Dip or Dap? Trip to Volendam.

This is our new pet! Not sure whether it’s called Dip or Dap but it’s one of those names! Last Saturday I took our youngest to the theater nearby to see Dip and Dap at the Circus. You can read about Dip & Dap in English here. Anyway… it was a trip for me and my youngest and he had been excited about this for weeks!! So Saturday the day was finally there, he was over the moon when he saw these little stuffed animals at the theater and of course I could not resist buying him one! Today Dip had to come to school so that the teacher could hear the story too!

Then Sunday came and we went to Volendam. This is a village north from Amsterdam where a lot of tourists go when they visit The Netherlands. It is famous as a fisherman’s village but also a lot of Dutch singers/performers come from that village. When tourists come there they mainly visit the little shops and they make pictures in traditional Volendam costumes. Today we planned to get the second picture of the boys in costumes but the youngest refused! So there’s only one on the photo!

I took my own camera too and tried my new 28-300 lens:

Volledig album bekijken

That’s all for now!

Karen

Swimming certificate A

Today was a day that was feared for by our little boy, he had to swim for his first swimming 'diploma' or certificate. He started over a year ago with swimming lessons and today was the 'exam'. Since a lot of children get nervous on such a day, it is not the real exam, they prove that they can swim during the lessons they take and two weeks ago they already 'passed' this exam. Which was a good thing because he didn't go to his last lesson on Wednesday because he had been sick.

We invited his grandparents over and it was very crowded on the 'tribune' of the pool because 45 children were doing this test today (and 200 over this one weekend, in this pool only!!).

In the end he was one happy boy! He didn't seem to have difficulties at all with all the different exercises and it was over before he knew it. He got flowers from his little brother, a basketball ring from his grandparents and tickets to the Efteling (a well known themepark here) from us. We got Chinese food later on and the grandparents stayed for dinner... I think our little boy is happy with his 'diploma A'! Now from Wednesday he's taking the next class, for the 'diploma B'!!

Jump in the water (wearing clothes) like a pencil"

"1 lap with clothes on"

"Floating like a starfish"

Waiting for the results

"Yes!!! Passed the tests!"
"Flowers"

Have a great week!

From Antwerp to Ambulance...

It was one of those weeks!


St. Nicholas gave us vouchers for a hotel last December and grandma would babysit the kids that weekend so last weekend we finally went to the hotel! It was about an hour south of where we live and we were happy to finally spend some time together again and not to worry about the kids. Friday we went shopping in Eindhoven and had dinner at the casino, Saturday we went to Antwerp, Belgium and in the evening we had a surprise dinner at a very good restaurant De Helvoirtse Hoeve (offer from Restaurantweek).




Sunday morning I called my mom and she told me she picked up the oldest from school sick, high fever and headache... our youngest wasn't fit either but no fever (yet). We decided to pick them up a little earlier than planned.

Our poor boys' fever was really high (39.7 C) but when I wanted to get him ready to go home he didn't respond to me anymore! So we called the emergency post, they asked us some questions and within 5 mins there was an ambulance in front of mom's house! In the five minutes that it took to get there he got really angry because we wanted to give him paracetamol but at least we got a reaction from him. We talked with the ambulance ladies for a while but they saw no need to take him to the hospital so they left again and we went home.

The next morning our 6 year old woke up and asked if he could go to school! No way! Since it was only 2 days of school for him this week - Monday and Tuesday - he didn't go all week. On Wednesday we had to go to the hospital for something else, Thursday and Friday the school was closed. Today is Friday and the youngest is recovering now... also had high fever, stomach ache and for now his mouth aches most so he can't eat much... I decided to stay home with them today - so they don't have to go to daycare - Later this afternoon we will take a short trip to the library and run some errands, the weather looks really nice so it will be good to get a bit of fresh air!

Have a great weekend!

New layout!

Hi!

No, it's not that I am on a roll with layouts but I did think it's time for a new layout of my blog! Hyves-readers cannot see it unless they take a look at my 'real' blog here. I still have to adjust some bits and pieces but all and all my blog is ready for Spring 2009!

Today we had a bit of a Spring feeling! First of all, it's March 1st! Second, the weather was quite good today, so good that the boys played outside for most of the day and so did their friends. I love it when they walk in and out and enjoy themselves on the playground just around the corner. I just hope this is the start of a good season!

I also bought some plants for the garden this weekend. I LOOOOVE some Spring colors in the garden and in the house! I have to take some pictures of the new colors! I buy them straight from the greenhouse where it looks like this:


I always enjoy taking one (or both) of the boys there because they really like picking the ones with the nicest flowers.

A busy week ahead of us with two teacher-parent meetings, one business meeting in the evening, swimming lesson (where Mauro will her if he can swim his 'exam' to get his diploma) and on Friday we will go to Brabant for the weekend and the kids will stay with their grandparents... Looking forward to that!!!

Have a great week!