Welcome!

Placeholder ImageWelcome to Our Home
 on the Internet

We would like to welcome you to the Internet home of J, Sara, Ruby and Harper! This web site is packed full of pictures and video of our European adventures.  We hope you like it!

Below, you’ll find the list of updates I’ve made since the site went live. On the site you’ll find our home videos in the Videos section, a whole bunch of digital pictures in the Photo Galleries, selected Internet links in the Links section and the ways we can be reached in the Contact Us section.
 

Updates:

  • 5 April 2013 - Well, almost four years have passed since my last update. I guess it's safe to say that there won't be anymore updates here. For all of your Rice Offiong goodness, friend Sara and I on Facebook. You can find me here and Sara is here.
  • 19 April 2009 - UPDATE. I have now hung the mounted rear spoiler from my first Mustang and posted pics on the commemorative page.
  • 18 April 2009 - UPDATE. I have made a special commemorative page dedicated to my first Mustang; the EuroStang that never got the chance to be... We all know what happened to her.
  • 18 April 2009 - I found a bunch of Eurostang pics in a random folder on the server. They are now processed and put online here.
  • 6 March 2009 - Well, Sara’s been gone for over a week and I’ve been watching the baby girls. It’s been great! But, they’re both maniacs :) Rubelu had her first dentist appointment, so I’ve posted a few pics at the end of the Winter 2008 gallery.
  • 1 March 2009 - I’ve added the rest of the photos from our visitors at Christmas to our Winter 2008 gallery. Plus, I’ve added the shots from our trip to Mexico. Finally, I just noticed that I had still been making the dates on this page “2008”. They now say “2009”.
  • 3 February 2009 - My Facebook status right now reads “Jason is on a web site updating tear!”. I’ve now posted the first installment of our Winter 2008 photo gallery. I’ve got some more pics from January still to process, but we’re almost completely up to date!
  • 2 February 2009 - After a long hiatus, I’ve finally updated the Eurostangs page. Also, I’ve recently gotten an iPhone 3G, so the Mustang photos will be of a much higher quality. Lastly, it was definitely time for a new pic for the front page. After much baby wrestling, we got this photo this morning on Gran and Grampa’s last day in Holland. Hope you had a safe flight home.
  • 31 January 2009 - I’m making an effort to get caught up with the site now, so I’ve uploaded our photos from our trip to Santorini, Greece in this photo gallery.
  • 25 January 2009 - Well Christmas 2008 has come and gone. At the peak, we had 11 of us in the house - that was crazy!! As usual, I’m behind in my updates, but Summer 2008, Part 2 is posted and I’m working on the fall and winter galleries. More as soon as possible.
  • 29 November 2008 - Another couple of months have gone by and we’ve been super-busy. Sara’s family is coming for Christmas, so we’ve been getting the house ready. The guest room is done now, so Sara’s parents have a place to sleep, but the rooms for Chandra, Brian and the kiddies are still complete disasters -- still a few weeks prep time before they arrive though. Work has busy and the girls are growing like crazy, so business as usual. We took a ton of pics in the summer, so those have had to be split into two galleries. The first is ready now! The second summertime photo gallery and one for the fall will be ready very soon.
  • 2 September 2008 - It’s 5:10 am in The Netherlands. I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and listened to the last half of the Labour Day game (which the Ti-Cats lost - grrrr). While doing that, I worked on some pictures of our new house. Whatcha think? We love it! We’re very happy with how the work has turned out and it’s a great place to come home to. I’ve posted pics from the ground floor and 2nd floor which has our bedroom and my office. There’s lots more to come as we do more work and take more photos -- girls rooms, Sara’s studio, guest room and the top floor.
  • 24 August 2008 - Well, it’s been ages since I posted an update. Since February 8th, we have bought a house and moved in, I’ve been busy with work and then spent a month in Canada and Sara and the girls have spent two there! They come back tomorrow, so I’ve taken some of my quiet time to add some pics to the site. So far, there’s a new giant gallery called Spring 2008. I’m also working on a set of pictures of the new house and Sara got a new camera this summer and has taken over 1000 shots in a month! So, there will be lots more updates in the very near future.
  • 8 February 2008 - There are some more photos now posted a in our Winter 2007/8 gallery.
  • 31 January 2008 - Happy New Year Rice Offiong watchers! I’ve now posted a bunch of photos from over Christmas, including the pictures from our trip to Hurghada, Egypt. Also, we recently found out that Harper Baby doesn’t need to wear her brace anymore! Her hips are now properly in place. We have one final appointment in a few months to make sure all is well.
  • 25 December 2007 - Merry Christmas, everybody! When it rains it pours. In addition to the New Orleans pics I posted yesterday, I have also started a photo gallery for Winter 2007. It’s only got a handful of photos so far, but more will come soon.
