Well, we had our first family visit to a Disney park. We had hoped that the end of March would bring some warmer weather, but alas... We didn't get a white Christmas, but we did have a white Easter. None of the snow stuck though, but i must admit that Leland and the boys had a snowball fight in the attic (scooping the snow of the roof, with the added bonus of it being warmer in attic then outside).
Anyway, make a long story short, we didn't have any snow while we in Disney itself, but it was very cold at times. Specially for Monty, who in all excitement forgot all his potty training skills and kept peeing in his pants. Cold wet pants on a cold day... not good.
But we did have fun. Peter Pan's flight was the boys favorite, we actually did it twice. They also liked the Lightning McQueen ride and the train that rides through the park. Least favorite part was the standing in line... Well, no surprises there. They also were not to excited about the star wars ride that we went on. It's one of those simulator things that bounces and rattles and stuff. Monty was actually very scared. When the simulator made it appear as if we were sucked into the 'death star' he started screaming: "I don't want to go in there, I don't want to go in there!" Poor thing.
Of course one of the other memorable moments was Stoney vomiting in the Pizza Hut. One minute he was fine and the next... BARF!
YUCK...
The boys are already asking when we will go back again. We went for three days and could have easily spend another, but by day three they were just exhausted, so it is a good thing we didn't.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Immigration and stuff...
Okay, so here is the situation:
(The complete one for those of you who don't get the family emails)
Immigration problem #1
Anne checks with American Embassy in Belgium about the status of her Green card. Rumor has that even though the Green card doesn't expire for another 7 years, it will become invalid when out of the country for longer then a year. Embassy confirms this and says she needs to file for a "reentry permit" that will give her the right to come and go to the US even when out of the country for more then a year. After about twenty emails back and forth with the Embassy, they confirm that she has to go to the INS office in Washington DC in person to file this form. Anne bites the bullet, buys a plane ticket and goes to the INS office in DC.
Thursday: She shows up at the INS office and it turns out: first Thursday of every month, the office is closed. It doesn't say this anywhere on their website, but oh well, there is always Friday as a back -up.
Friday: Anne gets to the office, speaks with an immigration officer and is told: "No, you can't file that form here, we have never ever taken those forms. They have always needed to be send to Nebraska, pretty much from the beginning of time, since the days of the Pilgrims.... Reentry permit, file it in Nebraska. Oh and by the way the price went up from $305 to $385 just yesterday. But have a nice day ma'm."
(Anne considers toilet papering the American Embassy in Brussels)
Immigration problem # 2
Leland has a visa for Belgium till July. No problem there. Anne is a EU citizen and should have no problem living in Belgium, but for some reason the local immigration office is behind in times. Or maybe they are just overzealous, since we live in a small town with probably 3 foreign families. Anyway, Anne was granted temporary residency in Belgium for six months, on the condition she would find a job.
No problem, been working full-time since October. But the immigration office wants to see a year contract not just weekly overviews from the temp. agency. The company Anne works for told her she would get a year contract starting the end of January, then it became mid February and then finally they found out that headquarters had put a hiring stop for the first quarter. So please wait till April.
Then, mid March Anne receives a letter from the local immigration people saying that they NEED to see a contract by March 23 otherwise she will be asked to leave the country.
Excuse me?
Panic attack.
Anne talks to her boss at work and the HR person will write a letter saying that she will defintely get a contract by April 1st, just hold off for a couple of weeks and please don't kick her out of the country.
Meanwhile....
Monty is not having a good couple of weeks. In week 11 (when Anne came back from her *succesfull* visit to the States, he got the flu, or some kind of virus. Vomiting all night long, (We ran out of sheets for his bed at 3 am, took him in our bed and then he puked some more there...) fevers and a rash. Luckily that passed but he was also constipated (again). After he didn't do nr. 2 for ten days we asked the doctor for advice and she gave him a laxative. This started to work in week 12. Four poopie pants in 6 hours time, I tell you...
Same week 12, Tuesday: Monty was riding on the back of Leland's bike in the little child seat, but somehow got his foot stuck in the wheel. Several cuts, scrapes and bruises and a whole lot of screaming later, he finally let Leland put a bandage on it. (Leland called Anne at work, so she could talk to Monty and calm him down, but he was screaming so loud half the office could hear him)
Still in week twelve, Thursday: Anne picks up Monty and Stoney at the after school care. When walking to the bakfiets, both boys decide to climb on the play equipment. "Watch out," Anne says, "It is wet and slippery because it rained." Naturally, Stoney climbs up and slides down aa pole and it fine. Monty works his way up the steep ramp, realizes that the slide is wet and is to scared to go back of or get of any other way. Anne climbs up the steep ramp to get him off. "Just hold on to mommy," she says optimistically. He puts his arms around her schoulders, she hold him with one arm, hold the railing with the other, moves one foot and.... There lay mommoy and Monty on the ramp, on top of each other. Monty did some loud screaming again and Anne temporarily lost hearing in one of her ears.
