We requested no gifts for Anneke's 2nd Birthday.  She doesn't need anything and the fact that people took time out of their afternoon to come and help celebrate was special enough.My cousin Wilma asked, if in lieu of the gift, could she please take Anneke to the zoo.  Every Friday she looks after my cousin... Continue Reading →

Great day - even Dave got caught up in the spirit and donned the lei :We spent the morning wandering around town.  It's tradition for the Dutch to sell their second hand wares on Kings Day.  Some people camp overnight to secure the best spot!  Selling starts around 6am (NB. the Clarkterstraats did NOT start... Continue Reading →

26 April - Koningsdag 2014 promises to be a huuuuuge day.  The Dutch are mad for the royal family (and a bit of orange).At the end of our (fairly residential) street, they have set up a massive Kermis (fair).  The streets have been taken over by the trailers that house the 'carnies'.  We knew they... Continue Reading →

Anneke just adores Saskia.  When she wakes up in the morning after Saskia has babysat, Anneke runs to the spare room looking for her.  Anneke thinks that Saskia stays the night.We are lucky to have found Saskia.  It makes life just that little bit easier knowing we can call on her.  Thankfully Saskia lives just... Continue Reading →

@ De JopenkerkA fully operational brewery here in Haarlem (kerk=church)

Another very interesting thing about The Netherlands was to find that Good Friday was not an official public holiday. In fact everything was open and running in both Haarlem and Antwerp (where we are for the weekend).The kidlet isn't debating if the Easter bunny is realMost unusual is that everything in Haarlem (and most of... Continue Reading →

The ESP group put together an Easter Egg hunt for the Children the other day.  Off we trotted, Anneke complete with her festive bunny ears (somewhat reluctantly).I was on GPS duty, so we got lost and arrived about an hour late.What a great morning, the sun was shining and the backdrop for the hunt was... Continue Reading →

We were on our way to music class the other day and I had to stop the bike to take this photo.It doesn't really do our street justice.  There a beautiful flowers everywhere, the sun has been shining and all in all, it's been a great week.#sopretty

Recently we thought we'd treat ourselves to a meal out.  We decided on our local Haarlem Chinese and the most difficult part was our Dutch Vs English Vs Chinese.So are Chinese restaurants the same no matter where you go in the world? Well sort of?In Sydney you usually get some prawn chips with, or before... Continue Reading →