August 2016

We were playing to go to the Frying Pan farm, to show the boys farm animals. When we arrived we saw that there was a big fair and the field that normally houses cows and horses was now a parking lot for fair workers. So we decided to skip the farm, and instead we went to the Air & Space Museum a few minutes down the road.

The museum was great; we all five loved it. Initially we had the boys in the stroller but then we let them walk. It's probably the biggest indoor space they've ever walked it and they liked roaming around. They also learned how to push their own stroller, mostly without falling.

We had sushi for dinner. The boys first had their spinach/potato/beef soup, and then tried the sushi.

They loved playing with the sticky rice.

Jaap and Mieke went to a concert at the Netherlands Carillon tonight. I talked with Sasha, made dinner for me and the boys and then we went for a long walk.

I always forget that the library closes at 5.00 pm on Saturday but we returned my science fiction book and then continued to Clarendon. We finished off our walk with a stop at the dog park. There were three dogs and we only saw them from a distance but the boys loved it.

It's so cute to walk with them now. They point out everything they see. "Doto!" (Leo) "Car!" (Adrian) "Bieee!" (for bus), "wafwaf!" (for dog), "ma!" (for cat), "boom!" for tree. We come across a lot of cars and trees during our walk, haha. Tonight Leo had a new one: "maan!". In the evening, when Adrian was waiting in the crib before his turn for a bath, he pointed to the ceiling fan and said "bij!" -- indicating that he wanted to be picked up to reach it.

This morning we went swimming, a little earlier than usual. Later Mieke and I went to Michael's and Home Depot -- we're doing small projects in and around the house today.

The Dutch indoctrination of the past few weeks is paying off, the boys are saying more words and even when they talk in their own language it definitely has a Dutch sound.

The only exception is that Adrian is stubbornly saying "car" instead of "auto". Leo started saying "doto", so cute.

Some of the words they've recently started saying:

- uil (with a beautiful "ui" sound)
- boom
- lekker (A)
- vlag (L)
- dicht (A)
- "hiiiii" (sound that a horse makes) (L)
- beer
- peer
- haar
- aai
- wow!
- In English: "bye bye"

They also learned how to tear paper. They can also both get up and off the sofa. Adrian learned getting onto the sofa maybe two weeks ago, Leo a few days later. Sasha bought shoes for them and they've started wearing them.

We had a big taverna last night. Judy and Ginny prepared dinner, Jaap and I made moorkoppen for dessert.

The boys had dinner at home -- mashed hutspot -- and then joined us in their highchairs. They happily chewed on a piece bread and loved the watermelon.

When I came home dinner was ready -- sate and Indonesian green beans -- and at 7.00 pm we drove downtown.

It was a beautiful evening and we went for a nice walk along several monuments. Mieke enjoyed seeing the baseball games, the boys saw ducks and geese.

My parents and the boys are having a really nice time together. There is always something to two with two little babies, but sometimes they are just hanging out together and they play. Leo keeps bringing new books to Oma to read, and Adrian was repeatedly looking at the same picture with the ball and the car tonight.

Sunday afternoon we went for a walk, to the Roosevelt Memorial. It was the first time the boys were at the memorials downtown. We saw a helicopter.

There were a lot of people playing Pokemon (I uninstalled it earlier in the week).

I remember taking Nora here and she said "boom" (tree) for the first time. Leo said "boom" also. Adrian kept saying "kah kah" -- for "auto".