The world cup - our experience

We travelled quite some during the world cup and hence had somewhat of a strange 'viewing' experience of the whole event. Fortunately our driver is a big football fan and hence he would call us wherever we were several hours before the game to wish us luck and afterwards to congratulate us - no matter the time of day.

The first game was on the first day for us in the new house, in which we did 6.5 hours Ikea, 3 van hauls of furniture and more (separate post later). By the time we thought about the game it was more then halfway through - we saw the last 15 min or so and at first thought we were being fooled by the scores.

By the time the 2nd & 3rd games of the pool came around we had moved into the new house and had TV but not the right channels for the game, so we went to our new 'local' 'l'Edelweis at the bottom of the hill.

 Tired but happy - waiting for some goals

 with the kids - not that interested - other then keen on ordering drinks for us, in French, at the bar. Un jus de'pomme s'il vous plait, et un plus for papa -:) (a beer)

 We missed the 1/8 Final as we were somewhere over Iraq at the time up in the air.

 We caught the 2nd half and the extension in the lounge in Dubai a week later with our summer au pair Nina en route to Bangalore

 Again not much interest from Rick & Kaat, whilst we have no evidence but have been led to believe Duuk stayed awake most of the game when he went with Daddy to watch it at a friends house after a night out (kick off 1:30am India time!). Someone texted us kindly about the results of the penalties later as e had to board at that time.

 By the time the 1/2 final came around we where finally in a position to have a viewing party with other Orange fans. As we had 3 sleeping kids at home we invited everyone over.

 The preparations were half the fun and we did a big fashion show with all our Orange wear.

 By 1:30 we had in the house 6 Dutch people, one of whom on a business trip from Dubai who came over in the middle of the night from his hotel, 3 Indians, 1 Brazilian (no longer in tears), an Argentinian Lady and a Gabonese guy. Great fun, not such a great game to watch

We never bothered to stay up or watch the game last Saturday. 1:30am is too difficult after a full day with 3 kids. Easier to watch the summary -;)

The Jorritsma Clan

The first day we where all back in NL we met up with Eelco's family at a farm we have been to before together.

Duuk, not afraid of anything, of course was right in there.

What was more surprising is that Rick did change a lot in a year and was a lot braver around the animals. (beetje boer met kiespijn!)

 Whilst we where there the pigs were being fed. A very loud, noisy, smelly scene which Rick later in the holidays re-enacted many times in our garden in France.

 Duuk on the shoulders of our big nephew Tjibbe

 and eating ice cream with Jeppe

 After the farm we went to Eelco's brothers' house where the kids played some more

 and where Rick, almost like a museum curator or guide, talked us through the street art and his 4x4m pirate ship drawing.

 and as is starting to become a tradition, Kaat had het toenails painted by Uncle Wybe Jan.

Duuk travels business

Our little boy travels in style these days. Thanks to airline rules not allowing me to fly alone with 3 kids 4 and under, Eelco had to take one of them when he left for the Netherlands a week earlier then the rest of us. As Duuk is the only one without 'obligations' and 'commitments' in Bangalore the vote was easy.

So little Duuk travelled Business class with Papa on Emirates from Bangalore to Amsterdam and back 4 weeks later, enjoying all the lovely amenities on the top deck of the A380. "mmm"says Duuk on the first leg from Bangalore to Dubai: "This is kind of ok but not quite the stander I expected -;)"

 This lounge is more like it - great views, lots to see.

 mmm, so who is sitting in front of us?

 yes, I am thinking of a whole raft of things to do that you are not going to like much papa!

 Like throwing things over the partition

 Yeah - this is kind of comfortable…..

But no - of course I am not going to sleep! I might miss something.

 yup, in the end he did sleep, by the time they made it to the Hague.

 In the meantime, only 30 min after Eelco & Duuk left in the middle of the night I had company in his side of the bed.

 On the way back I travelled with Eelco and Duuk up to Dubai - they left 1 week before the rest of us again as they had also left Bangalore 1 week earlier. Enjoying the last few hours of our fabulous holiday and the super new house in France we are so happy with.

Again sleep was overrated thought Duuk and he played with the Emirates stroller the full 3.5hrs of the lay over.

 There is always time to catch up on sleep back home right?!

Aga Khan Palace, Pune

On the way back from all the caves we had a few hours to kill in Pune and hence decided to take in its 'top tourist attraction': Aga Khan Palace. Well lets say, if you have time to kill fine, but don't plan any detours to make it there!

The palace is pretty recent, 1892, and according to Wikipedia it is  a majestic building and one of the greatest marvels of India. Well afar the Ellora and Ajanta caves, that sis a very hard if not impossible sell. Why the place is important is because Gandhi, his secretary and his wife where interned in this palace between 1942 and 1944 and out of the 3 only Gandhi survived his stay. (because of illness, not because of the place or treatment)

In 1969 it was donated to the state by the owning family and is now a museum/memorial to Gandhi.

Ok building, bad state.

The place only has about 5 exhibit rooms, and is very very dilapidated considering its status.

From a distance the place appeared a s quite something.

 And the garden park around it was quite nice

 Including the Banyan tree

 Kaat struggled to hide her boredom

 Rick loved the tree & the sticks

 And Duuk spend WAY too much time waiting on the floor in one of the most disgusting & smelly toilets ever till everyone was done. (clearly not too bothered though!)

 So we remain, inspired by Gandhi, but not so much by some of the places maintained in his memoriam

School Awards

Tomorrow is the last day of the school year. The kids both already had their awards ceremony and got the awards below. No worries - full equalitarian system - everyone gets one -:). I am of course missing Rick's end of year presentation and had to prompt for  some time slots or an end of year parent-teacher-meeting at all, as the school changed the schedule for the last week…….only this week kind off, maybe last week, and I had already tickets to fligh out the night after 'the last day of school' Thursday as per the school year calendar. Which appears not to be very official…..(no no, not frustrated at all)

Anyway. Awards. Here they are. Rick's is spot on. And Kaat's also. As a feminist you may be worried, but don't. Despite the fact that Kaat is always always always is looking out for #1 first (Kaat), she still gets the award for 'most caring'….how fabulous is that! We think only a princess could manage that -;)

Mind you, Kaat is after all known at home as "I want to give you a BIG hug and a BIG kiss" Kaat.

Beautiful Kaat

Kaatje is becoming a girl. She is fabulous at the moment with lots of stories, chatter, own ideas and plans. She is happy 99% of the time - really. Easy, cool and gorgeous as the series below shows.