Kaat is learning about family and names etc. She is doing very well:
I am Kaatje Jorritsma
(much better pronounced then Rick used to do or still does),......
and that is Duuk Handsome and Rick de Ridder.
The Hunt for the Fairy Princess Castle
As you may have noticed,....or maybe I should write if you have not noticed by now I am not sure what you have been doing,....Kaat is 700% in the Princess phase. To date we have been very good celebrating Rick's birthdays, but Kaat has not quite had the same attention because of all sorts of reasons. So I had decided that 3 for Kaat was going to be a big year, and that she would get the Playmobil princess castle she so badly wanted (it is actually kind of surprising at this age to be so clear and consistent about what she wanted).
Over Christmas in Singapore the castle was sold out in the shop I had planned to buy it at, and when I did see it somewhere I was with Kaat and could not get it. I decided I would be fine as I had 2 trips to Dubai lined up before the 'due date'. Of course the day we landed in Bangalore I found out both trips were cancelled. Good for family life, bad for the castle. Playmobil is not sold widely in India at all. Apart from a few random boxes on Flipkart or the Indian Amazon - nothing!
Fortunately a close friend (with 3 kids so appreciative of the situation) was travelling to London. So we ordered the Castle online and opted for express delivery. Somehow though the delivery service in the UK is a lot less effective then in the US. So my friend never found out they had attempted to deliver it and left a note to say so till after she was on her way back to Bangalore.
By then there was less then a week left and I was getting worried. I had sought around for alternatives but had not found anything really good. Then I heard that a new kids store had opened or was about to open one of the fancier malls in Bangalore - and that it was supposed to have Playmobil. Friends had seen it but non knew the store name and it was not on the web. After chasing and chasing I found 1 news article about a German kids store and kids care company was setting up shop in India I got a phone number through the German headquarters - of the local big boss. Woohoo - progress.
After talking to him and getting his personal cell phone etc I finally ended up with the phone nr of the local brand new store and anxiously I called with the relevant box number handy. They had the castle! Only 1 box and I sort of managed to ask if they could reserve it till teh day after - but the ok mam ok mam - did not really suggest they understood what I meant.
The next day, on Saturday - the worst day to go into town - I spend 3.5 hours in the car, to drive to this mall and pick up the castle. Thanks to Indian import charges it also costed approximately 70% more then in the Netherlands....Well I guess we have to justify the hardship allowance we get here somehow -;)
The Wednesday night after I hosted the weekly Stitch & B**** session at my house. Not always all the ladies bring anything to Stitch and my friend Kathy had decided to join us that evening offering her assistance to me to prep some things for Kaat's party instead. Once here I tentatively asked if she would enjoy helping me put the castle together - and so with an audience of a lot of other ladies - we put together the whole thing. Once most ladies had left for the evening Kathy still would not give up (she has no kids herself and was very enthusiastic about the chore - probably as it was her first!). The box even has a big warning sign for parents telling you it can take some time to put the thing together.
Once done we were very very proud of ourselves and made some 'selfies' with the castle before hiding it from sight. I sighed a BIG sigh - pfew! All was going to be just fine for my Princess.
Baby by the wine
I think Duuk likes my present as much as I do, and I like him in it. Thank you Sjoerd & Joke. Once Duuk is out I will fill it with ice and wine bottles -:)
Home Sweet Home
We have been home - all together - a whopping 2 weeks and 2.5 weekends. Quite nice to be back in our own place, our own routine and more chaos.
Breakfast before school at the cereal table
Our daily send-off ritual - so loud that it wakes all the neighbors - who for now fortunately just seem to think it is cute.
And Duuk is just playing
and playing
and being rowdy
and playing
and playing
And doing a nap till his hair stands up, followed by eating - which he only really does when he has a big urge - compared to his siblings this one eats well and most anything, but not as much (meaning not all day -;)
And playing some more with any toys he can get his hands on (hence the mess), followed by a climbing session and the by now normal consumption of his brother & sister's leftovers.
And as soon as there is an iPad or iPhone in sight Duuk comes to see what we are doing.
"We are just making 'selfies' Duuk!" (just google that hip new phenomena)
Eelco and Rick then left for Brunei. When they are back towards the end of the week we get a visitor and have some Birthdays and after that Eelco and I may be taking turns being away again. Could be a while before we are all home together so much again.
SIngapore & Friends - the end of the holiday
Really - we only went on holiday for 2 weeks over xmas. We just did a lot of great things so lots of pictures & stories. After New Year we had 2 more days with Janko & Rebecca and kids and 1 afternoon & evening with Joost & Marlouke and kids. Lovely!
On new years day we took it easy with lots of hours spend in a raft of different very nice coffee shops and strolling along Orchard Road.
We also visited the mega book store and all bought lots of books - and then read some of them whilst waiting for our lunch to be served.
Fortunately Orchard Road also has some green space to loose some energy on
Gorgeous kids or what?
By taking turns in the malls with different combinations of shoppers vs book readers / iPad watchers / coffee drinkers we managed most of our 'must do' shopping lists - hunting down the things we could not buy in Bangalore or Panaga (Brunei).
The next day we ventured to the gorgeous Singapore zoo.
