Where are the Tols?
So, yeah, this blog has been quiet for a while. And we’re sure you’re in withdrawal from our family wit and obviously talented storytelling ability. (I’m guessing, however you’re not missing our humility. Ahem.)
Rest assured, we’re around. We just have, you know, stuff going on. Like work. And Church. And making sure Noah learns the finer points of human interaction, like it’s not nice to steal toys from people younger than you in nursery.
And raking leaves. Picking apples at Crane’s Apple Orchard and enjoying some of their fine, fine apple donuts. Creating soon-to-be award winning websites. Or at least websites… 
Freelance projects. Conducting training with 9 people in four countries in our socks. Small group for church. Youth Group for church. A funeral. Watching airplanes take off.
Making sure Amy crushes the fantasy football competition. Alden, we’re looking at you.. Wednesday night stuff at church. Continually filling a tire with a small leak that still has good tread. Going through the Holland Tunnel. (No, the one by the airport, not Tunnel Park. Thank you very much.) Playing kickball with the youth group kids. (That’s Noah, if you’re curious. …ok, and a little Brian, too)
Baking cookies. Going to the ER at 1:30am and watching back-to-back-to-back “Sanford and Son” reruns. Best. Theme Song. Ever.
Preparing for the last Gospelcom Conference. Writing spec chapters for a book about Hebrew and Greek words. Remodeling a bathroom. Repairing tires that get punctured while driving to airports to watch planes take off. No, it’s a different tire. Yes, it’s equally annoying. Watching youth group kids make profession of faith.
Watching the debates. You betcha! Meeting Jason and Steph’s new dog via Skype.
Playing Cars. Preparing to be an aunt, uncle and cousin for the third-time. Actually, there’s not too much to that one…. Celebrating 80 years of live with Grandpa and Grandma TerVeen. Enjoying the 2nd season of Mad Men. Don Draper, who are you? Preparing for two Youth Worker Conventions and two trips to Chicago.
Watching Curious George on the TiVo. Memorizing Curious George, whether we like it or not.
And, last but not least, winning the “Best Post” award in the extremely difficult and crowded “Obligatory, Too Busy To Blog, Blog Post” category.
Watch out, Man, or the Fuzz is gonna get’cha
Commandant Lassard: What is the most frustrating thing about police work?
Sgt. Eugene Tackleberry: Not being able to carry hand grenades, sir.
- Police Academy 4
Don’t say you weren’t warned: you come ’round these parts (these parts being Holland), you better not mess with the cops, man. It’s Summer in the City, and it’s Hot and Sticky, and them coppers are itchy to keep the peace.
Evidence #1: Amy, Noah and I were wrapping up a nice leisurely evening walk. We were almost home when an ice cream truck passed us heading in the same direction. Nothing out of the ordinary. A nice little truck, going the speed limit… it didn’t even have that dumb song playing.
A few seconds later a police cruiser passed us going the same direction. He rolled up slowly behind the ice cream truck, kept pace for a few hundred feet, and then proceeded to turn on his flashers.
That’s right: the ice cream truck was being pulled over.
I almost took a picture, but my better half suggested that wasn’t a wise idea… That said, we did think up a few solid one liners, including:
“Hmmm, the donut shop must be closed…”
and
“Sir, could I see your license, registration and one of those Good Humor King bars. You know, with the chocolate…”
Evidence #2: A few days later, I was picking up some McDonald’s for supper . On my way I came up on a police car pulled off in a parking lot, again with the flashers going. At first, I couldn’t see the car the officer had pulled over, but then it came into view. It was one of those green… powered wheelchairs. That’s right, the cop was giving the wheelchair’s owner a ticket.
So, like I said, you’ve been warned. Because, with every breath you take, with every move you make, they’ll be watching you…
—
Disclaimer One: This post in no way should be taken as offense to the Holland PD. We know a lot of Holland’s Finest, and they’re a great group of people. I’m sure both the ice cream operator and the wheelchair owner deserved being pulled over. But, you have you admit, it’s just plain funny stuff.
Disclaimer Two: I have, at no time in my life, watched, or contemplated watching, Police Academy 4. Or 3, Or 1. I thought about watching 2 once, but QVC had a sale on the Susan Summers Spring collection, so I watched that instead.
Also: My apologies to Sting and The Lov’n Spoonful. 
iPhone Crazynesss
Howdy Ho, blog friends. Brian here. I had a brief post for all you techies out there:
During our recent trip to Chicago we stopped by a mall to take a break. We ended up on the second story catwalk, trying to find a reasonable lunch option (yeah, fat chance of that), and looking down we found ourselves staring at a large crowd of well-dressed twenty/thirtysomething geeks:
Looking right, we saw what drew the crowd:
That’s right: we had stumbled into the middle of the iPhone waiting line. I figured there were 120 people in line. At $500 a phone, that picture at the top represents $60,000 waiting to escape. Crazy world we live in…
Sense-Oh, that’s good!
It’s no secret I’m a coffee addict connoisseur. I like my coffee strong and black. None of this sugar and cream junk for me.
My family is well aware of my coffee-loving ways, and are eager to support my habit hobby. In fact, I learned after the fact that no less than three of them attempted to cherry pick a Senseo from my Christmas list. Amy deftly handled the situation so that we ended up with only one.
30 days into being a Senseo owner, I couldn’t be happier. It now sits lovingly on my bookshelf at work, with an open invitation for everyone to use it. Just BYOP (Bring Your Own Pod).
Next up in my Senseo journey: Making my own pods. Stay tuned…
BTW, if you’re into single serve coffee, my coworker Mr. Pott (Or “The New BCP” for those in the know) is also a Senseo connoisseur, and tipped me off to apply named SingleServeCoffee.com. I’ve been enjoying it greatly.
Just Another Tuesday
Funny thing. When you start a blog you feel somewhat obligated to write on it. And then you ask yourself “Hmm. . . what shall I write about?” And then you realize how uneventful your life really is.
Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Who needs more excitement when your “normal” includes giggles from an 11-month-old and mischevious smiles as he crawls at warp-speed to chase the cat? Life is pretty good here in the Tol house, even if it is rather simple and predictable.
And since there’s really not much else to report, I’ll go back to sipping my coffee and leave it at that.
Check, Check, 1, 2, 3…
…is this thing on?
Welcome to the new tolhouse.wordpress.com, the landing page for Amy, Brian and Noah. And Mocha. (Can’t forget the cat, now can we?) Well, I doubt that Noah will be blogging here much (although I’m sure his picture will show up once or twice. And Mocha might try to blog by running over Amy’s keyboard. But mostly this will be for Brian and Amy to keep their friends and family up to speed with life, the universe and everything. (Bonus points if you can name the book I just quoted).
We make no promises about frequency or quality, but we’ll do our best to make sure it’s entertaining. So enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you.