Category Archives: Enjoy

10K nightrun

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Once again I ran a 10K and this time with a pretty good result. I finished in just over 50 minutes. Up until two months ago I was following the perfect training schedule. I was running three times a week between 6 or 7K. A very good preparation for a 10K. Then my family came home from spending the summer at the beach, and my running activities decreased from 3 times a week to 0 times a week.

Still my foundation must be good, because even without running for two months I still ran the 10K in a very good time, 50 minutes and 10 seconds. I ran together with the father of one of Alex’friends, so that maybe added some motivation.
2018 - 10k nightrun!

Stung

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We should have known, because if something looks to good to be true, usually it is, and there is a catch. Today we went to a local event where they were selling some cows and organizing some games for the kids. There was also a picnic area, and we were in luck. There was still one table available. Well, we thought we were in luck, until we got closer. Alex was the first because he set of running once we had spotted the table.

To my surprise he came back running even faster. Wasps! Wasps! he was screaming, and he was right. Alex had found a wasps nest, and they had stung him three times in the legs. Au!

Luckily there was an ambulance nearby, and Alex got some cold ice cubes applied to his legs, and the pain quickly subsided. Add a gift to make things better and the rest of the day was spend without incident.
Stung!

Lose yourself

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Lose Yourself to Dance
Daft Punk

I know you don’t get a chance to take a break this often
I know your life is speeding and it isn’t stopping
You take my shirt and just go ahead and wipe up all the
Sweat, sweat, sweat

Lose yourself to dance

7 years!

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Alex has his seventh birthday today and that calls for a big party. At times we have some difficulty with him, but if we look at the big picture we can only conclude that he did very very well the last year. At his school we turned out to be a very good student, even getting selected to be the personal aid for his teacher. At his music classes he turned out just a bit better than the other kids, so that as a reward he was selected to sit in the spotlights all the way up front at the closing concert. At taekwondo Alex got promoted two times within the year. First to white-yellow and a short while later to yellow.

Alex has worked hard and made tremendous improvements this last year. We have a boy that in situations of authority (like with teacher) is a very disciplined boy. In all he has deserved a birthday with a nice stack of presents.

Painting

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Alan is a source for inspiration for all of us. Every day he inspires us to be the best we can possibly be and to work for a better future.

Even without being physically present his image has inspired an artist, who made this beautiful painting.
Alan in paint!

The painting was inspired by this image:
Alan inspiratie!

Debtors beware!

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We have received an official email from Alex and Alans school. In this email the school states they will finally act against the debtors, parents that fail to pay up the tuition of their children. This sounds like a very good step to ensure the financial future of the school, but things are not so simple. Even though we pay everything we need to pay I can still understand that in some situations it might be logical not not pay up without putting up a fight. The context of this email is in this case very important.

  • Officially the school is free. The government pays all the fees related to the students. The school does have a voluntary contribution of about 50 EUR a month that the parents are required to pay.
  • The reason for the voluntary required contribution is always explained by summing up various small details, but a real specification has never been presented, and probably will never be presented.
  • Some parents refuse to pay the voluntary mandatory contribution out of principle.
  • To force the debtors to pay the voluntary fees the school will take the following measures:
    • Parents that do not pay will be unable to see their kids results on the school website
    • Kids will not be allowed to go on field trips
    • Kids will not be allowed to be dropped of early or collected late
    • Regarding all extras the school offers the kids of parents that do not pay might be excluded

It seems that the school is targeting the students to force the parents to pay up. I really doubt that this is the correct manner to act in this case and frankly I suspect this email will not result in the end of the debtors.

Yellow

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Alex has only recently started and he already got the yellow band. To get yellow he needed to learn a few taek wondo routines and execute them without any mistake during his exams. The exact movements are a mistery to me, so we could not help Alex, and still it all went perfect. *super proud*

Influencer

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Alan - BearAlan is only two years, but he is developing very fast. A big role in his development is of course his big brother Alex who functions as a perfect example for lots of things. Still, there is room for surprises, like the event that happened yesterday. Alan is developing his skills to influence. The great and subtle art of preparing the now with small little details so that a desired future will be more likely. For a two year old a great achievement, in fact even with an older kid I would be impressed.

What Alan had done was the following. He saved one of his candies and placed it secretly on my desk, next to the bed, so I found if right before going to sleep. In the early morning Alan came to check on the candy and when he found it still in its place he even offered to put it in my mouth. I sure wonder what he was hoping to achieve.

Coca Cola & Mentos fountain

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The Cola Cola Mentos experiment is quite simple. Throw a couple of mentos in a bottle of Coca Cola and a huge fountain of cola will be the result. At least in theory. To Alex I had to explain that this experiment would be impossible to do inside the house. Everything would be covered in cola. This one needed to be done outside.

The somewhat disappointing result can be seen in the video below.