Schutzenfest

Most of the villages have a Schutzenfest each year. To the best of my understanding, the men in the village have a shooting contest. The winner has the honor of being king of the Shutzenfest festival. His wife is the queen. There is also a prince and princess, but I'm not sure how they're chosen. The king and queen have their home beautifully decorated. The king wears a military style outfit with lots of medals and carries a sword. The queen wears a beautiful formal dress. The prince and princess are dressed similarly, but the prince has fewer medals. There are also a group of attendants that are formally dressed. On the actual day of celebration there is a parade through the village, where they march through to get pick up the prince and princess followed by the king and queen. Then they march back through the town complete with a marching band made up of a wide range of people from the village - both male and female and a wide range of ages. They end up back at the king's house, where he provides beer for everyone. This happens a few times during the day, and sometimes on surrounding days. I'm not exactly sure of the details, but it's always fun atmosphere.

The king and queen's house

Valkenier Birthday Party

We had Christian's birthday party at the Valkenier in Valkeburg, NL. It's a smaller amusement park really geared towards younger kids. They had a really tall water slide that was lots of fun. The kids could ride anything as long as an adult rode with them. They had a pond in the middle with paddle boats and several other rides. They even let the birthday boy choose a toy from the gift shop for 5 euro or less. He picked a tractor. There was a train that took us on tour of Valkenburg, which is a lovely little village that we hope to explore later.

These are the birthday participants from left to right: Josh, Christian and Mads.

There really are other adults there standing nearby. This is the birthday table setup. Each boy had a little gift bag. As you can tell, it's a Cars theme.


The cake. This was the central focus of the party for Christian. He has been eyeing this cake for MONTHS. Every time we go into the shoppette he visits this cake to say "Hi" to Lightening and tells me he wants to take it home. He's never been too whiny or anything about it. He leaves it there "for everyone to enjoy". He has been so good about it, so we got that for him.

Cutting the cake.

He's sitting with Mette (Mads' mom) after eating the yummy cake.

Mads and Christian hanging out in the nearby play area while we cleaned up. Josh was already off to the rides, I think.

There was also a Bob the Builder pull the string type of pinata. We spent the rest of the day playing, but my camera ran out of batteries. Mette took lots of pictures for us, but they're in Germany now. I'll try to remember to add more when we get home.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Christian!

Today is Christian's 2nd birthday!! I can't believe how much he has grown and developed in the last year. He's a pretty happy and loving boy and lots of fun to be around. A lot of his violence issues (hitting and tackling other kids) has smoothed out. He usually tells me now if someone has taken his toy or has done something that upsets him. He's not perfect, but it has improved quite a bit. He speaks really well for his age (or so people tell me), he has a vivid imagination and loves trying to help out. He pretends to cook or helps us cook. Stirring and pouring things are his favorite parts right now. He enjoys making us all tea or coffee to drink. He asks Cliff and I several times a day if we would like some, so we drink tea or coffee daily now. His favorite is chamomile. He's not a big fan of the fruit flavored teas. He LOVES playing in the sand or dirt with his dump truck and shovel. He likes to chase us around yelling "Get you", or yells the same thing and runs away indicating he wants us to chase him. He wakes me up in the morning saying, "Wake up, mommy! It's a beautiful day outside!". He loves babies - particularly Bella. Bella is his best friend, Mads', little sister. She's about 6 months old. He likes to tickle her, sing to her, talk to her, tries to feed her and pick her up, and makes sure she has a pacifier. He is so sweet to her - and usually gentle. Like most kids today, he would watch t.v. all day long if I let him. He mostly watches DVDs - Bob the Builder, the Backyardigans, Dora, Handy Manny, Talking Letter Factory and a sing a long one. From a few shows and advertisements he has become a Wonder Pets fan, and has started watching Peep and the Big Wide World (the title is something like that) in the morning. He likes to read. Right now he asks for his Mickey Mouse books and his Fruit of the Spirit book a lot. He loves animals. When we visit people with pets, he follows them around talking to them and trying to feed them if he has food. He loves drawing, writing, painting and playing with playdo. He has a pretty good singing voice for a 2 year old. He sings a lot. Daddy sings him to sleep with things like the Les Miserables sound track. I sing him to sleep with thins like ABCs and Jesus Loves You, so he has some diversity. :) He tells me that daddy sings better, which is true. We often sing in the car together, and he's getting pretty good at I Spy. His birthday party isn't until tomorrow, but we made sure he had a fun day to celebrate today.

