Ayla?

I just wanted to share this picture of Ayla on her first day of school this year.

Yes, it is really her!

With her hair up like this she looks like a totally different girl to me. She looks like she is 5 years old.....Scary!

Compare her to this photo when she is posing with her big brother......

Noah's first day at school

Noah had his first day at school in his new class Prep Junior.

His new teacher is Mr. Whitney and so far he adores his him. He especially likes the fact that Mr. Whitney plays the guitar. That is 'super cool'......according to Noah.

We hope that he is going to have a great year as a Prep Junior!

Visitors in Jakarta

We always like getting visitors in Jakarta.

A couple of weeks ago my old friend Manon came by with Arjen and their two kids Japke and Mitch.

It was really nice to have them around and our kids loved having 2 new playmates for a few days . Japke is 7 and Mitch is the same age as Noah , 4.

Unfortunately it was only a short visit. They were actually on their way home to Holland after a holiday in Australia.

Disney

Our last stop of the summer holiday this year was California.

We flew from Seattle to LA and stayed in a nice motel in Anaheim for 3 nights before flying back home to Jakarta.

Our hotel was within walking distance of Disney. A perfect location to explore the park.

The only bad thing was the fact that we were there during the weekend. We had no choice, we had to go to the park on Saturday or Sunday. We decided to go for Saturday......in July. The crowds were incredible and to be honest we didnt enjoy it very much during our first visit in the morning. We were surrounded by thousands of people , it was very hot and there were long, long lines for all the rides. With little ones that is no fun .
We went back however in the late afternoon and things were better. It was still crowded, but it was cool and we enjoyed the Parade with all the Disney characters, we saw an absolutely amazing water and light show and off course the kids were mesmerized by the fireworks at the end of the night.

Seattle

After our great trip to Yellowstone we flew to Seattle and stayed at the Merritt's place for 4 days .

They've bought a nice cosy house and had reserved the whole basement area for us, which was just perfect!

We didn't have nearly enough time to do and see all the things that Matt and Liz had planned for us.

We saw the city, 'climbed' to the top of The Peak, took a ferry and enjoyed the parks and the fresh air.

Seattle is a beautiful city and definitely not a bad place to live!

It was especially nice to meet Matt's family and friends....and to beat Matt in a game Bocci in his own back yard.......

Special thanks to Morgan (matt's sister), who picked us up from the airport and Matt's mum,Cerissa, who took us out for lunch and who invited us to her home.

Yellowstone Park

One of the highlights of our summer was our trip to Yellowstone National Park and especially meeting up with the Merritts!

They moved to the States last year and it was so great to see them again.

We flew from Boston to a place called Jackson Hole in Wyoming. We rented a car at the airport and drove from there into the park.

Yellowstone was amazing and is a photographer's dream. It is just stunningly beautiful and of course there are lots of wild animals to view, which was very exciting for the kids too.

We were there for 5 days, but we easily could have stayed longer.

And yes....we did see a grizzly ( well at least I did.....Matt missed it...too busy picking flowers or something....)

Boy, these bisons are huge!

Most days we left our cabin in the morning and drove around the park for some hours had a picnic lunch and a swim somewhere next to the river. Off course we saw the 'Old Faithful' geyser in action.

Matt teaching Noah the 'art' of fly fishing.

Matt reading to the girls. Daily highlight for the little ones. Noah was probably out on a bear hunt.

You Beauty!

Ayla is taking a water break from another strenuous hike....

It was extremely hard for me to pick photoos. There were too many good ones to pick from. The ones that you see here are my favorites. I will make an online Kodak album later for you to view them all.

Outdoors

One of the good things about being in the States is the opportunity for the kids to be outside all the time. They go on walks with the dogs, we take them hiking, they swim in the lake, they pick berries with aunty Kathy, play at the playgrounds, etc...

Parks

When we are in the States we visit lots of playgrounds and amusement parks.

The playgrounds in New Hampshire are great. They are well equiped, well maintained and usually pretty clean.

On top of that we have Canobie Lake Park , an amusement park with all kinds of fun rides for the kids, around the corner from Kathy's house. We went here twice this summer...thanks to Sue's mum who got us all free tickets.

Needless to say that the kids love going to these places.

Water Fun

Noah and Ayla just love to play in and around the water. Whether it's the bath tub, the swimming pool or the beach.............

They can't get enough of it.
Fortunately the weather in New Hampshire was very nice most of the time, so we spend a lot of time at the lake in Derry and at Kathy's pool.

Ayla Loves Dogs

Ayla just loved to be around Kathy's dogs.



She would lay with them, walk with them, run with them, cuddle with them and to carry them around the house.
She even tried to trow them off the sofa on a couple of occasions.......