Visser Family

Winter 2011 in Pictures

2011-09-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Life in South Africa

2011-01-25T11:10:00.000-08:00

Okay Danni is almost 4 and Liam is turning 6 this Sunday. I realized I have not blogged for 2 years. Well, a lot has happened since the last blog. We moved back to South Africa in May 2009. After almost 2 years back, we are settled. Kids are in a good school and Wilem and I are happy with our jobs. We survived the Soccer World Cup 2010 and even went to see some games at the Cape Town Stadium....awesome! We've enjoyed 2 Christmas summer holidays with our families already. We also live the real SA life with having a maid 3 times a week. She is also ready for babysitting whenever we need it. All is great!

Danni is 2

2009-04-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today is Danni's 2nd birthday. She has grown so fast. She started potty training a little over a week ago and is doing great. She is starting to walk to the potty or say "yes" when ask at the right time. She is great with demands: "Go, Mom"; "Stop, Mom"; "Wait, Mom"; especially "NO, Mom!"

She knows her alphabet letters and can even sound them. She knows a few numbers, shapes and colors too. She is still as busy as a bee and never sits still. She loves to play with her Leapster 2 and is figuring it out all by herself, since she doesn't want much help.

She got her 2nd haircut last night. The 1st was just her bangs, but this was getting about 6cm's off all around. She looks great.

Liam still draws pictures when inside and catch bugs when outside all day long.

April 2009

2009-04-21T14:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I last blogged. Willem and Amanda managed to get their US Citizenships recently. Willem has accepted a full professorship at Stellenbosch University, beginning June 1st, 2009. Currently we are getting organized for the big move to South Africa. We also decided to try a 3-day potty training method on Danni this past weekend, starting April 18th. So far so good, except for the fact that it is already day 4, but lots of progress so far. Definitely not flawless as the book described it. Maybe mom didn't follow it to the "T". We are experiencing record temperatures for this time of the year, 97 degrees F. Last time we had temps this high was in 1906.
Thank God for AC's.

We recently went sailing from Sausalito to Angel Island on Aegea, Kagan and Irem's sailboat. The kids loved it and we had a great time.

We also sold our first house recently and other than being in a terrible economy, we feel pretty good about it.

Soon we will celebrate Danni's 2nd birthday and Liam, our big boy, is already 4!! Time flies....

Sausalito - Tumers

2008-07-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Kagan and Irem in Sausalito on the 5th and 6th of July. Kagan has a new sailboat, Aegea. Liam loved the boat and wanted to be on the boat all the time. Liam also wanted to find jellyfish and got stung by one (that is what he told us, anyway). Danni just enjoyed mom's beer and didn't have a care in the world - the beer was luckily empty by the time she tried to take a sip:)

4th of July party

2008-07-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

We had a great 4th of July party in our close knit community. All the big boys run, played, splashed and ate like maniacs and the girls did their own little mini crawling, running, splashing and eating. Here are some pictures of our last 4th of July in America.

Becoming a stay-at-home mom

2008-06-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

I decided to quit my job at Epic-Wines to become a stay-at-home mom. I will be working until June 20th. I'm part nervous and part excited about the big decision. The kids are a lot of work, but I'm up for the challenge. I now have too many responsibilities and cutting one will hopefully make my life a little easier. Daycare cost plays the biggest role in this decision and it is best to not even mention what that costs us a year for the 2 kids....gulp! I just need all the luck I can get right now and the rest will be taken care of:)

Danni's 1st Birtday

2008-05-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Danni had her 1st birthday on April 28th and we had a small party for her on Sunday the 27th with just close friends and babies. We had muffins and fruit instead of cake and Danni loved her 1st muffin.

She celebrated her 1st birthday on Monday at the Daycare and had more muffins to eat. She started walking a few steps here and there a few weeks before her birthday, but fully walked right on her first birtday.

SA Trip

2008-05-23T18:24:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've blogged. In March we went to South Africa for 3 weeks. The flying was a trip from hell, since we had to take an extra flight and was delayed for 9 hours, but once there we had a lot of fun.

1st week we spend in the Strand (Cape Town). Liam and Danni went to the beach a few times. Liam loved catching little crabs. We also went to Spier to show them Cheetahs and big birds..they loved it. We also celebrated Oupa Vissie's 80th Birthday.

The last 2 weeks we spend with our family in Klerksdorp. We had numerous "braais" and went on a few game drives. Liam just couldn't believe his luck with seeing all these African animals for real. Danni turned 11 months and was everyones favorite little baby. The cousins played non-stop with each other and that made things very easy for us as parents.

Our flight back was again delayed, this time only 6 hours:(

Jetlag takes about 5 days for a 3 year old. We were very tired after the 1st week back, since we had to get up at 3am every night for these wide awakened kids.

1st Emergency accident - Liam

2008-02-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

Sunday night, another regular evening without much happening. We had dinner and went downstairs to watch some TV. Liam and Danni playing around us. Toys and throw pillows everywhere (throwing things in random order is the most fun for a 3 year old). Liam made a sudden move, tripped over a pillow and went, head first, straight for Willem's right hand. This would have been fine, but at 9pm on any given night, Willem has a wine glass in his right hand. This time with the finest Roar Rosellas Pinot Noir...mmm! Oh before I get carried away by the wine, more importantly, Liam screams and the next thing blood starts coming out from the side of his face. Willem throws his glass (what was left of it) down, grabs Liam, runs to the nearest bathroom and put as much toilet paper on his cheek as was in the roll. I grabbed Danni, run upstairs to where the 1st aid kit is and Willem brings Liam. Willem keeps pressure on the wound until the bleeding almost completely stopped. We quickly put gauze and a band aid and Liam also calmed down. Danni is waiting patiently in the crib for the storm to calm down.

As a mom, always worried, I decided that although everything seems under control, I need to take him to the emergency room and make sure there is no glass in the wound.