  • 24 December 2007 - Robin, Jim, Chandra, Jake and Rhiannon (Sara’s parents, sister, niece and nephew) are here for Christmas. We’re having a great time so far. Also, I went to New Orleans with work (yes, it was HARD work...) back in October. I’ve finally had a chance to filter out the naughty pics and have posted them online.
  • 11 November 2007 - Remembrance Day, “We Will Remember Them”. I’ve added new photos taken since the summer in an Autumn 2007 gallery. Ruby has started preschool at the Windmill Playgroup and you’ll see a few pics of that right at the end. Enjoy!
  • 18 October 2007 - Happy Birthday, Aunt Chandra!
  • 9 October 2007 - There were some more photos from our trip home that are of the property that Sara’s parents have purchased. I’ve made a new gallery called The Cottage that we’ll be adding to as time goes by.
  • 7 October 2007 - At long last, the update you have all been waiting for! We have a giant-mega gallery of pics from the Summer of 2007. We had a fantastic trip home this summer and here are all the photos to prove it. Also on their way are photos from the rest of the summer and autumn. Check back soon!
  • 25 September 2007 - DISASTER... AVERTED! It’s been ages since I’ve put new content up. There are several reasons for this. First, after Harper was born the four of us went on a seven week trip home to Canada. Then, when we got back I started to work on an update with new pics, but both my main version and my backup of the web site were corrupt and I dreaded the thought of recreating everything so I just put it off. It is only tonight that I found a secret third backup that the software makes automatically (thank you NetObjects Fusion!!) and that is still in tact. I have saved and backed everything up again and now we’re back in business. It’s late on a school night right now, but I’ll be back with a big update very soon.
  • 12 June 2007 - OK, big update time! I have put up a new gallery of pictures for April up until just before Harper was born (including Rubelu’s 2nd Birthday). Then, I’ve created a new Harper Gallery starting with her birth. We’ll keep posting as many Harper pics as we can until we come home for the summer, so check back often.
  • 9 June 2007 - At 2:30 am (Central European Time) on 9 June 2007, Harper Violet Lola Rice Offiong was born. She weighs 4.52 kilograms or 9 pounds and 15.5 oz! Mom did great and now all are doing super well.
  • 6 May 2007 - Happy Birthday Rubelu!
  • 22 April 2007 - A couple of new EuroStangs!
  • 7 April 2007 - I mentioned a few posts ago that we would be having guests come and stay with us. I’ve put up some photos of their visits and a bunch more in the January to March 2007 photo gallery.
  • 3 April 2007 - Happy Birthday, Wife!
  • 29 March 2007 - I was away in Mons, Belgium, for four days and just noticed “somebody’s” editorial comments on the previous post... Naughty Wife!
  • 25 March 2007 - I’ve put the rest of the photos we took in Budapest up, then, Sara took a crazy series of pics of Rubelu’s face. Proof that our daughter’s a wacko - who needs paternity tests, eh?! You’ll find them all in the January to March 2007 photo gallery. Enjoy!
  • 15 March 2007 - Whew! There’s been a flurry of website updating activity lately! We’ve now sorted through some of our Budapest photos and they’re uploaded. More will come soon.
  • 14 March 2007 - I’ve resurrected the EuroStang photo gallery and there’s a new (Mustang-related) video up, as well. Enjoy.
  • 11 March 2007 - One of my oldest friends, Andrew, is coming to stay with us for a week tomorrow. Then, just as he’s getting ready to leave, a friend of Sara’s from university, Rachelle and her daughter Abby, will be spending a week with us. Busy, busy! I’ve put some of our photos from January up now, with more to follow shortly.
  • 3 February 2007 - I’ve put up a bunch of new photos that will take you up to the end of 2006. More soon!
  • 19 January 2007 - Happy New Year everybody! Once again, I’ve been delinquent with the updating of the web site, but now that Christmas is behind us, I’ll start updating the pictures very soon.
  • 17 January 2007 - ANNOUNCEMENT #2: Sara went for a third ultrasound this week. Most importantly, everything continues to go well. “Baby B” is developing normally. The spine is well formed and there’s no sign of a cleft palate. ** SPOILER ALERT ** Also we were able to find out the gender... it’s a girl! The technician said that she had a very clear view and there was no doubt.
  • 25 November 2006 - I’ve made a new page of pictures for our Oct to Dec, 2006 series, including the pictures from Portugal.
  • 20 November 2006 - No new content yet, but I did make that cool little icon (the pic of Rubelu) that you should see somewhere near the name of our website.
