid-sentence, I've never seen anyone do that! So I got the girls settled, who still were not asleep and then went to bed myself.
This morning, we put Mallory and Saskia in the bath together and they stayed long enough for Christine and me to work out.
After lunch, Christine and Mallory left and I took my kids and 2 friends to the Kangaroo Jack movie. Just the right thing to go to on a cold, snowy afternoon! It got bad reviews, but I loved it for the light comedy that it is and so did the kids.
All the kids played and played and we had some nice wine. Then my neighbor Lorraine called and we invited her over. We ordered Greek food and just chatted and chatted. Before the food came, my friend Mary called that she wanted to bring by the Longaberger catalog for me to look at, since I can't make it to her party on the 9th.
So, she came over and of course had some wine with us. Before we knew it, it was past 10pm and Jeanne and Mary left. Lorraine stayed longer and the kids just stayed up, bad mommies that we were!
After Lorraine left, Christine, the girls and I watched Celebrity Mole (with Frederique van der Wal, the Dutch model, who I'm sure is the Mole!). Christine fell asleep in mid-sentence, I've never seen anyone do that! So I got the girls settled, who still were not asleep and then went to bed myself.
This morning, we put Mallory and Saskia in the bath together and they stayed long enough for Christine and me to work out.
After lunch, Christine and Mallory left and I took my kids and 2 friends to the Kangaroo Jack movie. Just the right thing to go to on a cold, snowy afternoon! It got bad reviews, but I loved it for the light comedy that it is and so did the kids.
Friday, January 24, 2003
Hey, look at that! I'm back already, only one day later. I'm waiting for Rick to come home, I feel like a puppy waiting for its master. I'm tracking his flight progress on the Trip.com website. They have a flight tracker with graphics, you can see how fast the plane is flying, what the altitude is and where in the country they are. He's currently flying over South Dakota, about to enter Minnesota. It's 6pm and he's due to arrive in 2 hours exactly.
This morning I allowed Katja to miss her first hour of school. The wind chill (for those outside of the US and Canada, that's the outside temperature the way it feels when you factor in the windspeed) factor was 0 to -5 (-15 or so Celsius) and I didn't want her to have to stand in that windy cold waiting for her bus. Plus it was nice to not have to get up at 6am for one morning!
After I took all 3 kids to school, I quickly did a 45 minute workout upstairs. I talked on the phone with my sister in the meantime, so that made the time go much faster. I love talking on the phone during my workouts, the people I usually talk are already aware they may get a panting me on the phone and they know it's not because of them ;).
Then I had to pick Saskia up for her final dental appointment. The poor girl had 8 cavities and today the last few got filled. She went to a pediatric dentist, who is great with the kids. She wasn't even nervous by now and already knew she was going to choose a strawberry "nose" (the nose they put on her to administer the nitrous oxide gas). She did have some pain during the procedure this time, so we went to McDonald's for lunch and then to the mall for her to select some goodies.
She was quite aware that I was feeling sorry for her little pale face with the fat feeling lip, so I would say yes to many things she asked and she milked it for what it was worth ;). She didn't last long, though, all the medication made her feel queasy. So we went home and I finished the household chores, while she quietly played on the computer.
After school, three kids came to play, one of whom is staying for dinner. I haven't decided what to get yet. Katja and I are watching "Exotic Islands" on the Travel Channel right now, with the fireplace on and candles burning. It's a cozy atmosphere, the only thing missing is Rick, who is now over Iowa!
This morning I allowed Katja to miss her first hour of school. The wind chill (for those outside of the US and Canada, that's the outside temperature the way it feels when you factor in the windspeed) factor was 0 to -5 (-15 or so Celsius) and I didn't want her to have to stand in that windy cold waiting for her bus. Plus it was nice to not have to get up at 6am for one morning!
After I took all 3 kids to school, I quickly did a 45 minute workout upstairs. I talked on the phone with my sister in the meantime, so that made the time go much faster. I love talking on the phone during my workouts, the people I usually talk are already aware they may get a panting me on the phone and they know it's not because of them ;).
