Snow man, sledding and snow balls

We had a great snow experience: We build a snowman (left, you can see Luke climbing a hill behind). Luke's hands got blue and since he wasnt used to it started to sniffle cuz the pain. Once we got him in some gloves it was all good.

We threw snowballs at each other (and Nikki who was defenseless in her iglo outfit), and were slipping and sliding of the hills on a selfmade sled.
We enjoyed it very much and were fortunate to have the best weather possible. The parting shot of the three of us as we get back in the car, Nikki was already in her car seat warming up.

TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS

Luke is crazy of trains so this week we went to a renowned train museum in the US: The Colorado Railroad Museam.

He went crazy and was running from train to train to climb on, ring bells, climb out, look under, and so on. We took numerous pictures but here are some to share.

You see some three well known steam engines of which the one on the right is the model for the movie Polar Express. Also you see the two Rio Grande trains a steam engine and a diesel engine. Luke's interest is nearly making me an expert... ;-)

If you look closely on the left you find Luke stending in front of the tender to give you an idea of scale of him (or the train)

The last picture is of my family as they pose for a final shot, please note that the weather was so warm we were dropping our coats except mr. freez Luke who is a true Californian and can't stand anything below 60F (15C).

Cute pics from kids

The before and after pictures dressing up the girls. Nadia is a very content girl that likes to lead out loud and throws smiles at you whenever she sees you.
Nikki is very outgoing and will come up to you and give her "Haaai" she has started to learn many words such as flower, shoes, socks etc.

The guys are practicing in this picture (Ren/Luke, Jacco/Nikki, Preman/Nadia) as we are taken responsibility for the kids this Thursday night as the girls (Kathy, Maureen and Sue) are going out for girls movie night to see 'Memoirs of a Geisha'.

The weather is getting colder as the wind increases, the kids still play outside although the mall has turned into a great option for the kids to play.

Xmas 2006 in Denver

Christmas morning finally came and Luke rushed out of bed to check under the X-mas tree.

The firetruck was unwrapped and deployed in mere seconds. On the other side Nikki was tearing off the wrapping of her gifts while Preman and Nadia were working on the other X-mas gifts.

There are a bunch more of photos and we hope to share them with you all in the near future.

Nadia and Nikki united

Nadia and Nikki in their little jackets at Starbucks waiting for their "Latte".

Family trip to Denver

For X-mas we went to Denver to spend time with at our friends the Narayanan family. This is a 2.5hr flight and with weather ranging from 20-62F (-5 to + 16C) thus required quite a family move. We packed Nikki up in her car-seat with wheels and away we went.


The trip went super - Kids behaved well (they both slept 75% of the trip). Luke lead the pack with his snow boots on and his "Bunny" in the arm walking across Denver Airport which has escalators, trains and people movers, plus airplanes ofcourse!!! SCORE.

X-mas at Pepper Tree

This was the first X-mas for Luke that he realized X-mas so we participated in his school's X-mas singing. We dressed them up, and on we went. In the beginning Luke was scared but eventually he got settled. Nikki was having a blast waving to everyone and saying her typicall "Hai"

When the singing was done Luke got in line to tell Santa about his x-mas wish... a fire truck... he was very excited about this truck for the past days and we certainly hope Santa supported by FedEx delivers on-time in Denver this year.

What Luke and Nikki are up too

Here's some pics of the family.... for our family and friends abroad...



Nikki smiling as she listens to the music on the PC. She has started to talk quite some words to make herself clear... Up... Mamma... Pappa... Yum Yum... Poop...

Nikkin crawling out of a fire truck at the Childrens Discovery Museum


We went to get some x-mas lights at Hope Depot (Gamma) and they know how to keep the family entertained. With the little scooter cart we had quite some fun screaming through the aisles.... "Johny we need a clean-up in aisle three"

Luke is preparing for a date with one of his girlfriends... Its a kids haircute place where they put him in a toy scooter while cutting him... isn't that great!!!! Sure gets the job done.

Best friends... Luke pushing Nikki as they run through the house. They have started to play quite a lot with each other and although it goes along with crying they do start to enjoy each others company.

Nikki's goes shopping, Luke cleans the street

We will never know why girls go pink and boys go blue...

There she was this week... during the Los Gatos Parade. While Luke watches a 2.5hr parade and from all the bands, dancers, bikers, etc. he likes the cleaner car at the end the most.

Whereas Nikki and Maureen go shipping and I find Nikki doing her own stuff ... In her little outfit shopping ... well you see on the picture...

Luke sees the light

This week I was riding around and suddenly I heard a noise from the back seat ... something that made me realize that from now on life will not be the same ... the noise was Pappa I want to eat there... Pappa over there... Pappa I want to eat fries and hamburger Pappa.