  • 12 November 2006 - I’ve just put up a bunch of new pictures taken up to the end of September. They include Tamara and Menno’s wedding, our trip to Ieper, Belgium and us hanging out with friends. We hope you enjoy them!
  • 10 November 2006 - ANNOUNCEMENT: Ruby’s going to be a big sister… That’s right, Sara’s pregnant! This morning, the three of us went to our 11 week ultrasound. Little “Baby B” seems to be doing well. The heart is beating, both sides of the brain are present and accounted for and each hand has five little fingers. So far, so good! The due date is 1 Jun. Here’s a link to the two pictures we got. We also got a DVD which I will edit and post ASAP.
  • 4 November 2006 - I had a short meeting in Lisbon, so the three of us took a week and rented a villa in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Here’s another one of those Google Earth zoomed in links to the villa. We spent most of our time relaxing either at the villa or on the beach. We did take some pics and video (but not a lot) and will be posting them soon.
  • 24 October 2006 - Happy Anniversary, Wife! (Tee hee - I (Sara) have gained control of the keyboard in order to say: Happy Anniversary, Husband. You have always been and will always be my number one favourite! I love you.)
  • 17 September 2006 - I’ve put up some more photos of Sara, Ruby and the rest of the Rice Clan and their stay at the cottage this summer. Lotsa fun!
  • 16 September 2006 - I’ve posted some new photos that take us up to the end of June. Sara brought back a bunch more from her and Ruby’s stay in Canada and those will be posted shortly. More soon!
  • 14 September 2006 - Happy 38th Anniversary to Gran and Grumpa!!
  • 4 September 2006 - Happy Birthday, Oma Nina!!
  • 17 August 2006 - Sara and Ruby came back to The Netherlands after six long weeks in Canada (two while I was there and then an additional four when I came back to work). We all had a great time, so thanks to everybody that either gave us a temporary home or that we were fortunate enough to hang out with for a while. From my perspective, it’s just good to have them back! Anyway, it’s only two days since re-launching the site and I’ve already added new content! Check out Ruby’s latest blockbuster video.
  • 15 August 2006 - At long last, I have re-launched our web site! There are a ton of new pictures in the Photo Galleries, some going back to before Rubelu was born (including our wedding) and new pictures of us and the little one all the way up to the end of May. More will be added once Sara gets back from Canada (she has a bunch on the camera’s flash memory). The videos page has been updated, too. There are some never before seen clips that will soon be posted. Also, I’ve posted a Google Earth link that will take you to an overhead shot of our house up on the Contact Us page. You’ll need Google Earth installed, so if you don’t have it, click one of the links and download the latest version. For those that don’t know what it is, it’s a map of the entire world taken through a combination of satellite and aerial photography. It’s quite interesting, a lot of fun and can be very addictive. I’ll be posting much more regularly now that I’ve corrected the technical problems that we had before, so be sure to check back regularly. Please let us know if you find broken links, typos or any other problems at j@riceoffiong.ca or sara@riceoffiong.ca.
  • 26 June 2006 - Happy Birthday, Papa! You’re looking very young!
  • 13 May 2006 - Wow, has it ever been a long time!! First condolences to the Rice family for their loss. We had a wonderful little party to celebrate her first year. On a technical note, we've changed web hosts and have finished the projects that had been keeping us from updating this site more faithfully. In the next few weeks, work will calm down a bit and I'll have a bit of time to devote to this web site. A redesign is in the works and lots of content will soon be available. More as soon as possible.
  • 6 May 2006 - Happy first birthday to Rubelu! It’s been wonderful knowing you for a whole year already! There are some photos of our little party in the Photo Galleries.
  • 3 April 2006 - Happy Birthday, Wife!
  • 13 November 2005 - Technical difficulties... Sorry we haven't posted more photos. We swear that they're ready to go, but we're having technical difficulties with the site. I'm trying to work through them and hopefully will in the near future. More as soon as possible.
  • 24 October 2005 - Today is our FIRST ANNIVERSARY. Sara, I love you more than ever.
  • 23 October 2005 - I’ve put up another page from when our friends from Ottawa, Debbie and Mark, came for a visit in September. And, hopefully a page from our trip to Oberammergau, Germany will be up this coming week.
  • 22 October 2005 - I’m sorry that we’ve been so slack with the updates lately. Work has been very busy and I’ve been travelling a fair bit, too. Anyway, there are three new pages, starting here in the latter half of August, with lots of photos that take us up to the end of September. New photos are ready to be uploaded, as well, and I’ll get them posted ASAP. More soon.
  • 18 October 2005 - Happy Birthday Aunt Chandra!
  • 15 September 2005 - No new content today but I just did a Google search for "Ruby Rice Offiong" and our site was first on the list! Keep visiting and we’ll get linked even more.
