Kurumba, Maldives

Last week we went on our annual Maldives trip. After a few very relaxing days there last year we decided to make this an annual thing whilst in India for at least a long weekend. With only a 2 or 3 hr flight (1 stop on the way out in Trivandrium) it is easy enough for us to reach. The Maldives has very very few resorts where you can come with kids which makes choosing easy and we really liked the place from last year so why change a winning formula.

By now Duuk also is a very seasoned frequent flyer

Kurumba in sight

Rick got to drive the big motor yacht taking us from the Airport arrivals key to the Resort.

The Resort with Male in the background

Woohoo….the beach

Oh oh - that water is trying to catch me

The restaurants in the resort are all quite good and so most time not spend in the water was spend eating and looking good in the Restaurant.

Picking up a new girlfriend (Duuk definitely has 'in every stadje den anded schatje')

Or watching a movie whilst Eelco and I enjoyed our dinner

We had an even more luxurious villa then last year, direct on the beach, 2 large rooms, a huge bathroom at the back and then behind that a private courtyard with pool. Very very nice!

The private pool we only used naked so no pictures to share here -:)

 Everyone was clearly happy

 And Duuk also felt at home on the beach

 Eelco was on a mission to teach Rick to snorkel (he is fab in a pool, somewhat scared in the ocean, but then again there were small reef sharks swimming around our feet)

And the parties in the evening at the beach with the sundowners bar where good

And the ones in bed after that even better;

 We also went on a fabulous Dolphin watching trip. 

 Our villa is roughly in the middle of this picture

 Happy relaxed, sun kissed family

 And the dolphins where everywhere

 And we cheered a lot. In the beginning Duuk was watching us do it, but soon joined

 Handsome & handsome

 And more and more and more. Kaat was definitely the best spotter.

 And all our kids also clearly have great sea legs and I was sooooo happy to be out on the water and they even served me bubbles -:)

 The dolphins also played around the keel

 Fab five.

 Stunning evening

 The middle handsome

 Duuk also 'bought' a friend by sharing his crackers. And yes you see that well - he did have a black eye.

 Pretty & pretty

 And then it was time to go home again. By boat to the Airport - direct to the departure terminal. This is Male, the capital on the Island across from the airport

 Again Rick got to steer us

 And then another day another airport

Till next year pirate islands!

Sports Day

Today Rick and Kaat had sports day from school. It was a lot more professional then last year as the whole thing was organized at the sports pitch of the local decathlon sports store. Kaat got to go first with the lowest 4 classes - being in that age group now definitely one of the big girls!

 Lovely chaos and plenty of kids who refused to make any move without mom near.

 Kaat was very focussed about the whole thing

 And was fast, looking good

 and clearly having a blast

 Duuk also came to at least watch Kaat race and spend some time with Rick and his friends. Completely unbothered by the much bigger boys all over him.

 Kaat did an obstacle course also, but as Duuk followed her and started also crawling through hula hoops and started to interfere with the race I was busier with that then taking pictures of Kaat racing (her races also all where quite short)

 After a short break in the shade (it was very hot!), Rick got to march on.

 The oldest two classes did a pom-pom routine. Rick is in the back row and almost had military precision in execution. He loves to do it right.

 Because the field is on the road there also where a lot of external spectators.

 Rick's physical coordination clearly has gotten a lot better lately and he was running like a pro.

 Going all out.

 Rick loved everything about the day, could not stand still and was chatty, happy and excited.

 Kaat clearly has it good with many of the school staff and sat with the school administrator and some other teachers  etc in their tent in the shade. They did make some attempts to point out to her when Rick was racing.

 Then it was apparently time for an impromptu hug.

 And a medal for Rick also. Wow!

 Some happy Dutch boys.

Duuk cannot wait till it is his turn!