There it was the MickeyD's store. We recorded the date as October 29 when Luke recognized for the first time the Golden Arches

World Championship Triathlon 2005

So there it was the Championship 2005, I was calm and controlled... ready to race. And then it changed... the beat of the drums really got to me... with goose bumps I entered the water, 120 athletes treading water knowing that in mere seconds a elbow/fist battle would start!

THE COURSE

Swim - a 2 loop swim for a total of 1.5km with a swimming start in the ocean in front of Waikiki beach

Bike - a 1 loop 40km ride from the swim over Diamond Head to Koko Head with strong head winds going out that occasionally side swipe you. A lot easier on the way back with the wind in your back going downhill at 40+ mph

Run - a 2 loop 10km run around the park and over the Waikiki beach finishing in the park. Weather was not too bad with low 80's F (high 20s C). There were lots of Dutch folks that were suprised to see the 'Orange' and cheered us on

RACE REPORT

Like all my races this year it was a tough swim for me and the results were showing it. The course had so many athletes swimming that I literally had to crawl over other people and had other people crawl over me. I once again got stuck, elbowed and bruised at the back of the pack. It was a fight... next time... next time...

The bike went a lot smoother and it felt good to catch some folks back although my legs were quite tired at the end of the season. My '2:1 rule' still held up though (for every person passing me I have to catch two). It was quite a nice course.

The two loops of 5k on the run was the best of all with a new tri-race PR. On the 2nd loop I started to really enjoy it by waving to the Dutch crowds and doing crazy things.

RESULTS

Swim --------- 0:26:33
t1 ------------ 0:01:27 (est)
Bike ---------- 1:05:00
t2 ------------ 0:01:08
Run ---------- 0:40:44 (PR in a race)
================
Total --------- 2:14:51 (overall race PR by 1 minute and 58 sec)
Overall ------- 432 (out of 1739)
Age group ---- 78th (out of 124)

I was quite happy with my result as it meets my set target of hitting a Personal Record by beating 2:15. I am excited to know that there are a lot more improvements possible to get more competitive for next years race in Lausanne, Switserland.

BUT THERE IS MORE...

I was racing with a great team, with my buddy Eric who ran a superfast 38min 10k, my friend Kim finished highest of all of us and made the American team and my friend Tami raced to one of the fastest bike splits among the women. But the main event was undoubtly coach Pete becoming once again World Champion for the fourth time in his life and in every age group he has appeared in as an amateur (30-34, 35-39, 40-44). It is truly amazing to see him perform at such a high level and have the opportunity to learn from him.

Ship ahoy!

Some pics of the boat with the various swings, the turbo slide, two climbing racks, a bucket etc.




















For the future I also made a little monkey bar to the right, part of the deck can open up to create a little platform where the kids can kick-off their monkey bar adventure. The CapN's wheel was a gift from Ben and Irene and is an awesome fit.
















This is an overview of the ship with the sails down where you can also see the use of the blue rubber mulch to protect falling kids. There is a watergun that provides a full coverage of the ship as I recently found out when Luke was soaking me.

On track for the race...

This weekend I made a step towards the big race coming up in less than 2 weeks. With the WC in sight Coach Pete recommended a 10k to fine-tune my run. My previous PR on the 10k was a 41:07 so there was some room for improvement as I am trying very hard to run a sub-40min 10k during the upcoming World Championship Triathlon. Coaches advice... start as fast as you can and keep going fast...

Result: 37:58 with a 15th spot overall (out of 300) and 5th in my age group (out of 60)

Our team did very well with all of us doing PR's and four of us in the first 25. Below a pic from the start where you can see coach Pete in 4th position (yellow cab) and me right behind him.

PIRATES SPOTTED IN THE SOUTH BAY

AHOY MATES! There have been Pirates spotted in the South Bay on a day known as Luke's Birthday!

We had such a fun day with Luke, Nikki, Mom and Dad dressed up as Pirates as we celebrated with countless guest Luke's birthday. Above the picture of Luke with one of his friends Lilli (next door neighbor).

Below are pictures of the pirateship with the Jib down and the main up where CapN Jack is ready to throw aboard the Pirate in training for a swimming lesson. Next is the watermarking of the ship with the memorable beating off the Pirate-Pinata. The last picture speaks for itself.

With a hot day expected there was a gigantic waterslide that kept all the kids happy and at the end Pappa and Megan (babysitter) too. We positioned the water gun at the bottom to fire at those coming down the slide. The kids that were a little shy to get in could fish in the pond at the bottom.

Luke received such a booty (gifts) from our countless fellow pirates (friends), that we truly hope to have been able to show our appreciation by providing yum-yum (food), sum-sum (drinks), and drum-drum (entertainment) for all of you hungry privateers and pirates alike.

Thanks to Huffman's and Lenz's for bringing the drinks from the parties the day before.

Momma is happy to as she finally does not have to share her pots and pans anymore with Luke. Who can now go al out with his drumset, preferrably when Pappa or Nikki is asleep. Pappa is going to make this the first pirate ship with a drum-stel onboard.