The kids all loved it - so did we - and so did the guy who overheard Jannes & Rick declare that the Kangaroo was actually the Easter Bunny - and that they could see the Easter Eggs when he stood up straight ?!?!?
Kaat also loved it when she was not busy dreaming up plans how to convince dad to let her sit on his shoulders.
But near the Giraffes everything else was forgotten.
The zoo also has a great splash pad - provided a chance to cool off after all the animal sightings.
Duuk pretending to be a big boy already
And pretty certain of what he wants to do or where he wants to go.
In the evening we found near our hotel a Restaurant with a big field. So teh kids played and played and played, and then had a camp out around the iPad whilst we had a nice meal and some drink.
After that it was time for our last joint elevator disco of the holiday.
Fabulous Fanatic Dancing!
Then we said goodbye to the Reinders clan again - consoled by the fact that Eelco 7 rick would see them again soon - and that we still had some time left with Maartje, Okke, Marlouke & Joost before it was our time to go home.
We really appreciate we are able to travel so easily and see our friends everywhere. Our kids though......am afraid they think it is all normal.
New Year
As you may remember from a few posts ago - we left Legoland on Dec 31st to go and celebrate New Year in Singapore. With a large Chinese population our new year is not necessarily celebrated widely in Singapore although there are plenty of fancy or hip New Year parties to attend if you would want to. With 6 little kids we where fortunate enough that our friends Marlouke & Joost accepted my 'self invite' and so we celebrated New Year with 6 adults and 8 kids 6 and under at their house. It was lovely and chaotic and so so nice & relaxed. Great start to 2014!
The only ones in dress shirts - Janko & Duuk
Eelco and Joost doing 'old guys' back exercises
The dinner table for New Year for 3 Dutch / Cajun expat families with lots of kids involved of which 2 live in cheese & good meet deprived countries: Oliebollen, Poffertjes, a HUGE cheese platter and Texas style smoked or BBQ-ed meat from the famous 'egg'. Delicious!
And no - none of the kids lasted till midnight
And they where not even surprised or shocked in any way when they half woke up on their PJ's at 1am - in a taxi - on our way back to the hotel.
Marlouke also posted a few nice pictures of the night HERE
Duuk - the series
The last few days of our holiday we spend in SIngapore where we stayed in a hotel. Somehow Duuk was so excited by the hotel he refused to go to bed immediately. Meaning we have some fun photo shoots of Mr Happy Chappy.
In the end though......he slept. Of course not in the crib with the pink girls bedding. But on papa's pillow.
Papa's Birthday
Only a few days after we got home it was papa's birthday. We celebrated in style - with singing & presents & candles & cake in the morning:
Balloons etc at work and more cake (all baked by Eelco himself so I had to 'un-order' the fancy cake) for all the co-workers who promptly proposed that Eelco need's to celebrate his birthday every quarter.
And then I had organized some impromptu drinks at our local to which 25 people showed up -:) And Another cake - for Elco.
At the end of the day there where some people who wondered why so much festivities 'when it was not even a big milestone' - guess we enjoy Birthdays in our house!
In-glish signs
All day every day we hear the Indian English around us. Sometimes there are just peculiar things for us to get used to; such as the expression 'doing the needful', 'do the same' or the apparent allergy to the use of the word 'the' in most reports. Sometimes it becomes more funny, like the menu at work advertising leaky soup (lekkende soep ipv prei soep). We also see lots of road signs and advertising that comes across as all wrong or very funny. Translation between the letter types, illiteracy and the over abundance of dialects and languages for people to learn here anyway are of course quite justifiable excuses for the individuals making these signs. Although in some cases it is very embarrassing! Most days we forget to take any pictures. One of my English Indian friends forwarded this link. It had us in tears - may be less funny if you don't use English every day.
Few hints & comments
#4 - most food things in India are denominated VEG or Non-VEG. This one appears to refer to some female body parts
#9 - The 'cilli beep' is my favorite or the 'carlik chicken'
#11 & 12 - the intent is to tell you, you can get it cold (chilled) or room temperature
#14 - we don't quite get it yet either....
#18 - I like a 'padi kure' - but not at this place - no need for additional feet fungi!
#21 - 'prone' should have been the word
#24 - I can say Shoes like that if they are really gorgeous. But a switcase?
#28 - Prosperous....
Lovely some tears from laughter. Starting to get worried about the English Duuk will speak but for now he's fine - he just grunts & squeels.
Legoland Waterpark
On the last morning in Malaysia we visited the Legoland water park. We decided that a morning full of water fun would be an ideal way to get the kids tired enough to relax some in the car on the unpredictable drive back to Singapore later in the day (2 border crossings on Dec 31st.....).
First it was time for a group photo near the hotel:
Then it was time for a lot of slides......on most of which we where not allowed to take pictures as they had professional photographers everywhere and of course wanted to sell those shots.
After endless slide rides we literally 'hung out' in the waves - as demonstrated here by Rick & Ana - bobbing up and down and having an animated conversation in the meantime.
Kaat and Duuk also liked the waves - but only with mama.
Happy
A lovely morning and the objective was clearly achieved; some worn out but satisfied kids:
Time to head to Singapore for the New Year celebrations!
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