Just another week...

Hi!
Ok... it's Monday, just another week has started... for some very special (for example Petra is virtually throwing all kinds of delicious food at me because she's already cooking for the عيد الفطر

or `id-oel-fitr, (we call it Suikerfeest), the traditional day after the Ramadan... I have known Petra for about 5 years now (or is it longer, lol) and she makes these yummie sweet cakes!!

I hope I don't get them just virtually Petra, LOL! :)

Other than that, for us it's just a regular week. Work, school etc. We have made a count down calender for the boys (oh well, I didn't make it, Andy did, credits to him) and they put a sticker on it each morning... only 12 nights until... Disney!! We're going to Disneyland Paris during fall break! I think we -grown ups - are even more excited than the boys are... About a month ago the oldest was in the back of the car when we were driving (where he is supposed to be) and told me... Mom, I don't need to go to Disney! I was a bit shocked by such a revelation because my boys love themeparks (just not the scary rides!). "Not to Disney? Why?" He replied "Well, the local bus is an attraction too!!" Hmmm... I know I have great kids! But this? The thing is that they hardly ever ride the local bus and they LOVE it! We always go by car when we need to go somewhere... they only use buses on days out from school or the daycare they visit.... Hmm...my boy is a real thinker!

In fact my week didn't start very 'regular'... after holding back CTs a bit I was asked as a guest for .... Dawn Inskip. I was pleasantly surprised when they asked me because I haven't been such a great scrapbooker lately (lack of time and inspiration). But when I look at her shops I might even get some ideas for new layouts!

A layout that wasn't done by me but by Petra is this one (she took one of my pics from last summer):

Doesn't that look awesome?? Sometime I just don't know how she does it! Thank you Petra (did I teach you how to do this... ever??? I don't think so, lol)....

Well this is all for now, I will leave my own layouts until my next post!

Have a good day!

Birdpark Avifauna!

Last Sunday we had a beautiful day, it was almost like one of these days that are called Indian Summer in the States! We had tickets to see the birdpark and so we did arrive there around 10.30 am and left close to 5.30 pm... the kids walked around, played (a huge playground) and I took some photos of the birds:

Next zoo will be Ouwehand on November 9th, I just got our tickets through Girafpas today!

Two new layouts!

Hi!

I finished two LO's today so I thought I'd blog about them first, pictures were taken during our trip to Greece:

Then of course, it is weekend!! Today we went to De Bilt,

It is a small town nearby and there was a Parisian market there, in fact they sold all kinds of stuff. We did some shopping there and we ended up buying a bench for the front of the house at BSC. I will take a photo of it tomorrow as it's hard to explain what it looks like. This store is changing their garden furniture for winter sports now and so they were having a great sale. I also fell in love with a teak furniture set in that store... But even though we could probably get it for less than half price it was still too much for us. Besides, we swore we would never ever get wooden garden sets because we have to do too much to keep it like it is (or like we like it!). So that was a no-no anyway!

Tomorrow we will go to Avifauna with our Girafpas . I mentioned this before, it's a great deal on different zoos, this time we will visit a bird zoo. The weather is nice so it will be a nice day out! And probably a little time for photos too!

bye for now!

Day off!

Hi,

Usually I am not working on Wednesday, but there is always plenty to do, taking the kids to school, doing laundry, run errands etc. Today is a bit more relaxed. We took the kids to school together this morning (1 child each as they are in different buildings) and now I am enjoying my cappuccino in front of my new EEE pc in the kitchen... typing my blog. Ok I have had this little laptop for a while but I couldn't get it wireless so it feels new!!

Andy has just left for his fysiotherapy, he's finally doing a bit better but not ready for work yet (as his job is a physical one, maintenance of central heating). When he comes back we can run some errands , he can't drive the car with his injured leg so I drive. Can't believe that one game of tabletennis in Greece caused all this :). The upside is that the boys are happy that their dad is there when they come home from school!

Ok , just one layout for you today (image is clickable for some love):Credits
Holliewood Studios Falling for you
Taylormade Stitched in Place

Sun(ny)day for skiing!

Hi,

Today is a beautiful Sun(ny)day! The skislope in Nieuwegein
had Open house today and the kids could take lessons. We are going skiing in Austria next December with our friends Myra, Eelco and Tim and today we all went to the skislope. The kids took their lessons and we enjoyed coffee in the sun on the terrace and later on a nice lunch. Grandma and granddad also joined in and were proud to see the little ones on the skis!

More photos on our Flickr site (link on the right!).

Have a great day!

4 seconds of National fame... :)

Today I had 4 seconds on national television, lol!! Ok so it was in the background but one of my co workers DID recognize me! You can see it here

I had an appointment today at the local council of a small town called Naarden. I was there with one of my coworkers and we thought the town was so full of life and even a little crowded... The weather was nice and it's a nice small town for tourists so we thought it was just a nice day.

Then it appeared that we had totally missed the important event of the day, the mayor of the town was getting married today. I have worked on the sideline of politics long enough (even have my bachelor in European studies) to recognize the name of Peter Rehwinkel, the mayor of Naarden but I didn't know he was getting married today. The person we had the business meeting with told us we could go just across the street from the townhall for lunch, where we had excellent view on the whole ceremony outside! And since we sat outside on the terrace... I was actually in the scoop of the camera! You won't even see me if you don't know me I think... I am the person who is in the white trousers and brown shirt (it's my Fat Face shirt, Carol!) from 25-29 seconds on this video... my whole 4 seconds of national fame!

