Holiday week...episode 1

We had a week off work, and crammed in as many things as possible, and I had THREE days with no kids! But a discussion of the holidays cannot begin without reference to that bleary week in March, where our holidays were magnificently and decisively cancelled due to a gastrointestinal bug. A few months later, we're ripe as a rotting tomato for a long awaited week off.

Back to the THREE days with no kids. A little last minute shimmying of plans, bribery and begging...and three kid-free days materialised like a mirage on the horizon. I dared not to dream too much, or fantasize too much lest fate should decide to strike again. But, it came, and I had THREE days with NO kids!!! First stop: Ingrid's Bachelorette's Party in Antwerp. Not even a 2.5 hour train delay in the hot sun could dampen my spirits, I was almost giddy with the relief that I didn't have grumpy kids to look after in the smelly train. Anyways, Ingrid's party was fantastico! Ingrid's an old friend from violin/band camp days and it's my good fortune that she ended up a 1.5 hours drive from us.

The party was hilariously fun, a bit too much sangria and schnapps at 3 in the afternoon will do that. My highlight, was eating dinner with only one mouth to put food into. My hands, clothes, hair stayed clean. The menu was Thai fish ball curry with a lime cucumber salad. I'm so obsessed by this dish, I have to make it soon. The sour lime, the almost bouncy fish balls, creamy curry sauce, soft aubergine, I can't stop thinking about it. Thai food ROCKS. I'm wasn't the only one fighting (but pretending not to) to lick the bowls clean.

The next day, Douwe joined us and we wandered round Antwerp with Ingrid and Tom. When you're on holiday, everything's charming, romantic and intriguing, especially if you have the freedom to wander without toddlers. But I think that Antwerp really was all that. And I'm quite sure that Ingrid and Tom were fantastic hosts (although they could have housed us in a shed and we'd have been quite content, sleeping through the night without babies waking us).

Lounging at a park festival (no kids!)

Dinner on the last night was DIVINE. Thai, again. The piece de resistance was a Beef salad, that's always good, but this one had toasted rice powder through it which was a surprise which lifted it beyond 'good' to 'so-happy-I-want-to-cry'.

Finally a big THANKS to the babysitters, Hylke, Akemi, Dirk & Lilian, without whom this weekend would not have been possible!

My Boys

Nelson (literally) polished a chicken drumstick today!

Kaemon in a chesty bond! Isn't it amazing how big he is?

Laundry, Nelson style.

Nelson is starting to get too wriggly, won't sit still, wears the toes of his shoes, and knees crawling; this keeps him where we want him for a while.

I love feeding people, my boys included. I love pics of them eating. We love picnics.

Visit to Nelson's Fiance

We paid a quick visit to nelson's betrothed, Sanne. Nelson likes to wear her clothes, pink pants to be exact. A rather unconventional relationship.



While her mum was out shopping, we tore the place to bits!

For the record, this week was when Kaemon entered the wonderful world of tantrums. The screaming and stamping foot kind. Now I know that rumpelstiltskin was a toddler. Only they can stamp their feet in rage so hard that the ground would split to the core of the earth.

Japan Day, Amstelveen

Amstelveen is just 25 mins from us, and is home to the largest Japanese community in the NL. We went to see traditional arts such as the making of the longest sushi roll in the world (133 m), excerpts from Memoirs of a Geisha as performed by the Nike Demo Dance Team. Alas, we have no pictures of that. It was as puzzling as the title suggests, set to Mission Impossible music, I kid you not.

The sumos arrived amidst much fanfare and cameras clicking,

Some real famous sumo were there, Kotooshu Katsunori also known as the David Beckham of Sumo, who is incidentally Bulgarian.

and douwe miraculously spoke his few words of Japanese to one sumo surrounded by bodyguards, 'Sumimasen, shashin totte kudasai' and got this lovely photo...

The sushi was alright. I think I got sick from the salmon, always hopeful, eating raw fish from dubious sources.

*happy sigh* I like: spontaneous visitors, Aussie company, eating company, sunshine, loud guffawing, people who actually laugh at my jokes, shameless behaviour. Thanks Ingrid for all that!!



And why were we going overboard with the peace sign? Becaue Hiromi was visiting, because we used to learn Japanese, because some people tend to bring out the silly in each other.

A new restaurant on the beach, very cool very cool

A night out with my aussie posse (yes I have one!). We were practising tips learned from America's/Germany's Next Top Model (apparently Heidi kicks Tyra's a$$) but modelling is really harder than most people realise as there was not one normal picture of any of us.

Nelson's B. Day!

We had fantastic party!! Good company, lots of food, sunshine and outdoors. The birthday boy enjoyed the attention and the good vibes,

Not a chair in sight (not possible for circles to be formed!)

The park had a little farm and lots of space to let the kids run the excess sugar off

Mingling, mixing and chilling

Kids under control

Nelson had enough attention all day long

The cake kind of survived long enough to be eaten

Big TA to all the attendees and for all the presents, we had such a good day!! And big pat on the back to Ingrid, the only acceptee of the open invitation offer!! You doubled the size of the Australian delegation!

The sad story of nelson's cake.

The pandas represent Kaemon and Nelson, and they were supposed to be tug-of-warring and Nelson wins (as usual) but the low-lying lid of the cake box didn't allow for pandas to be frolicking on top of the cake. And having an letter 'H' left over at the end of the cake making had me wondering why I made and extra one... So, happy birtday to you Nelson! (Thanks Ingrid :)



So, Kaemon ended up hanging on the side of the cake...

Nelson 'helping' him up.

A technical mistake with the foundations of the cake caused the downfall of this cake, after 2 days in the fridge, the icing was melting something Bad like Michael Jackson's face.

General Things

Laundry, Kaemon style

Cupcakes, my style (quick and dirty) for playgroup's second birthday

One for my husband

Nelson is officially eating with the pot. (Translation from dutch- means he's eating grown up food)!

Gerco & Charlotte 4 eva!

I love weddings, yes I do. It's usually the manic happiness making it a shining point in life. Everywhere you turn manic smiles, everyone happy happy joy joy! The bride and groom were radiant and resplendent.

Beautiful Old Mansion in the forest, decorated in Art Deco style and a intruiging Shell-Horn-Mahogany Decor theme (Pau shells, with buffalo horn on massive dressoirs= lavish)

Brings the romance out in all...

I made a token cake (with three boys in the house, when do I ever get a chance to make flowers???????)

the food: the main course, cornish hen with tarragon sauce was...well, cornish hen with tarragon sauce and broccoli and mashed potato. But the entree, tatare of salmon with asparagus, was a delectable coarse chop of fresh salmon, dill that was tart and fragrant, making me want to use words such as delightful, delish and om-nom-nom-nom it's gone!

A lovely sunny day, nice catching up with friends and hanging out in luxury for a day.

Open invitation

Our littlest is turning one! Betting on good weather, we're organising a picnic in the park. We're reluctant to send out personal invitations as many live far away and may feel under pressure to turn up to a 3 hour dig; therefore we're posting an open invitation to all: you are welcome!

Please let us know if you can come!

Koninginnedag 2009

We had a beautiful day with Renee and Martijn and lounged in this cool Belgian beer cafe with a gorgeous secluded garden perfect for gambolling kids. It was a close to relaxed as one gets with 2 kids and 4 adults!

Only in the car on the way home did the silence fall as we listened to the radio news bulletins. In the morning, many houses had hoisted flags and the royal wimple in honour of Koninginnedag. Seeing the flags lowered to half mast by the end of the day was a sad, but in a way uplifting sight of community solidarity.