Then I had to pick Saskia up for her final dental appointment. The poor girl had 8 cavities and today the last few got filled. She went to a pediatric dentist, who is great with the kids. She wasn't even nervous by now and already knew she was going to choose a strawberry "nose" (the nose they put on her to administer the nitrous oxide gas). She did have some pain during the procedure this time, so we went to McDonald's for lunch and then to the mall for her to select some goodies.
She was quite aware that I was feeling sorry for her little pale face with the fat feeling lip, so I would say yes to many things she asked and she milked it for what it was worth ;). She didn't last long, though, all the medication made her feel queasy. So we went home and I finished the household chores, while she quietly played on the computer.
After school, three kids came to play, one of whom is staying for dinner. I haven't decided what to get yet. Katja and I are watching "Exotic Islands" on the Travel Channel right now, with the fireplace on and candles burning. It's a cozy atmosphere, the only thing missing is Rick, who is now over Iowa!
Thursday, January 23, 2003
Argh! I'm really neglecting my blog :(. Every night I think about it, but I'm too exhausted to get anything coherent out of my fingers. It's been a roller coaster these past few weeks! Today I even forgot what day of the week it was, I've been so busy!
I guess I'll start on Saturday as last week is all a blur and I completely forget what happened! On Saturday, the whole family went to watch Katja play basketball. It's her very first season ever and it's hard for her, as her teammates have mostly played for years. But she's doing well and ignoring the nasty comments of one of her teammates about how she "sucks". Well, Saturday she made a basket! And the teaser didn't. So there ;). It was fun to watch her, it was her 4th game and I hadn't be able to go to the others, because of commitments the other kids had.
After the game, we decided to get something to drink at 7 Eleven (Rick's favorite store, I'm not too fond of it). Everyone left the car, but I guess Rick expected me to stay in and I expected him to take the key out of the ignition. So I locked the door as I got out, not realizing the car was still running! Boom, all doors locked and we were locked out in the freezing cold. Then I heard from the parking lot: "Petra, do you have a problem?". It turned out to be our neighbor across the street, Linda! She was able to give me a ride home to get the spare key and drop me back off. How's that for divine intervention??
That night, we went to Christine's 40th birthday party which was a lot of fun. There were about 25 adults and 11 kids and everyone had a great time! Some a little too great, but thankfully those were neighbors and they could just walk home.
On Sunday, Rick took Saskia to a swimming pool birthday party, while I went to workout. We met back at home just long enough to say goodbye, as I had to take Katja to her tutoring session and he had to take off for the airport to go to Seattle, where he'll be until late tomorrow night.
To not be alone that night, the kids and I went to eat pizza at our neighbors two doors down, which was a nice way to spend an otherwise blah Sunday night as we're all always a little down after Rick leaves for the week.
Monday was Martin Luther King's birthday, so the kids were off from school. Christine and Mallory came over and we worked out upstairs. Then we got the kids ready and went swimming at the gym. It was a relaxing afternoon and just the right way to spend a day off from school. For dinner we ordered Chinese, one of our traditions when Dad is out (I have given up on cooking then, as no one will eat what I fix and it frustrates me more than it's worth). We have a very good Chinese restaurant that delivers, no MSG, only natural ingredients and generally very low fat. Rick does not like Chinese food, hence the tradition when he's out of town.
Katja reached a major milestone on Tuesday, as her braces came off! She has gorgeous white teeth now, very straight, it's really an amazing difference! Now she gets to watch Kai and Saskia go through the same experience. Too bad none of them inherited Rick's naturally straight teeth!
We celebrated by getting a manicure, so Katja looks sophisticated all the way :).
After Saskia's skating lesson, we went to eat at Glory Days Grill. I'm not thrilled about their food, but the kids love it, as they have special drinks (basically seven up with food coloring and toy in it) and they like their cheese fries (so do I, and I can't resist the temptation, so the calorie count for the day was out the window!).
Yesterday, I quickly worked out at home and then Denise and I went downtown Washington by Metro to go see the Edouard Vuillard exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.
