Genes

Toothbrushes ordered by descending age from left to right....

The famous detective tv shows and best-seller thriller books teach you that DNA can be obtained from toothbrushes and other personal items.

In this 'family case' however there is no need to 'test' the brushes. A visual inspection will tell you without a doubt that the dad and youngest daughter are related!

Could do a post similar to this one about sleeping positions and duvet location....

(Yes, Floortje now has a new toothbrush)

 

Famke's Fabulous Fairytale

Another post that has been lying around too long... :)

Last year Famke was 'star of the week' at school and the teacher asked us to write a letter to Famke or a story about her. At the end of the special week the teacher would read this out to her and the rest of the class. Famke's Fabulous Fairytale it was...

 

Famke's Fabulous Fairytale

There was once a little princess named Famke. She was born 10 years ago in a land called Scotland. Scotland is a rough country with beautiful countryside, nice people and lots of rain. She had a bit of a difficult start but soon showed everyone that she was a little fighter.

The princess and her parents didn't stay in Scotland very long though. When the baby princess was only 6 weeks old they took a ferry ride across the North Sea and settled themselves in a beautiful white wooden castle house in Stavanger, Norway.

Norway is also a beautiful country with probably even more rain than Scotland. However, the little princess didn't care. She learned from her little Norwegian friends that there is 'no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing'. So out they went in wind and rain to grill 'pølser' in the forest. Pølser, also known as hot dogs, were the princess' favorite food. In the morning she would say 'hei' to her friends and before going home it would be 'ha det bra'!

Kings, queens and princesses like adventures so after three years the three of them decided it was time to move on. After all these years they had enough of all the rain so they agreed to move to Dubai. As Dubai lies in the desert you can imagine that the weather is very different there, hot and dry! The princess, who was by now growing up to be quite a little lady, had now also become a big sister as little princess Floortje was born.

Life in Dubai was quite different for the princesses. As it was always sunny Famke quickly learned how to swim and spent many hours in the pool. As even princesses have to go to school, Famke started at the Dubai British School with children from lots of different countries, nationalities and religions. They would celebrate Christmas, Eid, Diwali and all the other holidays from around the world. The most special day at school was probably international day when everyone would bring food from their country and share it. The favorite food of the princess became pasta!

Days off were either spent in the pool or racing down sand dunes on your bottom! The little princess even learned to speak some Arabic. 'Marhaba' to say hello and 'ma'assalama' to say goodbye.

Even though Famke loved being a 1001 night Arabian princess, the time had come to move on again. The little lady had by now turned into a beautiful, tall, strong willed girl.

Texas was the next stop. The king, queen and two princesses settled down in the town of Katy. Here they ride their iron horses to school every day and corn dogs have become the princess' favorite food. Playing soccer and watching the Astros and Texans play have become her new favorite pastime. 'Howdy' and 'bye' are her new words for greeting folks!

Famke was born in Scotland, is growing up in Norway, Dubai and Texas and calls herself a Dutch girl, pretty neat! You can take the girl out of Holland but you can take Holland out of the girl! Therefore every year, the king and queen take their two princesses for a trip to their roots. The princesses love going to The Netherlands, or Holland as most people call it, to visit their grandparents and the rest of their family and friends. Holland is know for a lot of things, like windmills, tulips, bikes, canals and cheese. But when the princess goes to Holland she likes to play outside and eat her favorite dutch foods: colored sprinkles, sweet buns and americain filet (and the funny thing about this is that you cannot buy this in America)!

The king and queen would like their princess to know that they are very proud of her. It is not always easy to pick up your things and move to a new country, settle in a new place, go to a new school and make new friends. But Princess Famke has done amazing at that! The princess is a sweet, determined, energetic, sports-loving, happy girl and we hope that she will live happily ever after!

Presidents

Last weekend we thought it was time to get out of Katy and visit some sites that we had not been to in Houston yet.

Somewhere in an industrial part of Houston, behind the Target and between some warehouses is the workshop of David Adickes. He is an artist that has made the heads of all the presidents for an educational center in South Dakota. However more of these heads are still here in Houston. They are not displayed in any nice way. They kind of sit around the edge of an empty plot of land across from the studio but still it is well worth visiting. The heads are very big, somewhere between 5-6m!

It is very strange to drive down a small street and see this at the end of it.

It was a pretty impressive sight. Need to get up to speed on our president knowledge though.

Yes, Obama was there too!

Not sure who this was. Might have been Reagan as we didn't see him around :) (although the bow tie probably indicates someone who served a bit longer ago)

And yes, the Beatles are here too. Even bigger than the presidents at about 11m tall.

