Big Boy Football

Last spring, after Kevin turned 6, the one thing he really wanted to do was play on a football team (soccer). He started in the youngest age group "trapturfjes'' - which, the closest translation I can come up with is something like the 'small grass kickers', that only meets on Saturday mornings for a combination of training and mini games.

The time was decent - 10 to 10.45 - and it was a good intro for him on playing with a team as opposed to just kicking the ball around with dad in nice weather.....
After the summer break, Kev was old enough to move to the next level, where they train once in the week and then on the weekends, play in teams of 4 on 4 and play 3 sets of 12 minute games against one team. They play in the ''champions league'' and adopt the shirts of the teams they mimic. Kev is part of FC Porto (Portugal) and his number this season is 6.

He´s having a blast, and consistently scores during the games (his team is ranked 2nd right now in the league of 8 teams). It´s wonderful to watch him have fun and have a budding talent develop!

For now, I only have a few pics (I know....how is this possible?!) because I find myself cheering rather than taking pics....and I have yet to master cheering, anticipating the right moment to shoot before a goal and hold everything steady....I´m working on it! :-)

Summer of ´11 - Extended Edition

This summer has really flown by! - and I´m using summer in the sense of the normal season plus our stretch October..... Technically, Summer vacation for the kids is already way shorter (6 weeks compared to 3 months stateside) but this summer (from end June to end September) has gone down in the history books for bad weather - like the third worst/wettest summer ever - that´s quite an accomplishment for a country known for it´s rain!

There was no possibility this year for a vacation in the sun (decided lack of both time and money), but towards the end of the school vacation in August, mom finally got a break and decided to book a long weekend and take Kev somewhere new.














Decision criteria:
1) Mom couldn't handle another(!)amusement park
2) Kev loves to travel by train, bus...anything other than the usual car
3) a city that had enough to hold mom's attention and still be interesting for little man

I was leaning towards London at first....right up until the time of the riots. Then it didn't seem like such a good idea. Also, London is always expensive. Even the roach motels go for 5 star prices in other cities. In eastern Europe, there were some good possibilities, but the travel time was sooo long, and the getaway budget didn't stretch to cover flights. We were down to car or train (or slow boat) when I saw an offer for 3 nights in Berlin for the price of 2.

In my years here in The Netherlands, I've been to quite a few cities in Germany, but not yet to Berlin. I was in Junior High when the Wall came down, and I remember the news footage from that time quite vividly. I'd also heard from almost anyone who had ever been how beautiful it was. While the historical significance of the city might be lost on Kev this time around, there is a beautiful zoo and many other sights that I knew he would appreciate after our trip to Paris earlier this year - 6 is NOT too young for culture!

So in the last lazy days of August, before football (soccer) and swimming lessons and school started back up, we headed off to have an adventure........

We went to the famous zoo, toured around the city for 2 days in an open top, hop on hop off bus with 15 stops around the city, ate in the 200 plus meter high tower and watched the sun go down, took our first border crossing 7 plus hour train trip (complete with iPad movies and lots of hands of Uno!), visited the the areas where the wall used to be and the remnants preserved today.....and had a great time!

The Swimming Journey

As almost everyone knows by now.....Kevin has been in swimming lessons since February of 2010. Every week, 45 minutes - except for 6 weeks in summer - for almost 1.5 years.

I´m trying, really trying to remember how I learned to swim. I know there was some kind of test, maybe through the local YMCA...but it didn´t make much of an impression on me mostly because it wasn´t a rite of passage, costly and time consuming process like it is here.

With so much time and money invested - In October 2010, we even added an extra week in the fall vacation, 2 hours per day for 3 days - and since February 2011 he´s had 2 lessons a week. My back of the napkin calculations show that to date, we´re at 75 hours of lessons - at a cost of nearly 900 euros!



Both Kevin´s dad I were cautiously hopeful that Kevin would be able to swim for his first exam and diploma before the 6 week summer vacation coming up at the end of July, that the extra lessons would pay off and free up his schedule - come fall he´ll already have football practice each week and games every Saturday - and perhaps even more importantly, no more floaties (water wings) when going to the swimming pool!

