The Many Faces of Rooter

Brielle helped Megan with the laundry today as you can see in this picture. She dug way deep to the bottom of the basket to find the last sock.



This is Brielle's "I thought I wouldn't have to do any work until I was 8" look.



This is her "Doing laundry with Mom can be fun" face.



This is Brielle's "Enough with the pictures mom! Now help me fold clothes" face.



And as a good little Finlay baby she always wants to go after the iMac!

amsterDIJK and amsterDAM

This past weekend I decided to take a weekend trip (I figure that I am traveling a lot for work so might as well really push the lifestyle with weekend trips to Europe) to the Netherlands. It was really neat walking on the dykes and looking at how the cities on one side of the dyke are lower than the ocean on the other side. Alana met up with me for three days and we had quite the adventure running all over the country living in boats, bungalows and hotels.

After church on Easter Sunday we set out to find the temple in the Netherlands. A phone call to James and an hour later we found it. It was really beautiful with the flowers out front and a canal running right behind the temple.

Katinka took us to a cheese farm just outside of her city. I brought a wheel back to share with all of my coworkers and so we had a cheese tasting event this past week at work.

On our way down from Amsterdam to Oostkapelle we stopped at Kinderdijk. There are 19 windmills working in this location that pumped the land dry. It was really interesting going inside of the windmills and learning how they function. It got a little windy and nasty as we were running through hail to get back to the car.

This is the Merlijn, the barge where Alana and I stayed on while in Amsterdam. Katinka met us here (it is her aunt's barge) and we explored Amsterdam for the day with her stopping at the Rijksmuseum, riding bikes around the city (below: Alana in Vondelpark), drinking dutch hot chocolate, seeing the red light district and seeing the other sites of Amsterdam.

This picture is of Alana and Katinka on the beach at Oostkapelle. The wind was blowing really hard and the girls were almost able to lean at a 45 degree angle.

We had a nice dinner with the Wondergems and Larry and Susan in Oostkapelle. It was typical Dutch food and really, really good.

Alana and I found Brielle and drove through the city. Definitely seemed Rooter-like.

Rooter the Animal Trainer

Today was the 45th annual Vet-a-Visit at Michigan State University.  One day each year the hospital and school are open to the public to explore.  Several thousands of people come to see just what goes on inside.  We attended with some friends of ours (Joyce, Deb and Paiton).  There are animals of every type inside.  The first one (pictured above) is an alligator.  Rooter enjoyed feeling his cool scaly body.  

There were several ferrets wondering around the exotics exhibit.  Roots liked their soft fur and thinks that we should have a pet ferret in our house... we will have to see about that one.

We were amazed at the types of animals that Rooter liked and didn't like.  She had no problem with the snakes and alligator, but she was pretty scared of the 3 week old lambs.  Go figure.

The wildlife ward (of which James was a coordinator for 2 years before he started his clinical rotations) released a rehabilitated Red Tail Hawk.  It had come in as a juvenile with a wing injury and was fixed up over about an 8 month period.  He was released in front of a huge crowd.  He was thrown up in the air and never looked back.  With all the spring baby animals (bunnies, squirrels, etc.) he should have easy pickings until he improves his hunting skills.

Our New Bathroom

Thanks to Megan (Warnick) for all the work she put into our bathroom. We have new light fixtures, new hardware, a new mirror and cabinet, new paint...pretty much new everything! I've been waiting to post pictures until I've finished the decorating final touches, but I've realized that may take a long time since I can't find the curtains, towels, and shower curtain that I have pictured deep in the recesses of my mind.
Anyway, here is the only before picture I could find. You can't really tell, but the paint before was white, but really just looked like a thin coat of whitewash.


New and improved!




And just for fun, here are a couple pictures of dying our Easter eggs. Ellie was mostly just interested in eating the eggs. You can tell by how wet her shirt is, she was salivating just looking at them! :)

Mighty Jeannie up at bat. . . .

During Easter week, Dan, Helen and Erin flew to Connecticut to visit Jeannie and to watch some of her softball games. The weather was beautiful- clear blue skies, however it was very windy and cold while we watched 2 doubleheaders. Jeannie just loves all aspects of softball, whether it be catching flies out in left field or hitting the ball. However there seems to be one aspect of softball that doesn't like Jeannie - that would be running and sliding. During the last game on Saturday, the score was tied and she was leading off from third base. As the batter hit the ball, Jeannie started to run home, but decided instead to go back to the base. She stepped on the bag the wrong way and fell over, spraining her right ankle. To add insult to injury, Jeannie fell off the bag and was tagged out. Needless to say, Jeannie earned herself a trip to the academy clinic for x-rays and treatment. We aren't sure when she will be back playing, but Jeannie is hoping it will be very soon. Spring has yet to arrive in New England, but it was a great time visiting old friends and being together with most of our family.

Praha

My boss let me take some time off of work for Easter so I visited friends in Warsaw, Prague, and Holland. Here are some pictures of my adventures in Prague. In the first picture you can see the castle in the background and the Vltava River in the foreground.

