We were a bit busy. Doing this…
Older, wiser and definitely a bit heavier we are looking back on 10 great years, and are wishing for a lot more to come!!!
Archive for fun stuff
The one where Sam goes to the theatre
First, we make sure our hair and makeup looks right:
Hair and makeup
Then, we read the program, so that we know what’s coming up:
Reading up
And we try to get in first:
The big crush
In the interval, it’s time to think over what we just saw:
Relaxxxxx
And afterwards, we complement the artist on a job well done!
Dirk Scheele
Yes, Sam and Amy went to see Dirk Scheele (and band) sing loads of cool songs about Dikkie Dik, a big orange cat with attitude. It was great! They had front row seats, so were close to the action. Sam loved it, and is definitely up for another theatre visit 
But first, it’s Hannah’s turn again. As a true Annie MG Schmidt fan, she’s going to see ‘Tante Patent’ this Friday. Looking forward to it!
Sams parties
Whenever a little boy turns 3, one party isn’t enough. Three is about right!!! So, we started out with party 1 at home, when we unwrapped his presents and blew out the candles on his birthday cake…
That's a big one!!!
Proper stuff for Sam the Builder
Smile!
A strange-looking, but yummy cake. Just call it Dali Mickey...
At daycare, handing out his treats!
All the kids sing for Sam
More presents, a cool rescue chopper!
Hanneke also came to drop off a present
The Thomas draw bridge and Cranky (not pictured)
Party 2: Joshja, Shanara, Hester and Marit dropped by, and later on, we also got a short visit from Destin and Ebony (and all their moms)… Not really good piccies, we were too busy fetching coffee, cake, sweets, and having fun chatting and clearing up after the little uns… 
Hester, Hannah, Marit and Sam
Shanara and Joshja and their moms. To the left is Ingrid, Shanara's mom, who is 31w pregnant with twins!
And party 3! With the ‘Vrienzinnen’, Amy’s group of friends – a combined birthday for Sam, Ruben and Marije. Again, more chatting than picture taking 
Sam playing with Simone en Ruben
With Ruben and Yestin, opening presents: loads-a-cars!
Sam has been horribly spoilt with cars, trains, books, and more. Thanks to everyone! Even though he was a bit ill, he enjoyed last week and all the partying very much!!!!
Going to see a Scottish heavy metal band
Last night, we took Hannah to her first concert. Not a kiddy girly band, not a musically dancy thing, no, the real thing: Marillion! The band often called ‘a Scottish heavy metal band’* was playing in our hometown, and as Steve is fan No. 1, that was one we couldn’t miss! As it was an ‘acoustic’ sit-down concert, it was a great opportunity to get Hannah to see the band, as she is almost a bigger fan than her daddy!
We were all wearing the T-shirts (Amy even got a proper women’s size one later on) and had a great night. Steve was clapping so hard and so long, the band even sang a song especially for him: Easter, which nearly had all of us in tears…
Afterwards, Steve went off to the pub with some other fans, and we cycled home to have cake, and end a perfect day!!!
Smile! You're on camera!
Some Dutch courage??? And see the shirt? It's FAMOUS now!!!
(for more info on Steve’s special moment, go to the Marillion forum! – or just ask Steve
)
* which they are not, it’s prog-rock, people… tssss….
Spot the proud aunt/parents…
Little Famke, fast asleep (unlike all night last night)
Proud parents, Gerbrich and Michiel, with our box full of prezzies
And a proud auntie!
Someone loves bath time...
And the new mommy loves bath time too!
One more for good measure...
Happy birthday to two!!!!
Yes, she arrived!!! On Sam’s birthday we woke up to the news that Amy’s sister had been admitted to hospital with high blood pressure and that her water had been broken. It was a very exciting day, and we kept an eye on our phones and mobiles while partying with Sam (more on that later). Then late in the afternoon, the good news came:
FAMKE
had arrived!!! After a good labour and a few hours of good hard work, Gerbrich and Michiel became the proud parents of a precious girl!
We will be posting a picture here as soon as we’ve been to see the new family! As Sam is still ill, he won’t be able to come, so it will probably be Amy and Hannah who will do the first honours.
Another brick in the wall
In the midst of a shanty choir festival, we were building a monument for our city. As the city center is one huge building site, and a new museum is being built on the site of a former square (don’t even get us started on that one…), all Leeuwarders were invited to help build a monument. The plan was that every household would receive a brick in the post, but after some ‘problems’ they decided to just hand them out on site. Here is Hannah with her brick:
And a part of the monument. Steve made a nice video, which we will also upload soon…
Back from Drenthe
We’re back from our holiday to Drenthe, where we stayed in a caravan at campsite De Kremmer in Gasselte for 2 weeks. The weather was glorious, we only had 2 rain showers the entire time… No piccies of us sunbathing, even though we did enough of it… It was a great combo of enjoying nature, exploring new towns and cities, and relaxing on the beach! We could write a lengthy post to tell you all about it, but as one picture can say a thousand words, here’s a few thousand words in pictures… 39,000 words, to be exact… Enjoy!
