Dutch family on ice

It has been more than 10 years ago that we Dutch could skate outside on the lakes and ponds. I remember that the last time I skated on the ice was in 1996 when Robert was still 1,5 and in the stroller. Usually the winters are too warm here.

But this winter it has been really cold with a lot of freezing c-c-c-ol days.

So for two weeks we could skate outside! That was fun!

Especially the last weekend when the people heard that the temperatures would rise everybody wanted to take this last opportunity to go outside and skate

Here are some photo's of our family on ice:

And some action videos:

The Proof that my children grow

Every year I have the tradition that I take my children to my work for half a day at Christmas time when it is really quiet at my job. Every year we make the traditional photo in front of the building so that we can see if they have grown. Only this year they changed the nameplate of my work!

Left photo os 2008 and right 2007

So, you have to count the stones in the back to see how much they have grown!

For more photos of my work check the photo's at the right of the blog called a Day at Dad's work.

Maaike performed in Dutch TV Show as Gretl

Yesterday Maaike's group of children who play the Von Trapp kids in the Dutch musical Sound of Music had a performance in a famous Dutch TV Show.

The TV Host asked Maaike which artist she liked better Pia Douwes or Madonna. As Maaike didn't know the Dutch muscial star Pia Douwes she said Madonna. And the last question was if she earned a lot of money with her musical performances. Maaike answered: well, the pay is not bad. ;-)

Football show of Kaka (player at AC Milan)

All beginning is difficult

After one year without skating Gosia and Henny had some problems with their first steps on the ice as you can see. But after this slippery beginning we survived of course as true Dutch skater!

Slideshow the week for Christmas 2008

Patrick is 11 years old

At the 6th of december Patrick became 11 years old. Congratulations Patrick!

We had a nice party with friends and family

Patricks party for his friends has yet to be organised. Will be busy but fun normally! Maybe we go indoor skating or swimming. We'll see.

This photo with Sander, Jeffrey and Jennifer is taken in the attic in Robert's room.

Maaike had her debut as Gretl in the Sound of Music

After many weeks of long repetitions in Tilburg and two major rehearsals at the Efteling Theater with her group of children last saturday the 15th at 20:00 it was 'Le Moment Supreme' for Maaike and her group to make her debut as Gretl.

We had to be there at 18:00. Our whole family went to her debut in the Efteling Theater.There we had to leave Maaike and her group behind at 18:00.

Maaike and also her other collegaes were very quiet and didn;t seem to have any nerves for their debut. The families killed the time until 20:00 with a diner at MacDonalds.

Then at 19:30 the very nervous parents arrived in the theater and we took our place in the theater. The theater was sold out! Then the show began, the cast was great! Maaike and the other kids did very well. The repetitions payed off. A splendid show with a great Wieneke Remmens as 'Maria'.

At the scene hwne the children sing good bye during the party at the Von Trapp house we knew it would be an important moment for Maaike because at the end she would be standing there all alone with all the spotlights on her and she had to sing the final phrases of the song. That was a nerve wracking moment for us as parents. We crossed our fingers and did some small prayers. But she did super well! We were moved as proud parents of course!

What a show! A great musical!

We are very proud of her performance. She and the other children did very well.After the show we had to wait long before the children came out of the theater.Then we gave them some small presents and congratulated them. All very proud parents and happy children!

Next friday and next sunday (she even has to play twice!) she has to do the part of Gretl again in the Sound of Music! But I'm sure she will do great again! Here are some photos of Maaike in some of her costumes

Patrick scores 2 goals!

A few weeks ago Patrick played his first soccermatch and since then he has been playing with great enthusiasm. He has a good team and he likes to play. IN the beginning he playes as his brother Robert in defense. But a few matches ago he asked to be placed in the forward position. He played against Roosendaal E5, I think , and guess what:

He scored his first two goals in a soccermatch!! !

It was great!! Patrick was so happy and so was I to watch this moment.

Patrick is very fast and moves pretty much in the field.

Due to his speed he could outrun his opponent and make the goal!

Is this the beginning of a goalgetter?

We'll see and time will tell

Bird of prey in my hand

Every year my department has a day out to a museum or a city. This year we went to Delft.

But the best part was a 2 hour workshop with birds of prey.

That was really exciting to see these magnificent birds from this close and even hold them on your hand.

