We said goodbye to Dave’s brother and sister in law today.  It was harder than I thought.   We had such a fun weekend.  Exploring our own town, with our guests as an excuse. Wine and cheese and glorious fast conversations, no need to translate, or give a back story.  Hysterical giggles with orange wigs.Just a... Continue Reading →

The reason for the move to NL was to go back to work for a technology company I had worked for in Sydney before.The head office is based in Hoofdoorp which is just outside of Amsterdam. Hoofddorp compares a little to North Ryde in Sydney. It is an up and coming business area with a... Continue Reading →

We invited a few people around to Clarkterstraat Stadium to watch the WC game between Australia and The Netherlands.    I got into the spirit, green and gold balloons on the door, Australian flags for your cabanossi and cheese, a special Clarkterstraat limited edition of Heineken. We had a great time.  There was a nervous moment when... Continue Reading →

Dunglish: A mixture of English and Dutch - a term originally confirmed by my mate Nienke and my husband Dave.Miss A is fluent in Dunglish.  The 3 mornings a week at peuterspeelzaal has her throwing in all sorts of interesting Dutch phrases.Anneke has taken to calling me "Mamma".   I love it.  I love her.

It is with a great deal of sadness that we said goodbye to Miss A's cot this week.I was sad, because she loved her cot.  She would lie awake singing in the morning very content.  Sometimes during the day, I'd put her in there with some books and she's read for half an hour.  Sometimes... Continue Reading →

The Dutch are big on tradition.  As Australians, this is new to us - we don't have a great deal of tradition (2-up on ANZAC Day, Aussie Flag tattoos on Australia Day, beer cup snakes at the cricket).  Yesterday (Saturday) morning, I was woken by what sounded like someone blowing a vuvuzela.  It was 515am,... Continue Reading →

Every Wednesday we go into Amsterdam for Miss A's dance class.  I use the term 'dance class' super loosely, she really just runs around and strikes a pose looking in the mirror.  I'm sure there's classes locally, but I thought going into Amsterdam weekly would be fun, and it is.  It's a 5 minute ride to... Continue Reading →

It started months ago with a flippant comment.  Of course, I'd love to join you on a 40km walk.  The weeks wore on, and I hoped that it would be forgotten.But, no.  The week before last, as everyone left our BBQ, Cousin Liena reminded me of my agreement.  I had the perfect excuse, we had... Continue Reading →

I love spending time as a family and I always love 1 on 1 time with my girls. It is very rare that I get to spend quality time with Belinda but equally, as I work, A and I don't get a lot of 1 on 1 time either. This weekend I got that time.Belinda... Continue Reading →