It was a huge exhibit and he was such a versatile artist, even a photographer, so you got a fun glimpse of what his life was like. Very interesting. We had a nice lunch at the cafe in the museum afterwards.
Then we had some time leftover and decided to brave the windy freezing weather to walk to the American History museum to get a look at Julia Child's kitchen. We had to work our way through a huge Pro Life demonstration that had gathered on the street in front of the museums. Denise and I are both quite Pro Choice, so we were a little uncomfortable among so many unlikeminded people. But the march was peaceful, so we made it into the American History in one piece.
The kitchen is fun to see, I wish I had a well equipped kitchen like that, though I have to admit, I can hardly be called a cook, let alone a chef ;).
We made it back just in time to get the kids from school and it was a fun outing! At 5pm my dad came to get us to go and eat Gourmet at his house. This is something that's popular in Holland, but that I've never seen here. It's kind of like fondue, in that you cook your own meal at the table. Except you don't fry in oil or cook in bouillon, but you grill and broil. It was very good and the kids loved it too, so my dad's going to do it with them again on Valentine's Day when they're coming to stay with him.
Today was a very emotional day, though thankfully they're good emotions now. My friend C. who's been going through a very difficult divorce had to appear for a custody hearing this morning. Her ex was trying to get 50% custody (he wanted full at first, but I guess he figured that wouldn't be feasible *at all*) by trying to prove her an unfit mother. The nasty and very difficult part is, that *her* parents and sister are in *his* camp (long history of bad relationships). So her lawyers had her call all her friends to testify for her, as we could all be great characterwitnesses for her, as she truly is one of the most caring mothers I know.
Luckily, the sheer number of friends she was able to get together apparently scared her ex off and they came to a settlement without even entering the court room, he'll have the kids Wednesday nights and some weekends. Until April 1st, when the final hearing will be and I might be called up again. So, relief in our camp, as her ex is a real piece of work and so are her parents and sister! The tension was palpable and it's such a weird situation, I'm very happy for her to have such a strong and caring group of friends!
I do too, because my friends Christine, Chuck and Mallory are coming over tonight with dinner, because she knew it would be a hard day, not only because of the court case, but I haven't been able to exercise and the weather is so cold (18 degrees with wind chills in the single digits) that all my muscles are playing up :(. Thank goodness for great friendships! I'm celebrating friendships today, they truly are the family you *choose*!
Tomorrow, Saskia has to go for (hopefully her final) dental fillings again. She's become a real trooper about it, already knows what flavor nitrous oxide mask she'll choose this time.
I do know that I'll hug Rick all night on Friday night! I truly do not know how single parents do it! But I guess one always adapts to one's situation. I'm hoping to be more faithful to my blog again from now on!
I guess I'll start on Saturday as last week is all a blur and I completely forget what happened! On Saturday, the whole family went to watch Katja play basketball. It's her very first season ever and it's hard for her, as her teammates have mostly played for years. But she's doing well and ignoring the nasty comments of one of her teammates about how she "sucks". Well, Saturday she made a basket! And the teaser didn't. So there ;). It was fun to watch her, it was her 4th game and I hadn't be able to go to the others, because of commitments the other kids had.
After the game, we decided to get something to drink at 7 Eleven (Rick's favorite store, I'm not too fond of it). Everyone left the car, but I guess Rick expected me to stay in and I expected him to take the key out of the ignition. So I locked the door as I got out, not realizing the car was still running! Boom, all doors locked and we were locked out in the freezing cold. Then I heard from the parking lot: "Petra, do you have a problem?". It turned out to be our neighbor across the street, Linda! She was able to give me a ride home to get the spare key and drop me back off. How's that for divine intervention??
That night, we went to Christine's 40th birthday party which was a lot of fun. There were about 25 adults and 11 kids and everyone had a great time! Some a little too great, but thankfully those were neighbors and they could just walk home.
On Sunday, Rick took Saskia to a swimming pool birthday party, while I went to workout. We met back at home just long enough to say goodbye, as I had to take Katja to her tutoring session and he had to take off for the airport to go to Seattle, where he'll be until late tomorrow night.
