Dubai day 2

 Dubai this morning, the temperature is way higher than yesterday and as you can see, there is much mores and in the air. By midday, the temperature is really high and we just stopped the training I am giving for a quick lunch.

 Tonight, a quick stop at Mall of the Emirates to get a quick bit to eat, some Arab food, delicious, don´t know the name, but it was very nice. Then there is the ski Dubai... they even have living pinguins inside as you can see...

Dubai

So this is the view from outside my window from my hotelroom in Dubai. It is an amazing city and the heat is real, luckily it is not very humit, so it is OK.

Tonight after work, I took the metro and paid a visit to the Mall of the Emirates...OK girls, I like a good shopping like the next girl, but this is mind boggling... I mean, how big can a mall be? It turns out very big. It is so big that I didný know where to start, so I had something to eat and went back to the hotel.

Schoolfeest

The annual school fest was today. The weather started OK, it was clouded, but it didnt rain, but after a while it started drizzeling and a bit later, it stopped raining softly, but it poored. No fun, but hopefully the school got some funds for coming year.

 The boys did great, they all did their best, so a fun day altogether.

Sneak preview

Today, we had our picture taken for our invitations for the big party. I know it is still more than two months, but we need to get the invitations ready, so we needed pictures.
More pictures will be published in due time.

First attempt Macarons

With Mothersday I received a Macaron baking set from the kids, so today I did my first attempt. Macarons with coffee taste, yummy, they were a bit to small, real macarons are bigger, but they tasted great. So you I have to look for some nice recepies for macarons, maybe strawberry with chocolate, ... sounds good to me.

Married 10 years!

Yep, it has been 10 years today, how time flies when you are having fun... I didn´t even realised it this morning. So sorry honey... but you also didn´t think about it...

Well, the weather is certainly different than 10 years ago, when it was chilly and rainy, now it is 28°C...

Pizza

 A quick picture of a project that I am working on. We got a small pizzabox the last time we were at the pizzaplace and the boys asked if I could crochet a pizza. Offcourse, I can...
So this is my first attempt on crocheting a pizza, not completely like I wanted, but for the boys it is a pizza.

So again a day sailing, OK, day... 2 hours, because by that time, the boredom struck, and the boys were looking how many clothespins they could put on their face and hair...



Sailing

Today we sailed on the IJsselmeer, nowhere in particularly, just some sailing. We didn t want to go to another harbour as it is very crowded everywhere as we have a long weekend.

Even opa and oma had a quite moment...If you can have such a moment on a sailboat with 4 adults and 3 boys...

So when we arrived back in Medemblick, the boys played a bit with their dingy which is now flat as it has a hole somewhere... That is a quest for tomorrow... find the whole.

Thomas in Holland

Today we visited Thomas at the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht. Son #3 has an amazing day, we took the train to the museum and then we started on our adventure through all the trains looking for Thomas.

We found Emily, Henry, but finally, there was Thomas. Son #3 waited patiently his turn to go inside Thomas with the engineer, wow... Is there more in a 3-year old s life?

Maybe, when we walked back we encountered the conductor, and he was happy to have his picture taken with son #3.

The other boys also liked the museum, but for our youngest, it was a dream come true.

So after a funfilled day with Thomas, we drove to the boat, and as the sun was still shining, the kids wanted to play with the little dingy, no problem, lifejeacket on, and there you go. Well, wait until you see the pic below... I couldnt stop laughing.

Son #3 managed to fall in the water of the harbour and my best guess is that the water is about 8°C, so not very warm... No the boys know why we always insist on wearing life jackets.

Lentefeest son #1

 This backpack was sent by Marie, our former au pair. Nic took his bicycle and went over to the postoffice to collect it, and he loves it. It is a really cool backpack, so he will use it often, I think. Thanks Marie.

This is a pic of the boys yesterday, before the party and they were just dressed. So I took a quick picture to prove that the boys can look clean with clean clothes, LOL.

