A Canary Island Holiday

The newest adventure: the Hooper family took our first 7 day family holiday. After I had a very positive meeting in Lanzarote (Canary Islands located off the coast of Africa), the rest of the crew flew down to meet me at the end of my meeting.

We rented a fabulous 3 bedroom villa with our own private pool. The kids loved the pool!

We spent several days on the beautiful beach of Playa Blanca. Suffice it to say that it looked a little different than the Texas beach!

The entire island is volcanoes so we decided to ride camels at the large national park of Timanfaya. The landscape looks like moonscape. It was amazing to see. One of the neatest things we saw at Timanfaya is where they have found a hole (literally) that goes deep into the earth. The heat that comes out is so hot that they have built a restaurant around it. They use the hole to cook the food. Directly over the hole, the temperatures stay around 400 degrees Farenheit. Pretty amazing to see.

Next to that oven hole was several small holes. The nice man there would dump a bucket of water down the holes. After three to four seconds, a bit of gurgling, and then a loud boom, the hole would shoot the water/steam straight up into the air about 20 feet.

Perhaps one of the coolest things we saw was a giant cave made by lava called Cueva de los Verdes. Words and the photos simply can't do this place justice. It felt like you were walking to the center of the earth... Legend has it that the inhabitants of Lanzarote used to hide in the caves when the pirates cam ashore. Unbelievable place.

The kids were fantastic the entire trip. On our several hour trip back to Amsterdam, Keali slept while Caden sat in his seat and drew pictures and wrote lots of words. As he always does, he struck up a conversation with the person next to him. Just before getting off the plane I heard him ask her if she would like us to walk with her through the airport. So cute!

As we spent our time in Lanzarote, Scott and I both were simply amazed by even being there. Still feeling like a Texas panhandle farm girl, I never expected to have the opportunities that we have had. In just a few short months, we have vacationed in Paris, Belgium, Scotland, Venice, and the Canary Islands. Our kids have seen more in six months than both Scott and me combined. The adventure continues in a few weeks to Barcelona.

Below you will find a few other honorable mentions from our holiday.

The first 1000 piece puzzle I have ever participated in. Teamwork! More to come on the puzzle later...

The beach where we sat in El Golfo to eat a delicious lunch. It doesn't get any fresher than this. You can see the man who cleans the fish beachside that they serve in the restaurant. It was delicious!

This is how Alex spent seven days:

An example of (non)-stellar parenting:

Just an absolute beautiful place.

Adventures of advice (not given)

As I look around me everyday, I have so much "advice" I would like to give to the person next to me, whether it be my coworker, my kid, a parent, a complete stranger, etc. You get the point. Pretty much everyone. I rarely do volunteer my opinion, but it is not for lack of desire. I simply keep my mouth shut (when I can) and move forward knowing that if they wanted to know my opinion, that unnamed person would ask. It comes as no surprise that rarely am I asked my opinion. No surprise to me or to you.

So, in light of this, I decided to write down my most common thoughts/advice that would be offered, if asked. Make no mistake that I doubt anyone honestly cares, but it was coming time for another update, and this seemed to fit the part. Aren't all of us bloggers really just egomaniacal enough to think someone actually cares what we think?!

So here goes:

1. Smile! Really, it isn't as bad as you think. Even if they put mustard on your sandwich, and it doesn't taste as good, tomorrow it won't matter. Lighten up! Geez!

2. Do you job, plus. Someone is always looking, even if it isn't your boss, someone will always be aware of what you are, or are not doing. Doing a little more than you have been asked will result in ten times more than you put into it. So even if you don't really want to do that extra thing, and especially if no one has asked you to do it, just do it. Even if your motive at that point is selfish, just do it. Someone will notice. They always do.

3. Try to not air too much dirty laundry or depressing thoughts on FB/Twitter/other social media. While your friends love you and want to know what is going on, daily updates on the terrible pains, sadness, aches, downers, lost sleep, etc, just does not progress the situation in any way. A little of it is okay, but a lot of it is quite frankly unnecessary. (See #1.)

