Holiday Spain 2012

So this year we went for the sun in Spain. We had enough of the rain here and took the car and drove to Spain near Barcelona. The campsite Treumal we booked turned out to be quite nice with (very important..) clean toilets..
Because of the temperature we didn't do much sightseeing but we spent most of the time relaxing on the beach, making sandcastles and dig holes for the kids to play in. You can also dive there and see quite a lot of different fish.
One day we went to Barcelona and saw the famous church Sagrada Familia, took the subway to the famous park of Gaudi (Parc Guell) and last but not least had a bite to eat at a italian restaurant (with 3 young kids you keep it simple) along side the Ramblas.
I wanted to post more pictures but I seem to be out of (free) space on blogger..
You might want to have look at the video's, click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7F7FFC77F5AD4129

Regarding the pictures.. I have to find a solution for thaty.. stay tuned,

Okay, I found one, here´s the link to the sequel:
http://nilswendeingmar.blogspot.nl/

June 2012, beach, flowers, lisette singing

12,5 years of marriage

Lisette and I married in 1999 and since we been married now fore 12,5 years, we threw a small party for family and friends.
We invited as much family and friends as we could and although not everybody could join us, we ended up with a garden full of family and friends and a driveway with a loaded bouncing castle. We had a great day with drinks and BBQ. The weather was favourable as well and we only had a few drops of rain literally! That was all last weekend and this weekend the weahter was pourer, saturday wasn't to bad and while the sunb was shining, we decided it was time for Ingmar to learn how to cycle properly. So dad mounted the extra wheels on his small bicycle and of he went round and round the table on the patio. Lisette took him to the park to cycle some more and he loved it! After dad, we decided to try the fire emergency escape ladder we bought some time ago. Why wait until you really need it, only to find out yo don't know what to do.. So, dad went first and it was easier then he thought it wouyld be. Nils and Wende under supervision of dad, tried it as well and they didn't show the least of fear while climbing out of the window. Can you imagine how proud we are to have such brave kids! Lisette climded up and down again as well, so we are prepared! On sunday it was raining so we went to a museum were the kids can try all sorts of scientific things. There is enough to do for all ages in the museum called Nemo in Amsterdam. For parents it is a nightmare because you have to keepa very close eye on the kids. they go missing in a blink of an eye in that building..
Here are some videos: Click here

A weekend sailing

This weekend we went to the boat and sailed to the Grevelingen, a salt water lake in Holland. First we sailed from Dintelmond to Brouwershaven and stayed overnight at the yachtharber in the city center and had dinner at a little bity disappointing chinese restaurant. The next mornuing we sailed to a couple of small islands near Bruinisse and had lunch there. After lunch we went for a swim, Nils and dad jumping overboard and ingmar and Wende swam with their lifejackets on. Mom joined as well for a quick dip in the pool.. After that we raised the sails again to sail to the brand new harber at Bruinisse. Never seen such a nice and neat harber with fascillities! Regarding fascillities.. the kids cleaned the deck every day and we saw something very unusual, a Phocoena phocoena passed us by! There is video below were you can actually see it (unfortunately only once..)
Next morning after we enjoyed the freshly baked croissants, we sailed to the locks, waited fore it to open, luckily these locks were quite big so we passed though with the next shift, leaving disappointed big ship owners waiting some more.. The next lock was only 1 hour sailing away (Krammersluizen) and there we passed through again and on we went, back to where we came from, Dintelmond. The kids loved it but going to sleep at night was not so easy and for us it was not as comfortable as at home..

Long weekend in May

This time we had a long weekend to share with the kids and so we did. Thursday we went to the Drunense duinen and we took our bicycles with us. We parked the car somewhere and we cycled to the dunes and had a picknic there in the sand. The kids made a sort of tree house (well at least the first floor that is..) and Ingmar played with sand. The wind was a bit cold but the sun made up for it. We all turned home slightly sunburned.. On the way back we passed a campsite with a big playground and lots of kids running around. We had ourselves an ice cream there and continued our journey back to the car. At home we spent the time up to dinner in the garden. The next day dad went to the boat to set the sails ready for ther coming weekend and Lisette did the shopping run with the kids and took Wende to swimming lessons. Saturday Nils had to play a hockey game in Tilburg which he won with his team with 28 to 18.. He scored 8 goals and played very well together with his team. The game videos can be found below. After hockey Nils had to do a chess exam and he thinks he did it well.. Let's wait and see.. While we were driving back, Lisette rang us to tell that she was at our local beach with Wende and Ingmar so we drove back home, picked up the bikes and dry clothes for Ingmar and Wende and joined Lisette at the beach. In the afternoon we went to Breda were we met up with my dad and my sister. The Breda jazz festival is always very nice to got to but with our kids so young, it is quite a challenge.. We had dinner at a nice restaurant called Charelli and walked back through town to the bus stop were we took the bus back to were we parked our cars. Today sunday, we went to the swimming pool Caribabad in Gorinchem were we had one hand stuck under a slide, one brused head because of slipping backwards and 4 chaves on knees and leg.. But most of all we had fun with the slides and all. After the swimming pool the sun started to shine and we spent time in the garden were the kids made a hut next to the hut dad made with blood sweat and tears.. Wende said something funny but it makes perfect (kids) sense.. she said (when mom applied sun screen): "mommy, I don't want to get a tan because then I would have to marry a black person" (translated a good I possibly can..)

Mamma day and visiting grandpa and grandma

Yesterday Nils played against Berkel Enschot but they lost that game with 22 to 16 unfortunately. Has to do with poor training and Nils having a bit of a problemn with playing together as a team.. Long story short, we're working on it. See the video's here.

Today ofcourse was mother's day and we (nils Wende and dad) prepared a traditional breakfast in bed with mom. Each of us had a croissoint, fresh orange juice and a present for mom.

After that we moved a floor down to continue breakfast with eggs boiled or fried and fresh backed buns out of the oven.. Around lunch time we went to see grandma and granddad who were stayingh at a horse breeder farm. After the kids explored the surroundings we went to a playground with a restaurant called 't appeltje. The kids played while we tried to keep them from falling into disasters..

We concluded with pancakes and wende had poffertjes.

Here are some more video's

(There's also one video from a few years back when we were on holiday with friends Arthur and Lisa)