Finally found T-shirts that fit AND have a cool print \o/ *wipes sweat from brow* #clothesshoppingishell [BeeLikeJ's Twitter, 3 July]

Monday was my mom's birthday, today we all got together to party. After cake Gran, Aunty J, Uncle Hans and Aunty Benthe went to the petting zoo with Ruben. Here are some pictures of our little trip:)


Ruben played football (much more fun than goats in the background;)


The chickens were fascinating, but not as cool as the rooster that cock-a-doodle-dood loudly!


Playing more footbal with Uncle Hans and Gran.


Oooh, intimidating slide!


The seesaw is hilarious though


Cycling back home:)

On Thursday and Friday (June 7) nephew Ruben and his mom had a sleep-over at grandma's house, so of course aunty J. had to cycle over to have dinner with the family :-) Here are a couple of photos!


Mmmm, yoghurt! (We also loved the spaghetti with meatballs:)


Playing peek-a-boo with grandma (and making a funny face at aunt J)


Catch my arm if you can!


Another version of peek-a-boo with aunty J:)



Cycling home; first day back on my bike after the shoulder incident four weeks ago \o/

Traveled to The Hague with mom to spend the day with the rest of the family:) Here are some photos!


Jaap, Ruben and dog Rowdy picked us up from the tram. Grandma is running for a hug:)


We made a detour through the park and Ruben showed off his bike!



Climbing the stairs.

After lunch we all went to the shopping center nearby to buy books for Bookweek (You get a free book with your purchase:)


On the way we saw this colourful goose.


Ruben being charming.


Some other dude trying to seduce us;)


Mom, Gayleen and Ruben with Jaap and Hans way ahead of us.


On the way back Ruben fell asleep. Ahw.


After his nap he showed Grandma a puzzle on the pad.


Ruben also played a game with his mom...


... and was tickled by aunt J. :-D

What an awesome day!

Weeeeeeird.


I was doing my finances this afternoon. When I got the receipts of this week off my pinboard over half of them were covered in black stains. I'm sure they didn't get wet in between buying groceries and saving them on the pinboard, so where did all that ink come from? Freaky.

Two weeks after my accident with the drill my finger has healed quite nicely:



I kept my finger wrapped for about ten days, cutting of dead skin in between. The skinflap I had used to cover the wound fell off completely after a new thin layer had grown underneath! Isn't the body a marvelous thing:)

While cleaning out a paper drill I managed to drive the thing into my indexfinger, resulting in a bloody big hole with skin hanging off. After our First Aid person (my Boss;) put on an emergency finger-bandaid I noticed I also cut my middle finger. Au! After a while blood started to seep through, so I decided to clean the wound properly myself and put on a fresh bandaid and extra wrapping.







:-( It's my scrolling / mouse finger too and typing is no fun either.
(I later put a special giraffe-print bandaid from the WWF on my middlefinger. What? It totally started bleeding!)

An Afternoon in The Hague - Friday January 18
After visiting brotherdearest in Amsterdam on Thursday, today I traveled on to the family in The Hague to catch up with my sister in law and my nephew;)We went sleighing!


View from train to The Hague: so much snow!


Walking through the neighbourhood to the nearby forest.


While retriever Rowdy is set free, Ruben keeps the leash in his sled:)


OOooh, mum Gayleen pulls the sled uphill.


Mum Gayleen and Aunt Judith acting silly for the photo;)


Wearing mum's gloves to keep warm.


Ready to go home...

When we were nearly back at the apartment, Ruben fell asleep in the sled. Aaahw.

An Afternoon in Amsterdam - Thursday, January 17
Before I went to see my brother's girlfriend Benthe on stage in Angels in America (a performance by Studententoneel Amsterdam) I did some quick shopping in the Big City. Here are some photos of sights I met along the way;)


View from the train as I near Amsterdam Central Station: cool graffiti and the actual windmill in the background.


Finally I'm able to see the front of the station without all the scaffolding that had been there in the past few years(!)


A "Seeperij" is a place where they make soaps. Front is now above an ATM. The "Vergulde Hant" (gilded hand) is still a brandname for shaving cream.


Front of old booksellers in three languages on Damrak. Now a clothing store.


The Palace on Damsquare, also free of scaffolding. Looking good!


Side entrance of the "Kalvertoren", a shopping mall.


Saw the moon, while waiting for the tram to my brother's appartment. Also saw two stars: I nearly bumped into Dutch actor-couple Daan Schuurmans & Bracha van Doesburgh. No pictures, but it did happen :)


Next morning, Hans walked me to the train. I'm going to The Hague!

>>Sleighing with Ruben!

This is for people who ask me why I cycle to the other end of town to catch the bus to work, in stead of going to the busstation. From today's newspaper:



This is the citybus that students try to get on to go to one of the many schools in town. It's similar to the amount of students that get on 'my' bus that also leaves from the busstation. By the time it reaches the busstop I cycle to (about ten-fifteen minutes later), it has passed all the schools and offices in town and dropped off that huge load of passengers (including the bunch of baby-soldiers that go to the army-training facility near 'my' busstop) and I can actually sit down for the ride out of town to the small village where I work. Ha.

Sinterklaas 2012
We celebrated Sinterklaas on Sunday December 2nd and not on the official 'eve' (Dec. 5th) so the whole family could get together \o/


Cycled to my mom's around 13.00 (1 p.m.) and had to stop to take a picture of the beautiful sky and bridge that connects my neighbourhood to hers (only accessible to busses and bicycles:)


After everyone Sinterklaas hid all the presents under the covers on the dinnertable, we were ready to party...


OOOoooh, big pile of presents! On the left my two brothers, in the middle my mom and nephew Ruben, to the right my SILs:)


Mom's surprise package was an evil wallet with maxed out creditcard, luckily it came with a present.


Hans surprise package was a set of tigerparts; Sint challenged him to wear the ears, bowtie and tail to earn the real gift he asked for (Tigerfeet. Seriously. That was the only thing on his wishlist. My brother, ladies and gentlemen)


Ruben is waiting with anticipation:)


Jaap checking out his cool shirt ("Lekker Ding" = Sweet thing / Hot stuff;)

Benthe reading a poem (We got so many awesome poems this year, praise to all!)


Surprise package for Gayleen was a suspicious jar of facial cream (face paint!). Underneath the fake gifts she found the good stuff:)


I got a special guy holding a present. (His face was a wicked dishwashing brush-skull, his outfit was a new bathmat, in his hands he was holding a set of cupcake molds, yes skulls again, Sint knows me so well:)


Hans and Gayleen get a set of his and her keychains, aaaahw.


Ruben eating the letter I baked for him (because he's not old enough yet to get the traditional chocolate letter). Look at that face!


Jaap reading a poem, Hans still wearing the tigerears \o/


Possibly the best present of the day: Ruben's letter train...


...it spells his name!


Finally Hans got his real present; underneath the tigermasktrophy and the bloody remains of the hunt he discovered his pair of tigerfeet. (Also: tattoosleeves:)


Dork.

My loot! Thank you, Sinterklaas!


I love all my presents, but this may be my favorite: the Dierelirium book. (Animalario Universal) - it's so cool, I can create thousands (!) of animals.

*Happy sighs*

(Photos of the making of the tigerfeet surprise package and the baking of Ruben's letter in my journal!)