Wende, Nils and Ingmar's Blog

Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Hulst festivities and nils's shed

Saturday dad got some more wood for Nil's shed and slowly work is progressing. Up to now, the framework is about ready and next item is wooden boards to make up the walls. I'm trying to find the cheapest of wood but it is difficult, second hand websites. anyone any ideas? Sunday we went to see my dad and there were festivities in the centre of Hulst. We had to do some shopping for dinner anyway so all went for a stroll to the city center. Lots of people but not too much to see, maybe it was also because the weather wasn't too good either.. Anyway, it is always nice to see dad again and this time I had a look at the book I ordered written bij one of our ancestors around 1650. It was a original book with the translation of the bible from hebrew into dutch..

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Nils's birthday party for friends

Jongens, wacht nou even..

Nils invited a couple of friends over to celebrate his birthday and we took them to de warande, a fun / swimpark with lots of things to do. We gambled on good weather and we were lucky.. It was not so very warm but warm enough to change into swimsuits and enjoy the water. Ingmar was with us too and when he was getting tired, we settled him into the cart where he was kept warm with a couple of towels. Looked a bit like gadaffi.. The kids haf a great time and although this swimming parc is not too far away, none of them actually had been there before.. In the evening, we made a lot of pancakes because a girlfriend of Nils stayed for dinner. She could not join the swimming fun because she had to go to school. Another girlfriend was to join us for dinner as well but she fell ill but she did have her sister bring a present for him, how nice. Saterday we had an easy going day. First lisette did some shopping for essentials and I satyed at home with the kids. In the afternoon we went to our local beach where lots of friends of Nils and Wende were there as well and at night dad fired up the bbq and made delicious chicken sate. Sunday morning dad went to the boat to put the rudder back into place because they plan to put the boat back into the water this friday. The damage they did to the hull was still not repaired.. I'll have to have a little chat with them on friday..

Sunday, 14 August 2011

Nils 7!

Last week Nils had his birthday.. 7 years old already, how time flies.. Dad promised Nils a treehouse but the tree was too small so went for the polehouse option. Dad took the day off on Nils's birthday and together we set out to buy the first part of the pole house, 6 poles of 4 meters long. As a milestone, dad planned to have 6 poles in the ground set in concrete covering a space of 3 meters by 2 meters. Bought a can of black tar paint to protect the poles against the elements and got to work. Nils helped with painting the poles and dad did some groundforce digging.. Now we wait for the finances to be healthy again so we can continue bying wood for the polehouse. Friday afternoon my dad came over to celebrate Nils's birthday with the friends and family. But first we went to visit mom and put some flowers on her grave.. Saurday was the day of the festivities and Nils spent the whole morning looking out for the guests who were to arrive in the afternoon.. The weather was not too good but we had our party tent were we set up the garden table and pretended that it was a sunny day. Friends, family and neighbours, most of them turned up and Nils had the "best birthday in all times" as he said it at the end of the day. So thank you all for the presents and mostg of all to have you as our guests.

Sunday, 7 August 2011

Nederhemert and Drunense duinen

Friday afternoon dad picked up the kids from kindergarten and drove to the old play garden at Nederhemert. Ingmar loved to go down the slide and that meant dad climbing up the stairs and squeezing himself in the half pipe shape of the slide. And that about 20 times in a row.. Wende and Nils enjoyed themselves as well and after a drink we went home, tired but fulfilled. Sunday we had our usual breakfast with croissoints and breadrolls with fresh orange juice. Dad mounted the bike carrier on the back of the car and off we went to Drunen where we parked the car near the ebtrance to the woods and took our bikes into the forrest. Wende used her "new" bike for the first time. This was the bike of Maartje and Guusje, my sisters daughters. Dad took it apart yesterday, completely up to the bearings and cleaned it all and gave the rotating parts some fresh grease. Only the chain needs to be renewed some time in the near future but it will do for now..

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Scheveningen

Yesterday was nothing special, we did the usual groceries and spent the day clearing up the garden. Today sunday however, we went to Scheveningen. It has been a while since we've been there and the weather was supposed to be getting better from the west so we went... west. And they were right, the weather was great at the beach. We found a spot to park the car and to our surprise, it was not crowded at all.. Nils, Wende and Ingmar took their clothes off and enjoyed the relatively warm sea water. Afterwards we went to see Grandma and grandpa in The Lier which was great as well.

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

holiday summer 2011

So, this year we went on a 3 week holiday to Italy and France. As usual we divided the 3 weeks in 2 and made reservations at two camp sites; Belvedere in Italy at lake Garda and Parc des Monges in France near the small town of Auribeau sur Siagne. The camp sites were nice and clean. In Italy there were lots of dutch people but we were not bothered too much as we did not have them as direct neighbours. Instead we had a nice couple from Germany who turned out to be lovely people who live near Würzburg which I visit at least once a year for training purposes. They visit the camp site twice each year for the last 25 years and they were right when they said that this camp site has the most beautiful view at the lake. We stood first class, directly at the lake. Our second camp site was a small one but without the excess amount of dutch people and instead we had a mix of French, German, Swedes and ducth. The wifi was a bit of a problem but then again, on every camp site you have to be near a antenna for the best connection.. I tried to update the weblog from the camp sites but I was only able to send a couple of emails with pictures to my dad. We did not do too much of sightseeing because it was a bit too hot for the kids to walk about city centres for hours, instead we stayed on beaches and cooled down at swimming pools and lakes. We had a great time and we can really recommend these camp sites, click on their names to visit their websites.