But otherwise, live is just dandy. Just Peachy!
To end things, i am going to post the two class pictures of the boys here, which were taken back in the fall, but i don't have any new pictures yet. Noy sure if you can see it on these pictures, but Stoney is touching himself in inappropiate places and Monty is screaming at the photographer.
That's our children!
(but of course we love them like crazy)
(The complete one for those of you who don't get the family emails)
Immigration problem #1
Anne checks with American Embassy in Belgium about the status of her Green card. Rumor has that even though the Green card doesn't expire for another 7 years, it will become invalid when out of the country for longer then a year. Embassy confirms this and says she needs to file for a "reentry permit" that will give her the right to come and go to the US even when out of the country for more then a year. After about twenty emails back and forth with the Embassy, they confirm that she has to go to the INS office in Washington DC in person to file this form. Anne bites the bullet, buys a plane ticket and goes to the INS office in DC.
Thursday: She shows up at the INS office and it turns out: first Thursday of every month, the office is closed. It doesn't say this anywhere on their website, but oh well, there is always Friday as a back -up.
Friday: Anne gets to the office, speaks with an immigration officer and is told: "No, you can't file that form here, we have never ever taken those forms. They have always needed to be send to Nebraska, pretty much from the beginning of time, since the days of the Pilgrims.... Reentry permit, file it in Nebraska. Oh and by the way the price went up from $305 to $385 just yesterday. But have a nice day ma'm."
(Anne considers toilet papering the American Embassy in Brussels)
Immigration problem # 2
Leland has a visa for Belgium till July. No problem there. Anne is a EU citizen and should have no problem living in Belgium, but for some reason the local immigration office is behind in times. Or maybe they are just overzealous, since we live in a small town with probably 3 foreign families. Anyway, Anne was granted temporary residency in Belgium for six months, on the condition she would find a job.
No problem, been working full-time since October. But the immigration office wants to see a year contract not just weekly overviews from the temp. agency. The company Anne works for told her she would get a year contract starting the end of January, then it became mid February and then finally they found out that headquarters had put a hiring stop for the first quarter. So please wait till April.
Then, mid March Anne receives a letter from the local immigration people saying that they NEED to see a contract by March 23 otherwise she will be asked to leave the country.
Excuse me?
Panic attack.
Anne talks to her boss at work and the HR person will write a letter saying that she will defintely get a contract by April 1st, just hold off for a couple of weeks and please don't kick her out of the country.
Meanwhile....
Monty is not having a good couple of weeks. In week 11 (when Anne came back from her *succesfull* visit to the States, he got the flu, or some kind of virus. Vomiting all night long, (We ran out of sheets for his bed at 3 am, took him in our bed and then he puked some more there...) fevers and a rash. Luckily that passed but he was also constipated (again). After he didn't do nr. 2 for ten days we asked the doctor for advice and she gave him a laxative. This started to work in week 12. Four poopie pants in 6 hours time, I tell you...
Same week 12, Tuesday: Monty was riding on the back of Leland's bike in the little child seat, but somehow got his foot stuck in the wheel. Several cuts, scrapes and bruises and a whole lot of screaming later, he finally let Leland put a bandage on it. (Leland called Anne at work, so she could talk to Monty and calm him down, but he was screaming so loud half the office could hear him)
Still in week twelve, Thursday: Anne picks up Monty and Stoney at the after school care. When walking to the bakfiets, both boys decide to climb on the play equipment. "Watch out," Anne says, "It is wet and slippery because it rained." Naturally, Stoney climbs up and slides down aa pole and it fine. Monty works his way up the steep ramp, realizes that the slide is wet and is to scared to go back of or get of any other way. Anne climbs up the steep ramp to get him off. "Just hold on to mommy," she says optimistically. He puts his arms around her schoulders, she hold him with one arm, hold the railing with the other, moves one foot and.... There lay mommoy and Monty on the ramp, on top of each other. Monty did some loud screaming again and Anne temporarily lost hearing in one of her ears.
But otherwise, live is just dandy. Just Peachy!
