Embracing your heritage

Over the last few weeks, the kiddos were exposed to a very healthy dose of their Texan heritage. And let it never be said that they did not embrace it with gusto.

Roasting marshmallows with their cousins? Check! Patiently toasting (and eating...) one  marshmallow after another, they slowly found the perfect balance between getting their sticks close enough for a good toast and avoiding the smoke...

  

Both (!) kids enjoyed the most stereotypically Texan experience of all (no, not guns!): horse-riding. Anneke was practically in heaven, as aunt Tanda and uncle Mac with infinite patience walked in circles for what must have been at least an hour...

All the while, Cousin Skyler (bless her heart) took it upon herself to try and teach Lautje the beginnings of roping - undaunted by the fact that he approached the task with infinitely more enthusiasm than talent. With her help, he eventually had quite a bit of success: accidentally roping himself (not necessarily the imitation calf...) on a number of occasions.

 

Their new identity was reflected by certain wardrobe changes. Once Anneke had managed to talk her parents into buying her boots, and the Nanny had added a pink cowboy hat, she practically never wore anything else again. Ever. If possible, she would have gone to bed with them (and in fact, on more than one occasion tried her best to convince the Mommy that that would not be a terrible idea at all!).

And then there was food. This year, instead of nibbling on white toast and chewing ice cubes, both Anneke and Laurens properly Worshipped at the House of Ribs. Next time, the Papa better watch those beef ribs of his, because his granddaughter has a new favorite...

And, of course, queso. Because what's not to love about dipping fried tortilla triangles into melted, industrial cheese product? Ah, what the Mommy and terrible twosome wouldn't give for some Velveeta here in Germany...

And then there were pancakes. This here is Laurens's personal heaven: A plate full of pancakes (dipped in syrup), bacon (dipped in syrup) and eggs (dipped in syrup). All in the company of the Nanny and Miss Jeanie. What could be better?

Well, fried jumbo shrimp, maybe...