Burleigh Heads

Spent a long weekend at the beach - perfect weather!

A little bit of activity was involved

More lounging around (exciting! sighting of the rare beluga whale kaemon with man-boobs!)

As usual, food

we get around in style!

Found our perfect hangout in a cafe/baby clothing shop-

Where we spent many coffees...

and teas...

back at apartment headquarters

Kaemon's First Playground

First, we had breakfast (scrambled eggs with chipolatas and tomato!!) with some brisbanites from the "old days": newlyweds (German) Andreas and (American) Rachel. This couple got together during the same heady days as we did and also defied the naysayers!

Next we paid a visit to Kaemon's cousin Reuben in the ballenbak/Ballroom

Did we mention that he's in a "put-everything-in-his-mouth" phase?

We walked along the river to New Farm Park, one of the many beautiful parks in Brisbane (*nostalgia*)

Kaemon swings!

Weather report: Sunny, 20 deg, delicious!

Kaemon Bites!!!

He's 5-6 Months now, and unable to sustain his astronomical weight gain on milk alone.... It really is work to get two teaspoons down! But since then we've worked out way up to 5-6 teaspoons! I lie awake at night worrying that my child won't like to eat. What will I do? How will I cope? Where can I get help?! But it appears that there's nothing to fear:

Loli & Shawn's New place

We gathered en masse at the new house and ate till we popped!
Shawn Cooked:

Eating out. That's a wood-fired pizza oven in the foreground! Yes! I can't wait...

Babies babies all around I look are babies.


Whenever we get together, it's beginning to look like a commune...

3 Babes!

Australia!!! Day 1

First view of Australia

We hit the ground running.......... Kaemon meeting great grandma

met our new niece Lana and newphew Noah
My sisters-in-law

Douwe trying his tricks on a new baby

Oishii Sushi!! Soft shell crab, unagi, tempura, prawn, I'm in heaven!!



miku Noah

A week of Malaysia!

After the move, the (partial)unpacking, living like camping, practising like a demon for the wedding, then the wedding we collapsed on the flight hoping kaemon would take to the air well. He DID!! No crying just sleeping, eating and playing! When we reached KL, we all passed out for nearly 6 hours ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

In a nutshell: we stayed a stone's throw from the malls (where we got lost at least once every day- so big; there was minor panic when the credit cards appeared not to work.), ate 3 sometimes 4 square meals a day and saw many family members! Kaemon was perfect, let us shop to our satisfaction and just mingled with the shopgirls!

Selina, Me & Kaemon

Jordan keeping it cool

The Choong clan: Cheryl, Marcus & Chelsea

The Dancing Queen!



Eating out @ Jalan Alor. Looking at the KL twin towers in the background was about the only minutely touristy thing we did!

Andrew, Peter, Jordan, Sue Anne, Renee, Kelly, Alex & Sher-lin

The best assam fish with Danny @ Jalan Imbi

Eating out with Veronica (& baby in waiting), Peter & Sherlin @ SS2 Hawker stalls

Photo Dump:

Congratulations Mr & Mrs van der Linde-van Gerven!!!

23 June: it was romantic, moving and filled with good fortune (it didn't rain at the important moments and I didn't sing/play too badly)!
The beautiful location in Rotterdam (Herenhuys - The gentlemen's house)

The beautiful bride and groom

Us with Mr & Mrs van der Linde-van Gerven (a mouthful for the unpractised!)

Them riding off into the sunset on their chariot vespa to Italy on their honeymoon.

Moving Day

16 June we did it in one day and everything went perfectly...no mean feat with baby, threatening rain and fatigue. But with an able bodied team (with Douwe's brothers we already have a relocation team on-call) moving stuff and a number of babysitters helping during the lead-up and on D-day (Renee, merel, elles, Natasja thanks!!) it went so well!! No photos yet of the new house, we have an empty space where the kitchen should be and one week before leaving on holiday we're not prepared for (virtual) guests :D

We've come up for breath!

Been a bbbuuusssssy month: we packed up our house, fixed up the new house in three days (put floors in, painted walls, cleaned the dog and cat smell out), took our farewell of Nijmegen, mobilized an efficient army on moving day, half unpacked in one week (we still have a hole where the kitchen should be) and then spent one week in malaysia shopping and eating, and now we're in Australia where we finally have time to rest and relax!

The three babies lana, noah and kaemon are all together and it's a merry-go-round of feeding, crying, changing nappies, playing and sleeping!!

thank goodness his milk gut doesn't get in the way of flexibility!

Mayo's Vrijgezellendag

The Tradition: The date and activities of the bridal shower party are a surprise...
We picked up the bride-to-be and showered her with a high tea lunch

and presents for the honeymoon

Then off to work our fingers to the bone creating one-off oilily knock-offs

Fuelled by sugar and paint fumes

The bride wasn't spared

The finished product:

Two weeks to go!!!

Dinner...from the sushi train. a perfect end!