Friday, June 29, 2007
Happy Independence Day!
Just a reminder to all that we are going away this weekend and will return on July 4th! Here are some Independence Day cupcakes that Liesel made for you all to enjoy!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
False Advertising?
As I write another episode of our life here in the USA, I realize how the march of time towards year end has gained an incredible momentum! Liesel reminded me of our schedule for the remainder of 2007.... Next weekend we are leaving to travel to Michigan for a few days around the Fourth of July holiday. In August, it's Liesel's and my birthday and we move into our new house, September has Liesel's sister coming to visit, we celebrate Nathan's 3rd birthday in October. Thanksgiving comes around in November, and then early in December we are off to South Africa!
Well, as another weekend passes us by and plummets into history, we enjoyed it while we could! The weather was again near perfect, and we made good use of it. On Saturday morning, Liesel wrapped up her garage sale shopping for 2007 (we hope), and returned with a couple of small items for Nathan. Afterwards, we descended upon the furniture store to place an order for our new leather lounge suite. We also arranged to have it delivered to our new house soon after we take possession :) After putting a significant dent in our credit card, we decided to buy some donuts from Dunkin, which always go down well. Even Nathan has no problem polishing off an entire donut in the 10 minutes it takes to get back home!
That evening a nearby town was having an International Food fair. My colleague, Axinja, told me about it, and after seeing the South African flag prominently displayed on the festival's website, I was hooked! (See for yourself at http://www.loraininternational.com). I would not be lying if I said was was very disappointed when we looked at every single food store there, and South Africa was nowhere to be found!! My dreams of sinking my teeth into a boerewors roll, chewing some biltong, and savoring some milk tart were dashed :( Do I have a case against them for false advertising??? You be the judge!
No other nationality there really grabbed our interests, so we settled for some Greek food. When we sat down to eat, Nathan wanted to go closer to the festival stage, so that he could watch some traditional Irish dancing! As we were finishing up, we saw Axinja and her boyfriend arrive! After some introductions, and trying unsuccessfully to get Nathan to "impress" them with his vocabulary, we decided to call it a day and headed home. They stayed behind for a boat parade that was scheduled at dusk.
Sunday was a very laid back day for us, with Church in the morning, and Nathan and I hitting a local park in the late afternoon before supper. later that evening, we found out that we won an E-Bay auction for a little Slide and tunnel set for Nathan. Now Nathan's (or any 2 - 3 year old's) dream basement should be complete! Now if only we had the actual basement to store this stuff.................... (Less than 2 months away of living in Nathan's personal toy store, formerly known as our living room!)
I had a very pleasant surprise on Wednesday this week, when Liesel arrived home shortly after me, without Nathan. She had arranged with her good friend to watch him for us that evening, so that we could go and watch a movie and get a real sit down dinner at a local Italian restaurant! It was a real treat, and the food was simply fantastic, almost as good as the company ;) Then on Thursday night, Liesel and Nathan came to watch me play my last volleyball game of the Spring league. It was an early game, and with the sun now setting after 9pm, it was a great opportunity for them to see what I love to do! It was great hearing the little voice at full blast shouting "Go dada - YAY!!!!!" from the sidelines. It certainly raised my spirits, and I could never grow tired of that voice!
And that is how we chose to enjoy life this past week! Remember, that next weekend we will be vacationing in northern Michigan, so I will not have a new posting until at least Wednesday (July 4th) or Thursday (July 5th).
Well, as another weekend passes us by and plummets into history, we enjoyed it while we could! The weather was again near perfect, and we made good use of it. On Saturday morning, Liesel wrapped up her garage sale shopping for 2007 (we hope), and returned with a couple of small items for Nathan. Afterwards, we descended upon the furniture store to place an order for our new leather lounge suite. We also arranged to have it delivered to our new house soon after we take possession :) After putting a significant dent in our credit card, we decided to buy some donuts from Dunkin, which always go down well. Even Nathan has no problem polishing off an entire donut in the 10 minutes it takes to get back home!
