Went to the Efteling on Thursday, July 31; here are pictures of some of the fun things me, sister in law G. and darling nephew R. did in that themepark (Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands)


First up in the fairytale-forrest: waking up the trollking in his tree


Watching Rapunzel hanging her long braid from the tower


The dragon protecting his treasures was a little scary;)


Just like the wolf trying to get in the house of the seven little goats.


But that candy house of the witch that caught Hansl and Gretl was pretty cool!


The trash-eating dude was to be approached carefully though:)


A new addition to the fairytale forrest was the story of the Emperor's new clothes! (Aunt J. loved this:)


Listening to the stories of the old tree, who had a lot of animal friends hiding in his roots and branches who added commentary.


The train on the kid's playground was the best, especially when mummy was running to keep up:)


We also loved chilling on the boatride (in the background the Pagoda, which was too high in R.'s opinion;)

But driving your own car was right up his alley! (Although the old timers were on top of a track you did have to steer them yourself (aunty J. therefore requested that mom G. would sit next to R. for assistence *g*)



The souvenir bubbleshooting gun was a big hit \o/


As were the dinnerboxes, nom!

What a great day!

If you follow me on Twitter you've already read about the events of Saturdaynight, when I just got home from a family get together. I meant to go to bed right away when two firetrucks came blazing into my street, stopping right outside my apartment. Turns out there was a fire in the building right across the street. I took some pictures.









From the other side of the building you can see there's not much left of the apartment.

Went to Amsterdam on Friday (March 28) to see my brother's girlfriend in a play (awesome!). Had some time beforehand for shopping, exploring and dinner with brotherdearest. Here are a couple of photo's:)


Impressive building at Prinsengracht 659


View over Leidsegracht


Metz & Co, corner of Leidsestraat


Pizza at Pizzeria Torino; a meaty San Marco (tomato, cheese, ham, salami, bacon and sausage) for me, a vegetarian Capra (tomato, goat's cheese, spinache and onions) for brotherdearest. Had hazelnut icecream for dessert, also delicious.


Tower of Amsterdam University (near Crea center)


Balcony at Sarphatistraat


Metro (subway) with fancy old castle/ballroom design


Kroonluchter (photo;) on metro-ceiling


My loot: toothbrushes from Witte Tandenwinkel (Runstraat - White Teethshop) + cool cards and luxurious chocolate with pink pepper* from The Frozen Fountain (Prinsengracht) + all kinds of American and English goodies from Eichholtz Delicatessen (Leidsestraat)

*does anyone else want to try this? (I already sampled...)

Went to The Hague yesterday.
"Mmmm, boterham met chocoladepasta." After lunch we walked to the beach for icecream, and we did some bookshopping for Boekenweek.

Found two dead mouses in my bikeshed (I didn't do it, they were like that when I got home)



No idea what's going on; two weeks ago I also found a dead mouse there. Cue spooky music.

Traditionally it's celebrated on the evening of December 5th, but my family got together yesterday for our Sinterklaas party:)


These are the surprisepackages I build, from left to right:
- a sheep for my mom; hiding a jar of sheepherder's handcreme;
- a cuddly Sinterklaaspuppet with a fake book that makes music upon opening and contains candy, for my darling nephew;
- a chainlock and key for my dearest brother, who got his bike stolen. Hidden inside the lock is a funky bicycle horn and the chain was later wrapped around additional present, a DVD of Ladri di Biciclette (italian film Bicyclethieves;)
- a big bag of Sinterklaascandy (the present is wrapped in paper with candy-print) for my brother's girlfriend with a fancy shoulderbag and candy-scented showergel inside;
- a huge -and heavy!- loaf of bread surrounding a book with baking recipies for my sister in law;
- a toy-train with a tiny toddler version of my other brother, build upon a book with lectures about evolution.
I added short four-line poems explaining the packages (and teasing the recipients;)


Darling nephew's face at the reveal of the pile of presents :-D


Opening his first present; the musicbook. It was a big hit \o/ (probably because of the candy inside;)


Ruben helping unwrap a present while his dad reads a poem. I love the expectant looks on the faces of my youngest brother and my mom:)


Wondering what that bread is all about *g*


Brotherdearest trying to get to his present.


Still so many presents to go! (Everybody was only supposed to help out Sinterklaas with one gift per person, but I think Sint magically added a bit more;)


The grand finale: my mom wrestling with the sheep. LOL.

Last but not least: check out my presents!
Lots of travel stuff (special towel, flat waterbottle), foodiethings (macaron creator, lollycakes materials, of course chocolate letters and marsipan, which I already ate some of before taking the photo;), funky gifts (a bicycle ledlight set, dj-puppet, usb-hub mouse) and the marvelous Monty Python encyclopedia!

Heard music outside my apartment last Saturday; the Sinterklaas parade came by! Here are some photos taken from my balcony:)





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Intocht Sinterklaas
We celebrate his nameday in December, but today Sinterklaas already arrived in the Netherlands to start the countdown \o/ Officially there is only one Sinterklaas, but he magically manages to visit every big city and small village on the same day. My sister in law and darling nephew travelled to my town so we could all enjoy the festivities together. Here are some photos!


Mom and me waiting at the trainstation with our festive tiaras:)


We're all singing "Zie ginds komt de stoomboot" to welcome Sint's big boat with the Pieten, the band and lots of presents.


Ruben had a great view sitting on his mom's shoulders:)


He watched Sint get off the boat and there was a Piet racing in the water, woah!


From the boatlanding we walked to one of the town's squares where Sint was welcomed on stage and we sang more songs.


After that we had a bit of lunch and then walked to Town Hall for the finale of the festivities.


Ruben received lots of pepernoten (tiny cookies:), which he happily shared with his aunty J. ;)


We also saw Sint from up close, woohoo!


Back at the trainstation, tired but happy:)


Grandma drew a Sint and Piet on the dirty windows of the train before waving goodbye.

The end.

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Traveled to The Hague on Sunday for a family get together in celebration of my brother's birthday. In between ridiculous rainstorms we went to the playground in the forrest. We ended the evening with a delicious diner in a nearby Chinese restaurant. A great day. Have some photos!


Ruben and his tablet, playing a racing game with his dad (my brother;)


To reach uncle Hans, Ruben has to throw the ball high into the sky!


No fear; look at him go at the ropebridge, all by himself \o/


Ruben showing his mum how well he can climb:)


Weeeeeeh, down the slide.


An artistic shot of a tree as proof that I don't just take photos of my adorable nephew;)


Excellent food, great company. That round table was perfect to chat to everyone!

Dyed my hair yesterday (Sept. 6th) - after letting the grey show for about a year and a half now, I wanted to be a redhead again;)


I used a new dye that had to be applied with a brush after mixing the ingredients in a bowl... It looked like an orange custard.


It smelled like 'flowers' and looked like... this. ;)


Hair down, before and after


Hair up, before and after.