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In the following two videos, our boys show off their special skills.

Theo demonstrates his new crawling proficiency, while Elliott eats yogurt and sings the PSV "stadion medley" (not bad for a 2-year old American kid!).

They're always a hoot!

Attack of the pigeons!

Here are two short movies showing our encounter with the pigeons of Venice, courtesy of Auntie Nessa.

February fun

We're back! After a month of visitors, life has finally settled back down at the Leandrese residence.

Our first visitors were Grandma and Grandpa Andres for two weeks. On the 11th the six of us flew to Lisbon for five nights, where Megan and her mom were able to get in touch with their Portuguese roots. We stayed in a hotel downtown that was located on an atmospheric pedestrian-only street. The weather was quite nice compared to Eindhoven, ~ 60F compared to ~ 40F, so there was no need for winter jackets, hats or gloves. We even had a chance to make a short jaunt to the beach - it was as though we were on a tropical vacation! Highlights included a walking tour of the historic center, the Lisbon Oceanarium, and a daytrip to Sintra, a wildly colored and strangely decorated 19th century castle located on top of a mountaintop about 10 miles outside of Lisbon. In some ways the city reminded me of San Francisco: located on the water, lots of steep hills, mild climate, and even its own version of the Golden Gate bridge! Whenever we travel, it's fun to notice what kind of snacks vendors sell on the street in a given city or country. In Lisbon two stand out: bags of roasted chestnuts and shots of ginja (a cherry flavored liquor). Both can be purchased for about a euro on street corners and enjoyed while walking around.

We flew back to the Netherlands on the 16th, where we had two days to relax before Aunt Vanessa (better known as Whoompie-Nessa) came to visit. She arrived on Monday evening after the long train ride from Frankfurt, and on Wednesday we all hopped in the Bluebird to catch a flight from Weeze (near the German-Dutch border) to Rome. On a practical note, I highly recommend this airport to people living in the Benelux area who have access to a car since this airport has lots of lowcost flights to locations around Europe and longterm parking is cheap! The five of us stayed in one room at a hotel near the train station for two nights, then traveled by train to Siena. Rome highlights included the Trevi fountain, St. Peter's, the Vatican museums, the Pantheon (from the outside only, unfortunately), and the Coloseum. With the kids in tow, we kept our museum visits to a minimum (I think we spent about 2 minutes in the Sistine Chapel) and spent most of our time walking around town and soaking up the sights. We were amazed with how ancient, pretty-old, and modern architecture mixed in Rome; it seems like every time we turned a corner we'd find a thousand year old building! We dined on pasta, pizza, and gelato. On Wednesday night, Vanessa came down with what would turn out to be a horrible cold/flu/sinus infection that would last more or less for the rest of the trip. Poor thing!

The weather in Rome was pretty nice (50-55F) but not as nice as it was in Siena. Siena, a town in Tuscany, had gorgeous blue skies and in the sun we could get by with a short-sleeved shirt and pants! We stayed in a great apartment just outside of town that had one bedroom, a kitchen, a living room, a terrace, and free laundry services. The last feature was really important, as I think Megan was going through laundry withdrawal (she did about four loads). The landscaped grounds surrounding the apartment were great for Elliott, as he could run around and Having the kitchen was good for our budget, since we were able to make our own breakfast and dinner, of course using only authentic Italian ingredients from the supermarket located only five minutes away, where wine could be purchased dirt-cheap! Trader Joe's sells two-buck chuck, but Coop had a wide variety of wines for about a euro! Siena was a picturesque, well-preserved Medievel town, meaning lots of narrow, winding, cobbled streets and old, stone buildings with funky gargoyles and decorative carvings. It felt similar to Brugges in Belgium but in better shape. We had a great time wandering the streets and poking our heads into amazing cathedrals. We especially enjoyed sunbathing in the central square (Piazza del Campo). Theo took a nap, Elliott met some Italian kids and quickly made friends, and Megan and I rested our tired feet while Vanessa enjoyed some free time.

On Monday morning we checked out and took the train to Venice, where we were greeted with temperatures in the 40s and misty skies. Fortunately, the scenery made up for the weather. We took a waterbus from the train station to our hotel. Actually, the boat dropped us off at a dock and we then eventually made it to our hotel with our luggage and the boys after crossing over a few bridges, hitting a few dead-ends, and winding through alleys and tunnels. For the price (<90 euros/night), the hotel was pretty nice since we got two rooms and Venice is normally very expensive. Like Siena, everything in Venice looked quite old, which made walking around fun. Tiny canals were everywhere and filled with boats delivering goods and gondoliers shuttling tourists. The church at St. Mark's square was amazing. After seeing lots of painted religious art, we were refreshed and impressed to see something different on the ceilings and walls of St. Mark's, which were covered with beautiful mosaics. In some ways we enjoyed these simple mosaics even more than the ceilings of the Sistine chapel. The highlight of Venice, and possibly one of the more memorable parts of our trip were the mobs of pigeons in St. Mark's square. Vendors there sell birdseed by the bag, and the birds are definitely aware of this, as they swarm around anyone who has food. Not only do they gather at your feet, they'll jump on your arms, shoulders, hands, and even head. I'm sure Theo didn't appreciate it when they flew onto his buggy. It was slightly gross being covered in pigeons, but it was hilarious. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard!

We flew back to Germany late on the 27th, and Vanessa spent a few days in Switzerland and Amsterdam before she returned to Portland. Hopefully she wasn't too turned off by our boys tendency to throw screaming fits and the plague she endured while visiting here. Please visit again Whoompie-Nessa!

Life is quiet but busy back here in Eindhoven. Elliott is doing really well with potty training and loves school; Theo is eating like a pig and crawling all over the place; Cameron is trying to finish up his research and find a job; and Megan has a human taxicab now that she can put Theo in the handlebar seat of her bike while Elliott rides on the child's seat just behind her. She's practically Dutch! By the way, if you look closely at the pictures in this post or at recent photos in our photo album you will notice that there is a new member of the family. Her name is Fancy Show Horse, and Elliott won't leave home without her. Can you spot her?