10pm arriving at Good Sam Hospital. At about 10:30pm the nurse told us he needs stitches and I have to wait. Finally at 1:30am Liam got 5-7 stitches, not without drama. He was strapped down in a straight jacket, head held firmly by nurse. Mom tells him: "No worries, the doctor will make you look beautiful again". Liam screams through the whole process: "I don't want to be beautiful anymore!!!" Afterwards he got a sticker and was pleased.

We got home at 2:15am and went to bed. Liam fell asleep in the car from strong pain medication and exhaustion.

3am Danni woke up and finally went down again at 4:15am. She then got up at 6:15am for her morning bottle. Needless to say it was a very tiring night with only 2 hours of sleep, but luckily all is done and Liam will be fine, with just a small scar that will make him look like a tough guy:)

The Birthday Party

2008-02-06T10:26:00.000-08:00

Lee and Suzie came to visit us on the Saturday before Liam's party. We were so happy to see Lee and meet Suzie and we had a great time with them here. It didn't go without the occational disaster. There is never a dull moment in the Visser household.
Disaster #1: Saturday the bakery called to let me know that the cakes I've ordered has been recalled and I have to re-order. No big deal I re-order and this time it is Madagascar and Shrek Cakes.
Disaster #2: On Sunday, an hour before Liam's party, I gave Danni mashed avocado to eat....guess what? She is allergic to avocado and breaks out in a red rash all over - crying and itching. I only realized how bad it was right before we have to leave for the party, since she took a nap after eating the avocado. I gave her Benadril.
Now ready to put the cakes, that we had in the cellar overnight, in the car and
Disaster #3: Ants got to the Madagascar Cake and we have to throw it away. Willem and Lee will take the red Subaru and go pick up another cake, while Suzie, the kids (one of then red and blodgy) and I go to the party.
Disaster #4: The red Subaru has a flat tire. Now the men has to change tires and go get another cake in time for the party.
At the party Danni's rash started to clear up and Liam had a blast with all his friends. At the end of the day, we had a great time and Liam got a ton of great gifts from all his friends.
Thank God it was all over.
Lee and Suzie left Monday afternoon for London again. I'm just glad I had the extra hands with all that was going on.

Liam's 3rd Birthday Today

2008-01-30T10:48:00.000-08:00

It is our little boy's 3rd Birthday today and he still is a tremendous challenge to both his parents:) He doesn't think that he has potty-power (as much as he's parents want him to believe it):) He still sucks his thumb, turns his eyelids inside out and has his hands in his pants most of the time....uhhh!! We are now believing that the more difficult a child the more intelligent he is.....how else are we going to survive this stage:)

Danni is as sweet as always and is starting to show signs of sleeping through the night. Finally at 9 months - it's about time! Liam on the other hand plays "musical chairs" with the beds at night - he cannot decide where to sleep for most of the night until the early morning hours when he will sleep where ever you put him until 9am!

Liam is going to celebrate his birthday today at daycare with all his classmates and teachers. They'll eat a Nemo cake.

On Sunday the 3rd he'll have another birthday party with all his other friends and will have a dragon and lion cake. My Gym is the host and they'll do fun activities.

October, November, December 2007

2007-12-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since we've updated the Blog, but we've been crazy busy lately. Willem's still working hard at Seven and has been traveling quite a bit for work. He has been to London twice, then South Africa, Atlanta and lately Helsinki, but is now finally done with traveling.

We went to the Tumers in Corvallis, Oregon, for Thanksgiving and had a great time. We drove for 8-10 hours, but it was well worth the rest, company, wine and great food we had when we were there. We just wish they were closer.

Liam and Danni is growing fast. Danni has been great at sitting up and since her 7th months has been showing signs of crawling. She knows what to do with her upper body, but her legs keep slipping out from under her. She manages to scoot all over the place though and we have to keep a close eye on her. She's still a good eater and smiles and hugs are abundant. Liam is doing a lot of imaginary play and still loves animals in particular sea creatures. We took him to the aquarium the other day and he threw a dozen tantrums when we had to leave. He is quite a talker and when he gets going he doesn't stop.

We currently have the Smitte visiting us from South Africa and are having a blast. We cooked a turkey for Christmas dinner and had the Harvetts over. They brought appetisers and dessert. Nothing like great food and great company and wine to go with:)

The cousins are playing all the time and we never have a dull moment. They took the red Subaru yesterday and drove down to Southern California for a bit of sightseeing, in particular Disneyland. Nisa and Janca's top pick for the holiday:) They got MP3 players and digital cameras for Christmas and has not stop clicking and playing tunes since.

Mandy is having a great sales month....we need it after all the holiday spending. December is the month for everyone to stock up on wine and champagne...thanks for that. The year went by so fast, but we are looking forward to 2008 and hope to see a few friends and family when we visit SA in March.

September 2007

2007-10-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

Liam went with Willem on his first train ride. On September 15th they took the train from San Jose to Mountain View and then went to Cuesta Park to play. Liam loved the ride and was a very good boy.
He is in the phase where he loves to test his parents. He makes us mad for most of the day, but everytime he does something good, we love him all over again...that is how kids survive:)
He is also in vigorous potty training at the daycare. He wears underpants now and wets himself, but he soon has learned to hold his pee-pee until naptime when he gets a diaper and so he never seem to wet his pants anymore. He can control it for quite a while:)

Danni is 5 months old and has been eating solid food since 31st of August. She is a very good eater and eats cereal, carrots, butternut squash, pears and apples and loves it.
She is also starting to sit up and can sit for a few seconds before tumbling over. She is a very good little girl and loves to smile, hug and kiss.