To end things, i am going to post the two class pictures of the boys here, which were taken back in the fall, but i don't have any new pictures yet. Noy sure if you can see it on these pictures, but Stoney is touching himself in inappropiate places and Monty is screaming at the photographer.
That's our children!
(but of course we love them like crazy)
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Just a quick update.
After the 10 days of bitter cold in December, we really haven't had much of a winter. True, we are enduring frequent storms and some steady rains, but we have also had some really nice weather.
Below some pictures of a day at the park with the boys two weeks ago. There is this great park about half an hour away that has just a huge playground. There is also a petting zoo and water bikes and an outdoor pool, but the water bikes and pool have not been open yet - obviously.
It's funny how different these tow boys are. Stoney is a big climber and will always seek the highest point anywhere and then climb it (as you can see in the pictures). Monty is - literally - more down to earth. I am not sure if he has fear of heights or if playing in dirt is just much more attractive to him. He prefers to play in a little wooden house (but not climb on it's roof as Stoney would do) or pretend he is playing "store" or things like that. He enjoys slides, but is not the real tall ones and he can't get to excited about swings. Whereas again, for Stoney it can't go fast enough or high enough. Leland says he'll probably want to climb Everest one day.
Their differences were also very obvious when my parents took them to the Zoo in Antwerp.
(Leland and I went to Brugge for a weekend. My parents watched the boys and we got to have a date for the two of us.) Stoney just runs from one animal area to the next. Always so eager and curious to find out what is more, what is next; while Monty just stands there in awe of every animal. He spend ten minutes looking at the back of a hippo (because it was the only part visible above the water) convinced that it would surface at some point. He had to go back to the turtle cage with Opa because he had to show Opa there were turtles in the left corner of the cage too! He is so funny that way. He is really showing more and more personality now that he is almost four. (Unfortunately, he is also showing quite a lot of temper tantrums)
Something about Brugge: Brugge is this really pretty old town close the the Belgium coast. It was very important in the 14th century, because of the trade and cloth making. I was kind of cold the Saturday we were there, so we went into some museums. There is a nice museum of Flemish primitive painters there - I had been to Brugge before but never gone in that museum yet. We also went on a boat ride. Brugge claims to be the Venice of the north, which i think is a little presumptious, but it does have a lot of water. But hey, Amsterdam or Leiden have a lot more water then Brugge. Anyway. We took a couple of pictures, not a ton, because the post cards are usually nicer, but these turned out okay.
After the 10 days of bitter cold in December, we really haven't had much of a winter. True, we are enduring frequent storms and some steady rains, but we have also had some really nice weather.
Below some pictures of a day at the park with the boys two weeks ago. There is this great park about half an hour away that has just a huge playground. There is also a petting zoo and water bikes and an outdoor pool, but the water bikes and pool have not been open yet - obviously.
It's funny how different these tow boys are. Stoney is a big climber and will always seek the highest point anywhere and then climb it (as you can see in the pictures). Monty is - literally - more down to earth. I am not sure if he has fear of heights or if playing in dirt is just much more attractive to him. He prefers to play in a little wooden house (but not climb on it's roof as Stoney would do) or pretend he is playing "store" or things like that. He enjoys slides, but is not the real tall ones and he can't get to excited about swings. Whereas again, for Stoney it can't go fast enough or high enough. Leland says he'll probably want to climb Everest one day.
Their differences were also very obvious when my parents took them to the Zoo in Antwerp.
(Leland and I went to Brugge for a weekend. My parents watched the boys and we got to have a date for the two of us.) Stoney just runs from one animal area to the next. Always so eager and curious to find out what is more, what is next; while Monty just stands there in awe of every animal. He spend ten minutes looking at the back of a hippo (because it was the only part visible above the water) convinced that it would surface at some point. He had to go back to the turtle cage with Opa because he had to show Opa there were turtles in the left corner of the cage too! He is so funny that way. He is really showing more and more personality now that he is almost four. (Unfortunately, he is also showing quite a lot of temper tantrums)
Something about Brugge: Brugge is this really pretty old town close the the Belgium coast. It was very important in the 14th century, because of the trade and cloth making. I was kind of cold the Saturday we were there, so we went into some museums. There is a nice museum of Flemish primitive painters there - I had been to Brugge before but never gone in that museum yet. We also went on a boat ride. Brugge claims to be the Venice of the north, which i think is a little presumptious, but it does have a lot of water. But hey, Amsterdam or Leiden have a lot more water then Brugge. Anyway. We took a couple of pictures, not a ton, because the post cards are usually nicer, but these turned out okay.
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