Back in the Dog House

Yes..... we are back in the States and back in the Dog House!
Sue's sister Kathy used to have 5 dogs and got married to Jim last year, who had 2 dogs..so now there are 7 dogs in the house. Grammy who also lives with them has 2 cats.....so we live in a bit of a zoo, but the kids absolutely love it. So, who cares?
Kathy and Jim are great hosts and we are very grateful that we can stay with them every summer.
Their house is a perfect place for our kids with a big garden, in the middle of the forest._They can run, play, make noise, go crazy without bothering anybody.....( well maybe except for Sue.....)">
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Saying goodbye to opa & oma

Saying goodbye is never a nice thing, but this year saying goodbye to opa and oma wasn't so hard, because we will be back in Holland for a few days in July and we will most likely see them again.

Play Grounds

One of the cool things about our summer breaks is the fact there are such nice playgrounds everywhere in Holland and especially in the US. For us....families with small kids..... those places are great. Usually I bring coffee and something to read and the kids play....so we all have a good time!

WORLD CUP FEVER

Every 4 years Holland gets hit hard with a severe case of World Cup Fever....(if we qualify...). This year is no different and on match days everyone goes a little crazy. These pictures were taken around the match Holland-Japan...which we won 1-0

Celebrating the win with my old buddies...JanFRanco, Ben, Rene and Paul


Noah with his cousins face painted....ready to roar!

Soccer Training

Every Day Noah wants to play soccer. He even managed to persuade his oma to play with him on a couple of occasions......

Amazing Recovery

Most of you know that my dad was very sick last year. He had a heart failure and was in a coma for several days. Look at him now....What a difference a year can make!
He has made an amazing recovery and can do most of the things that he used to do before he got ill. He can go for walks, drive a car , ride his bicycle and even play a bit of soccer with Noah.
Yes...our old man is a tough one!

Summer Break is here!!

Time to update the blog a bit about our summer holiday so far. As you probably will understand. I have been way too occupied watching world cup matches....

Okay ....here we go....

On June 6 we arrived in Holland and we stayed with my mum and dad in Zutphen for a week, before we all met on an island called Schiermonnikoog for our annual family get together. We stayed on the island for almost a week with my parents , the rest of the family were only there for 3 days since the kids still have to go to school in June and my brothers had to work.....

Here are some fun pictures of that family weekend.

Diploma A

I know that we left for our summer holliday more than 2 weeks ago, but I still need to do a post about a remarkable accomplishment from our little girl, AYLA.
On the day that we left for Holland, she had to do a swimming test in the early morning at the NIS to get her Diploma A. Most kids in her group were 6 or 7 years old.... she was the only 5 year old and I wasnt sure if she would be able to make it.
She did really well and passed the test and of course we were very proud of her!

Ayla's End-of-the-Year Performance

Yesterday Ayla celebrated her fantastic year in EC 2 at JIS. The parents were invited to watch a music performance and all the kids shared their work with their mums and dads.
She has grown and has learned so much this year. Well done, little one!