Liam under the weather - Pappa in London

2007-08-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

August 5-8th, 2007: Willem flew to London for business and Liam developed a fever, vomited, didn’t eat and acted lethargic. Mom was up with 2 kids 2 nights in a row at 3am and didn't sleep much after that. So now Liam and Danni has a zombie mom that cannot drink caffeine and is sleep deprived! Mom took him to the doctor on the 7th and they thought it might be strep throat, but 1st results shows negative. We are in waiting for the results, but it probably is a virus (or maybe teeth?) that will be gone by another 2 days and then we will be prepared for a little pig next week to replace the calories that he lost this week. Thank God Willem came back today to help out - mom's about to loose it:)

Danni Daycare

2007-08-08T16:30:00.000-07:00

July 30th, 2007: Mom started to work after taking 3 months off for maternity leave and had great fun with her little girl. Unfortunately all play and no work leaves little kids without education and food, so mom's working again and Danni went to daycare. She is very good and drinks all her milk and doesn't cry much. The teachers allready adore her. She is very cute, especially when she smiles and occasionally laughs out loud.

Liam's habits

2007-07-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

July 11th , 2007:
Liam has all kinds of habits. He’s been sucking his left thumb for over a year now. He also likes to put his right hand in his diaper and therefore created the phrase: “Liam, hands out of the pants, please!” He will wet his pants, because he’ll pull his pee-pee out of his diaper, it drives his mom nuts. He also likes to turn his eyelids inside out and freaks out his teachers by doing so. He thinks it is funny. When he sleeps with someone, he’ll kick the person until he falls asleep. He still says fuck for truck...dump truck became dum fuck....you can't help but laugh.

Now for some good with the bad; he still loves all kinds of animals and loves to hug and kiss. He loves the outdoors and swimming. He also still loves his little sister...thank God!

Liam's gray tooth

2007-07-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

July 6th, 2007: Liam went to the dentist, because he has a gray front tooth. It turns out the tooth is dying and will be gray until he gets his permanent teeth. We’re not sure how it happened, but could be a follow up from him chipping his teeth when he was 11 months old.

Danni 2 months

2007-06-27T10:51:00.000-07:00

Danni will be 2 months old tomorrow and the time has gone by so quickly. She had a terrible rash at about 5weeks that lasted for 2 weeks. Her skin was full of red dots and very dry, but thankfully she is over that now. She's also been spitting up quite a bit until mom decided to eat a little less diary products and that seems to help. She's also on a better schedule than in the beginning. Mom gets up only once a night now, since she goes for 4-5 hours without feeding at night and daytime is normally now 3-4 hours between feedings. She's given mom two 6 hours and one 7 hour stretch between feedings at night, but has not stuck to it. She is getting cuter by the day and grows pretty fast....quite chubby.

Danni's 1st week

2007-05-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

She's been pretty good at keeping a 3 hour eating schedule. We had about 3 nights of almost no sleep, since she had her day and night swopped around. Last night was the 1st really good night....fingers crossed for more nights like that. Mommy took her to Wholefoods on her 4th day and we went shopping again on day 6th. She's been great with the outings. She also had her 3rd bath today (day 6) and did not like it much, but when she had her 2nd bath on day 3, she started to smile for mommy afterwards...must have been so happy to be done with the horrible sponge bath. I include a picture to proof it.

April 28, 2007 - Danielle arrives!

2007-05-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

In the early hours of Saturday morning Mandy started getting contractions. By 8am they were 6 minutes apart. Liam got a quick bath and we put new bedding on our bed for Janet if she needs to stay overnight. By this time the contractions are 3 minutes apart. We dropped Liam off next door with Janet and got to Good Sam around 10:15am. Turns out Mandy is 5cm dilated and ready to get an epidural...after getting 2 bags of IV fluid. The epidural kicks in quickly and then we had hours of just waiting it out. Very uneventful when you don't feel anything, but it was better than having to endure all the pain. Between 2pm and 3pm the contractions stopped, but luckily picked up again after 3pm. Doctor Wu got ready for action at about 4pm and with 2 big contractions Danni was pushed out...yeah! She weighed in at 7lb 1oz and measured 20 inches. Everything went smooth thanks to our great nurse, Melissa. Willem went home by about 7pm.

Easter Egg Hunt 2007

2007-04-09T15:30:00.000-07:00

April 6th + 8th , 2007: Liam hunted for Easter eggs, first at the daycare and then here at home, but he’s more into playing with all the toys and drinking water (it was a hot day) than searching for eggs.

February 2007

2007-04-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

Feb, 2007: Liam is very talkative and will chat in long sentences, but he’s poor parent’s doesn’t always understand him, so he gets a little frustrated and is very good at throwing tantrums. He is also in his mine, mine, mine stage and refuse to share toys with anybody. It always ends up in tantrums and crying. Hopefully this will be over soonLMom recently did a little bit of sleep training with him and he will now fall asleep all by himself without his parents lying down with him. It is a big bonus for his tired parents who take turns at night when he wakes up. We now just put him straight to bed and leave him to fall asleep by himself. It doesn’t necessarily means that he sleeps through the night, unfortunately, but it is a little easier.

Biltong & Beskuit

2007-02-17T17:25:00.000-08:00

The Vissers are making Biltong again these days and discovered their little boy is crazy about it. Now we will have to keep making it. We share with the Harvetts in exchange for Christina's great beskuit which is another favorite food for Liam. His mom is not so crazy about him eating beskuit, because we now have crumbs all over the house and have to run the Roomba vacuum almost daily.

Liam with his eye tricks

2007-02-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

Liam loves to turn his eye lids inside out and freaks out everyone around him. His teachers cannot stand it and the more they get freaked out the more satisfaction for the little boy:) He loves doing it on the changing table and before going to bed.

Liam's 2nd Birthday

2007-02-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

Liam had a great NEMO birthday party on January the 28th and had a few friends over. We had great fun playing, eating and opening all his gifts.
On his actual birthday, the 30th, he went for his 2 year doctors check-up. Liam is in good health. A little on the small side, but he gets compared with the big American kids, so we're not concerned at all.
He took a big cake with a soccerball on it to the daycare and had fun playing and overloading on sugar yet again.