Have a great day (I did!).

Back from Greece...

Yassou, we're back from Greece!

I have a first impression of our great vacation in Greece!

Frame is old proof sheets 2 by Christina Renee

You can read all about it (in Dutch or just look at more pictures) on my Malia Travelblog.





Hope you have a great day!

Off to Greece!

Hi!

Yep, on the plane tomorrow to Heraklion Airport! We will leave at 4.55 pm and get there at 9.30 (Greek time, one hour ahead of Dutch time). We'll be back on the 22nd!! Can't wait until it's time for dinner on Wednesday :)

I promised my layout earlier this week, well it was made with this kit at Live Out Loud Scraps
Melissa Bennett did this collab with Faith True and Victoria Feemster:

So here is the layout:

Well that's all for now, see you in 2 weeks!

Playground Day!

Hi!

Yes, it was playground day today... the house is clean, the laundry done (thanks to my mom too...) and it was time to spend the day with the kids. My friend Ellen came over with her 2 boys and after coffee we headed for this new playground in our suburb. It just opened 3 weeks ago and they boys have already been 4 times!

The weather was good again today so they were wearing their swimming trunks already, there's a bit of mud and water in the playground. Actually it is a construction playground where the bigger kids can build their own 'homes' from wood and plastic (with real nails and hammers!) but our kids (luckily) are not allowed in that part of the playground (they have to be over 7 years to do the construction part). No problem! The other part is also fun... take a look!

The boys together on one little bike

Ready to jump (Milan)!

Landing in mud!

Look... my legs (a beauty treatment?)

Steltlopen (for the Dutch...it's a traditional thing)

Play makes hungry!

I did one layout this week and I really like it! But I will save that one for another day or you can have a peek in my gallery!

Tomorrow it's Thursday and we're off for some family visit in the morning and then hopefully a nice lunch and some shopping in Purmerend.

My new yellow friend!

Hi!

I have a new little friend... it's bright, yellow and waterproof!! I love the sunny color but I will probably even more like its results... photos (to scrap, what else!)... I bought it at camera4all and it was already in the mail last Saturday but we were not at home but at the local (just opened) Construction Playground. So the postman couldn't deliver the box... and I had to wait until today. But now it's finally here:

It's going to be my friend on our Greek vacation next week. We're off to Crete, one of the islands of Greece, the largest in fact.

It's just a point and shoot camera (even under water which I think I'll see plenty off!)

You'll see the results when we get back!

Hello!!

It has been a while but I have been blogging on our other blog Us in Orlando 2009.

So I haven't been neglecting you totally, have I? Last Friday the summerbreak of the kids started and they have been at their grandparent's house since last Sunday night (because we both have to work). On Monday it was raining to they went to Ballorig with grandma, something they really wanted to do (I had saved them a Chocomel discount coupon). Last night I came home and Maurits came over to see if he could fix my internet connection (and yes, he did it so thanks to him I am now back online!). After I got my e-mail again I found these pics in the mail:






So I think they're having fun over there!!

Today is my day off work and the weather has cleared up so I might go into town a little bit later. First I tried to find ourselves a last-minute summer trip. We tried not to stretch our budget too far this time since we already booked a ski-holiday and the trip to both the Disney's (WDW ánd DLRP)... It's hard to find something sunny last minute because apparently all the Dutch have decided to escape the bad weather and book vacations abroad. I have found something on the island of Crete, Greece but we'll discuss this tonight! I work this week and next week and then I have 3 whole weeks off as well!! I am really looking forward to that!

I didn't do a lot of layouts but there's one I'd like to share with you since it only had one comment sofar! Image is clickable for credits (and for some love of course :) )

Time for a shower and some breakfast!! Have a great day!

Verjaardag, huwelijk, Florida

Hi all!
It has been a busy week, last Saturday Mauro turned 6 and it was time to party. And partytime it was, treat at school on Thursday, kids' party on Friday (school was closed) and the big party on Saturday. Here's an impression:

We cancelled our Sunday plans (we wanted to go to the Cherry vineyard to listen to a concert (http://www.kersen.nu/) but it was all a bit too much. the boys wanted to rest and play with all the new Playmobil and Lego. I can't blame them!

Monday I was at work and left there around 11.00 to attend the wedding of one of my co-workers. Jaap got married to Simone in the town of Huizen. I took some pictures and even scrapped one!

Yesterday I said goodbye to Petra on MSN. She's now at the airport to catch her flight to JFK and from there they are flying to Tampa, FL. She will be travelling in Florida and Texas but also visiting her WW friends later this month. She was soooo excited and nervous but I just know it will all turn out great! I hope you will blog very soon Peet!

Talking about blogs, I have decided to make travel blogs... 11 years ago I started writing those on paper (when I travelled to Cuba) and now that we have plans to go to Florida I have started another digi blog. It's called Us in Orlando 2009.

I have to pick up the kids from school now...see you all later!

Guess what Mickey here we come (twice!)

Ok so we already had plans to go to Disneyland Paris in October... but then we had this great opportunity!






Can you believe it.... I am sooooo excited :) More details later!

Have a great day!