Adventures of the Cutter Family

New Blog Site

2009-04-13T03:33:00.000-07:00

We have moved. Please click the link to our new site.

WWW.6CUTTERS.COM

Parc Paradisio

2009-04-11T01:27:00.000-07:00

We visited Parc Paradisio last fall for Sam's birthday and had such a good time that we purchased some season tickets for this summer. Jordan stayed home to catch up on studying for her AP exams.

In the Crypt.

Photos dans le parc.

Friday night S'mores

2009-04-10T23:16:00.000-07:00

Boys and fire.

Czech Republic Community Service Week

2009-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Jordan returned Friday from her Club Beyond adventure. Here are a few photos.

Building fences and some landscaping at a school.

Teaching English as a 2nd language.

Hike to the local Castle.

A little music.

Their Club Beyond group counselor.

Lots more pictures on Jordan's Facebook Photo Page.

Spring Blossoms

2009-04-10T01:40:00.001-07:00

Nate's Bionicle

2009-04-09T01:33:00.000-07:00

Zark the immortal.

Wednesday Game Night

2009-04-08T01:09:00.000-07:00

Poker.

Five Card draw, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Stud, One-eyed Jacks wild.

Everyone started with $100 in chips and Zach was the shark, ending the evening with $296.

"Why poker?" you may ask...

I will refer you to the Iggulden brothers and their extremely entertaining book, The Dangerous Book for Boys.

"In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skipping stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity,.."

"You want to learn coin tricks and how to play poker because you never know when the skills will come in handy..."

"Every boy should know how to play this game, but be warned, luck has very little to do with it."

Watch the Dangerous Book for Boys video here.

Girls' Paris trip.

2009-04-04T08:01:00.000-07:00

Jill and Jordan returned from Paris on Friday. They went to meet up with the Anacortes High School French club on their field trip. Great time had by all.

Train from Mons to Paris' North Station is nonstop and takes a little over an hour.

Jordan and Evelyn.

Public rental bicycles and spring flowers.

City Scenes.

Notre Dame on a sunny day.

Jordan's Community Service Project

2009-04-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

She left today for a week in the Czech Republic. They are staying in cabins at Camp Sedmihorky near the town of Turnov.

Here is a Google Map Link.

More Honor Roll Recipients

2009-04-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Zach and Nate both made it.

Wednesday Game Night

2009-04-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Jordan and Jillian are in Paris, so the men played Sam's favorite game. Dad lost.

Zach's Field Trip

2009-03-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Jill chaperoned Zachary's 6th grade class on their field trip.

First stop was the Terracotta Army traveling exhibit.

Then, exploration of Valkenburg Castle and the caverns beneath it.

Wednesday Game Night

2009-03-25T23:09:00.000-07:00

Jordan won twice and Zach once. Long games with 6 players.

Saturday Night

2009-03-21T11:30:00.000-07:00

Roasting marshmallows in the chiminea.

Jet contrails in the western sky. Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport is toward the lower left hand corner. London Heathrow is toward the lower right.

Pinewood Derby Day

2009-03-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Car carrying racers.

A few of Nate's competitors.

Jill running weigh-in and measuring.

Racing.

Sam won 2nd place in his division.

Race Day Tomorrow

2009-03-20T12:34:00.001-07:00

History Fair

2009-03-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

Galileo Galilei was Zach's subject at the fair today.

Wednesday Game Night

2009-03-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

Zach's choice. Mom won.

Robot Fun

2009-03-15T01:01:00.001-07:00

Saturday Night Movie.

2009-03-14T05:30:00.000-07:00

Zach is 12 years old.

2009-03-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

Haircut Day

2009-03-14T05:20:00.001-07:00

Boys got to choose their style.

Nate Art

2009-03-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Winter Sports Letter Banquet

2009-03-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

Jordan was recognized as All Conference Academic.

She also got her varsity letter.

Finding the Zen in sanding pine

2009-03-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

Wednesday Game Night

2009-03-11T22:54:00.000-07:00

Zach and Mom won this week. The kids have a pretty strong advantage over the adults in this game. Dad got only one question right the whole game.

New Sam Art

2009-03-08T06:31:00.001-07:00

not sure where his brothers are....

Get Your Motor Runnin'

2009-03-07T04:01:00.000-08:00

Pinewood Derby season is upon us. Zach has moved up to Boy Scouts this year, so he is the team manager.

Jillian and Zach produced a First Place showing last year while I was off in that hot, dry and dusty place. Yes, #1, even after dropping the car at weigh-in and knocking 2 wheels off.

Big shoes to fill.

Off to polish some axles and get ready to "shake and bake"....

Jordan made the Honor Roll

2009-03-06T04:09:00.000-08:00

All the NATO member nation flags are on the stage. Colors are vibrant. We like flags.

Field Trip to Ghent

2009-03-05T05:25:00.000-08:00

Jordan's class went here.

Crazy Belgium WX

2009-03-05T04:11:00.000-08:00

Pea Soup in the morning.

Red Sky at night.

Spring is coming!

