Jaunt to Germany

Sailing with Markus and Tina:
 

Open Air Museum:


Ice cream (of course). This was our second stop at the ice cream shop.


Everyone who came to the family gathering at Franz's house:

Getting over Jetlag...

...in three easy steps.

Step 1: Tickle your cousin
Invite family and friends over all at the same time. Eat, drink, and tickle your cousin. Try not to fall asleep.


Step 2: Koffie en Koek (Coffee and a sort of cross between a cake and a cookie)
Celebrate everything, especially birthdays, whether they happened yesterday or in March. Teatime? Let's celebrate! Try not to fall asleep.


Step 3: Glitter tattoos...of course. What else? Borrow bikes from neighbors so that all 10 of us (Michiel, Lisa, Alexander, Annabel, Mieke, Jeanni, Carel, Tatjana, Maarten, and Kiril) can ride to Zwolle for a festival. Six bikes, ten people. You do the math.

Momentous Day

Today was one of those days where a lot of things happened. It could have been a stressful day. There was a lot of scurrying around, a lot of dropping off and picking up, a lot of persuading and bolstering, and a lot of "I don't want to!"

But the sun was shining. And I was steady.

At the dinner table, we had three things to toast:

Alexander had his extra tooth pulled, and he was quite brave. I spoiled him like a grandparent afterwards.

Annabel learned to ride a bike. She never wanted to do it with the training wheels, and today with Grandma and Grandpa, she got on a regular bike and off she went! Steering is still a bit tricky, but she's got the pedaling down.

And Mieke? Mieke learned to draw circles. She always wants someone to draw a snowman for her, but now she can do it herself.

In the end, it was one of those days where I was really glad to be a mom. These were the highlights of my day, these three things that made me incredibly proud.

The Rose-berry Bush

Last week I was tidying up the girls' room when I looked out the window and saw this:

 At first I thought, "I didn't know we had a holly bush there." Then I looked closer:

I burst out laughing. One of my children had decorated the thorns of the rosebush with berries collected from the bush by the front door. Obviously, this was the work of Annabel.

I went through the next few days telling everyone and getting a spark of delight every time I glanced at our new "rose-berry" bush. What creativity! What fun! That Annabel is a special girl!

But the story did not end there.

When I finally got around to complimenting Annabel on her artistic effort, she said, "It wasn't me. It was Alexander's idea. But he let me help."

I was floored. This was not Alexander's style, I thought. Then I remembered that, as recent incidents have pointed out to me, I may not actually know my son that well. How fantastic to learn that he has rose-berry bushes inside of him! How thoughtful of him to cover the sharp thorns with squishy-bright berries.

Once again, I am reminded that the surprises my children have in store for me will never end. I hope there are more like this one.

20 Questions

Last night we introduced the kids to the game of 20 Questions. Here's a sample of our family fun:

ME: Are you man-made?

ALEXANDER: Yes.

ME: Are you bigger than this pillow?

ALEXANDER: I can be.

MICHIEL: Are you a toy?

ALEXANDER: Yes.

ME: Are you many different colors?

ALEXANDER: Yes.

MICHIEL: Oh, I know. Do you originally come from Denmark?

ALEXANDER: Yes.

ANNABEL: (running into the room and jumping up and down) Oh! Oh! I know it! I know it! Are you a peacock?

ALEXANDER: Sheesh, Annabel. It's Legos!

Do You Do Kissing?

I'm rather smitten with my middle child right now. She is such a delightful creature.

The other day I let her watch a bit of Downton Abbey with me. There was a kissing scene. Afterwards she told me about how some kids do kissing at school.

"But only when the teacher isn't looking," she informed me.

"Oh?" I said. "Kids do kissing?"

"Yeah, they hide so the teacher can't see."

"Hmm." And then, as casually as I could manage: "Do you do kissing too?"

"No, no. Not me."

"Alexander, did they do kissing when you went to school there?"

Look of horror. "Are you crazy?"

"So, Annabel, have you ever kissed anyone? Besides family."

"No, no, no. Well, yes. I kissed Cade." (A boy at her school.)

"What was it like?"

"His lips were wet. And they stayed wet for a long time."

"Were you kissing him for a long time?"

"No, but I could just see that they were wet."

We'll see if she has the same observations about kissing when she's 15. If she'll still talk to me about it.

Spring Break!

We were going to take a road trip down to the California redwoods for spring break, but instead we decided to stay home and do fun things around here. Things we don't usually do. We each got to pick something that we wanted to try together as a family.

After a little family bike ride, Dutch-style, we began spring break with a trip to the zoo.

We usually go up at Christmas time for the zoo lights. I don't think the kids even remember being there in the daylight. Annabel kept asking when we were going to see the bats. Not so interesting during the day.

Alexander and Michiel drove up to Vancouver for Gamestorm. Now they have plenty of new games on their wish lists.

My pick for a spring break adventure was ice skating. Annabel was a bit shaky but seemed to do much better when she wasn't holding onto anyone. Alexander loved it! Just loved it! He wants to go back right away.

I got away for an overnight trip to the beach with a couple of girlfriends. Nasty weather, but we didn't mind one bit. While I was gone, the rest of the family tried out Superbounce.

The thing that Annabel wanted to try over spring break was skateboarding. (She also wanted to climb a mountain, but we didn't quite make that happen.) We hit up Uncle Eric to bring his skateboards and give a lesson. Super fun!

And what vacation would be complete without a night of eating dinner in front of the TV? Alexander even coerced us into buying TV dinners!

Next year maybe we'll take a road trip, but this year's spring break was perfect!