The windmill of Woudrichem.

This the view from the restaurant where we had pancackes with Noortje Jeroen, Justin and Eva.

Nils and Justin running together.

Noortje, Jeroen, justin and Eva in Andel

Today our friends from Zoetermeer came to visit us, w met them during our last summer holiday in France.

They have children almost the same age as nils and Wende; Justin and Eva,

Jeroen and Noortje came over to visit us and this was the first time again since the summer holiday (almost a year ago) but Nils and Justin recognized each other straight away and played with each other the whole afternoon. Nils was not always the better host and he even poored mud on Justin once.(for which Nils was sentenced 3 minutes in the hallway...)

In the evening we set out to Woudrichem where had pancackes at the pannekoekenboot.

We had a good time and hope to see more of them, maybe next time we visit their place in Zoetermeer...Until next time..

Playground Nederhemert

More pictures from last sunday, Nils looks terrified sliding down the big slide.
But as soon as he touches ground again he wants nothing but go back up again.

Weekend!

This sunday we went to Nederhemert by fiets to the playground.
There Nils and Wende enjoyed themselves swinging and sliding.

Kids

and here is a picture of Wende doing what she likes most: sliding!

Me and the kids sitting in the woods

Nils on the "skelter"

We rented a "skelter" for an hour and it started to rain inmediately....
So I pushed Nils around in the shelter were the skelter's storage was..
After 10 minutes or so the rain was gone and we continued outside.
Unfortunately the skelter is a bit too big for Nils and I ended up pushing him through the whole parc..
Ah well, he loved it and that is what counts.

Nils and the field trip

We spend the sunday with a field trip in a carriage through the woods and Nils loved it!

Wende was a bit afraid at first but after 10-15 minutes she was so tired of al the things that were happening around her that she fell asleep.

On the way back, Nils was allowed to sit up front next to the driver.

Were Nils did all the talking...

A weekend out with the family

This weekend we went to a parc in Hellendoorn where we stayed in a small holiday house with a fireplace and a sauna.
We arrived friday afternoon and spent the evening with chocolate milk and pancakes.
Saterday we took our bicycles and drove trough the woods for about 11/2 hours.
In the afternoon we went for a swim were Wende went from the slide almost by herself and Nils together with mom and dad from the biggest slide.

Bruno

From left to right:
Jorma Savoilanen, Me wouter, Bruno and the pumpman onboard the vessel. Sailing around Denmark.

Today I received sad news from Lorraine Leks, wife of Bruno Leks.

Bruno was an old friend who I met on one of my trips onboard ships during my time as a service engineer.

I only met him once but always stayed in touch. Some friends you just know they will stay frined although you won't see each other in a long time.

Bruno sadly, passed away before I had the chance to visit him, something what was on my wish list for a long time.

I wish Lorraine all the strength in the world to continue without Bruno and who knows, if I get the chance, I will try to visit her and pay my respect to Bruno.

Guusje's Stories

Guusje is Nils and Wende's Niece and we received one of her made up stories via email.

She loves to make up her own stories and who knows, she might end up a writer..

The story here is of Doornroosje, Cinderella I guess in english. But a little different:

Once upon a time there was a queen and king and they wanted a little daughter. And what happened? They had a daughter.

They both thought she was very cute.

What name shall we give her..

How about Cinderella? Ok, sounds good..

And she grew up, until she reached he age of 16.

The little princess had a lovely pink dress and golden shoes.

the end

Frietjeshuis!!

Nils loves the MCDonalds and calls it the Fries house.

Not that he eat much, it's more because of the happy meal presents...

Wende and her handbag

Wende is truly a girl alright, already when she goes out, the handbag must come along.
Even if it is just a stroll through the garden...

Old but not silent, movies

My father took many 8mm films in the sixtie, seventies and eighties. These movies are still well preserved and I am now trying to get these films on dvd with sound..

Here's an example, actually a first test. Already spotted that the dvd camera had a problem with the lighting.

More trains

Nils wanted to ride a small train just for kids but he was so nervous that he ran out of the queue 2 times and cried a lot.. After some time, Nils and dad waited until it was nils's turn for a ride and when he came back (a minute or 2) he was full of story's of what happened during the ride...

Trains Trains trains

Saturday ws a rainy day and we spent it indoors playing games but today, sunday was a sunny day! Therefor we went out on a train to Utrecht to visit the train museum.

Got on the train in Zaltbommel and stopped over at Utrecht central before we took the last train to the museum.