January 2007 - Liam and his FISH!

2007-02-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

In a recent shopping trip with mom, Liam picked up a wooden green fish made for home decorating purposes and it clearly stated on the label "This is not a toy". Luckily the fish was on a clearance rack and after Liam threw the tantrum of the century, mom decided to buy the fish. This fish has become Liam's oxygen. It sleeps with him, eats with him, goes to daycare with him and has on occasion taken a bath with him (which is good since it gets pretty dirty at meal times). Mom also realize that she might have to go back to the store and see if she can find another one, just in case this one gets lost. Wish her luck!

Webpages upadted

2007-02-04T09:32:00.000-08:00

At long last the Visser's webpages are updated - you can find a link to the new pages on the right under Links. This means we have our link to this blog back up, as well as the map of where we live. Willem also added all his work stuff that is now no longer being hosted by NASA. Of course all the Google hits will still go to NASA, bugger. We also added Google Analytics stats for your webpages so that we can see how many times people visit etc.

Willem's New Job

2007-02-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Willem joined SEVEN Networks on the 1st of February! Things went very smoothly, took only 50 mins on 101 to get to Redwood City and within 5 mins I had my badge and my laptop was set up with my account and password. At NASA this takes 3 days to do! Had a meeting with my new boss, Sheng Liang, the VP of Engineering, and after 30 mins I had a project to work on too. Actually within 1 day I had three projects! Things move very fast at SEVEN. By the end of the day I was already double booked for a meeting on Monday. Day 2, today, I took the train and it was 5 mins faster (45mins) door to door, and very relaxing. I'll take the train as often as I can.

It's a girl!

2006-12-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

December 4th, 2006: We just found out that we're having a girl this time. She'll be called Danielle (after oupa Danie).

Liam also have a new word; "TRUCK", but he pronounces it "FUCK". It is very funny, but we try not to laugh.

Liam now has a gate up between our room and his so that he cannot get to our bed at night. It is very tough on the little boy and he sobs every night by the gate until someone picks him up. He only went back to his own bed twice and fell asleep all by himself. Hopefully he’ll get use to it soon.

Thanksgiving at Tumers, Oregon

2006-12-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

November 21st, 2006: Driving to Corvallis Oregon for Thanksgiving at the Tumers. Liam was a very good boy in the car on our long journey there and back. He had a great time at the Tumers. Running around in the big house and even made use of their Jacuzzi with mom. He got a portable DVD player for the drive and watch Nemo and Dora over and over. Luckily Kagan and Guillaume watched Nemo with Liam and got totally into it. Liam could say “DD” after the trip, meaning “DVD”.

July 2006

2006-07-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

Our social calender is taken over our time to keep up with our blog. We had dinners and events all month long. We had a wonderful Lagier Meredith dinner with the Raths and other friends on the 8th and had a vertical of their Syrah from '96-2005...very consistent. Rebecca Phillips was born the 16th and I visited baby and mom in the hospital twice and we took them breakfast on the 30th. The Weavers (old Landlords) came over for dinner on the 21st and I slow cooked a leg of lamb for 7 hours...mmm!! We then had another dinner with one of my clients on the 23rd. The 29th was the Harvetts stork party and also our monthly wine dinner at Linda's. We visited the Penixes on the 30th for beer and Indian food. With all of this it was hard to keep Liam on a schedule, but he managed to sleep through 3 nights in a row. Unfortunately that was only temporarily. He has also been saying more words: "apple", "cat", "clouds", "avocado", "what's that" and "NO". He is VERY active and runs, falls and hit his head non-stop. He is also still throwing his food. His parents will be real happy when this phase ends.

Camping Big Sur June 9-11

2006-06-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

We went camping with Gavin, Christina, Varni, Divesna, Kem and Linda in Big Sur over the weekend. First night the Vissers made an oxtail/banana potjie. Linda and Kem made brunch the next day. They made some of the best lamb dishes we've ever had and also had fruit, pitas, yogurt...
Varni and Divesna made 2 curry potjies that night; lamb and prawns...unbelievable stuff!!! Christina and Gavin did the last brunch and pulled out more stops. Bacon, eggs, salsa, gaucamole...for the best breakfast burritos on the planet! Except for the fact that we were freezing our buds off all weekend and didn't have enough warm clothes, it was fabulous. We did a small hike to a waterfall that falls on the beach, very pretty.

Hawaii, Kauai Vacation

2006-06-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

The Vissers and Montoyas (our neighbors) flew to Kauai, one of the islands of Hawaii, on Friday May 26th. We had a blast. We rented a house in Poipu beach. The ocean is beautiful, clear, blue and warm. We were walking distance to a great kids beach. Liam and Joshua had great fun playing in the water. We took Marcy, the Montoya's babysitter, along so that the adults could do stuff on their own. We ate out twice at top restaurants, went on a long 8 mile hike to a fabulous waterfall, played golf on the famous Poipu Bay Golf Course, went for a relaxing hot stone spa treatment at he Hyatt's Anara Spa and took a helicoper ride over the island and coastline where we saw among other things the Jurasic Park Waterfall. It was a trip to remember.

Liam's words and swimming

2006-04-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've blogged anything, but it's because we were both very busy at work. Willem is still crazy busy and travelling in Germany at the moment. He's had the best wine tasting experience ever. Bought some '71's that I can't wait to taste.

Liam has been saying a few words lately: "hello", "taa" (star & there), "baa" (ball & bal) and he says "more", but not sure if he knows what it means, but he always says it while he's eating. Maybe I should give him "more" credit:)

He had his 2nd swimming lessons of the season today and enjoyed the water a lot. We had a pretty hot day today. He is not very keen on getting his ears wet, but doesn't seem to mind water in his face. He was also dunk 3 times today and seemed pretty fine with it.