 We ordered a cake from a local backery that is closing this year as the couple that runs it dont have successors. But the cake was wonderful as always. Everybody loved it and the minor spelling mistake is OK. Great cake.
Everybody ate well, the BBQ stayed on until 19.30 and then the meat was all gone, so with 15 kg of meat, I think it was a great BBQ.

 The guys took care of the bouncing cushion as we had to bring it back before midnight.
This morning a wonderful surprise for me, as they boys made me presents for motherdays. They also bought me a present, a set to make macrons. So I will defintely have a try to make macrons.

 And this afternoon I made some pictures to give to son #1 schoolfriends. I got the idea for pinterest, here is the link.

So looking back at the weekend, we had a great party for son #1, he loved all his presents, he was very happy with all the friends and family that took time to visit his party.
I had a lovely mother day, nice persents the kids made and hubbie is now putting the kids in bath and afterwards in bed... Is there more:

Pond gone

 So, yesterday, we officially removed the pond in our garden. It took a calfdozer to get rid off all the bamboo in the garden, but it is all gone.

 These are the animals we rescued from the calfdozer... a toad, a frog and two turtles. We couldnt find them anymore, but the turned out the be strolling in the grass.

Later at night FIL came with his red Corvette, so we could drive it to the ACCE gala diner in Brasschaat. The car drove beautifully and was in top condition, so thanks FIL, for this great birthday gift.

Queens day

Since we don t celebrate Queens day here in Belgium, the kids had to go to school. Hubbie and I did some chores and worked in the garden, as we want to get rid of our pond. So we pumped water out of the pond all afternoon and still the water is not halfway... And there are so many rocks in the pond, the guy that built it must have had time...
Hopefully tomorrow the pond is empty and we can see what animals are still in there...We have a big barrel ready if we find fish or frogs, ...

We have been busy this week, with school, work and our daily live. Yesterday I switched the four replacement car... But we are still mobile and that is the most important thing.

Have been crocheting on my hexagon afghan and was wondering how I could finish the blocked parts of the afghan, and then I found this tutorial for a half African flower. So I will try that, if it looks good, I can start finishing the afghan, as I think it has the right length.
Saw another great project to make a crocheted bag, so maybe...

Cup cake party

Son #2 had a birthday party from a friend, and she had a cup cake party. Her parents had someone come over and make cup cakes with the kids.
But as I have a real boy, he decorated 2 cupcakes and then he was out of inspiration and wanted to paly on the trampoline, so this is the result. Two decorated cupcakes and 4 undecorated, all the girls had decroated them all...
But he and his brothers only ate the undecorated ones...  But he really enjoyed himself and that is the most important thing.

Car accident

Today, our day ended differently then we expected. When we drove back home from the swimming lesson and were queing in the standard traffic jam to enter our town, we were hit from behind by a car. Actually two cars, because it was the last car that pushed the car behind us against us.
Luckily I left enough space, so we didnt hit the car in front of us. The boys were very upset, since it is the first time something like this happened to them, but I guess they are fine. The ambulance came and had a look at them.
They were impressed when the police officers put them in their van, because it started to rain and we had to wait for a tow truck.
The car was towed and we got a replacement car, the boys were brought to my mum and dad by a friend, while I did the paperwork, so I guess we were just very lucky.

Ferry opening

Today, the ferry between Lillo and Doel opened for business. It s a free ferry that connects the two last villages in the harbour of Antwerp. So we had a look and took the ferry to Doel.

For the boys the small boat ride was awesome as you pass one of the biggest container terminals and other chemical companies. Doel is home to a large nuclear power plant.

But one of the sad things is that Doel is no without inhabitants, the village was the subject of many problems between the inhabitants an the city of Antwerp. And finally, they demanded that eveyone left, so it is sort of a ghost town where only a few people remain.

The feery was cold, but when we were back in Lillo, the kids had pancakes and we had a lovely supper in one of the local pubs.

Finally, we took a stroll back to the car. And as you can see, it was low tide...

Circus camp

Son #1 spent the last week in circus camp and he loved it. Today, we went to pick him up a bit early to see what he learned. And we were very impressed.

He loved the juggling with the handkerchiefs, and he is really good at it.