This picture is taken from the mini Eiffel Tower that sits on a hill overlooking Prague. Marketa and I climbed to the top and were rewarded with a great view.

It was fun being Prague before Easter because I was able to go to the Easter Markets. There were all sorts of items and treats being sold.

Here is a famous clock in Prague. Every hour the little doors will open and the Apostles move past the windows.

I know I post a lot about food, but it is an important part of experiencing Europe! A lot of people were selling these - Trdelnik - at the Easter Markets. It is a traditional Czech treat. The dough is rolled out into a thin rope and then wound around the cylinder. It is then rotated over an open fire. It is rolled in a cinnamon, sugar, and almond mixture before being handed over warm. Yum!

Surfs Up on North Shore - Oahu

Recently, Grammy, Grampie and Helen went to Oahu to do some renovation of the their condo. While we were there, we got to see a great deal of Tata, who is currently working for NOAA in the islands. Fortunately, she was not out on one of their cruises to the northwest part of the Hawaiian Island chain. We got a chance to meet and spend time with a new friend of Tat's - Kevin. He seems like a really great person and we enjoyed being with the two of them. One morning, we went out to Shark's Cove and couldn't believe how the surf was crashing onto the rocks. The lifeguards were calling all the surfers in because it was just too dangerous. It made for some great viewing from the beach though!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day and Happy Easter!

Gavin has had a great time this month celebrating Saint Patrick's Day and Easter. We hope all of you enjoyed your holidays.

Roots Rolls (aka Crawls)

I came home to a surprise today to find Roots crawling around the house.  We now have a project of really baby proofing the house.  It just amazes me that yesterday she was laying on her belly and now she moves around.  In the video she goes down and tries to army crawl and realizes that it won't work on carpet so she goes back to crawling.

Luxembourg

I was able to take the train to Luxembourg two weeks ago and had a blast exploring the city. This first picture is taken from the bridge to get to the center of the city.

And this is looking from the city center.

There were a couple of churches in the city center and we enjoyed going in some of them. This one was one of my favorites.

You can see that church in the background of this picture.

This is just a couple pictures of Luxembourg. My camera ran out of batteries, but fortunately, my friend had her camera too. So look for more pictures later - especially of the caves!. I really enjoyed the day we spent in Luxembourg - it was a great city to explore.

Four New Sisters

Here you can see my four new sisters. I live with an American family outside of Brussels and commute into the city everyday. This family has four very fun and adorable little girls. Carrie (8), Sydney (6), and Lauren (3) are all big helpers with Rachel (1 1/2), who loves to laugh and play with her sisters.


This is the view out of my bedroom - there is a large field and then forest. The girls love to play outside when it is not raining...and often wish they could play outside while it is raining.

Coming home from work is great because Lauren and Rachel both give me a hug. I have a blast playing games, reading books, or just hanging out with the girls. A huge thank you to the Scherbels for letting me live with them and have four new little sisters.

Duarte High Wins State Acadeca

Evan and his high school Academic Decathlon team went to the state finals this past weekend. To get there, they had to beat out 55 other teams in LA County. . .huge schools with 3000 and 4000 students, like Beverly Hills High School, Arcadia, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Glendora, etc. Duarte has only 1200 students. They are pictured in front of the state capitol in Sacramento. Whatever team wins the state championship in California almost always takes the Nationals because of the high competitive level in California.

Pictured here is the Super Quiz competition in the Memorial Auditorium.

Out of the 54 teams from the different counties in California, Duarte placed 1st for medium sized schools (1000 to 2500 students). They will be competing in Nationals for medium sized schools. . .not bad for a school that has always been known for their athletic teams and not their academics prowess.

Great Grandma's 80th!

On March 3rd Georgine Finlay celebrated her 80th birthday. We drove down to Ohio after getting back from out West to visit and help with a little bit of a surprise. Margaret, Brad, Megan and Gavin all flew out from California without Georgine's knowledge, as did the Atlanta Finlays. It was the surprise of a life when they walked in the room totally unannounced.



For her birthday we went out to eat at Lannings (Georgine's favorite restaurant) on Saturday with the whole gang. The great grand kids we a little more interested in eating the menus than looking at all the yummy choices.



The food was delicious and the company was even better. We all laughed and ate too much. The porterhouse steak was especially good. Megan's favorite part was the peanut butter cup pie.



Gavin and Brielle had fun at the coffee table in the front room of the house. They "talked" and provided much of the entertainment. While looking at some old slides that night we found a picture of Megan Warnick playing at that exact coffee table over 27 years ago. Things have really come full circle!



After spending a few days in Ohio we packed up to come home to Michigan. We were lucky enough to have Megan and Gavin come with us. It was their first time to our home and a new state for Gavin. It was so fun to watch Brielle and Gavin play with one another. They enjoyed a stroller ride to the dairy store up the street and many baths together.

Megan came all the way from California to help us redecorate our bathroom. She did a marvelous job. It was fun for me to come home each day after school and find the bathroom with a new paint job, new light fixtures, new hardware and a new mirror. Makes me want to spend more time getting ready in the morning!