That evening a nearby town was having an International Food fair. My colleague, Axinja, told me about it, and after seeing the South African flag prominently displayed on the festival's website, I was hooked! (See for yourself at http://www.loraininternational.com). I would not be lying if I said was was very disappointed when we looked at every single food store there, and South Africa was nowhere to be found!! My dreams of sinking my teeth into a boerewors roll, chewing some biltong, and savoring some milk tart were dashed :( Do I have a case against them for false advertising??? You be the judge! No other nationality there really grabbed our interests, so we settled for some Greek food. When we sat down to eat, Nathan wanted to go closer to the festival stage, so that he could watch some traditional Irish dancing! As we were finishing up, we saw Axinja and her boyfriend arrive! After some introductions, and trying unsuccessfully to get Nathan to "impress" them with his vocabulary, we decided to call it a day and headed home. They stayed behind for a boat parade that was scheduled at dusk.
Sunday was a very laid back day for us, with Church in the morning, and Nathan and I hitting a local park in the late afternoon before supper. later that evening, we found out that we won an E-Bay auction for a little Slide and tunnel set for Nathan. Now Nathan's (or any 2 - 3 year old's) dream basement should be complete! Now if only we had the actual basement to store this stuff.................... (Less than 2 months away of living in Nathan's personal toy store, formerly known as our living room!)
I had a very pleasant surprise on Wednesday this week, when Liesel arrived home shortly after me, without Nathan. She had arranged with her good friend to watch him for us that evening, so that we could go and watch a movie and get a real sit down dinner at a local Italian restaurant! It was a real treat, and the food was simply fantastic, almost as good as the company ;) Then on Thursday night, Liesel and Nathan came to watch me play my last volleyball game of the Spring league. It was an early game, and with the sun now setting after 9pm, it was a great opportunity for them to see what I love to do! It was great hearing the little voice at full blast shouting "Go dada - YAY!!!!!" from the sidelines. It certainly raised my spirits, and I could never grow tired of that voice!
And that is how we chose to enjoy life this past week! Remember, that next weekend we will be vacationing in northern Michigan, so I will not have a new posting until at least Wednesday (July 4th) or Thursday (July 5th).
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A Happy Father's Day indeed!
Wow! What are the odds that Cleveland could offer up yet another week of perfect weather?!?!? This meant that Nathan and I would pay a visit to the complex swimming pool on most afternoons after arriving home from work. He is loving swimming in the "blue water".
Saturday morning was set aside for furniture shopping, after which Liesel would drive me to a mystery store for me to go and handpick my Father's day gift! The first couple of shops didn't really have anything that suited our tastes (or budget):( However the third shop had some lovely sofas. Liesel and I were immediately drawn to a leather lounge suite. To us, leather would make more sense for our family room, as this is where we would expect to get the most human traffic and wear and tear. Also, having a child under the age of 21, guarantees that there will be many spillages over the next 18 or so years, and leather is the easiest to clean! So we think we have decided on our family room furniture, and will just need to go and place an order for it soon!
Now, Liesel took the car keys from me, and drove me to the mystery shop. She pulled into the parking of Guitar Center (as mentioned before, this is what musicians would consider to be heaven on earth!) My gift from her and Nathan was to go and pick out a guitar, on one condition: that I join our church's worship team! I have been longing to get back into worship, but having left my guitar behind in South Africa, I didn't have much to offer. Now finally, I have a brand new Fender guitar, what an awesome, and thoughtful, gift! Thanks Lee and Nathan!
That evening, after a roast dinner, we went to Crocker Park to walk around in the beautiful Midwest evening weather. We finished the evening off with a coffee milkshake for myself, iced coffee for Liesel, and a chocolate chip cookie for Nathan. Unfortunately, Nathan thought my coffee shake was in fact ice cream, and had a few too many long sips of it. So we saw his regular bed time come and go at 8pm, and by 10pm he started winding down!
