Looks like a Dutch summer is here..

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Friday we had the day off because of our queens birthday, ah well, it is not really her birthday but her mother's. But thye kept it that day out of repect of the "old" queen. On that day, a lot of festivities take place, organised by the local orange communities. Ours had a new chairman and it happened to be our neighbour's son. In the morning we went to listen to our Andel's brass band who performed in a tent near our Romboutstoren where Jan Claessen is buried. they completed (like last year) with the Brabants anthem. There was supposed to be a children parade where kids with their bikes were allowed to make as much noise as possible and have their bikes dressed up like whatever they liked.. The rain however was not helping so we did not stay to watch it all. During the rest of the day we stayed indoors where the kids played with Lindsey a friend of Nils. In the end of the afternoon, the sun came out and we went on our bikes to the square to see if there was still something to do. There should have been some more festivities or games. Unfortunately the games were finished but Nils and Wende got to play on what was left of the games's utilities. In the evening mom and dad went to see our neighbour's daughter at the playback contest. She performed well and we saw her boyfriend being so proud of her... We saw a lot of familiar faces ofcourse and the atmosphere was really great. Saturday we went to Den Bosch because dad needed new cloths badly.. He bought a jacket and a couple of t-shirts and blouses. We also went to buy Nils and Wende new boots. After all the "had to do's" were done, we also bought some chocolate at the chocolate company famous for their delicious chocolate. And to finish up we went to the library to borrow new books for Nils and Wende and Lisette. When you look out of the window at the kids books floor, you can spot a strange figure across the street overlooking the church of Den Bosch.. It is a statue dressed in church clothes.. Sunday we went to the swimming pool in Gorinchem where there was a huge slide with a part completely in darkness.. Nils loved it but dad found it a bit to much for Wende. Ingmar loved the water but we had to keep a good eye on him because the water at the baby area was still too deep for him to wander off alone. In the afternoon we had Lisette's niece with husband Marius and son visiting us. They stayed on a camp site nearby and visited us on their way home.