One week before the end of June, we got some great news - Kev was invited to take the exam for his A Diploma the following week! He had one last lesson on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday June 29th, he did the exam for his diploma.

As you might imagine after 1 1/2 years of lessons, they take the exam seriously here too. The exam took just over an hour to complete and looked like: (this is all the information that is on the back of the certificate):



Clothing Requirements

* Swimwear
* T-shirt, shirt or blouse with short sleeves, shorts or pants
* Shoes (plastic, leather and sports shoes are allowed)

DRESSED SWIMMING
1.1 From the starting block or 1-meter springboard leap into the water(completely submerged), then after surfacing
1.2 15 seconds treading water using arms and legs, followed by
1.3 12.5 meters breaststroke, on a line followed by a ½ turn to the longitudinal axis
1.4 12.5 meters backstroke, complete with test
1.5 Independently climb out of the water from the side of the pool.

Then, they take off the outerwear, and in just their swimsuits, they have to:

SWIMWEAR
2.1 From the side of the pool or starting block or enter the water with a jump (a shallow dive preferred), immediately followed by
2.2 orientate yourself underwater and swim underwater through a hole in a cloth hanging vertically in the water that is 3 meters from the start position and, after surfacing
2.3 Finishing the test with 50 meters breaststroke and
2.4 50 meters backstroke single(without using arms).

3.1 Optionally enter the water from the side or from in the water somersault off the wall, immediately followed by
3.2 10 seconds swimming under water, followed by a few meters breaststroke, and
3.3 5 seconds floating on your stomach, then a few meters breaststroke.

4.1 Pushing off the wall swimming under water for 10 seconds, then
4.2 Few meters backstroke, 10 seconds then floating on their backs, finishing with a few more meters backstroke.

5.1 From the starting block or side of the pool, enter the water with a jump or shallow dive, followed by 8 meters beginner front crawl.

6.1 From in the water, somersault off the wall, then 8 meters beginner backstroke.

7.1 Get into the pool from the side with a jump of choice, followed by
7.2 60 Seconds treading water using both arms and legs, including a full turn around in the water and repeating the action.

For all the test elements, the candidate must swim the named distances without interruption and without the candidate touching or searching for the pool bottom, wall or any supporting objects.

He passed, and we were all very proud of this accomplishment! After the summer break, he´s going to go for the ´´B´´ diploma, which should take only a couple of months of lessons. Fingers Crossed!

Happy Birthday Oma!

Just in time for birthday number 55, a seranade for the Birthday Oma from Kevin Daniel! We made sure the first song was in English :-)



We love you Whole Big Bunches!

What a Difference a Hair Cut Makes.....

I don´t know why it is, but every time we give Kev a haircut, I feel like he looks Older. Like, goes from a cutie to Little Man in a few minutes. Why does a trim make such a difference in the way he looks? Is it just me?

For about a year now, we´ve been using a ´thuiskapper´, someone who has a kind of mobile salon and comes to your house, during the week on evening or even on Saturday. I started using the service because it saved me a fortune compared to the salon prices for a color and trim, and then I discovered the hidden benefit of Kev not freaking out when it was time to get his hair cut.

This is no small thing. I mean, since his first hair cut just before his second birthday, and every subsequent time since, walking into a hair salon-barber shop-supercuts type establishment caused a meltdown. We even tried it once in the states, with the same result. He didn´t inherit mom´s curls, so when his hair gets longish, it just hangs....except for the place where he did inherit his dad´s cowlick.

So, imagine my relief when we discovered that when covered with a mickey mouse safari cape while perched on our step stool in the kitchen, all signs of trauma just melted away. It makes having to sweep and vacuum up afterwards yourself more than worth it, and just look at the results! Of course, by the Official Mommy Code, I have to declare him a handsome little boy, but feel free to agree! :-)

First Football (soccer) Practice

Part of the rite of passage of being 6 in the Netherlands seems to be the joining of sport teams. It starts as early as age 4, but by age 6 here, there are more organized options, real teams and plenty of options. For Kevin, it's been all about football for at least a year. We put it off due to my crazy schedule at my former employer - trying to manage swimming lessons was already enough!