Boarding @ Kirkwood

2006-04-02T13:03:00.000-07:00

We are sitting in Kagan and Irem's condo looking out at the snow at the base of Kirkwood ski resort. We came up on Friday morning and was snowboarding by 11am. Willem and Mandy swapped a jacket so that we could both board on the same ticket. This was Liam's first serious interaction with snow and he is not impressed! Too cold mom and dad! We had him on the sled, but after he fell off twice into the cold snow that was the end of the ride. This was the big Sudoku weekend with most people playing and Willem writing a program to solve the puzzle - so far it solves the asy ones but cannot do the hard ones. Also had lots of wine as always.

March 25th, Crushpad taste off...

2006-03-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

Saterday was the big Crushpad taste off with everybody's wines to sample. Our Vidmar Syrah showed really great and a few candidates came back for seconds. It was great fun and we ended up at the Tumers as usual for drinks and dinner. Very nice.

March 23rd, Ladysmith Black Mombaza

2006-03-29T21:27:00.000-08:00

Jennifer, Liam's teacher, came to babysit and the Visser went off to Montalvo Art Center to go see Ladysmith Black Mombaza. The show was excellent.

March 22, Mandy's visit to NASA

2006-03-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

This day Mandy went to visit Willem at NASA for the first time. She first had lunch (the famous burrito's) with Willem and Julian in their cafeteria and then went to see everybody's offices...Willem, Dimitra and Irem.

March 14th - Liam Walk

2006-03-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

This day was a big day for Liam and for Grandpa Visser. Grandpa had his birtday on this day and Liam finally gave his first steps all by himself. Congratulations to both of you!!!

Grappe D'Amis Bottling today

2006-03-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

We finally bottled our Grappe d'amis 2004 Vidmar Syrah today. We got to taste it and also some of the newer creations that is brewing in the barrels right now. The Tumers invited us over for Brunch and Kagan made a Spinach/mushroom souffle and potatoes...excellent!!

We had our 1st bottle of "Grappe d'amis" tonight with the neighbors and it drinks very good, but now it will go through bottle-shock, so we will wait 2-3 months before opening the next one. Michelle made some wonderful comfort food that Liam took quite a liking in, so we got some leftovers for tomorrow.

Dinner at the Raths

2006-03-12T21:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday was our monthly wine dinner. This time at the Raths. Alan made excellent lamb shanks; the gravy was truly outstanding. He also made his famous bread-pudding...yummm!

The tasting was blind and everybody brought some outstanding wines as usual.

Friday: Snow in Santa Cruz

2006-03-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

Mandy went to a meeting in Aptos Friday and got stuck there, because of a big snow and hail storm on Highway 17. She had to go down to Watsonville and cut across to highway 101 to get back home. The newspaper showed pictures this morning of snow on Santa Cruz beach.

We had dinner at the neighbors in the evening. James made wonderful rack of lamb and Michelle made a lemon mousse dessert...very good as always.

Liam's first haircut, March 5th

2006-03-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

We got back from the wine country this afternoon and Mandy decided to cut Liam's hair for the first time. We held out to see how long it will get, but finally decided it is in his eyes and we need to take action. It was quite an ordeal with Willem trying to entertain him and Mandy trying to not poke anybody with the scissors. Now he looks like a little boy with his short hair and hopefully nobody will think his a girl again:)

Toad Hollow weekend

2006-03-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

We went up to the wine country this weekend to participate in the Russian River Barrel Tasting event. We tasted some great wines and some not so great. The best Pinot this weekend was the 2004 Rochioli. Finally a Pinot that looks, smells and taste like a Pinot with great acidity on a very long finish. We again stayed in the Toad Hollow Bungalow and had a wonderful time. Mike and Jasmine joined us there and they made and Indian curry Friday night and Saturday night we had the Gordons, Raths and Randy and Genie over for a "Potjie". We drank a lot of good wine. Everybody enjoyed the food. We also discovered a lovely bakery and coffee shop in downtown Healsburg for breakfast, thanks to Mike and Jasmine.

Cirque du Soleil

2006-03-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we went to see Cirque du Soleil just up the street from us. We managed to loose our tickets, but we got new ones at the event. Sadly though 2 poor people that somehow got the tickets we lost tried to get in too - hopefully they got to see the event and wasn't kicked out. It was amazing! Afterwards we did a curry evening with Gavin and Christina at our place. We did chicken tikka masala, lentil curry and green beens with ginger. Willem was a little on the sick side so could not taste a lot, but the other seem to say the food was fine. Gavin made a great Indian dessert to top things off.

Making Wine

2006-03-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

We almost bottled our maiden vintage of Vidmar Syrah 2004 the other day - as it turns out there was a misunderstanding with Crushpad and now we'll only do it on the 12th of March. Tasted great though, although maybe lacking the acidity make it last more than say 5 years. Also tasted our new 2005 Thompson syrah and that was rocking - this might turn out better than the Vidmar, I'd never have guessed.

Best Golf Ever

2006-02-20T20:13:00.000-08:00

Willem played the best round of his life at Poppy Ridge today. After almost cancelling the round since suffering from a severe case of the shanks, things could hardly have gone any better. 2 pars and a birdie on the front and 5 pars on the back nine. Driver was humming and the approaches stuck to the green, even the putting was good. Final tally was 90 - a few doubles and a triple slipped in as well. Luck was a major factor though - all the bad luck from rounds gone by was made up for in abundance today. Shot of the day, and probably ever, was a 180 yards up hill (playing around 210) 3 iron to about 10 feet - 1st (our 10th) on Merlot. Even won the SA Open between Gavin, Vani and myself.

Valentines with the Neighbors

2006-02-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

Sunday we had the Neighbors over for an early Valentines celebration....just an excuse to pop a good champagne. They brought a starter with Tuna, anjovies and olive spread...it was sublime! Mandy made Lamb chops with bearnais sauce and creamed spinach with boursin cheese accompanied by a slivered fennel, blood orange and cranberry salad. For dessert we had chocolate strawberries, made by the dessert queen, Michelle.