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- Monkey antics – Boomkroonpad
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- A fallen tree is great to climb on – Boomkroonpad
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- High up in the trees – Boomkroonpad
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- Our tour guide today! – Boomkroonpad
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- Peace and serenity in the forest – Boomkroonpad
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- Hannah the little sheperdess – Balloo
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- A cuddle-loving sheep – Balloo
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- Future fleece artiste? – Balloo
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- The sheep fold – Balloo
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- Rainy hour entertainment in the caravan
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- Sam, the prehistoric strong man – Hunebedcentrum Borger
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- The kids on the biggest hunebed in the country – Hunebedcentrum Borger
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- Zoomed out a bit for reference – Hunebedcentrum Borger
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- And even more, yes that little orange blip is Samuel – Hunebedcentrum Borger
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- More giant constructions – Sprookjeshof Zuidlaren
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- ‘Mommy, Berend Botje!!!!’ – Sprookjeshof Zuidlaren
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- Guess who the real leprichaun is… – Sprookjeshof Zuidlaren
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- Having an ice cream in Exloo
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- More hunebedden – Rolde
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- Fun at the playback show – Campsite De Kremmer, Gasselte
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- No prize, but a cool medal! – Campsite De Kremmer
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- The elephants and a little baby – Emmen Zoo
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- Lots of playing in the zoo as well – Emmen Zoo
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- Amy and Hanneke have a quiet chat… – Emmen Zoo
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- The petting zoo… and NO, you can’t take the goat home – Emmen Zoo
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- Hey, giraffes! – Emmen Zoo
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- Three pretty girls – Emmen Zoo
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- Stop smelling my bum! – Emmen Zoo
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- All creatures great and small… – Emmen Zoo
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- And working a bit too… – Campsite De Kremmer
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- The kids having fun in the Cartoon Museum – Groningen
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- Funny men – Groningen
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- Testing the water – Hemelrijk
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- Testing some more… – Hemelrijk
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- Ooops, I fell…. – Hemelrijk
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- Might as well have some fun then… – Hemelrijk
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- Loads of video, but hardly any pictures of our train journey… – STAR Veendam-Stadskanaal
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- Getting ready for a midnight quest! – Campsite De Kremmer
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- Entertainment at the campsite – De Kremmer
Austrian wedding
The weekend before last we went to Austria for a wedding. Yes, we DROVE to Austria for a wedding, 1320KM there and 1320KM back. Mad or not? We had a great time, not only there, but also on the way. Despite it being a long trip, the kids loved it. Hannah had a map and crossed all the major cities on the way, Sam read his books, played with his cars, marvelled at all the trucks (and was disappointed there were hardly any on the Sunday back) and slept. We took the necessary breaks to fuel up (ourselves and the car) and to let the kids run wild for a bit, take a pee and sniff the grass. On the Friday we drove until about half an hour of the Austrian border and stayed in a cute hotel in Deggendorf, in the south of Germany. Then the Saturday, we drove the last leg of the trip, towards ever higher mountains, some even with snow (in the distance). Steve tried his hardest to get some proper pictures, but alas… Trees and walls kept popping up and blocking the view.
And then, after a few more hours, we arrived here:
Yes, a car park But when you looked the other way:
Still doesn’t give much away, does it? Okay, will a small bird’s eye view do?
Told you… Gorgeous!!! A place in Austria that makes you sing and gets you in the mood for a wedding… Theirs:
Christian and Christina tied the knot in a beautiful, although muffled (no microphone), German and slightly rainy ceremony in the courtyard of the castle. Here (see both flags? Austrian and Frisian):
With music to cheer everybody up who was looking up and seeing the rainclouds draw in closer and closer…
A happy and beautiful bride, now travelling around Indonesia with her new hubby:
After dancing the night away and enjoying the fireworks, we had a restful night’s sleep in the hotel/castle, and then after a hearty breakfast we drove the 1320KM back in one day. Just over 13 hours it took, despite lots of roadworks in Germany… A weekend to remember!
Thanks, Wiebe (brother-in-law of the bride) for the pictures!!!
Happy days…
Hannah got her B swimming diploma last week and then the next day we were off to Austria for a wedding… Pictures of these happy occasions are on Steve’s computer and on Amy’s phone, so these will come later…
But today was also a happy day, ’cause finally, finally, finally: this!
Of course all this got paid back with a big mouth a bit later (but hey, the girl was tired…)… But we know they love us…