  • 14 September 2005 - Happy 37th Anniversary to Gran and Grumpa!!
  • 10 September 2005 - I’ve got two more pages up starting at July 2005. I’ve changed the format slightly. I’m going to cut it down to one or two pages per month of new photos, but with more than just four pics per page. It makes it a little be less work for me, but will result in longer page loads for you. Hopefully most everybody’s on high-speed, so it should be fine. If you’re not on high- speed, it’s worth the upgrade! More soon.
  • 4 September 2005 - First, Happy Birthday to Oma Nina! It’s been another month of spending most evenings and weekends getting the house into a liveable condition. We’re not quite done but it’s getting there. We’ve finally taken some time to edit photos and make some new web pages. The first page is going back to 29-30 Jun. I’m not sure how many I’ll have time to do today, but more will steadily keep coming up for a little while. We’ve also started filming a video of our new place and the surrounding areas that we’ll try to get up soon. We’ve got company coming from Canada (Debbie from work at DND and her husband Mark) and we’re really looking forward to that! They’re bringing us some Kraft Dinner. Woohoo! More soon. [It’s almost bedtime here as I write this last sentence, and you’ll find a total of three new pages for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!]
  • 6 August 2005 - Weeee’rrrreeeee baaaaaaaaccccccckkkkkkk!! Yes, after a long month of dealing with the cable company here, we finally got Internet access at our new house today. There’s no new content, other than this post and I’ve updated our contact information with what will hopefully be our permanent address here in The Hague. We have a ton of photos that I need to sort out and that will start appearing in the coming days and we’ve taken some new video, including one of our new neighbourhood which I will soon start editing and will have posted by the end of the month. The settling in is going slowly, but smoothly. Our main floor is in pretty good shape, but the second and third floors are still a disaster. Interesting Dutch tidbit of the day is that what we in Canada call the first floor of a house is called the ground floor here. Then, what we would call the second floor, the Dutch call the first floor as in the first floor above the ground floor and so on. Just one of the many cultural differences we’ve had to adjust to. Anyway, we’ll be back posting very shortly.
  • 5 July 2005 - A new page of Ruby pics is up for 20-26 June 2005. As I said below, we took possession of our new house this past weekend. We’ve started the unpacking process, but the place is a complete disaster. It’s been great reconnecting with our stuff, some of which we haven’t seen since we packed up my house on Brome in Ottawa last July. Typically, Dutch apartments come bare. And by bare, I mean BARE. No carpets (concrete floors), light fixtures, cupboards in the kitchen, etc. I’ve just started working on getting lights in the place, but haven’t had too much luck yet. Fortunately the days are long right now (actually, it stays light until 10:30pm!). More soon.
  • 29 June 2005 - I’ve posted several new pages of pictures of Ruby starting on 10 June 2005. Also, we went to Maastricht on the 19th this month and took a few pics. We’ve gotten our permanent rental house all sorted out now and our stuff gets delivered there this weekend, so there probably won’t be any new posts until next week, although more content is ready to go. Once we get it set up, we’ll be shooting a virtual tour on video and will post that hopefully by the end of July.
  • 24 June 2005 - No new content today, rather a request. I’m trying to get our site into Google, so that if you search for us, this web site will show up. The more sites that link to your site, the quicker Google’s web spider will pick you up. So, if you happen to have your own web site, we’d appreciate it if you would put a link to our site on your Links page (Let me know and I’ll happily do the same for you). More soon.
  • 21 June 2005 - The first of the videos I’ve been promising is finally available in the Digital Videos section. Whew. Don’t think I’ve been slacking off, it’s actually a pretty big job to make these, but it’s a lot of fun, too. Let me know what you think. There should also be some new photos later this week sometime.
  • 14 June 2005 - Wow, two weeks and no updates!! Well, there are some more new baby pictures starting from 4 June 2005. The wedding photos, etc. will eventually appear, but I’ve started working on what I hope will turn out to be a pretty cool video. I’ll get it done...sometime.
  • 1 June 2005 - More new baby pictures starting from 28 May 2005. The wedding photos, and any others we decide to put on the site, will eventually make an appearance but editing pictures of Ruby is so much more fun.
  • 27 May 2005 - Finally some updates! The Digital Photos section has been revamped a little and a bunch of new pictures have been added. More non-baby photos will be added soon (for instance some pics from our wedding) so keep coming back.
  • 21 May 2005 - Added some new Mustang photos.
  • 18 May 2005 - The initial launch of The Chronicles of J, Sara and Ruby.

We’re new to this web authoring thing so please let us know what you think about the content, layout and usability of the site. If you find problems or broken links, please send an email to j@riceoffiong.ca.
[Home] [Photo Galleries] [Videos] [Links] [Contact Us]