This winter though, the new job and more flexibility meant there was time for something else. We started in the winter with skiing lessons on Wednesdays, and when those finished we stepped up the swimming lessons to 2x per week in hopes of getting his swim diploma this year. Now in addition to swimming, he plays in his first soccer team every Saturday. Since the season was already running, he will be until the summer vacation playing and practicing on Saturdays with the 4-6 year olds. After the summer, He'll move up to the 6+ and have in addition to practice, weekly games.

So when we found a team where he could join right away, and two weeks ago he had his very first Saturday practice. We had soccer shoes thanks to Aunt Vivi (and Oma for shipping them over so they were waiting and ready to use!) and I wanted to wait until Little Man had had at least 2 practices before signing on and making the investment in a warm up suit and all the kit needed for an future football superstar.

On Saturday, we had to be at the field by 10am, practice goes for approx 50 mins. Luckily it was cool but clear on the day, and the sun was shining so mom could stand on the sidelines and take pictures!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but they line up all the kids, have them run lines and then they work in groups of 5-6 kids, doing exercises kicking goals, dribbling the ball with your feet between cones, kicking the ball to the goalie and then running a small loop….they mix it up really well so that the kids are busy about 10 mins at each activity.

They finish up with about 15 mins of a 5x5 game, and on his first team play, Kev scored two, count them, two of the five goals scored total between both teams! Not that Mom was proud or anything………..

Birthday Boy - Party Time!

Kev's views on Birthdays are very clear - they are fun, should be counted down to in 'sleeps' long before mom is ready to think about party's and gifts (did we not just have Christmas?!)and are a thing of joy and much discussion in the weeks leading up to the main event.

Mom's views are a little more ambivalent...I know it's not supposed to cost much to do a kids' party, but it always costs more than I think at the onset...in terms of time, money and effort. It's these times I feel like single momness (very technical word, I know) pretty much kicks my behind. It's also when the juggling act I somehow always feel between being a mom and full time employee (then throw in party planner)leaves me feeling pretty stretched.

All this is to say that somehow I got talked into doing a party this year not at a venue like the last years (Bowling, play castle, community building) but at home. My Home. For eight 5&6 year olds.

I couldn't resist Kev, who due to my schedule has the one of the least number of playdates in his class, and almost never where kids come to us - Kev always goes there. So how could I refuse when I could in effect get 8 playdates in fell swoop and earn some points with little man?

So, we agreed on a theme (spongebob) and a date (his B-Day which was on a Friday when school ends at noon) the guest list and the games.

When the big day came, I knew I couldn´t do this on my own.....I needed backup, and Richard agreed to take a half day free to be on hand to help me keep order. He was also the pinata hanger, photographer and drew the dreaded ´keep mom sane´ duty.

We had lunch, played a spongebob variant of Pin the Tail on the Donkey (involving stickers of jellyfish and trying to get them closest to spongebob´s net), twister, beat the heck out of a spongebob pinata, opened gifts,

ate Spongebob cake,

played bingo, painted sea themed sun catchers, and signed a spongebob t-shirt. It was a full afternoon!

Everyone went home happy, and Little Man had a great birthday Party

....and a great class party, and a great party at daycare.....

almost a whole week's worth of celebrations have left mom very happy that b-days come but once a year!

1 (long) day in Paris and the last lazy day of vacation

On Thursday, we had our one day to visit Paris. It was a bit overcast, but not raining...and not as cold as the previous days. We took the train from Disneyland into Paris, and from there got on the Metro to where we needed to be to get our tour.

When we arrived at our stop and checked in for the tour, we were almost 2 hours early, but we were right next to a park with a playground, so we took a break from Kevin to play (and mom to snap pics) and from there Kevin had his first lunch in a Parisian cafe.