4. Eat healthy when you can when at a restaurant. (Thanks Michael!) If there is anything that you will like that is even slightly healthy, opt for that one instead of the deep fried cheese sticks. Your rear end will appreciate it.

5. Do something nice for your spouse. Even if it is something little. Even if it is #1 of this list and that is all you can muster that day. Most likely they are doing very nice things for you all the time and it is going unnoticed or being taken for granted. (See #2)

6. Tell your kids you love them. All the time. There is no reason EVER to call them bad names or degrade them. You are their world. Act like it.

7. Adopt an animal from the humane society. These sweet creatures WILL end up being the best pet ever and maybe, just maybe, it will result in a "bad" breeder going out of business. It wasn't the dog's fault he ended up in a cage in the shelter with only 4 days left to live...

8. Save. Save your money for retirement and/or kids' schooling and/or mortgage, etc. There is very little reason to drive a $55,000 car if you are making $50,000. Doing so indicates that you may be as egomaniacal as us bloggers and think that someone actually cares what you drive.

9. Realize that you are replaceable, especially at work. While we are all replaceable, we can make it very difficult for our employer to get rid of us by excelling at our job, going above and beyond, being early and staying late, and generally overachieving. See #2.

10. Trust others. Until they give you a reason not to trust them, trust them. Questioning the motives of every person you meet is exhausting. Ask me. I know. Follow rule #1 and see where it goes.

SO, that is the majority of my daily thoughts that I generally do not share with others. I can only wonder what advice I would get from the stranger next to me on the tram, or my colleague at work, or one of the kid's teachers, etc. More than that, I wonder if I would take it to heart... Throw some advice at me and I'll let you know!

Princess Keali turns 4...

Yesterday was a big day in the life of Keali. She was so excited when she woke up, because that day marked her "being a big girl since she is four". Very cute.

We had a great day of celebrating her princess day with multiple wardrobe changes between various pink and purple frilly dresses. One of her gifts included princess "bling" which she proudly flaunted almost all day on her ears and around her neck.

For her party, we had another family (and their two children) and one of Caden's friends from school over. Puzzles, presents, dolls, princess hats, and play doh kept all the kids engaged. The princess cake was as yummy as it was beautiful. Keali is happy to "finally" be four and is already wondering when she gets to turn five. She wishes she could speed up time, and I wish we could slow it down a bit. It was a fun day for all and we look forward to the next birthday!

Leaving a fantastic 2010...

It is safe to say that 2010 proved to be another great year for the Hooper family! It seems like each year gets better and better, so 2011 has a lot to live up to. Just in 2010, Caden learned how to read, Keali learned how to write many of her letters, the family moved to Europe, Scott had a great work year, and I have the best job imaginable. We are truly very fortunate and we appreciate it each day.

December was a very busy and fun month for us. Just a few highlights:

- Sinterklaas came in from Spain and went back again - without Caden or Keali in a burlap sack!

- We had our first visitor from the States (thanks Ashley!) which gave us an opportunity/excuse to go to the Van Gogh museum AND pick up our Christmas tree in typical Dutch fashion (on a bicycle).

- Caden had his first big play at school where he "performed" as a polar bear (super cute!).

- Scott and I made a quick trip to Houston where we were able to see many of our friends.

- We had our first overseas Christmas in Europe. Fortunately the reindeer food enticed Santa's reindeer to come all the way over here so Santa could leave gifts for the kids. Skype allowed us to see our family on Christmas day, but we still missed seeing everyone in person.

- I received my annual painted piggy bank from the kids and LOVED it! That combined with my iPad may point to my best Christmas yet!

- Scott cooked up some excellent dinners for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The European portion sizes went out the window for the holidays!

- We took the kids to see the World Circus. It consists of acts from circus's around the world performing all in one big circus. It was a fantastic show and the kids loved it. I don't think they have ever sat still for so long...

- We found an awesome indoor swimming pool with slides and wave pools and lots of shallow water for the kids to play in. This may be their highlight of the whole month. Everyday they ask if they can go to the "swimmy place".

