October 7, 2009
· Filed under Samuel
A long blog post today… As a lot has happened this week!
It all started out really well, with Sammy doing his Teddy Bear 1 test at the swimming pool. He had to swim on his belly and back, jump and dive in the pool, and do a few other tricks. Of course, no problems at all. He had great fun jumping in the pool and reaching up as high as he could to get to the teddy bears, that Barbara, the teacher, had put up to decorate the pool. Steve made some cracker pictures, and here’s a selection!
Little did we know that 9 hours later, Amy and Sam were at the hospital, as Sam was suffering from a severy bout of pseudo croup. It was extremely scary to watch him, as he had so much trouble breathing and had a very high fever. After a few hours of observation, they were sent home with medicine, just in case the croup flared up again. It was a fitful night, but we all survived. Yesterday, Sam had another bad bout, but this time slept through the night and woke up quite cheerful. Today, he was tired and very clingy, and because of all the coughing, he got an earache and even had to vomit a few times.
But… tomorrow he will be well again (we hope), because it will be his THIRD BIRTHDAY!!! Yes, our little mister man is turning 3! And he is having cake, Mickey Mouse cake, with chocolate filling, even though we botched the icing up a bit (so no pictures, we just hope he recognizes it as a MM, 
).
Piccies of Mister Man with his prezzies, balloons, bunting etc… later on in the week!
September 14, 2009
· Filed under Hannah, fun stuff
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…
September 13, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
Do you think he’ll make it?
I hope talking to him for a bit today helped...
September 10, 2009
· Filed under Hannah
August 28, 2009
· Filed under Hannah
Hannah is in ‘real’ school now, and a big girl. She’s in a combined group, with both year 3 and 4, as she’s so clever that she already knows how to read and write and do sums. In this class, they will be offered more interesting and complicated material, to keep them happy and motivated.
Here’s Hannah’s new stash:
Hannah's stash
The big girl at her desk, next to Twan:
Hannah and Twan
And mommy who is happy she has at least one more small child at home…
Letting go...
August 21, 2009
· Filed under fun stuff, holiday
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
July 14, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
Is exhausting… Especially when you don’t get your nap in the afternoon…
June 29, 2009
· Filed under allotment
A picture-heavy post with some recent images of the allotment, where stuff is starting to bloom, grow and yield fruit! We have enjoyed a lot of fresh strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb, plus coulis on ice cream and yummy jam. The veggies are coming slowly but surely. Next year, the beans will go in a bit sooner, and will be aided by some fertilizer, which hopefully speeds up the process a bit Our apples are getting bigger by the day, and are now the size of tangerines. It’s so cool to have a fruit tree! Later on this year, we will plant a cherry tree! Can’t wait!
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Oak-leaf lettuce, lollorosso, rhubarb, loads of picking flowers and our compost heap :D
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The apple tree, broad beans, two types of long beans
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Our early potatoes. The leafs will start to turn yellow and die off soon, then it’s harvest time! Behind it are our raspberries, yum!
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Strawberries, more strawberries and even more strawberries. And big ‘uns too!
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The (still small) brassica section. Flat-leaf kale, Chinese cabbage and white cabbage. Parsnip and more cabbages will be planted tomorrow!
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So beautiful! Unfortunately the poppies never last long in the vase after being picked!
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Ready to go in….
June 19, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
To rectify Steve’s mistake (how can you mistake a guinea pig for a goldfish?), Sam and Amy got a fish today. Meet Elmo! We are still in discussions with Hannah about the name, but I think it will stick 
Other fish is totally happy with this new little critter which has invaded his bowl…
And more animal pictures, from the previous time Sam and I went to the allotment.
First up: a frog. Living under the assumption that if you don’t move, they won’t see you. Yeah, right…
And then the horsies, who have moved to almost next to our plot. Sooo cute!
A huge strawberry:
And then a few piccies of Sam today with his poffertjes. Kids and food, there is no better subject for funny pictures…
June 19, 2009
· Filed under Uncategorized
We totally didn’t post any pictures of Hannah’s B swimming diploma… or the Evening 4-Day Walk, which we did this year. As they were hidden on Amy’s phone, that’s not really a surprise, cause they’re easy to forget about, but here they are!
First up: a proud wee girl with her B diploma! 6m diving under water through a hole, breast and back stroke, crawl… The things they need to do, amazing, for such wee kids! Next week, she’ll be starting on C. Which we don’t even have…
And then a girl with a medal. Four evenings in a row, she walked 5K, 3x with Amy, 1x with Steve (who also walked along a bit on the final night with Sam, after meeting up with us to give Hannah a bunch of roses). Despite a few raindrops, it was super! Definitely something we’ll do again! On the final night, the kids were allowed to dress up, and our little fairy posed with her girlfriend Rianna, who dressed up as Jasmin (from Alladin).