Capitol Club

2006-02-14T08:24:00.000-08:00

Amanda was invited to a fancy dinner at the Silicon Valley Capitol Club last Friday. They featured Chappellet wines which she sells. Lots of rich people attended and odds are she sold a lot of wines. Willem and Liam went to James and Michelle for dinner. Michelle pulled out all the stops and did amazing pork chops and even more amazing dessert (Pavlova).

Thai food

2006-02-14T08:22:00.000-08:00

Saturday we had Thai with Gavin and Christina at Krungthai. As always we started with the delicious Pho-tak soup - spicy seafood. Willem again braved the "hot" items, and although it burned the hell out of everyone at the table, it was less hot than the previous two times. Gavin called the dish the Angry Duck, after a similar (hot) dish he had in Durban once.

Golf is BAD

2006-02-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

Willem lost his golf game somehwere, if anyone spots it please let us know! For some reason breaking 100 is now difficult even on easy courses. Best part is he now has an offical handicap of 19.6, but that will change if things keep going this badly.

The Famous Phone - HTC Wizard

2006-02-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

After tracking the release date for months on the web Willem at long last got Amanda her PDA phone through Cingular, the Cingular 8125 (aka HTC Wizard). Willem used the fact that he has a NASA email to get the phone early, since it is not yet released to the general public. What a gadget this is!! Easily the most impressive phone around today. Amanda likes the sliding keyboard and how the view changes from portrait to landscape when you slide it out. We'll see about the first months data bill from surfing the web all day!

More dinners ...

2006-02-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Monday we had the Harvetts, Jacqui, Michelle and Josh over for an Oxtail-banana potjie. Willem made it the Sunday and it was just great. I took the rest to Joe Canistraci, because he's been asking for it for the last 3 years:)

Tuesday we went to celebrate Guillaume's 40th Birtday at Dimitra's. Willem bought wines from WineBid for the event: 1966 Hermitage (his birth year), 1976 Ch Longueville Baron Bordeaux, 1986 Mont Redon and a 1996 Penfold Shiraz. He was again very surprised.

Wednesday, Mike and Jasmine came over for dinner. We had a shepherds pie en some nice wines.

The couch also got sorted out and we should have the one we want in about 3 weeks.

Italian Dinner and Superbowl

2006-02-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

We've had a crazy week.
Saturday we had a birthday party for a 2yr old in our community and right after the party we went to an Italian wine dinner at Linda's house. She cooked fabulous food: fennel/blood orange salad, osso bucco and a variety of baked dessert items. We've had some very good Italian wines and the #1 vote for the night was the 1998 Tignanello.

Sunday was Superbowl at Guillaume's and we decided to throw him a surprise birthday party at the same time. He did not expect it. The Seahawks played against the Steelers. The Steelers walked away with the trophy...too bad, most people wanted the Seahawks to win.

Liam Pink Eyes

2006-02-03T14:56:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Liam had "Pink Eyes" only in his one eye and wasn't allowed in the daycare (where he got it from), so Mandy stayed home with him all day. He also had his 1 year doctors visit. His doctor was very happy with his physical improvement, especially his weight. He received 3 shots (screamed the roof off). He also got prescriptions for vitamins/fluoride and also more eyedrops for his "Pink Eyes".

The 370 yard Drive

2006-02-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Willem went to play The Ranch again - this time with Alan. Scored 97, which was only 13 shots better than last time! However, something happended that will probably not happen again anytime soon: on a 531 yard par 5, the drive ended up 155 yards from the hole. That would make it roughly a 370 yard drive! And we thought only Tiger Woods hit that far! Previous long was in the 320 range, so this was quite a step up. The greens and specifically the flag locations were brutal - if it isn't hard enough to get on the bloody greens, it happended twice that the only put avaliable was to first put off the green again and then get back on!!

Tumers and Guillaume Visit

2006-02-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

Last night Kagan, Irem and Guillaume came over for dinner. We made a "potjie" and had some good wines. Liam got a nice Columbia Fleece. He was a bit cranky before they came, but the moment he saw Irem, he was all smiles until late in the evening. He went to bed around 10pm and woke at 7pm this morning....another solid night for us!

30th Opening his presents

2006-02-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

Liam's birthday was the 30th on Monday and we opened all his presents that he got the previous day at his party. It was great fun and he was very excited while playing with all the new toys. We packed away the old ones for now.

He got a little car he can sit on while we push him along, needless to say he already had his first little accident and fell off, but it didn't bother him too much. He also got shapes, blocks, 2 pull-along toys, a lion, a play table, traffic light, cars, sippy cups, pop-toy, a monkey, a jacket, ect....

Liams 1st Birtday Party

2006-01-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Mom decorated cakes all day and prep for the big 1st birthday party. Dad barbequed all kinds of sausages for hotdogs, we even had real "boerewors" and Mrs Balls Chutney for some South African hotdogs. Everybody loved the hotdogs SA style. We were total of 31 people; 11 kids and 20 adults. Liam did not blow out his candle and only played with his cake and managed to make a huge mess, but we let him, since it was his special party. He enjoyed playing with everybody and got a massive amount of gifts. We will open them tomorrow on his real birthday...

Party prep

2006-01-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

Mandy spent the whole day baking cakes for Liam's party tomorrow. Then it was off to the Party Store to get balloons and other party stuff. Liam had trouble sitting in the back with all the balloons, but he seemed not to care too much. Afterwards he played with them in our empty upstairs sitting area - it is empty since we gave our couch away, but the new one is not here yet. Having no couch will be great for the party though, since we'll have tons of space for all the kids to play.

Liam's new bruise

2006-01-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to have dinner at the neighbors and James cooked a wonderful steak dinner again. Michelle made a lovely orange/custard tart.