On Sunday, I was woken up by Nathan tickling my foot that was protruding from our Duvet. Also the scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls had filled the apartment. I knew this was going to be a great day! After church, we went for a picnic to the Rocky River Nature Reservation. It is beautiful there with large shaded areas of green grass, with the Rocky River gurgling in the background. Of course Nathan had to get his exercise by throwing pebbles into the river! It was getting very hot at this time of day, so we called it quits and retreated to the air conditioned cabin of the Rendezvous, and returned home for Nathan's afternoon nap! And that was one of my best Father's Days ever (I have had 3 so far ;-) )
Saturday morning was set aside for furniture shopping, after which Liesel would drive me to a mystery store for me to go and handpick my Father's day gift! The first couple of shops didn't really have anything that suited our tastes (or budget):( However the third shop had some lovely sofas. Liesel and I were immediately drawn to a leather lounge suite. To us, leather would make more sense for our family room, as this is where we would expect to get the most human traffic and wear and tear. Also, having a child under the age of 21, guarantees that there will be many spillages over the next 18 or so years, and leather is the easiest to clean! So we think we have decided on our family room furniture, and will just need to go and place an order for it soon!
Now, Liesel took the car keys from me, and drove me to the mystery shop. She pulled into the parking of Guitar Center (as mentioned before, this is what musicians would consider to be heaven on earth!) My gift from her and Nathan was to go and pick out a guitar, on one condition: that I join our church's worship team! I have been longing to get back into worship, but having left my guitar behind in South Africa, I didn't have much to offer. Now finally, I have a brand new Fender guitar, what an awesome, and thoughtful, gift! Thanks Lee and Nathan!That evening, after a roast dinner, we went to Crocker Park to walk around in the beautiful Midwest evening weather. We finished the evening off with a coffee milkshake for myself, iced coffee for Liesel, and a chocolate chip cookie for Nathan. Unfortunately, Nathan thought my coffee shake was in fact ice cream, and had a few too many long sips of it. So we saw his regular bed time come and go at 8pm, and by 10pm he started winding down!
On Sunday, I was woken up by Nathan tickling my foot that was protruding from our Duvet. Also the scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls had filled the apartment. I knew this was going to be a great day! After church, we went for a picnic to the Rocky River Nature Reservation. It is beautiful there with large shaded areas of green grass, with the Rocky River gurgling in the background. Of course Nathan had to get his exercise by throwing pebbles into the river! It was getting very hot at this time of day, so we called it quits and retreated to the air conditioned cabin of the Rendezvous, and returned home for Nathan's afternoon nap! And that was one of my best Father's Days ever (I have had 3 so far ;-) )
Sunday, June 10, 2007
What's the difference between Paris and Nathan?
Nathan enjoys being locked up ;-)
After coming back from an outing, it is not unusual for Nathan to want to sit at the driver's seat of Liesel's car. He will sit there for about 5 minutes playing with the steering wheel, windows and lights etc. On Thursday, whilst in the driver's seat, he managed to lock Liesel out of her car. From the wicked grin on his face he knew what he was doing.... Luckily Liesel's sunroof was still open, and with an graceful leap onto the hood of her car, Liesel managed to stick her upper body through the sunroof and remove the keys from ignition. An apartment maintenance man witnessed the drama unfold before his eyes whilst he was on the phone in the car adjacent to Liesel's.
The next day Nathan went into our bedroom and proceeded to lock himself in there! It is possible to open a locked door from the outside by inserting something small into a tiny hole on the door knob. However, Liesel didn't have the criminal mindset or "street-cred" to break into her own room, so she placed a call to maintenance who said they will send someone immediately to help. When she opened the door, it was the same man who watched her rescue Nathan the day before. As you could guess, he had a pretty good laugh, and freed Nathan..... again!
On Thursday, my department at work treated us to a baseball game in Cleveland's Jacob's Field. The Cleveland Indians were playing the Kansas City Royals. It was my first experience at America's favorite pasttime, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a fantastic atmosphere as the crowd supported the home team! I had a hotdog there, which apparently is the unofficial food of baseball games.
This weekend, we again had near perfect weather. On Saturday, we started looking at furniture for our new house, and found some good possibilities. We still need to look at what other shops have to offer before buying anything for our place. That evening we went to a friend's place, as they were throwing their son a graduation party. It was a good party with plenty of food.
On Sunday, we cut Nathan's hair in the evening, and as a reward we took him to McDonald's for supper, as they have a play area with tunnels that he loves. After that at around 6pm, we drove to the Huntington Beach. It was such a beautiful evening, with the sun shining brightly on the Cleveland skyline, and the fresh water of Lake Erie gently lapping the shore. Today was the first day that the life guards were on duty for the summer season, so there were a number of people in the lake. Nathan and I made sand castles as Liesel sat back and took photos! It is something we have to do more often!