2009-02-28T05:23:00.000-08:00

The boys have planted Italian cooking herbs. Makes for great sauces!!

Bulbs are coming up.

And the fields are starting to green...

Finally a Sunny Day

2009-02-28T03:14:00.000-08:00

We took the boys for a walk up to the Jurbise Communal (city center).

It appears to be an old estate.

The Library and Police Station are in the old carriage house.

There is a large playground, sports fields and courts behind the mansion.

The sun is so bright today it almost hurts!

Mole Hunting

2009-02-26T05:11:00.000-08:00

A mole family has taken up residence in our back yard. The boys have been busy raking the molehills flat.

So, every morning Sam peeks out the window to see if any new ones have appeared. Then he grabs the rake.

Rainy Days

2009-02-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

We have had a long streak of rainy and dreary days, so Jill and the kids went up to the Chievres gym to burn off some energy.

Jill's New Camera

2009-02-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

After about a year of shopping, we decided to upgrade the family camera to an SLR. We found the Nikon D60 for a great price at the Mannheim Exchange.

Here are a few shots downloaded from the camera with no adjustments.

Amazing improvement in detail and dynamic range over our previous cameras.

The camera's lens came with Nikon's VR stabilization system. Tiny gyros stabilize the lens in the pitch and yaw axes. No more fuzzy shots. Here is the technology, if it interests you:

Link to Nikon VR technology

2009 European Cheer Championships

2009-02-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

Jordan and the SHAPE Spartans had a good showing, but did not place.

Their King Leonidas quote at the start was a crowd pleaser.

"SPARTANS, PREPARE FOR GLORY!"

The PATCH Panthers had 3 young men that could really launch the "flyers." Impressive!

A little SPARTAN inspiration...

"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas

Musee de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique

2009-02-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

Weather was dreary and cold today, so we decided to visit the Natural History museum in Brussels.

Iguanodons marching.

In 1878, Belgian coal miners discovered dozens of these fossils in a coal seam 1000 feet below the surface.

Of course, T-rex.

Jordan is 17 years old!

2009-01-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

Cheer Weekend

2009-01-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

The Moms worked the concession stand.

The boys enjoyed the games.

Jordan and her team have travelled with the boys' and girls' teams to Germany, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

A few action shots in a slideshow.

Both teams won their games against AFNORTH.

the new phone books are here...the new phone books are here...

2009-01-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Now we are somebody.

Scout Pack Meeting

2009-01-19T12:51:00.000-08:00

The Tiger Cubs conducted the flag ceremony for the evening.

Dusseldorf Boat Show

2009-01-18T12:58:00.000-08:00

Jill and Dave travelled to Germany for a big boat show on the Reine.

Had fun crawling in and all over lots of shiny new sailboats.

No evidence of a recession in this crowd.

It was a Lego Christmas

2009-01-04T05:11:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, Zach here .

We added two new videos to our blog. The first one shows our new lego sets from Christmas. The next one shows those lego sets in action.

Click here, if the videos do not load.

2009 is going to be a great year!!

Sam's Artwork

2009-01-01T03:46:00.000-08:00

Fall Colors

Christmas Tree and Train

Sunburst

Packing Up Christmas

2008-12-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

Everything back into boxes and down to the basement. Nice to have the living room back!

Nathan's 10th Birthday

2008-12-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Nate's 10th birthday today. On the request list was baked mini-French toast for breakfast.

And, of course, frites for lunch.

Since crossing the Atlantic, the boys' favorite side sauce is now Curry Ketchup. It is good!

Lego heaven!

Train Trip to Brussels

2008-12-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Jillian took Jordan and her friend, Victoria, to Brussels for a little last minute shopping and to see the movie Twilight.

Cityscapes

To get there, they had to take the train from Jurbise into Brussels then connect to the Metro line.

Jordan's review of Twilight was "the movie was weak and the acting was bad, but it is a movie you have to love because of the books...just like Harry Potter."

Waterloo Battlefield

2008-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday, the weather was beautiful, so we took the boys out for some history.

Butte du Lion

What better thing to do on Pearl Harbor day while the girls did some shopping?

Enthusiastic Young Historians.

Slideshow

Often referred to as Europe's Gettysburg. Wellington's allied forces of British, Dutch and Blucher's Prussian forces stopped Napoleon's march northward and turned the tide of the 100 Days War.

Google Map Link

Link to Battle of Waterloo Article

Christmas Markets in Germany

2008-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

We met the Kleven family in Aachen and spent the morning in the market.

Slideshow

Next stop was Monschau, Germany.

Slideshow

Map Link

Christmas Decorating Day

2008-11-30T09:59:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we decorated the house and tree.

Of course, we had to set up the Christmas Train!

Cub Scouts visit Euro Space Center

2008-11-30T01:17:00.000-08:00

Nate spent the night with his Webelos Den and Sam came on Saturday for a day visit. The boys and the dads really enjoyed the simulators.

3 Axis Spinner

Tiger Cub Group

Nate strapping in to Low Gravity "MOONWALK" Simulator

Nate doing the "MOONWALK"

Tired Boys and Dads after this adventure.