Balls, balls, balls

This is Bo. Isn't he incredibly adorable? If Paul and I ever have children, I want one just like him.

Bo and his parents came to visit us this weekend. Unfortunately for Bo and those of his height, our apartment just isn't all that fun. Definitely not as fun as say, oh, a pit of balls!

There is a really great website: uitmetkinderen.nl -translates to 'going out with kids'- where you can enter your zipcode and it lists all the kid-friendly activities in your area. Handy, huh? These are the kinds of things you only discover as a parent. Anyhow, we found a fun speeltuin (play garden) in a nearby town and headed there for a little kid fun.

Afterwards, we went to a pannenkoekenhuis (pancake restaurant), typically kid friendly, for a traditional Dutch dinner. What? Pancakes for dinner you say? Yes, indeed. The Dutch usually eat their pancakes for dinner. And they put all kinds of weird things inside. They are kind of like a cross between an American pancake and a French crepe. Only you roll up the extras inside of crepes and the Dutch actually put the extras inside the batter. A typical pannenkoek is with bacon, cheese and pineapple inside. But, they have a variety of types from tuna, tomato, and goat cheese to raisins, apple and ham. AND, they still put stroop (thick syrup) and powdered sugar on top. Sounds weird. But, they're yummy.

I am amazed at the ability of children to entertain themselves with an inanimate object, like a ball or piece of foam, for minutes on end. There is nothing more exciting than throwing balls and collecting them just to throw them again. Ah, how I miss those simple days. I was a great kid. I remember playing for hours on end in my room when I was little. My mother must have had it really easy. :o)

Devoid of the jungle gym fun of the play town the following morning, Bo and I devised a game where the airbed was leaning against the wall so that the couch underneath was like a fort. Remember forts? My sister and I made great forts when we were little with all the furniture we could move and lots of blankets. So much fun. Anyhow, the game was to throw the teletubby toys over the airbed where they hit the wall and slid behind the airbed onto the mess of blankets on the couch. Bo would then dive into the fort and 'discover' the lost toys. Each re-discovery was a new miracle. I thought to myself, 'hey, this is parenting thing is easy.' Until his little arm got tired after about 50 throws and the toys weren't quite making it over the airbed anymore. Then the tears of frustration came. And Papa had to intervene. And I quickly took back my 'this is easy' statement.

In other news, P.'s company won two big awards last week for a total of 11,000 euros (approx. 13.5k dollars) for their company. It was quite a big deal and he and his partners have been busy with interviews this week. A. and I went to the gym yesterday morning and when we came out of the locker room, there was a crowd of girls around the table reading an article about them in the local newspaper and one of them ran up to me, all excited, saying, "You're husband is in the newspaper!" If you're interested, you can read more about it on their company website.