After coming back from an outing, it is not unusual for Nathan to want to sit at the driver's seat of Liesel's car. He will sit there for about 5 minutes playing with the steering wheel, windows and lights etc. On Thursday, whilst in the driver's seat, he managed to lock Liesel out of her car. From the wicked grin on his face he knew what he was doing.... Luckily Liesel's sunroof was still open, and with an graceful leap onto the hood of her car, Liesel managed to stick her upper body through the sunroof and remove the keys from ignition. An apartment maintenance man witnessed the drama unfold before his eyes whilst he was on the phone in the car adjacent to Liesel's.
The next day Nathan went into our bedroom and proceeded to lock himself in there! It is possible to open a locked door from the outside by inserting something small into a tiny hole on the door knob. However, Liesel didn't have the criminal mindset or "street-cred" to break into her own room, so she placed a call to maintenance who said they will send someone immediately to help. When she opened the door, it was the same man who watched her rescue Nathan the day before. As you could guess, he had a pretty good laugh, and freed Nathan..... again!
On Thursday, my department at work treated us to a baseball game in Cleveland's Jacob's Field. The Cleveland Indians were playing the Kansas City Royals. It was my first experience at America's favorite pasttime, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a fantastic atmosphere as the crowd supported the home team! I had a hotdog there, which apparently is the unofficial food of baseball games.
This weekend, we again had near perfect weather. On Saturday, we started looking at furniture for our new house, and found some good possibilities. We still need to look at what other shops have to offer before buying anything for our place. That evening we went to a friend's place, as they were throwing their son a graduation party. It was a good party with plenty of food.
On Sunday, we cut Nathan's hair in the evening, and as a reward we took him to McDonald's for supper, as they have a play area with tunnels that he loves. After that at around 6pm, we drove to the Huntington Beach. It was such a beautiful evening, with the sun shining brightly on the Cleveland skyline, and the fresh water of Lake Erie gently lapping the shore. Today was the first day that the life guards were on duty for the summer season, so there were a number of people in the lake. Nathan and I made sand castles as Liesel sat back and took photos! It is something we have to do more often!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Nathan - the Jay Leno of the Pre-School Community
For those of you who don't know, Jay Leno is a talk show host in the USA (available on channel 54 on DSTV on weekends in South Africa), and he probably has the world's largest private collection of cars. A report from last year listed 85 cars and over 70 motorcycles as part of his collection. Well, this week, my son became the proud new owner of his 5th vehicle, after Liesel completed her weekly garage sale rounds. So now has 3 cars and 2 bikes, and will be quickly becoming every pre-schoolers best friend! Now if we could only move into our house, so that my living room doesn't have to look like a toy store exploded inside it! Two more months to go.....On Memorial Day (this past Monday), we made a trip to the Great Lakes Science Center on the lakefront of Cleveland. Here are a few photos from the excursion:
This weekend, we relaxed. Saturday was perfect summer's day! After a lazy start, we headed out into the sun and went exploring. We found a fantastic new playground for Nathan, that is very close to our new house. It's amazing how you can live in one town for over a year and still discover new places that you never knew existed, just around the corner? After we got home and Liesel and Nathan went for their naps, I went to go wash Liesel's car. After spending an hour in the sun, I am happy to report that my lily white European epidermis has finally got some color!!! Of course the color was a bright pink to start with, but luckily today is has transformed into a healthy tan!
That evening we couldn't settle on one theme for dinner, so we went international! Nathan had some pizza (Italian), Liesel had Mexican and I had Chinese takeout. It was a good way to end the day!
Most of Sunday was drizzly (we needed the rain). Liesel, went back to her South African roots, and practiced the art of making the perfect koeksuster again! With a slight modification to the process, we can proudly say that this batch is juicier than the first attempt a couple of weeks ago! Heerlik! After Nathan woke up from his afternoon nap, we noticed that there was a reprieve in the precipitation. Of course, that means that we had to get out there and do some some further exploration! Much to Nathan's delight, we discovered another playground in the adjacent suburb! We left there just before the heaven's opened up again, and headed back to Nathan's toy store, which we call "home"!
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