To not be alone that night, the kids and I went to eat pizza at our neighbors two doors down, which was a nice way to spend an otherwise blah Sunday night as we're all always a little down after Rick leaves for the week.
Monday was Martin Luther King's birthday, so the kids were off from school. Christine and Mallory came over and we worked out upstairs. Then we got the kids ready and went swimming at the gym. It was a relaxing afternoon and just the right way to spend a day off from school. For dinner we ordered Chinese, one of our traditions when Dad is out (I have given up on cooking then, as no one will eat what I fix and it frustrates me more than it's worth). We have a very good Chinese restaurant that delivers, no MSG, only natural ingredients and generally very low fat. Rick does not like Chinese food, hence the tradition when he's out of town.
Katja reached a major milestone on Tuesday, as her braces came off! She has gorgeous white teeth now, very straight, it's really an amazing difference! Now she gets to watch Kai and Saskia go through the same experience. Too bad none of them inherited Rick's naturally straight teeth!
We celebrated by getting a manicure, so Katja looks sophisticated all the way :).
After Saskia's skating lesson, we went to eat at Glory Days Grill. I'm not thrilled about their food, but the kids love it, as they have special drinks (basically seven up with food coloring and toy in it) and they like their cheese fries (so do I, and I can't resist the temptation, so the calorie count for the day was out the window!).
Yesterday, I quickly worked out at home and then Denise and I went downtown Washington by Metro to go see the Edouard Vuillard exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.
It was a huge exhibit and he was such a versatile artist, even a photographer, so you got a fun glimpse of what his life was like. Very interesting. We had a nice lunch at the cafe in the museum afterwards.
Then we had some time leftover and decided to brave the windy freezing weather to walk to the American History museum to get a look at Julia Child's kitchen. We had to work our way through a huge Pro Life demonstration that had gathered on the street in front of the museums. Denise and I are both quite Pro Choice, so we were a little uncomfortable among so many unlikeminded people. But the march was peaceful, so we made it into the American History in one piece.
The kitchen is fun to see, I wish I had a well equipped kitchen like that, though I have to admit, I can hardly be called a cook, let alone a chef ;).
We made it back just in time to get the kids from school and it was a fun outing! At 5pm my dad came to get us to go and eat Gourmet at his house. This is something that's popular in Holland, but that I've never seen here. It's kind of like fondue, in that you cook your own meal at the table. Except you don't fry in oil or cook in bouillon, but you grill and broil. It was very good and the kids loved it too, so my dad's going to do it with them again on Valentine's Day when they're coming to stay with him.
Today was a very emotional day, though thankfully they're good emotions now. My friend C. who's been going through a very difficult divorce had to appear for a custody hearing this morning. Her ex was trying to get 50% custody (he wanted full at first, but I guess he figured that wouldn't be feasible *at all*) by trying to prove her an unfit mother. The nasty and very difficult part is, that *her* parents and sister are in *his* camp (long history of bad relationships). So her lawyers had her call all her friends to testify for her, as we could all be great characterwitnesses for her, as she truly is one of the most caring mothers I know.
Luckily, the sheer number of friends she was able to get together apparently scared her ex off and they came to a settlement without even entering the court room, he'll have the kids Wednesday nights and some weekends. Until April 1st, when the final hearing will be and I might be called up again. So, relief in our camp, as her ex is a real piece of work and so are her parents and sister! The tension was palpable and it's such a weird situation, I'm very happy for her to have such a strong and caring group of friends!
I do too, because my friends Christine, Chuck and Mallory are coming over tonight with dinner, because she knew it would be a hard day, not only because of the court case, but I haven't been able to exercise and the weather is so cold (18 degrees with wind chills in the single digits) that all my muscles are playing up :(. Thank goodness for great friendships! I'm celebrating friendships today, they truly are the family you *choose*!
Tomorrow, Saskia has to go for (hopefully her final) dental fillings again. She's become a real trooper about it, already knows what flavor nitrous oxide mask she'll choose this time.
I do know that I'll hug Rick all night on Friday night! I truly do not know how single parents do it! But I guess one always adapts to one's situation. I'm hoping to be more faithful to my blog again from now on!
