Hair cut and other

Still updating with things that have happened over the past month. We went to a British base in Germany for a fun afternoon. There was a variety of bouncy things plus a fair ground ride. Allen had the pleasure of taking our 2 on it!
I had a varicose vein taken out, I was meant to keep the bandages on for 3 days, I managed 2 and a half. The bandage went from my thigh to my ankle and when I had it done when it happened to be the hottest day of the year so far.

Abi has had a very short hair cut. She wanted to donate her hair to a wig shop here. One of her teachers has recently lost all of her hair due to chemo and it made Abi think a lot about hair.She loves her new look and I'm liking the no tangles!

Bits and Pieces

Here are a few photos from the past couple of months. We did a day trip to Amsterdam and visited the Anne Frank House, the Diamond Museum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Ritcht Museum. A lot of places in one day but we had our museum card to use so could pop in and not worry about spending hours in any of the museums. Jacob and Abi enjoyed all of them, the photo is obviously from the Van Gogh museum.
We have joined Snow World as part of a NATO group. It means we get to ski and snowboard without having to pay each time. There's a photo of Jacob, Abi and Allen getting to the bottom.

I went on Jacob's classes trip to Zanten, a Roman town that has been recreated in Germany, about 2 hours from here. It was a great day and I'm glad it was dry.

Abi's 8th Birthday

I realise this is a little late! Abi had a great birthday. It fell on a school day this year for the first time since she was born. She started her birthday celebrations the day before on the pizza bus. This is a converted American school bus that you can sit in and eat freshly baked pizzas. It only comes to our village on a Tuesday hence going the day before her actual birthday. On the 18th she opened some presents before school, see photo. I was teaching so straight after school we met up with out neighbours and went to KFC, one of Abi's favourite places to eat. We then got home and I'd made a castle cake, as requested. We invited more neighbours around for cake. We couldn't take too long as Abi and Jacob had Orcas - swim practice. Abi then had a swim party on the Sunday and had all of her class there plus a few others, and straight after that we had a lunch out in Sittard with lots of British families - a lovely way to finish off her birthday week. So as usual Abi had a nicely elongated birthday that was enjoyed by all. I've also included a photo outside Mum and Dad's new house in Holwell.

Rome 2012

Well finally getting around to posting about our Easter trip to Rome. We went to Naples for 2 days and then Rome for 2 days 3 nights. We had a great time there and need to go back as we didn't see everything. From the photos you may recognise the Trevi Fountain, where we all threw coins and made wishes. Abi was bursting to tell her wish but we wouldn't let her! The Colosseum - where we had a guided tour. The Pantheon both inside and out and finally Vatican City - there was a huge queue to go in so we just had a quick look outside and that was enough this time. The food was excellent, very child friendly, the apartment we stayed in was just right and the buses were easy to use. Rome seemed like a pretty laid back place and a capital city we would really like to visit again. The flight back here was 2 hours and our neighbour picked us up from the airport as he works next door so all in all an excellent trip. Rachael.

Naples 2012

Naples and Rome were our Easter destination this year, last year it was Portugal. We decided on Naples as we have friends living there - The Lunns. We first met the Lunns in The Falklands and have since met up with them in Portugal too. Perhaps we'll see them every Easter. Due to my dislike of flying I decided we'd try the overnight train from Dusseldorf to Rome and then get the fast train down to Naples. Dusseldorf to Muchen was fine, a normal intercity. We then changed onto the overnight train to Rome. It was the oldest most knackered looking train I've ever seen and it did not improve inside! We had booked a sleeping cabin, very much like the ferry cabin we had when we sailed from Amsterdam to Newcastle, although there were 6 bunkbeds, 3 on each side of the cabin. The guard was checking our tickets when 2 people arrived saying they were in with us. I lost it at that point and, bless her, the guard found them another cabin. I hope I never have to take an overnight train as it was very loud and hot! Jacob and Abi loved it and slept the whole night. Allen and I slept a little, I coped with the toilet - just! I'm actually glad we had booked a flight back.

Anyway we arrived on time in Rome and went for a very nice breakfast with excellent coffee. We caught the fast train to Naples, only an hour and 10 mins away, and Adam was there to meet us. We headed off to a harbour for a lovely seafood lunch meeting Helen and the kids there. In the afternoon Jacob, Allen, Adam and Henry went off to explore an Ampitheatre and I headed home to the Lunn's 6 bed palace to relax and catch up. Their house is lovely, it's in a gated community of other military Brits. The surrounding area is a little rough though as we went past a burnt out car and mountains of rubbish plus stray dogs. The roads are worse than the Falklands ones and that's saying something!

I know there is a lot to see outside of Naples and the next day we visited Herculaneum and Mt Vesuvius, places I studied when I took Latin at school. It was amazing to see and we were all impressed. We didn't get to Pompeii but it leaves something to do next time. We ate and drank way too much but it was great!

Rachael.

Keukenhof

Grandma and Grandad Holwell, together with Amy, visited us the first week of the Easter holiday. On their first day we walked into Sittard to have lunch. It was a little dreary but worth going as we also bought cheap train tickets, so the next day we went off to Keukenhof. It's a place outside Amsterdam, about a 3 hour trip from here - with train changes and a bus involved too. It's the area where they grow tulips and other flowers that are sold around the world. The range of tulips grown was amazing and the park was great to explore. I have put in lots of photos from the day. We left the house at 8.30 and returned by 7.30pm, a long day but I'm glad we went.

We also managed to squeeze in a quick trip to our local ice cream place. Dad and Abi both fitted in 3 scoops!

Rachael.

Easter 2012

Hi

Easter flew past with family visiting and then a trip to Naples and Rome. Thought I'd put a couple of photos on - Abi in her decorated Easter bonnet. Jacob was very pleased he didn't have to decorate one this year, he was deamed too old! Abi and Jacob did 3 egg hunts this year, one on base, one with me at school and one at home. The photo is from the one at home as their cousin Amy was here. We couldn't find one egg but did find it a week later, a perfect circle off plastic had been eaten and the egg gone with the wrapper left!

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter,

Rachael.