Scary Nina!

Nina almost scared me out of the kitchen with her ghost act yesterday!

Stasiu playing hide and seek

Stasiu is getting very mobile and thinks playing hide and seek under chairs is hilarious.

Potty time

Nina wants to go potty and she's doing very well indeed. Of course she prefers to go in the most comfortable spot of the house: living room in front of fireplace while watching one of her favourite shows: de Film van Ome Willem. Before we know it she'll be retreating to the bathroom with a newspaper or book, but for the time being Pampers are still on the shopping list.

FT Weekend Edition

The Financial Times Weekend Edition: After Miffy and Barbapappa it's Nina's favorite..

Fun in the Snow

We went to Bowen Park to try out the sleigh while it was snowing. Nina and Stasiu had fun and Staszek got some excercise.

Remote control...

This is what happens when Nina grabs the camera remote control...
She probably made a hundred pictures in a few minutes. It was funny to watch her pose for each picture once she understood the purpose of that little device.

Nina and Jip still best buddies

What can we say: just look at the pictures, they tell it all! Jip is not always so sure of Nina's signs of affection, but he seems to put up with it. He just loves any form of attention :)

Sinterklaas in Chicago

And finally it was the 5th of December, the day that we would celebrate Sinterklaas together with 75 other kids at the Dutch Club in Chicago. The children were called in alphabetical order, making Nina and Stasiu the first ones to come to Sinterklaas! Nina shook his hand, twice, graciously accepted the pepernoten that Piet offered her from 'de zak' and that was that. No panic, no crying! In fact, she kept going back to Sinterklaas over and over again and found it all very interesting keeping a close eye on 'de zak' full of pepernoten en taaitaai of course. The wait for the presents was long but fortunately there were tables with crayons, colour sheets and art supplies to keep her busy. Stasiu just took it all in with his Pieten hat on.

Sinterklaas

In line with Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas arrived with his black assistants (zwarte Pieten) from Spain mid November by steamboat to deliver little presents to children who set their shoes (with some food for the horse that Sinterklaas rides over the roofs of all houses) at the fireplace and who sang Sinterklaas songs before they went to sleep. Assisted by her parents Nina did all of this yesterday evening and this morning she found her efforts rewarded....On December 5th Sinterklaas celebrates his birthday and this will also be the 'grand finale' with lots of presents. Last year Nina and Anita were at the Dutch club in Chicago where Sinterklaas and his (politically correct) rainbow colored assistants delivered presents to the Dutch children. Back then Sinterklaas was way too frightening. Let's see how this year goes....

Sailing the BVI

The last 10 days we spent sailing the beautiful British Virgin Islands in a chartered sailboat. What a fantastic vacation! With 15-20 kts trade winds blowing practically every day we visited almost all of the islands while circumnavigating the main Island Tortola. When not sailing, we chased dolphins and sea turtles in our dinghy, watched pelicans hunting for fish, relaxed on quiet tropical beaches and swum around the boat. Apart from an occasional rain shower, the weather was fantastic. Nina kept us updated with the weather forecasts from Babcia. On the last day, when we were on our way returning the boat to the charter company in the capital Road town, we had to share the canal with a huge cruise ship. We will certainly return to the BVI for more sailing, but probably when the kids are a bit older. Nina and Stasiu did not completely buy the concept of living for a good week on less than 20 square meters with sweaty bedrooms and rationed water supply. The main advantage for them was to sleep every night in a cradle that was continuously rocking....

Halloween 2009

There goes cinderella, and there's a vampire. Wait is that Winnie the Pooh? Nina's first time trick or treating was a success although it took her some time to get acquainted with the concept of collecting candy in her pumpkin bucket. Stasiu was taking one for the team in his cow outfit but had a good time as well.