Happy Halloween!

M and his cousin L are best friends.  They dream of experiencing the trivialities of childhood together:  riding in a wagon at the grocery store, traveling in the same car, etc.  So, we planned several months ago that M and I would travel to Boston for some cousin-bonding-cum-trick-or-treating this year.

The kids all had a great time.  L and A gave M an Imaginext Robot Police Headquarters and Deep Sea Robot for his birthday, which was a huge hit with all the kids.  In fact, it was at the heart of our first gender discrimination play (A and M played, L got a little bored and felt left out) which was an interesting dynamic to watch.

Our plans were somewhat disrupted by a freak snowstorm and resultant power failure.   

Grandma tortured the kids to get a photo for her Christmas cards. 

A is crazy for Papa, and at a mere 20 months of age clearly expressed that he wanted Papa to be his grown up at gymnastics.

M joined L at gymnastics and did a great job following directions.The class had a Halloween theme and he's still practicing his Frankenstein walk (his "favorite monster").

A with his favorite grown up.

M and L having fun in the snow.  It's amazing how much they hug each other.

M messing around when the snow began to fall.

L messing around when the snow began to fall.

A also loved the snow.

It was pretty chilly when we woke up to no power.  S, L and A are pretending to be asleep.

And the snow just kept on falling!

Sledding before Halloween!

After 24 hours, record low temps and no heat we gave up and headed to Grandma & Papa's, who had power.

Trick or treating in L's neighborhood would have had more kids (uh, any other kids) but they still made the best of it!

Papa very kindly drove us to the airport.  We were there in plenty of time (no lines or waiting anywhere)  and we conveniently forgot the sandwiches I made, so we had dinner at Legal Seafood and found a new airport playground.

Birthday

My little boy turned 4 this month!  He is currently in the midst of a month long celebration, which includes 5 little parties in 3 countries with 13 relatives!

A couple of days before his birthday I explained to M that it's customary to request whatever meal you want for your birthday dinner.  I fully expected him to want chicken nuggets (an American favorite we can't get here), a burger or perhaps even roast beef.  What did he request:  black pudding.  I found a British food shop near Vondelpark and made a pretty decent fry up if I do say so myself.  I really enjoyed the scientific precision needed to make sure it all came out at the same time.

This was M's portion.
The adult portions were a bit more artistic (not cut into bite sized pieces, with fried tomato).

Marzipan Batsignal!  I was so proud of this I made it my Facebook photo!

M liked the gifts we got him:  a doctor kit, the Toy Story films, some Playmobil knights, and a mask and snorkel.  M requested a Batman cake and I just about pulled it off, making a bat signal out of marzipan.

A few days later, we headed to London, where M had yet another birthday celebration, then the day after we returned, my parents came for a visit.  Next week we head to my sister's for Halloween, and yet another birthday party for M.

London

One of the reasons we moved to Amsterdam was to live closer to P's family, and we recently spent a great long weekend with them in London. M enjoyed the birthday celebration they organized for him, complete with a Toy Story cake!

M loved his presents and Uncle Stephen also had fun playing with them.  Mairtin loved having his Grandma read him the new books Uncle Brian gave him.

One of the best things about staying in London is the great playground across the street from Uncle David's house.

The playground has a lot of new equipment since the last time we were there.
Mommy even got a few minutes in on the elliptical.

Daddy and Uncle David had fun at the playground, too, while a perplexed M looked on.

I'm not exactly sure how M got the idea to make a peace sign in every photo.

M also loved his trips on a double decker bus, going to and from Ealing Broadway.  On Sunday we spent the day in the country with some friends of Uncle David's who have a son about M's age.  M had a great time, "thanks to Uncle David," as he said.