Grandma's visit over Easter

Hi

Grandma Melrose (Allen's Mum) arrived the evening we got back from Portugal. Jacob and Abi were very excited to see her and we did another birthday cake for Abi. Allen had to work for the first 2 days of Marion's visit so me and the children entertained her. On our first day we borrowed one of the neighbours bikes and cycled into our nearest town, Sittard. Abi wanted to spend some of her birthday money on clothes. She came back with 3 outfits, Jacob also got some long shorts which he loves. We had lunch in Sittard and cycled back. We met Allen at the ice cream parlour up the road and enjoyed a glass of wine and truffle ice cream.

The next day we went to Monde Verde. We'd taken Marion there when she visited in November. It was a lovely sunny day and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. I've included photos from the day out. Allen then had a long weekend off from work so we went to the point where the 3 countries meet - see photo with flags, another nice meal out. It was a bit drizzly so we didn't go up the tower to take in the view of the 3 countries, there was also a nuclear demonstration going on on the tower!

Saturday we'd booked a nice lunch out at our favourite place - the Mill. It's an easy walk from our house although we cycled as we were late! In the morning we went to the garden centre for Marion to pick some plants for our garden. She then planted it all up and did some cutting back. It is looking so much better, just hope we don't ruin what she has done. I've included a photo of Allen and Marion at lunch.

Sunday it was Easter so we did an egg hunt in the garden, see photos. Everyone had fun hiding the eggs. We then cycled up to another favourite cafe outside of Puth. I think Marion was pleased when we returned the bike to our neighbour!

We had a great week with Grandma and look forward to her next visit.

Rachael.

Abi's 7th Birthday

Hi

We celebrated Abi's 7th Birthday in Vilamoura, Portugal. I worked out that she's only celebrated one birthday, her first, in Scotland - none in England! The rest have been overseas. She woke up at 4.45am but luckily went back to sleep. She woke up again at 7.40 and was pleased with the decorations we'd put up - see photo. We then went for a buffet breakfast, our one and only at the hotel - probably a good thing as I would have put on a stone other wise. They even had champagne included so I had a few tropical juice and sparklings! We'd taken a few presents with us but, as Abi had mainly asked for money, not many presents were needed. She ended up getting over 100 Euros so was very happy with that. She has since bought a clip on Ipod, pink and 2 dresses. She still has money to spend but is saving it at the moment.

I'd organised a cake which we did at kids club, the message was in Portuguese. As a treat we all went for treatments at the local spa - not the Hilton one which was good but pricey. So Jacob and Allen had massages, I had a facial and Abi had a manicure. The couple that run it were excellent with the children and we all really enjoyed our treats.

We flew back the next day and Abi got to celebrate again with Grandma Melrose but I will put photos of that when I cover Grandma's visit! So as usual Abi had an extended birthday and she loved it all.

Rachael.

Portugal 2011

Hi

Back from our most ever relaxing holiday. This year we swopped our place in Colorado for a Hitlon resort just outside Faro, Portugal. We flew from Maastricht, only 15 mins from our house and into Faro. A longer flight than I thought for but still nothing on flying to Denver or the Falklands! It was with Ryan Air though so no in flight entertainment. I read Abi a few books, she's now into the Rainbow Fairy books so the people in front of us must have been a bit fed up with hearing about fairies by the end of the 3 hour flight!

We landed to brilliant sunshine which lasted a week of our stay, we were there for 9 nights, only raining on our final day. We had a relaxed week as the children could go to the kids club as much as they wanted. They did activities and played each morning. We then did swimming all afternoon and then out to dinner. The kids club had a zip wire, which was very popular with both of our two. I've included a photo of Jacob on the zip, Abi by the pool, me and Jacob on our balcony, Abi trying olives - which she liked, and one of us all out at dinner. We were surprised by the value of food and drinks - much cheaper than in Holland. The Hilton prices were the same as our local places back in the Netherlands. So in the mornings Allen and I alternated between the pool and spa, reading at both, then having an early lunch ready to pick up the children for the afternoon! I read 4 books in the week. We also managed to meet up with friends from the Falklands who were holidaying nearby, I've included a photo of Jacob, Abi and Rebecca running down the dunes on the beach - the last time they did that was on Surf Bay in the Falklands! It was great to catch up with the Lunn's and we had a fab BBQ too.