Liam managed to bump his forehead against a chair, cried lowder than the usual .... a few minutes later a big bump and bruise forms on his forehead, just in time for his first birthday party in two days:)

And Again!

2006-01-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

Liam slept through the night twice in a row now - the Vissers are very happy!

Deon Mitton came to visit us last night for dinner. Deon and Willem went to University together in Stellenbosch and this is the first time since those days that they've met up again. We had a great time chatting about when we're all going back to SA! Of course we had to have had boerewors and a South African Shiraz (Boschkloof 2003 to be precise - very nice).

A Miracle!!

2006-01-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

Actually two miracles: Liam slept through the night and Willem enjoyed a hockey game. We got three free tickets to see the San Jose Sharks play the LA Kings last night. They were penthouse tickets ($105 a pop) and we had an amazing view from high behind the goal. We were also treated with free food and beer! That is the way to enjoy a hockey game. Mandy's contact at the HP Pavilion, Kevin, also gave us a tour of the facilities; they have a large array of restuarants in there and Mandy should sell wine to them like crazy! Sharks were very good, millions times better than last time I watched them, and they demolished the Kings 4-1.

Liam loved the hockey, although he cried the first time the Sharks scored; not from happiness but from the enormous amount of noise! After that he crept up and down the penthouse and as always everybody loved his antics. When we got home he played some more and at 10.30pm he went to bed, and so did we. At 7am we woke up and had a strange sensation that something weird just happened. Then it dawned on us: Liam slept through the night!!!! Mandy did go and check on him once, which means this is the first night in almost a year that she sleft through the whole night - what a miracle!!!

Liam's purple cheek

2006-01-23T22:35:00.000-08:00

Liam fell this morning, his cheek hit a corner. He now sports a lovely purple line on the one side of his face. A few tears and some TLC and he was happily off to daycare after the incident.

The neighbors (yes, we are getting together a lot!) came over for the famous Thomas Keller chicken. Willem wanted to see if it was only a fluke the first time, but it turned out to be as good as the first time.

We are getting a new couch this week and we are giving away the old one. The lucky winners of the free couch came to pick up some of the couch, but not all. Their truck was too small, so hopefully we will get the old one out of the way in time for the new one.

Football and Food

2006-01-23T08:34:00.000-08:00

Sunday James and Willem arranged to watch the two semi-final football matches. Beforehand we went to the range to hit a few balls. For some reason I hit my irons like I did in the old days: very long, accurate and with a nice draw! The games were a disaster for us: first the Broncos imploded (James' team) then the Panthers were demolished (Willem's team). Oh well, the Superbowl should be good since the Steelers and Seahawks seem to be on very good form.

Mandy went to get her nails done and then showed SJ a few tricks in the baby buying department. In the evening we went for a meal at the neighbors and it was great as always: goulash (sp?) with a very nice crab starter.

Visiting our old Landlords

2006-01-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

Saturday evening we went to dinner at Jim and Joy Weaver, our landlords when we lived in 22509 Eunice. In 2 days we therefore had quite a reunion with the principals in 22509: first Bernd and Sylvie and then Jim and Joy. We had a great time and Liam REALLY enjoyed himself! He played like crazy and also enjoyed the "new" people. We see them once a year now, but need to increase it, since it was a lot of fun for all.

Bernd & Sylvie Going Away Party

2006-01-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

Bernd and Sylvie used to share 22509 Eunice with us in the good old days. Now they are leaving for greener pastures, well literally at least, since they are off to the UK. There was a large crowd at the party since they built up quite a bunch of friends in their 7-odd year stay in the Bay Area. Good luck guys and hope to see you again soon.

Crepe/Pancake Evening

2006-01-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Tonight:
We had the Montoyas (Neighbors), Arika and Rochelle over for a pancake evening. Pancakes in Amerika are the thick kind, so I guess this was a "crepe-evening". We had great fun eating and drinking and even enjoyed and Aussie Cab/Shiraz with a screwtop!

Liam and Josh chased each other around and the adults enjoyed watching the kids laugh and play.

Ice Hockey business

2006-01-19T22:43:00.000-08:00

Yesterday:
Amanda finally sold wines at the Shark Tank (San Jose Arena). It didn't end there; she also got (free) Penthouse suite tickets for her, Willem and Liam for Tuesdays game agains the Kings (ice hockey)....whooaaa!!!:)

Last night:
We watched Flight of the Phoenix after Liam went to bed. A very entertaining movie that was shot in the Namib dessert. (We only realized that after reading the credits at the end of the movie.)

Willem on the TV

2006-01-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

Late Monday Willem went to play a bit of golf at the Los Lagos golf course. Turns out TV crews were there to report on the fact the course is losing lots of money. We watched the news in great anticipation at 10pm and sure as hell there he comes walking up the 9th hole for his 2 seconds of fame on the telly.

Tamales Night

2006-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

The neigbors cooked Tamales on Sunday and we could not say no! Great food and yet another bunch of nice wines. The Carlisle Carlisle Vineyard 2003 was great although not Amanda's favorite. James used his tamale steaming pot and the tamales were easily as good as the ones we usually buy. Willem watched football the whole day: how the Colts managed to first get back in the game and then throw it all away again against the Steelers I just don't know. Nevermind, the Pathers will win the superbowl without breaking a sweat.

Dinner at the Tumers

2006-01-17T19:32:00.000-08:00

We went up to Kagan and Irem in the city on Saturday and was joined by Guillaume. We started by watching the Redskins get beat by the Seahawks - Kagan didn't like that! We had a nother bunch of fine wines, but the treat of the evening was a 1983 Graham's port - wonderful and can last another 30 years easily.

Friday Night @ Parcel 104

2006-01-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Amanda arranged a great dinner for a bunch of wine friends, we were 16 in all and consumed 17 wines. Parcel 104 prepared the food. We had 4 flights of wines: 5 Burgundy, 5 Bordeaux 2000, 5 Rhone and 2 2001 Sauternes to finish things off. We left Liam at the daycare - once a month they let the moms (and dads) go out for a friday night for a flat fee of $25; what an amazing deal!