Here you can see some photos of the birds and me with a giant owl!

Get your kicks on Route 66

When I returned from our Austria Poland trip I found out I won a 13 day trip for 2 persons to the Route 66. Inlcuding flight, hotels and car! Isn't that great? Only the trip had to be booked in August or September this year, non transferrable etc.. So after many talks with Gosia who has to stay alone with the kids, I can go! Lets hope Gosia will cope . . but then again the kids are older now, so I hope they behave and that all goes well. . .

My friend Ron and I leave for Chicago this saturdaymorning for our Road trip of Route 66 !
More updates later!

This will basically be our route:


Grotere kaart weergeven

Poland, Austria and meeting the real Maria von Trapp

After our trip to the USA in May we decided on a low-budget trip in Europe during the summer holidays. We spent one week with the family in Swinoujscie, Poland. We had reasonable weather, we could bike a lot and make some trips to Germany as the borders are open now for the cars as well.

Then we continued our road trip to our friends in Jelenia Gora, the south of Poland. There are beautiful mountains and nice places to see. So we made some trips to the mountains of the Karkanoszy.

Then after a week we continued our journey and crossed the Czech republic to arrive in Austria. We stayed at an appartement an hour south of Salzburg. We stayed in a resort at 1350 m. high! You could feel that as in the evening it became cooler quickly. And in the morning you sometimes see the cloud hanging on the mountains. But we were lucky with the weather that week. The appartement was huge. The food was great. We could hear the cows in the morning when they walked on the meadows. Lots of activities for the children and adults too every day (Magic Mountain).
They offered for instance walks in the mountains, bike tours, shooting arrows, all kinds of sports etc etc. They kept us busy the whole day.
We also went one day to Salzburg. A beautiful small city with a castle on a hill and the birthplace of Mozart . And also of course to see the film locations of the movie Sound of Music. We had looked up all the locations on the internet and made our own tour. We also visited the original villa/house where the real family Von Trapp stayed. It was changed into a hotelsoon to be opened. But when we arrived the gate was closed. But we rang the bell and after a while the gate opened and we met the owners and as a real special surprise we met the real Maria von Trapp. She had been flown in from the USA for a special occasion with her sister in law Erika von Trapp.(wife of Kurt) . Maria von Trapp was one of the oldest daughters of captain von Trapp and Maria von Trapp. She was 94 years old and living now in the USA! She was very kind and good of health still! To meet her was really special for us and for Maaike. At the end Maaike even sang some songs out of the msuical for her. The hotel will be opened somewhere in october and there will be again a special party. Maybe we get an invitation? We will put photos of our journey and the meeting with Maria soon!

Florida and Chicago visited in May

This year the kids had more than 2 weeks holiday in the Netherlands in May so we decided to take our change and go to visit Gosia's family in the USA. We combined this trip by visiting our friends Carmen & Don and their kids Titi and Carlos in Florida. And we couldn't leave Florida of course without staying in Orlando.


We first flew to our friends Carmen and Don. We had a great time with them. It had been 3 years ago that we had seen each other so the kids had grown! And our timing was great as Don had his 50th birthday in the weekend we visited. Party! Now I expect Don to be at my 50th birthday as well. That's the least he could do! ;-)

We visited a park in the Everglades where we saw alligators from real close! Don and Carmen also took us to a place where we could see really big lubber grasshoppers. Only one more letter and we have our family name . . . I preferred them from a distance.

Then we went to Orlando. As we visited the Disney parks a few years ago we nod wecided to go to Universal Studios , Island of Adventure and Sea World and the new water[park Aquatica. All the parks were beautiful. We had multipasses so we could visit the parks several times. It was fun.

The last few days we went to family in Chicago. The temperatures were good when we arrived but the next day it became much coller in Chicago. But later that week temeratures were nicer again. We went down town to visit the Hancock building and see the Lincoln Zoo and meet up with a Chicago greeter volunteer. that was fun!

Photos are on the right side of the blog. But we will post more soon!

Maaike's will be Gretl in Sound of Music!!

At the end of 2007 I saw an ad where they asked children to audition for a part in the musical Sound of Music that would be played from September 2008 in the big theater of the Efteling, our most famous attractionpark.
I asked Maaike if she would like to participate but she didn't want to. I realized that Sound of Music is more for the older generation and doesn't ring a bell with the kids of today. She didn't know any songs or the story. After I showed her the movie she liked it and auditioned for it.