Allen and I definitely want to go back, he played golf once and I think he'd have liked to go more. However we asked Jacob where he wanted to go next year and he said skiing in Denver so we'll have to talk about it again!

We celebrated Abi's 7th birthday on our last day of the holidays but I'll do another post with photos of that.

Rachael.

Blue and Gold Dinner

Hi

Had Jacob's blue and gold cub scout dinner last night. It's an annual celebration, meant to mark Scouts birthday but we did it as an awards party, as it's usually in February. I was joint organiser with another mum - Michelle. She has twin boys - Landon and Logan. These 2 are Jacob's best friends here. I have to say Michelle did most of the preparation. I sorted flower decs for the table, helped her with a bit of the shopping and turned up early to help set up. She did everything else! I did take charge and run the evening so we worked well together. All families brought a dish of food to share, we had a variety of American things including cabbage bread and American pigs in blankets - mini hot dogs baked in mini rolls. My favourite was the sweet and sour meat balls, the sauce was made with grape jam! There was a cake competition, each family had decorated a cake. The best one was a camp fire one, we did one with an English flag and Scottish flag and the wolf cub flag. We played cub related bingo, did the prize ceremony and the evening was finished. We had planned loads of games but will do these at a normal meeting after the Easter break. I've included photos from the night. The first is Jacob getting his wolf badge, he's upside down as the badge is put on upside down and can only be put the correct way up when Jacob has done a good turn. The next is a silly photo of the group, this was better than the sensible one! Bingo using M&M's as counters was very popular.

Have also put in a picture from Mothers Day, we had a lovely lunch out as a local posh restaurant and got hand made cards from Jacob and Abi. Another photo is from a trip to a park in Belgium, it was a lovely warm day for April. Next post should be from our Portugal holiday.

Rachael.

Ju-Jitsu

Hi

Jacob has recently started at the Ju-jitsu club on base. He is loving it. They did an assessment last week and he got the first step of yellow patches. I watched him yesterday and he is already onto throwing people. I think he's good at it because he's bulky and has the weight behind him. He's also very solid on his feet. He won three rounds last night and I was a very proud mummy.

Off to Portugal next week, it has started to warm up here but I am still looking forward to the heat and the sea. About to cycle into Sittard, our closest town, to meet for coffee and then shop for supplies to help make Abi and Jacob an Easter bonnet, I bet you can guess who is very excited about doing it and who doesn't really want to but is going to because they know a chocolate treat is on offer if you take part! Will try and post a photo of both of them wearing them!

Rachael.

Parties!

Hi

We all had parties to go too. Allen and I went to a Charity night. The theme was A Night at the Movies so you could dress up as anyone from any movie. Easy you may think but it's such a wide variety of characters. We thought of Pretty in Pink, but no dress for me, Snow White - as someone had offered me an adult costume and Allen was going to be the handsome prince! Allen wanted to go as Two Face from Batman and me to be Cat Woman or Bat girl, both of which I refused! We ended up as Trinity and Neo from the Matrix. We had a great night. Sam and Kevin, our neighbours, went as the Black Swan and the Crow. I thought theirs were the best outfits of the night. I've included photos of all of us.

Jacob and Abi were then invited to a party for a brother and sister who are in Cub's and Daisy Scouts. It was on the American base and lasted all afternoon. We stayed and helped with the BBQ and serving the food. I've added photos of them enjoying the pinata.

Rachael.

Pinewood Derby

Hi

Jacob has been busy with cubs through out the year. The Pinewood Derby is an activity that takes place for cubs across America and the Derby has been running each year since the 70's. Each cub is given a block of wood and some wheels and has to design and make a race car. Luckily for us we have a very handy neighbour called Andy who very kindly agreed to help out. Jacob drew his design and we took it around to Andy's so he could use his jigsaw to cut it out. Andy also had an electric sander. Jacob then was in charge of the painting and decoration. He did a brilliant job. The cars had to be weighed and have weights added so it went back to it's original weight. All of the boys then got together and the cars were raced on a special track. Jacob came bang in the middle of the pack and had a fun time racing. Everyone got certificates and a pin for their uniforms. Jacob's certificate was for Best Detail. I've included a variety of pictures from the morning. Allen took Jacob as I was at home with Abi who had thrown up 18 times. Can't believe anyone can be so sick! She's fully recovered but did need 2 days off school even though it started on a Saturday.

Rachael.