Digging holes; German, no?

I wanted to title this post "The Germans would be proud", but it's a good thing I Googled for a little first because apparently the connection between the title and the post would only make sense to Dutch people. let me explain.

On the Dutch beaches you'll typically find a few German tourists too (and of course, many other nationalities, but that's not the point.) The point is; if you ask a random Dutch person "What do Germans do on the beach?"

Come on, look around you and ask a Dutch person... I'll wait...

....

Done? What did he say?

"Germans DIG HOLES on the beach". (here; even Yahoo says it). Dutch believe that Germans like to dig holes and sit in them (I've seen it done many times too, forgive the generalizations here).

Anyway.

What does my eyes see all the way up to the water?

What are they doing?

Is that a hole?

Actually, it's a hole but not just to sit in. We had to make it for Monkey. He wanted a little pool to swim in and to keep the fish in his father was supposed to catch.

In the end, there were lots of children playing in our "pool". One American family decided to dig holes for themselves. Mini manholes which they used to put their 1 year old in. I prefer fish in mine.

But my husband is no fisherman. He did catch a little crab the other day; the children loved it. But otherwise he has a wrong fishing motto:

"No sea birds looking for fish here, so I have no competition!".

To his defense Monkey LOVED that his father was trying and trying. It was his best moment of the day Monkey declared when I gave him his good night kiss and talked about our day at the beach.

Anyway, this site has more Dutch facts you never heard about. Pretty funny.

Serenity

Yesterday, after a rather rainy & breezy morning, we decided to go stroll on the beach for a bit.

Earlier that day, the ocean looked fierce and wild. But now Monkey and I, the first of our family to arrive at the ocean, were amazed by the tranquility of the ocean and the serene colors and sounds.

The wild ocean from that morning had not just left us with nothing; there were gifts all over the beach.

Hundreds, thousands, millions of the most beautiful seashells you have ever seen were scattered along the white sandy beach. It was like running down the stairs on Christmas morning, to find the christmas tree surrounded by nicely wrapped presents. Between the many shells there was more to be found; little crabs walked around (confused, I guess), pieces of wood, bones (serious), starfish (threw those back in the ocean), sea plants, little creatures I had never seen before. It was amazing. And we were not the only ones in excitement about this treasure;

Troops of birds scouted the beach looking for little fish, stranded to die there or serve one last purpose; dinner.

Even though it was a bit chilly, we strolled for hours. Monkey anxious to find out more about the ocean and little Roo searching for shark teeth (don't ask).

As it got later, we were joined by other people. Most people barely looking up to notice the beautiful sky. Eyes only for the secrets of the ocean that now lay within reach.

After we filled two bags with gorgeous shells..

We gave in to our hungry stomachs and fell on the ground.

I mean, headed back to our cottage. But not before glancing one more time to the beauty that is the ocean.

.

We do live on an awesome planet.

Heaven... must be missing an island

This beach is like a 2 minute stroll away from our cottage:

We actually saw dolphins jump in the water the day before yesterday. It was awesome!

Monkey doing Michael Jackson moves, too funny:

All these photos were made before we all get sick. Actually, first I got sick. I first thought it was morning sickness again (al lot of vomit, but that's probably already more than you'd wanted to know). Then it became more and more and more. Then we thought it was food poisoning. But the next day my husband had it too (much less though, thank God) and Monkey came down with a mild version as well. We called a doctor and our insurance company about what to do and since I wasn't able to hold down anything for over 17 hours, they advised to go to the hospital. Fortunately that wasn't necessary. We decided on letting the kids nap first and me trying another breakfast. When I kept it in, we figured I was better. After a longggg night of sleep, I finally can say; MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! ;-)

We also came across Frosti the snow eh sand man on our way to the beach playground this morning:

Loving Florida! Part 3... Alligators!

The day before yesterday we drove through The Everglades. We loved it so much we drove all the way down to Flamingo Visitor Center.

And we saw this on the side of the parking lot! It was HUGE!!

Then we ventured a little more an walked a trail through mangroves..

We ended our day with a visit to the Alligator Safari Park

And of course had to go on an airboat. Monkey says: "AIRBOATS OUR LOUD"

We had quite an entertaining tour guide and I spotted two small alligators (but nobody else saw them, so I might be delirious from the mosquito bytes)

Wonderful scenery in the Glades!

Roo LOVED it too!

We even got to hold a baby alligator! My little 3 yo hero:

We are all heroes :-)

Next up; Anna Maria Island!

Loving Florida! Part 2... Miami and The Keys!

Suitcases are packed, and we're ready for our last night here in this part of Florida.

Here's a photo recap of Miami & The Keys!

First, we tried to find the apartment building of Dexter. We did find it, but we weren't allowed anywhere actually close...

After that we went to Little Havana and had the best lunch ever at Casa Panza!

After lunch, we walked around for a bit and enjoyed the colorful scenery...

And our two little blond kids got quite some attention of al the elderly men (no women to be found) hanging out at Gomez park.

And of course, the awesome wall paintings

After that we drove to the art deco part of South Beach, Miami. Where we headed for the beach...

"There!" (I forgot what she was pointing at ;-)

Colorful and unique lifeguard houses..

Hard to make an ugly photo with skies like that!

The day after (yesterday) we went to The Keys..

And got eaten by a giant lobster!

And again enjoyed the wonderful colorful scenery of Florida

We fed the tarpon fish at Robbie's

Little Monkey fed them dead little fish without blinking his eye. He even didn't mind a giant pelican stealing the fish out of his hands. My hero!

After that, we went to the Dolphin Research Center and had the best time ever!

