Koninginnedag 2011

April 30th is Koningennedag. After eating a quick breakfast we headed out early to check out the Queen's Day market.

Evie bought a Little Pony toy and for Felix we got an awesome plush guitar toy. The best part is it doesn't make noise! Evie likes it, too.

The day ended with a pear popsicle.

Easter Monday

We woke up to find that the Easter bunny had come and hidden some eggs in the garden. The kids went right to work finding all the eggs.
8:30am and already warm!
Do you see the egg?
The silly Easter Egg also hid potatoes!
Felix enjoying the jam on his sandwich!
We went for a walk through the woods and along the waterway.
Do you see Evie?
Lots of fish in there.
Felix was a natural walking Bincky.
We stopped at the playground along the way.
They had to go on the zipline a couple more times.
Perfect!
Before we left we had some Liz-made mini cakes.

We had a surprise waiting for us in The Hague. Chef Menno was busy preparing a delicious dinner.

Complete with a beautiful Easter table!

Easter Sunday

For Easter we borrowed a car and took a trip up to Assen to spend the night with Oma & Opa Zeyen. We left at eight and got there a quick two and a half hours later.
We were greeted with an Easter table.
Lunch!
Sweet Evie
After lunch we visited the nearby playground where the kids loved the zipline.
Felix
Evie
The weather is hot, hot, hot! So for dinner we had a barbecue.
Felix helped.
Oma Els reading Jip & Janneke to Evie.

A Day in Delft

Today we went to Delft with Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Scott.
They might be a little too big...
Evie with her (great) Aunt and Uncle
We took a canal tour through Delft.
Felix did reasonably well... it could have been worse.
Charlotte & Scott
We went back to the Hague and had dinner before waving them off in the train.

Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Scott

Today Aunt Charlotte & Uncle Scott touched down in The Netherlands. They are here for a week on vacation. They are staying in The Hague tonight and heading to Amsterdam tomorrow night for the rest of the week. Today we took them to the city center to show them our city. For dinner we had a potato and endive mash. A very Dutch dish. Evie loves it when "Uncle Spot" says that he's actually a pirate. They are having lots of fun together.

Playdoh Creations

Enjoying a Book

Lunch Outside

April is turning out to be an absolutely beautiful month. Somedays itt feels more like summer than spring. So it wasn't very crazy when Felix asked to eat his lunch outside. The conversation went something like this:

Felix: "buiten eten"
Mama: "You want to eat outside?
Feliz: "Yeah, eat 'side"

He hes starting to put two words together, and sometimes even three! I think he has just about as many English words as Dutch words. Evie speaks a lot of English with him, which is really good for her English, too!

Evie can ride a bike!

Friday at dinner Evie told us she could ride a bike without training wheels. Apparently a classmate had practiced with her at school. So Saturday we took the training wheels off and it went really well! Today she was able to ride in a relatively straight line at the park. She starts, bikes, and stops without assistance. Turning lessons will wait for another day. We are so, so, SO proud of her! She is also really proud of herself. She wants to ride her bike to school, but we have said that we need to practice more. I have a video here from today!

Training Wheels Off

Today the training wheels came off Evie's bike for the first time.

Running for Zambia

Today Evie's school held a run to raise money for a school in Zambia. This was Evie's first time actually going out and collecting sponsors for a fundraiser like this. She raised €16, her class got €400, and the whole school had nearly seven thousand! Each classroom spent ten minutes running laps around the schoolyard.
Run, Evie, Run!
With some of her girlfriends.
The drums helped cheer on the kids from the other classes.
Evie on the drum.
A popsicle was definitely in order after all that running!

Tickle Time!!!

Perfect Spring Day

This was the first perfect weather day of the season. Warm and sunny with a light breeze. Who could ask for more?
Evie shows off our front garden. Remember her planting it in the fall? Now all the flowers have come out.
Papa & Felix on the see-saw at Pex Woods.
Cool boy on the slide.
The beach was so calling our name!
Evie & Tom go get their feet wet.