It was everything you hear about - the service was not great, the food was expensive and not exactly tasty - and it was wonderful to be just the two of us, sipping cola and making our way through lunch. Also, it turns out that a croque monsieur is not exactly to comparable to a tosti or grilled cheese.....but Kevin bravely made it through most of his plate with the help of ketchup!
From there, we wandered back to meet the bus, and started our tour around the city in the top of a double decker bus. Kevin and I traded camera duty as we made our way around the city.
Once we were at the Eiffel Tower, the bus tour was over and our package included tickets to the second level.
I´ve been to the second level on previous visits, and Kev found it very cool. However, it turns out that you can purchase an additional ticket on the second floor to go up to the third level. If you look at a picture of the eiffel tower, the third level is really high up there! Kev really wanted to, and I´d never been, and we were there.....so we bought tickets and got in the very long line to get to the top. Almost 40 minutes later, we were in the lift, which is glass like on all sides...and Little Man didn´t want to look out! He was hugging me with his face in my jacket, and I was trying to tell the butterflies in my stomach that it wasn´t really that high up. Once we got out of the lift, it was a single flight up to the highest observation deck, and we walked around twice, snapping a few more pictures before getting in the line to go back down to the second level as the sun was just starting to set.
Back on solid ground (and very proud of ourselves for braving the third level) we walked across to the river to get on the next available river cruise. We timed it just right, and with less than a 15 minute wait, we were on one of the first cruises of the evening, enjoying the city we´d seen during the day by bus now at night from the boat.

We snapped plenty of pics, and at 8pm when we were back at the eiffel tower, we braved public transport to head back toward the disney parks and our resort. It went smoothly, but took longer than we thought.....we were back at the resort at 10.30pm, tired but triumphant!

Friday was supposed to be our 4th and last day at Disneyland Paris, but we were both pretty done after the paris day, and Kevin decided he really wanted a house day, to play games, stay in our PJ´s and be lazy. Mom was very grateful that even 5 year old batteries need recharging after a fun filled week!
Saturday we snapped our last pictures of the resort, packed the car, stopped at the village bakery for the last croissants and baguette for the road and then started the 5 1/2 hour drive home.

Lucky for Little Man, he didn't have long to wait for the next big thing - his birthday party last Friday!

Pics and a new Post to follow!

Vacation @ Disneyland Paris

For once, Mom is going to post pics while the memories are still fresh, and before life interferes with good intentions.
We had a great week this last week. Some quality time just Mom and Little Man, lots of fun and busy time 3 days at the disney parks, one whirlwhind day in Paris, and we took as many pictures as I could remember to (or whenever Little Man asked for the camera).

So, in this post, I'll put up some of my favs, staying somewhat in order of the agenda and the days we were at the parks.

We arrived Saturday night, so Sunday was our first day to hit Disneyland, which is what we got up and did, arriving at opening time. We stayed most of the morning in fantasyland (Peter Pan, Teacups, It's a small world, etc) before moving to discoveryland to take in Buzz LightYear, and then off to adventureland with Pirates of the Caribbean. We managed to end the day just in time for the Parade, which Kevin got a good view of and gets the photo credits for these pics.

Monday we took a more relaxed day and hung out at the swimming pool at the resort in the morning before heading to a nearby village and visiting the Sea-Life aquaruium.Kev's highlights were the tidepool area where you could 'pet' the rays and fish as they swim by, and the big aquarium where there is tunnel like area you walk through and the aquarium is on all sides. This was the shark tank, and we had to take a pic, but no flash allowed, so he looks a bit like a smurf!

After we finished at the aquarium, we headed back to the resort to make it an early day, becuase Tuesday was Walt Disney Studios day!

Sunday we had reasonable luck with lines for the rides we wanted to do, but that was not the case at the studios. There were long lines for everything. We waited at least 60 mins per ride, and to do the one roller coaster that he met the height requirements for and that didn't go 360, we had to wait in line for a whopping 95 mins!!! No line dimished his enthusiasim, and we had a great day. We managed to take a few snapshots, and don't let the sunshine fool you...it was 2 degrees celcius in the morning, warming up to a whole 5 degrees in the midday!

The following day, we headed back to Disneyland with Winnie and Lars, who joined us at the resort to spend one day with us at the park. We stayed at Disneyland, did the 'best of the best' rides as recommended by Little Man, and ended the day with a hoedown high tea and a meet and greet with some characters. It was a long day, but we all had a blast. The lines were longer than Sunday by a bit, but we still managed to squeeze in everything we wanted to do and still got to see a street parade and the high tea.
The following day, Winnie and Lars headed back to The Netherlands, and we headed into Paris for the day! That is going to have to be the next post, which I promise I will try to follow up with soon!