Margraten 2011

Hi

Jacob and Abi took part in a remembrance tradition. As part of the scouting organisation we were invited to lay flags at the American Cemetery just outside the town of Margraten in the Netherlands. It is a large memorial to American soldiers who lost their lives in the area during World War 2. There are just over 8000 graves there. At each cross an American flag is placed as well as a Dutch one, so over 16,000 flags need to be planted. As well as the white stone cross graves there is also a remembrance pool, column and wall of names. It was a great thing to do and really made us all think about the past and what's going on today in the world. My 2 were brilliant and I am pleased we all took part.

Rachael.

A Party and a Play!

Hi

Am doing a couple of posts, it's cleaning day so any excuse not to get on! Over the last couple of weeks we've been busy with normal things so I've chosen a couple of highlights:

Abi went to a party at Monde Verde. I have already posted about this place as we have season passes so go quite regularly. This was our first brithday party there though and it was great fun with lots of children. I've put a photo on of Abi, and some of her friends, on the roller coaster.

Jacob took part in a play at school. He was a Greek soldier and was rather good. He loved the fighting parts. The whole thing was very well done and you could clearly hear all of the speakers which is a pleasant change. I've put in a photo of him with 2 of his closer friends and also one of the group of soldiers.

Abi's in a play tomorrow so more photos will follow!

Rachael.

First windmill visit

Hi

We managed to get to a windmill. It is not a working one but you can still go up inside it. I was a total whimp and worried the whole time about the height, the wooden floorboards and the wind! Good view, steep steps and happy children. Have included a few photos. Of course there was a cafe involved and very good it was too. We will find a working windmill at some point but this was a great start! I have also included 2 photos from school of Jacob and Abi in their Easter Hats. They had to decorate them and then parade around school. I was surprised at how into it Jacob was. They both looked the part.

Rachael.

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.