And ended our day with dinner at Mrs Mac's kitchen on Key Largo, which was AWESOME! I had my first lobster there, and it was great. Highly recommend going to this restaurant (which was jam packed with locals too).

Coming up: The Everglades and petting a baby alligator!!

Making new friends...

At the Dolphin Research Center in Marathon, Florida! Monkey & Roo had the best time ever. Roo has her sea animals a bit confused, she kept referring to Flipper as "shark". But they weren't offended, as the Dutch word for shark is "haai" which sounds like "hi" ;-)

I was really glad to find a not for profit organization to meet dolphins. You got to come really close to them, walk around and feel like you're actually doing something good for them.

The Dolphin's Research Center mission says;
"in addition to maintaining the best possible environment for the dolphins and sea lions at the Center, we also dedicate ourselves to assisting marine mammals in distress in the surrounding waters of the Keys. For decades, DRC operated as the Southernmost member of the Marine Mammal Stranding Network."

Good for them! I highly recommend a visit there if you're in The Keys and want to meet a dolphin; http://www.dolphins.org. Fun fact: the TV series Flipper was filmed there with far away family of the dolphins that live there now.

Loving Florida! Part 1...

So the coats and hats we had to wear in NYC were cute and all....

But now we really love just wearing shorts & short sleeves in beautiful Florida! Hooray!

Boys and tractors...

On our first day we headed to a "fruit stand" called Robert is here. It has an amazing collection of fruit & veggies, smoothie restaurant and petting zoo.

We bought lots of fresh fruit...

And I made a new best friend!

We also already made a small trip to the Everglades

But we will go back to enjoy the beautiful nature a bit more

Next up: Miami!!! We had a wonderful time there today and tomorrow we'll be heading out to The Keys.

NYC photo update!!

So we left NYC and have arrived in Florida. Just in time, because a few hours after we left JFK they cancelled flight due to heavy snow storm! Lucky us. Especially if you consider the fact we nearly didn't make our flight due to heavy traffic!

But even though we love this warm weather and the sun, we'll always miss New York. A small recap of 5 awesome days in NYC!

On our first day we met Dorsalstream and his wonderful and beautiful family. We had lunch and spend a few hours together, hanging out in The Wintergarden.

We also visited the typical things like Grand Central

This photo has nothing to do with NYC whatsoever, I just think it is really cool:

We took a boat and visited Lady Liberty (didn't go up though, elevator was broken down and due to insane security checks we had too little time left)

Amazing art work at Ellis Island. Walking around there moved me. The thought that millions and millions of people made their entrance into the US filled with dreams and hopes there is just amazing.

The two cutest men on this planet

Bye bye Lady Liberty

My mother in law with Roo at Times Square, both in awe of the lights and energy.

More Time square

We have visited the US quite some times now and had never been to a Bubba Gup restaurant! We had great fun!

Monkey LOVED the frog expo at The American Museum of Natural History

I really digged their Ocean IMAX show on the great Sardine Run.

Monkey on top of the world (in the footsteps of his uncle King Kong)

My mother in law looking to go even higher

The view was stunning and FREEZING!

A must see for kids at Time Square: Toy 'r Us!

I should do a training for inside photography, I am sure our Nikon is capable of doing better than this.

We took the subway a lot!

The Guggenheim would have been more fun if it was open. We went to the Whitney Museum instead, but I'm sad we missed it.

Husband and Roo at Rockefeller center

And

Oh more on that later!!

Also coming up: catching a cab and Christmas shopping in NYC

The day I found out I had 11 toes

OK the real title of this post is: "Routines". But who will click on something boring like a routine; right?

This post is inspired by updates of people on Facebook that I get about an online game called FarmVille. I've never played it or seen it, yet people play this game 24/7. Apparently it's about having a digital farm and doing everything you'd do with it, as if it were real. I have read updates of people missing SLEEP over this game.

I don't write this to make fun of it; every hobby is heaven for one, but a total waste of time for others. I love to cook & bake. But others buy precooked meals to save time and enjoy an evening doing other things. The concept of homemade meals isn't appealing to everyone, lest the idea of slow cooking probably medieval to most.

Anyway, It's beyond my comprehension that one would choose to lose SLEEP over sowing seeds or the watering of a crop and to incorporate a digital world like FV or Second Life as part of your daily routines. These farms aren't real! I'm not buying your meat and veggies to cook here (slow or fast, but certainly not digital).

But I understand; everyone has hobbies and hobbies may grow into routines as part of your life. FarmVille players probably plan their day around the game - my guess - to make sure their farms do well. Others have more accepted digital routines like checking e-mail, online news or Twitter.

When I was sick in bed with "morning" sickness 24/7 for six weeks, I developed quite a few silly routines as well. It was basically: have breakfast (in bed), get up (for 15 minutes), crawl back into bed, watch ER, do nothing but feel sick, nauseous, sad and depressed and watch Discovery Channel and at the end of the day watch Gillmore Girls. What was on TV was my routine as my ability to do most other things was temporarily gone.

Now that I feel better, I enjoy being part of the normal world again. Real people, my spontaneous and funny children, unexpected things, art, music, surprises, creating and even something silly like the changing of the weather.

I dropped every single routine I had developed to survive when I was sick. I'm enjoying life as it comes and I - for now - really don't get why anyone would choose to have a routine that doesn't involve enjoying life. The real one. Not the one made of 1's and 0's.

"As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge. " Henry Van Dyke

But than again, the same author also said:

"Look around for a place to sow a few seeds. "

PS: you didn't really think I had 11 toes, did ya?