Saturday, January 11, 2003
Well, I should just make this a weekly blog, as, much as I'd like to, it seems I don't get to it anymore during the week! And then it's suddenly Saturday again.
Last week was interesting, as on Sunday we woke up to a forecast of less than an inch of snow later in the day. Well, it started snowing around 11am and by the time it was all over in the evening, we had 5,5 inches (about 14 cm for the metric people) on the ground! And of the most beautiful type of snow, the fluffy stuff that sticks to the trees and everything.
Despite my still very sore throat, which was supposed to be viral after all and which I was trying to ignore, I really felt like going to Washington to take pictures. It's so rare we have a pretty snowfall and all the monuments and buildings would be so beautiful. So, I asked Kai to come with me, as he loves going downtown and we walked and walked, as I took pictures of everything (visible online at http://community.webshots.com/user/petrarick, album winter2002). Kai was such a trooper! We must have walked several miles and he only complained once, but then was fine again after a short cab ride from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.
Because of the snow, the kids' schools were delayed by two hours on Monday morning. This meant, that they would stay in school until 3:10, instead of the normal Monday dismissal time of 12:45. So, that opened up time for Christine and me to have a really relaxing day. I quickly worked out at home and then we went for a walk around their pond (where I took more pics, it's rare I'm without a camera these days!) ending with a nice lunch at the Panera bakery in their neighborhood. We shopped a little in the shopping center (I got some new pillows for our family room) and then walked back to her house, where we chatted and had tea. It had been so long since I'd had a day where I wasn't running in 10 different directions, I felt very relaxed when I got home (except for that pesky sore throat still!) and was a much better mom for the kids that afternoon, for my feeling.
On Tuesday, after our workout, Christine and I took a friend out to lunch at the Sweetwater Tavern (yes, how decadent, lunch out 2 days in a row ;)) and then I went to Michael's for some craftsupplies. At the store, I suddenly felt overwhelmingly ill and my throat felt worse than ever. So, I decided that, if this was still the case on Thursday, I would go back to the doctor to get tested for strep again. When I came home, there was a message on my answering machine from the doctor's office: the second lab test *had* come back positive for strep and they were phoning in an antibiotic. Next time I have such pain in my throat, I'm going to insist on another in-office test, if the first one came back negative. That type of a sore throat has always turned out to be strep for me, even if the doctors said my throat didn't look that red. I was very annoyed that now I had to walk around feeling yucky for 5 more days and in the meantime could have infected a whole bunch of people!
On Wednesday, since nothing major was going on, Rick insisted I took a sick day. It was weird! I haven't had a day where I didn't do anything or didn't go anywhere in ages! It was strangely fun. I stayed in bed until the kids were in school, Rick took them there. Then I got up and walked on the treadmill a little, but not as vigorous as normal. I couldn't help but do some laundry, but otherwise left the house for what it was. And then I just read and watched tv and computered a bit.
When the kids got home, they did have 3 playmates, but that's usually easier anyway, as they play well together.
For a while, Rick and I had been talking about updating our will, as, until yesterday, my mom was both executrix and guardian in our old will and I was panicking at the thought that the kids would end up with her, if anything happened to Rick and me!
So on Thursday we finally went to see a lawyer to update the will. The permanent document will take a couple of weeks to get ready, but we went back to sign a codicil to our current will, changing the executor and guardians. Phew, quite a relief, that thought had been bothering me for a while now. Not that we're planning to die soon, but you just never know, so better have everything taken care of.
Yesterday, I taught Artsmart in Kai's class. The artist was Pierre Bonnard and the kids loved the project: imagining themselves sitting somewhere in their bedroom, looking out the window and drawing what they see, both in the room and outside. They almost all took the entire time allotted for the project and really put their hearts in it, which doesn't always happen, on some other projects, some kids just quickly draw something and then are done.
Today I had a workout with Christine, then rushed off to get Katja's team pictures for basketball taken. Now I have a quiet moment, so here is my blog update :). We're gearing up for quite a few business trips of Rick's again, starting next Wednesday through Friday, he comes home for 2 nights and then leaves again for the week! Oh well, we did have him home for 2 weeks around Christmas.
