Building Beavers one Nephew at a Time

Here's a future Beaver proud of his Christmas gift. Go Henry!

Christmas Gifts Part 1

We celebrated with my family in Milwaukie with my sister's family. It was a great time and the kids had a lot of fun. Abby was very happy with her Dragons!

Christmas Morning

My favorite quotes of the morning " this is the best Christmas ever!"




When we root, we root for the Timbers!

Can I take the fire out of the mouth of the dragon?
Dragonology, cool! Now I can learn everything about dragons.

Santa was a busy guy this year!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We put out treats for Santa and his reindeers. Santa had a nice mix of cookies and a butterscotch steamer and the reindeers got eight slices of carrot. Prancer gets the one with the top.

Christmas Eve was a nice day we decorated the Gingerhead House, opened the Playmobile Santa who got into his sleigh.

Susan readied the Christmas Eve gifts for the kids (the traditional pajamas with an added bonus was the candle that would help light Santa's way tonight as he finds the treats. The kids had a great time walking through the Oaks Bottom refuge.

Do you see George, You really had a Wonderful Life.

No man is a failure who has friends.

Little Package Cap #29 — Earflap Cap Archive — Shop — Little Package Cycling Caps

This Little Package cap is definitely on my Christmas list. My big head needs a little larger size than this one, but you have to love the quality of the handmade design. It's also consistent with the goal of going local this holiday season.

#29 — Earflap Cap Archive — Shop — Little Package Cycling Caps:

'via Blog this'

Halloween 2011

Could the kids be any different? Abby was a Dark Scare, a creature she made up that
was probably inspired by "Toothless" in the movie "How to Train a Dragon" and Amelia
was less original as a Ghost.

Monster March 2011

Our Black Scare and White Ghost. Face makeup was THE THING this year.

Amelia Halloween Party 2011

Amelia in Mrs. Tursi's class for the Halloween party.

Abby's Second Grade Report Card

Okay, this is old, but I just found this and thought it would be worth saving in some way.

Here were a few excerpts from the comments on Abby's 2nd Grade Report Card from Missy Duncan.
I've enjoyed having Abby in my class this year. Abby is always willing to help out in the classroom when I need something. Although she would rather read books all day, she is starting to add more detail to her daily writing and stories. I've also noticed that Abby is paying more attention in Math. She's picked up on number strings, carrying and borrowing quite quickly.

Amelia at 5 Years, plus some

Amelia has been 5 for over six months now, but we just had her check up last month and I just found the sheet, so here's an update on her.

She is 44 1/4" which is 55% for her age and 43.8 lbs, which is 55%, so slightly above average. She's in kindergarten in Mrs. Tursi's class which has been a pretty good transition, except the long days means she's a little cranky in the afternoons. She's starting to sound out words and is having fun with all of the art projects in the classroom.

Favorite 5 Things from our Vacation

There were so many great memories from our trip, it is worth making a list.

We had a great time celebrating the marriage ceremony of Paul and Geske. It was wonderful to learn about the Danish traditions and more about the culture. The kids had a chance to be in a setting that was unfamilar and they did quite well.

I had a new experience in Europe, driving! We took the kids to Egeskov Castle and toured the grounds. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the various museums, tree climbs, and play structures.

The travel between Copenhagen and Odense was a fun couple of train rides down to Svendborg. We enjoyed people watching in the Copenhagen train station. This was a nice warm up for the Night Train which we would take down to Amsterdam.




Getting to Delft, we got on our bikes. Abby had a great time riding the City and exploring. She did a great job following along, paying attention to the various signals, street markings, and bumps that are common in the Dutch engineering practices. Of couse, there were lots of pictures of the innovative transportation applications.

We enjoyed a visit with the students out to a greenhouse, the Netherlands has a dizzying array of them throughout this part of the country. They are automated and have a great way to operate with very little energy consumption.

In the picture Peter Furth (the professor that shared his program with us), took Amelia on for a while in the greenhouse.

On that same trip, we made it to the North Sea. It was a windy day, but we enjoyed dipping our toes in and playing on the beach.

The Dutch culture is very welcoming and touring the Cities was enjoyable.

Having Fun with the Students in Houten

We enjoyed a bicycle tour of the City of Houten to explore the unique design of the ring road and the bicycle highway that runs through the City.
More about that on the Peter Koonce Blog.


View Larger Map

The fun we had was that we came across a zip line and they got me to take a ride. I could have been going a little faster, but here's what it looked like.

On the way to the North Sea

A few more photos of the girls on bikes. It rained a bit on us on the way there, but we didn't melt.

Abby and Amelia hit the North Sea

Abby and Amelia biked with the PSU class. Here they are getting a class in sand play with the students. They're building a roundabout and testing the course with the volleyball.

This isn't just any roundabout though, it is a roundabout that allows bicycles to travel underneath. We found the exact model of this on the following day in Houten (or at least I did).

Abby bikes and Amelia Rides Through the Streets of Delft

A bike box in Delft prioritizes bikes over right turning traffic.
In the Netherlands, right turn on red isn't allowed.

Abby and Amelia joined us on the third day of the class, which would end up 36 miles later going from Delft to the North Sea and back. It was all day trip with stops at a greenhouse control system company, a greenhouse, a central market along the way, and the beach. Leaving TU Delft (the University), we wound our way through the streets of Delft which are chaotic at times and really fascinating when you're able to wander through them. When you are on your bike, the facilities seem like a joy and you want to bring them back to the U.S. When you are on your bike beside your 8 year old, they seem too narrow, with scooters zipping by and cars that are still too close for comfort.

Since Abby is an accomplished rider, all in all they are pretty good facilities.  
On this trip to the beach we added a stowaway in the form of Amelia. Where is she in this picture you ask?
She's on a tag along rack, riding on a pillow. We saw the Dutch do this on so many occassions, we thought we would try it. It turned out it worked with some modifications. Later, we took Susan's backpack off which gave her a little more room to look around. It was also clear that we needed to slide up on the seat of the bike to make sure she wasn't leaning back, but that wasn't so difficult.

All in all, a good day and a nice way to get from the beach and back. 

Ikea provides guidance on life

We visited Ikea on the way home from the first day's orientation. It was actually the most convenient stop to pick up towels and things that we didn't bother to pack through the travels for the first week of the trip.

It was odd because we had talked to the students that we have brought over to Delft about our expectations we have for them. It was also very different than the time we spent sharing with them in the main part of the City where we got them to their dorm rooms and showed them where to get phones if they wanted one. These errands were completed in the Central City where bikes are king. 

The Ikea parking lot is much different, but still has bicycle amenities and paths up to the store. It definitely looks different on the outside than one in the U.S. would.

Inside the store is exactly the same. I have been to Ikea probably two or three times. I found the sign here amusing. They were basically providing career guidance with this sign, suggesting.... " FIND YOUR WAY".