 

Churches

Most of you know that religion in the US is still much more a part of daily life than it is in Holland.  I have looked up some statistics (don't pin me down on this) that states that in the US 16.1% of people say that they have no affiliation with a religion while in Holland this number is 45%.  When looking at Texas, a very conservative state, this percentage is only 4.5%.

A quick check on the internet showed me that there are more than 75 churches in Katy alone.  One of the surveys I looked at also spoke about 'A very competitive religious marketplace' meaning that quite a few people change religion or church.

This explains why we get so many flyer and advertisements in the mail from churches wanting us to join their congregation.

This is one example I didn't want to keep from you.

Floortje's rodeo art

I try to post most of the things that happen in our lives that are worth mentioning.  However, sometimes things slip through the crack (especially things like holidays when there are so many pictures to sort through).  

Floortje's art is also something that didn't make it here, and when I happened to come across these pictures today I decided that I didn't do her justice so here it is.

At school all the kids had been working on a painting in the rodeo theme which had a chance to be selected to go to the Katy school district exhibition and from there to the big show at the Houston Rodeo.  Older students have the opportunity to win nice scholarships with this.

Floortje had been keeping us up to date of what she had been working on.  Then one day she came home very excited and told us that her painting had been selected as 1 of 2 of first grade to go to the local exhibition!

Of course we went to see the picture on display and Floortje was very proud.  Her picture did not get selected to go to the rodeo but she is determined to give it another try next year!

Well done Floor!

Football season has started!

American football that is!

The remotes for the media room have been dusted off, fridge is stocked, Thijs is ready!

The Houston Texans had the honor of playing the San Diego chargers on the first Monday Night Football of the season.

As the game was on Monday, school encouraged everyone to wear their Texans jerseys to school. As Famke is a big fan, we went out to buy her one yesterday. It had to be JJ Watt's no 99 as that is her favorite.

Of course, games are not complete without the accompaniments.

This is what I saw in the supermarket today, right as I walked into the store. People like things easy here!

Beginning of the second quarter as I am posting this, score 7-7....

Go Texans!!!

 

Heart

Normally my stories are about happy, fun or nice things that have happened in our daily lives.

However, life is not always fun and we were reminded of that when my dad had a heart attack this summer. It had a big impact on all of us. Luckily he recovered and is doing well at the moment and we can put this behind us. However it does give us a reminder to take good care of ourselves, enjoy life and not take people or things for granted.

Don't want to get all sentimental here but I think this picture shows how beautiful and delicate a heart is and I think we can apply the same to life in general :)

 

Fish tacos

Last weekend we had friends over for dinner and decided to try something new. We opted for fish tacos.

Wow! I am not one to brag about our culinary skills and normally always find something that we could improve upon but these tacos turned out really nice!!!

This will definitely be a regular feature on our menu.

Below the recipe from the www.chow.com so you can try for yourself! Enjoy or Eet Smakelijk!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound firm white fish, such as tilapia, snapper, cod, mahi mahi, or catfish
• 2 medium limes, halved
• 1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for oiling the grill grates
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 small head of green or red cabbage (about 14 ounces), cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 6 to 8 soft (6-inch) corn tortillas
• Sliced avocado, for garnish (optional)
• Guacamole, for garnish (optional)
• Salsa, for garnish (optional)
• Sour cream, for garnish (optional)
• Hot sauce, for garnish (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place the fish in a baking dish and squeeze a lime half over it. Add the garlic, cumin, chili powder, and 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season with salt and pepper and turn the fish in the marinade until evenly coated. Refrigerate and let marinate at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the slaw and warm the tortillas.
2. Combine the cabbage, onion, and cilantro in a large bowl and squeeze a lime half over it. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary; set aside.
3. Warm the tortillas by heating a medium frying pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tortilla at a time, flipping to warm both sides, about 5 minutes total. Wrap the warm tortillas in a clean dishcloth and set aside while you prepare the fish.
4. Brush the grates of a grill pan or outdoor grill with oil and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Remove the fish from the marinade and place on the grill.
5. Cook without moving until the underside of the fish has grill marks and is white and opaque on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip and grill the other side until white and opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes more. (It’s OK if it breaks apart while you’re flipping.) Transfer the fish to a plate.
6. Taste the slaw again and season as needed with more lime juice. Slice the remaining lime halves into wedges and serve with the tacos. To construct a taco, break up some of the cooked fish, place it in a warm tortilla, and top it with slaw and any optional garnishes.