Last week was interesting, as on Sunday we woke up to a forecast of less than an inch of snow later in the day. Well, it started snowing around 11am and by the time it was all over in the evening, we had 5,5 inches (about 14 cm for the metric people) on the ground! And of the most beautiful type of snow, the fluffy stuff that sticks to the trees and everything.
Despite my still very sore throat, which was supposed to be viral after all and which I was trying to ignore, I really felt like going to Washington to take pictures. It's so rare we have a pretty snowfall and all the monuments and buildings would be so beautiful. So, I asked Kai to come with me, as he loves going downtown and we walked and walked, as I took pictures of everything (visible online at http://community.webshots.com/user/petrarick, album winter2002). Kai was such a trooper! We must have walked several miles and he only complained once, but then was fine again after a short cab ride from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.
Because of the snow, the kids' schools were delayed by two hours on Monday morning. This meant, that they would stay in school until 3:10, instead of the normal Monday dismissal time of 12:45. So, that opened up time for Christine and me to have a really relaxing day. I quickly worked out at home and then we went for a walk around their pond (where I took more pics, it's rare I'm without a camera these days!) ending with a nice lunch at the Panera bakery in their neighborhood. We shopped a little in the shopping center (I got some new pillows for our family room) and then walked back to her house, where we chatted and had tea. It had been so long since I'd had a day where I wasn't running in 10 different directions, I felt very relaxed when I got home (except for that pesky sore throat still!) and was a much better mom for the kids that afternoon, for my feeling.
On Tuesday, after our workout, Christine and I took a friend out to lunch at the Sweetwater Tavern (yes, how decadent, lunch out 2 days in a row ;)) and then I went to Michael's for some craftsupplies. At the store, I suddenly felt overwhelmingly ill and my throat felt worse than ever. So, I decided that, if this was still the case on Thursday, I would go back to the doctor to get tested for strep again. When I came home, there was a message on my answering machine from the doctor's office: the second lab test *had* come back positive for strep and they were phoning in an antibiotic. Next time I have such pain in my throat, I'm going to insist on another in-office test, if the first one came back negative. That type of a sore throat has always turned out to be strep for me, even if the doctors said my throat didn't look that red. I was very annoyed that now I had to walk around feeling yucky for 5 more days and in the meantime could have infected a whole bunch of people!
On Wednesday, since nothing major was going on, Rick insisted I took a sick day. It was weird! I haven't had a day where I didn't do anything or didn't go anywhere in ages! It was strangely fun. I stayed in bed until the kids were in school, Rick took them there. Then I got up and walked on the treadmill a little, but not as vigorous as normal. I couldn't help but do some laundry, but otherwise left the house for what it was. And then I just read and watched tv and computered a bit.
When the kids got home, they did have 3 playmates, but that's usually easier anyway, as they play well together.
For a while, Rick and I had been talking about updating our will, as, until yesterday, my mom was both executrix and guardian in our old will and I was panicking at the thought that the kids would end up with her, if anything happened to Rick and me!
So on Thursday we finally went to see a lawyer to update the will. The permanent document will take a couple of weeks to get ready, but we went back to sign a codicil to our current will, changing the executor and guardians. Phew, quite a relief, that thought had been bothering me for a while now. Not that we're planning to die soon, but you just never know, so better have everything taken care of.
Yesterday, I taught Artsmart in Kai's class. The artist was Pierre Bonnard and the kids loved the project: imagining themselves sitting somewhere in their bedroom, looking out the window and drawing what they see, both in the room and outside. They almost all took the entire time allotted for the project and really put their hearts in it, which doesn't always happen, on some other projects, some kids just quickly draw something and then are done.
Today I had a workout with Christine, then rushed off to get Katja's team pictures for basketball taken. Now I have a quiet moment, so here is my blog update :). We're gearing up for quite a few business trips of Rick's again, starting next Wednesday through Friday, he comes home for 2 nights and then leaves again for the week! Oh well, we did have him home for 2 weeks around Christmas.