More than 2000 kids auditioned for a part as one of the Von Trapp children. The first round was only singing. After that they divide the group in two. One group went through and the other not. That meant a lot of crying for them but Maaike passed with flying colours.

The next round Maaike also got free tickets for the Efteling. That was nice for the boys and me. The second round was actually two separate rounds. One of singing in the morning and dancing in the afternoon. Again they were divided in two groups. She passed the morning section and later she went through again with the dancing part. Good for her!

The next round we again got free tickets to the attractionpark, the boys didn't mind ... Maaike had to sing, dance and act. They already type-cast her for the part of Gretl, the smallest child of the Von Trapp family.
This time we would get a letter at home with the result. And again she passed . .

Tension rising in the house! Only one final round left. Maaike went alone with Gosia. There was a lot of filming and interviewing by a TV crew as they were also filming all the audioning rounds. All the actors that will perform in the musical were present as well. The TV crew is part of a TV show called Do Re Wie? (do re who?) that will start at the 12th of May. (Maaike's birthday, a coincidence?)
So in the end tension was rising , , , but she made it!!

Maaike will be Gretl in the Sound of Music! Isn't that great? We are very proud of her! She did very well! We don't know yet when she will perform in the theater but it's great news! I decorated the door with balloons and a poster!
Now we wait for more news about the practise rounds and the theater show!
More news will follow soon!

Belated birthday party Patrick

Although Patrick's birthday is at the beginning of december together with Sinterklaas we only celebrated it at the end of March.
Patrick had the choice between going to a Hall and do two kinds of sports like badminton, tennis or soccer. Or he could choose swimming
He chose swimming with his friends.
Henny had to deal with all the kids on his own.


The only stress part for me( Henny) was getting all the kids their own locker, finding enough change without loosing the 8 keys . .

But after that all went well without any problems. There were enough activities and the food was good. They had fun and before your know it the party was over.

New Castle and Durham re-visited

As promised my friend Ron and I went again by mini cruise from IJmuiden to NewCastle. But this time we had the de-luxe tour.
Which meant: a much bigger cabin, breakfast buffet twice, a filled mini bar and a much better bed.

The visit to Durham (by train) was great. A nice small town where you could easily walk everything: a beautiful huge cathedral , a castle being used by a university: they said that their dining hall had been an example for the dining hall of the Harry Potter's movies.

Here are the photos: but be warned: Ron got crazy shooting photos of the sunset and other unusual items.

Ron Henny New Castle and Durham

NewCastle by minicruise

Last Wednesday my friend Ron and I went to NewCastle by boat.
We had won a minicruise by http://www.dfds.nl/.
Actually it's more time on the boat than in Newcastle: you leave at wednesdayevening by boat and arrive the next morning in NewCastle. Then one day in NewCastle and in the evening back by boat.

But it was fun. We saw some cathedrals, the stadium of NewCastle United, a monastery, Chinatown, some nice bridges, a castle tower etc etc.
Next Wednesday we will go again as we won another minicruise but now the luxury type with free breakfast and a bigger cabin included. More about that later

The photos:

New Castle visit

Unexpected Bronze medal

Some time ago Maaike had qualified herself for the championship Gymnastics for South-West Netherlands. Thats was already a surprise.
But now she suprised us even more by getting a bronze medal on the beam.
( I don't know the English word).
Most of her competitors fell a few times due to nerves and Maaike only fell once and managed to get a third place! We are very proud of her! Good girl!

Here is a slideshow of Maaike at various tournements:

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Dutch carnaval in action

Just a few films
Like the Dutch bob sled team : Cool Runnings

The family and friends watching the parade.

Dutch Carnaval, not like Rio but we try

When you think of Carnaval you think of Rio, Brasil.

But we Dutch also try to celebrate Carnaval although we have not such tropical temperatures.

As we live in the south of the Netherlands we cannot escape from the Carnaval every year.

One of the traditions of our carnaval is that we watch the yearly parade in the town.

Lots of music, bands, beautiful cars, happy people and lots of fun.

Although it is still winter and we had cold temperatures we still enjoyed ourselves with our friends and their children.