- And lastly, Scott and I went out for New Year's Eve. We had a delicious dinner at a Michelin rated restaurant and then went out to see the crazies! Trams stop running in A'dam on NYE due to people blowing up firecrackers ON the trams! People were all over the place blowing up fireworks throughout the city, streets, etc. When we came home, the cab couldn't drive us the last block due to the 30+ people blowing fireworks all the way down our street. Now I fully appreciate why Houston has made it illegal to have fireworks in the city limits!

January 2011 brings lots of fun to the party too. Keali turns 4 this month, and I am scheduled to return to the States for about a week. Scott's work churns back up this month, and life just generally returns to normal once the kids are back in school.

We are looking forward to a great 2011!

Holiday Cards and Bargain shopping

So it is holiday time again and time for the Christmas cards to go out! This year, since we are living in Amsterdam, I used technology to my full advantage. Using Shutterfly.com, I created our Christmas cards (thanks to help from www.ashleyallenphoto.net for some of the pics). Shutterfly was offering a cool "story card" which is really what we needed. Here's a pic of the front of the card. Inside the card is even more pics and writing (not pictured here).

Scarlet Red Story New Year's 5x7 folded card

Create custom new year's invitations with Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The coolest part: Shutterfly will take the names and addresses I put in and address the envelopes, stamp and mail the cards for me! SWEEEEEEEET!

Christmas cards were so much easier this year. Time to use technology to your advantage!

The things to love

We had a great Thanksgiving here in Amsterdam. Scott made some deee-licious food. One of our American friends came over with her family and brought pecan pie and mashed potatoes. It was in fact a proper American Thanksgiving, right in the middle of Holland.

While we were eating, the question was posed, "What do you like about living here?" I have been giving it thought over the last several days. Because the real answer is EVERYTHING, I had to narrow it down to a few favorites. Here's a short list.

1. The food. Without doubt. The food is fantastic here! Everything is fresh and mostly small farm grown. No corporate farming over here and Sysco does not take all the food to all the restaurants. The results in food tasting different everywhere you go. Yummy. Of course the down side is that not too many items have preservatives in them, so it requires frequent trips to the grocery store. I'll take that deal every time.



2. The weather. It is really great weather. It is colder than Houston, but Houston is too hot. Since I had become acclimated to the weather in Houston, I had no idea how bad our weather was. Having been here, I appreciate how awfully hot it was in Houston. I may be fussing about the weather on month 6 of winter in the near future, but for now I am LOVING it!

3. The travel. Almost everything is within a 2 hour plane ride or a 3 hour high speed train ride. In a short three months, I have already been to Spain, Italy, France, England, Scotland, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, etc... What a great experience! KLM is my new found friend...



4. My job. What a cool job I have! Some travel is certainly required, but it has been a good trade for the experience for our entire family.

5. Let's not forget about the vino! We are slowly learning our European wines and branching away from the Californian wines. Delicious!

6. The pedestrian lifestyle. We walk or bike or take the tram (which is great and cheap!) almost everywhere. I think there are more bikes here than people. It's healthier and there seems to be much less pollution. That's pretty surprising since this is one of the most populated areas of Europe.

7. My fantastic fam! Scott is finally home from the extensive travels back and forth to the US. The kids are loving it here. They tell us all the time that they never want to go back to Houston (mostly because they say it is too hot). This has already been a wonderful experience and we still have 75% more to go! (This pic is one of them sitting by the river running through Paris by the Louvre.)

We are so lucky to have this opportunity. We appreciate it every day.

Awww... Sweet Vacation

We moved to Amsterdam August 5, 2010. Scott traveled back and forth to the USA for one week on and one week off until mid-October. He then returned for just over four weeks. I stayed in Amsterdam, well, all over Europe considering my work, and did my best to hold down the fort. It made me truly appreciate what single mothers do. I have been so lucky to have a husband who was involved with the kids to such a great extent. His absence confirmed what I already knew, which was it would be extremely difficult to do it all by myself.

We made it. It was tough. Tougher than I expected. But we made it.

He returned, and five days later, Scott and I went on a four day vacation to Venice, Italy. It was fantastic. We were able to experience high tide. We were able to eat, drink, and sleep. We were able to simply hang out with no "to-do" lists hanging over our heads. It was much needed.

Here is a short video of our holiday together. I look forward to returning to Italy!