Here's the cheerful birthday boy! He usually wakes up in a pretty good and playful mood. We often spend three hours-ish in the morning just eating and playing and getting dressed, and save errands for after his nap. I love that I can stay home with him and enjoy that time together. It's my favorite time of day with him.

Here he is at the park with his dump truck, bucket, shovel and rake. I love this picture. If I'm not mistaken, he learned to make a bucket shaped pile of sand on this trip and make windows in the side with the rake. We also used the pulley system at the playground to lift buckets of sand up to a platform, and then pour it down the shoot. By the end of the trip, he could do it by himself.

Christian and his very proud mommy at the park

When daddy came home, they had fun playing with bubbles in the back yard.

Houston (Aug. 2 - 16)

We got the call at 7 AM that Grandad had passed away. We all knew this day was coming, but it is a sad time none the less. We were fortunate to be able to make arrangements to fly back to Houston the next day to spend time with family and to help Debbie and John with the arrangements. I think I learned more about Grandad during this visit than the entire time I've been a part of the family. He was certainly a unique, loving, fun and inspirational man and he will be missed. The trip home also gave us some unexpected precious time with family, and we really enjoyed it.

Paw Paw spent a lot of time with Christian during this visit, to allow the rest of us to work on arrangements. I love this picture of the two of them. :)

Ben is great with Christian. He helps entertain him and he's very patient in the process.

Paw Paw took Christian out to play in the pool. Isn't the Houston weather great?

Christian thought Paw Paw needed to be more involved.

Enjoying the water.

Cliff couldn't let them have all the fun

and what's more fun than this?

Spraying daddy

Christian and Lillie. They played together well until Lillie wanted to play with his prized garbage truck. It was a lesson in sharing. As soon as Lillie left he ran to get his trash truck back. Lillie is Hollie Brown's daughter. Hollie went to school with Cliff, and the Brown's have been friends of the Jacksons for years.

Christian loves lawn mowers, so the riding lawn mower was particularly exciting for him.

There's a lot of lawn to mow.

After all of that hard work, Paw Paw and Christian needed a nap.

Playing in the rain in what was supposed to be a hurricane, but it never materialize. It was a tropical storm, I think, but I can't remember the name of it. Paw Paw let him out full clothed. Christian had so much fun.

They're collecting rain water in the pool to play in.

Relaxing and watching some t.v.

He found a hat just sitting on the table. :)

Going to eat... or coming from eating. We do a lot of eating when we're home.

Nathan and Cliff having fun at Chick-fil-A. The other kids were enjoying the playground.

He found a great place to play - or so he thought.

I love his hair! There are those in the opposing camp who feel he needs a haircut.

Reading in the car on our way to celebrate Grandad's life.

Our family

Aren't they handsome?!

We got to spend some time at my parent's property in Blanco. Christian didn't want to get too close to the tractor last time we were there, but this time he jumped right on with Grandpa and had a blast.

He was so proud to lift mommy up very high in the scoop. :)

Working hard

Driving by himself

He could pass for a farm boy. That tractor tire is so big!

This is what happens to children who misbehave at Blanco... maybe, not. :) As we were packing up to leave, he thought it was funny to lock himself in Jet and Olive's cage.

Riding on grandpa. This is a common theme in the photos with Grandpa and Paw Paw. Christian thinks it's the greatest thing.

On our last day we went to Yogi Bear park in Waller to play in the pools and on the water slides to get Christian nice and tired for our flight home. We ate take out from Whataburger and then, just as we were headed into the water, it started to rain and they closed the pools. Booo! We had fun playing in the rain and on the patio, and the pool did eventually reopen. We all had a great time. I recommend it. :) So much fun, in fact, that this is the only picture I have.

In the airport. He's such a big boy now. He pulls his own toys and books in his beloved spider man back pack. He's a great traveler.

Here he is in the car driving home from Amsterdam.

Monica's White Coat Ceremony

So, this isn't the best picture, but it's the only one I have. We were so excited to be able to attend. We're proud of you, Monica! ...and looking forward to the family discount. :)