No Mom's night out

2006-01-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

Michelle and Mandy was suppose to have a "Mom's night out" on Tuesday, but decided to stay with their lovely husbands and end up eating Costco roasted chicken at the neighbors.

Wednesday night Ben and Eizel came over to do a real estate presentation. I invited James and Josh over as well, since Michelle went out to see a basketball game. We had salad and pasta. Liam and Josh did not keep quiet or still during the presentation, but Eizel handeled it pretty well and managed to finish in good time.

Bad Curry

2006-01-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

Sunday, Willem had a woeful attempt at a curry - better use the recipe book next time. The Vissers now all have a cold so things are a little rough at night. At least on Monday the curry tasted a lot better.

Saturday Night Out

2006-01-08T22:26:00.000-08:00

Last night: Mandy went with Michelle to see the Sharks (ice hockey) play agains the Kings (LA). It was a great game and the Sharks won 3-2.

Father and son went to dinner at the Raths (with Linda and the Gordons also in attendance). It was Alan's 50th party and, as always, the food was amazing. This time however the wine was even more spectaculor than usual: 89 La Mission Haut Brion and 92 Dalla Valle being the headliners and an ample supporting cast. Both just sublime, with my vote going to the Graves. Liam didn't really want to sleep and playing with the candles were most fun of all.

Dinner at Montoyas

2006-01-07T17:15:00.000-08:00

Yesterday: Liam was a good boy and ate all his food. He slept for 3 hours - from 12-3pm.

We went to the neighbors for dinner. Michelle was in charge of all the cooking and did a tremedous job. We had iceberg salad with bacon and blue cheese dressing, filet mignon, baked potatoes and a creme caramel-like dessert paired with late harvest riesling from Canada. Dan joined us and brought two stellar wines: 1996 Cos 'd Estrounel and 1994 Grahams vintage port. We paired the port with some stilton cheese....what a marriage!

Phd Diary

2006-01-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for the diary I kept when I did my Phd and found it yesterday. Could not resist reading some of the stuff, especially of my visit to NASA in 1998 for the job interview. I'll post it on our website soon. Had a great 2001 Whitehall Lane Cab: lots of blackcurrant, marmite on the nose, smooth long finish. USC lost to Texas in the BCS final due to having a moronic coach that don't punt on 4th and 1 in midfield leading by 5 with 2 mins left.

Dinner at our place

2006-01-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors came over for dinner at our place. Mandy made a Thomas Keller (French Laundry) recipe. Chicken baked at 450 degrees Farenheit for 50minutes. Turns out crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. We had a Fairview Viognier and a David Coffaro Pinot Noir....both very nice.
Liam is not at his best these days. We are thinking those terrible molars are starting to push through the gums....poor boy! Wish us a good night sleep:)

Dinner @ Neighbors

2006-01-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

James & Michelle had us over for crab risotto last night- great stuff as usual and topped off with an amazing dessert (pear and muscat) by Michelle.

Primer

2006-01-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

Watched Primer last night. Very interesting - it is the first movie ever that I watched the director's comments completely to figure out what I just watched!!

New Year's Party

2006-01-01T11:39:00.000-08:00

Christina, Gavin and the Vissers went to Guillaume's new year's party in his loft in the city. Great food - thanks WholeFoods - lots of interesting wines and great company. Liam held out till about 22h30 but then he had to give up and finally fell asleep.

Julian's Birthday

2005-12-31T09:23:00.000-08:00

Last night Julian invited us for dinner at his new house, since it was his birthday. Very nice house, it made us all envious for a better place than the shacks we live in now. We had a great spanish meal made by Peppa. Also the first time in a long time that an Italian wine impressed me - 95 Barolo.

Wine and food last night

2005-12-30T08:15:00.000-08:00

2002 August West Rosellas Pinot - brilliant as ever
2000 Rust en Vrede Shiraz - wow this was humming with the prime rib

My first ever prime rib; from a recipe in the newspaper (San Jose Mercury). It was very easy to make and it seemed to go over well with Mandy and the neighbors, James and Michelle.

Golf @ The Ranch

2005-12-29T18:21:00.000-08:00

Using our Yahoo passports for a 50% discount we played The Ranch in San Jose for $40 (including cart). Only problem is that this course is SO difficult that you need another $40 to pay for all golf balls you loose. Every errant tee shot requires a new ball on this course. I probably lost 4 balls in the round. I played quite ok, but still only managed 110 - which might sound like a lot, but trust me it is rather respectable for this course. 3 iron worked like magic, too bad I didn't hit it on all the holes then I would probably have broken 100. Play conservative here is my recommedation...it is short so no need to use the driver. Oh and it is dead slow... it took us 6 hours, although much of this was due to the baffoons that played before us from the blue tees where they should have played from the reds in my opinion - it is a wonder they didn't run out of balls.

Liam at dentist today

2005-12-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

Mom was still a little concerned about Liam's tooth chipping fall last night, so she checked his teeth this morning and discovered that his gums was bruised. We end up at a pediatric dentist and he confirmed that both front teeth got chipped and that one of the teeth are loose. Worst case scenario is that the nerve might die, but the dentist is positive that everything will heal just fine. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Liam's Fall

2005-12-28T21:05:00.000-08:00

Ok so it happened, Liam stood against the bath, lost his footing and we have the first chipped tooth! Blood and crying followed, but after some pain killer he is sound asleep. Could have been worse.

New Beginnings in Cyberspace

2005-12-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

Today the Visser family at long last joined the digital world by uploading their brand new family webpage at http://www.visserhome.com and by starting this blog. Hopefully we can keep up with all the fast moving developments of young Liam and his wine drinking, golf playing and sometimes working parents.