KissKus

A magical place?

Well, we're back from Disneyland and let me tell you that the weather was simply magical! So sunny and warm... absolutely wonderful!!

And the rest of Disneyland? Well, I wouldn't exactly call that magical.
It wasn't so much of a disillusion, since I didn't expect much beforehand, but I did find the commercial tackiness a little overwhelming. After entering the park we spent the first 40 minutes or so looking for an attraction... all we could see were shops crammed with ridiculously overpriced souvenirs!

The first attraction we decided to queue for (it was SO busy) was A Small World. It was as if I suddenly stepped into a nightmare: the scary pink and gold sweetness and all those annoying children's voices singing the same song over and over and over again... wow, that was impressive in its own special way!

The hotel we stayed in was fine. It was built as a small town in Western style. The room wasn't big, but comfortable enough and it had a bath, which the children enjoyed very much (I took a bath as well... never did I feel more like a whale). It was lovely to spend a night so close together.

On Sunday morning we got up early. Because we were hotel guests we were allowed to enter the park at 8.00 a.m. (it normally opens at 10.00 a.m.). When we got there around 9 it was already incredibly crowded. Michel went into Space Mountain, which was quite a spectacle according to him. After that we went queue-hopping for a couple of hours.

We took a lunch break and watched the masses stand in line to be photographed with several Disney characters. Now that was entertainment! Thankfully, both Amber and Simon wanted to have nothing to do with these characters with their huge scary plastic heads. Simon started whimpering as soon as any one of them came near us and we had to take a few detours to avoid them when they all came tumbling out of the train after the Parade.

The attraction we all enjoyed most was a lovely old river boat (it was real!)... it was so wonderful and relaxing to stand on deck in the sun.

While Michel and Amber decided to check out the Haunted House, Simon and I sat down on a bench where he happily played with the two sticks we found (he's a collector!). Those were his souvenirs of the weekend and I couldn't have been more proud of him, because he truly didn't desire anything else!

For Amber it was more difficult to resist the temptation of all the kitsch goodies that were shoved into her face every step of the way. I couldn't blame her at all, but we bought nothing.

All in all, we had a great weekend together as a family. It was a very welcome break from all the stress and work at home and we enjoyed every minute of that.  I don't think we'll ever go back to Disneyland again, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Home again

We're back from a wonderful three day break.
We're all relaxed, but definitely not rested... there wasn't a lot of time to sleep in between all the fun we had!
To prepare myself for "normal" life again I think I'm going to have a nice cup of tea and an early night!

New oilcloth

I was in need of some new oilcloth.
I was slowly running out of stock and that was simply unacceptable.

There are a few shops that I know of that sell pretty oilcloth, but they were too far away. So I tried the nearby town of Hilversum and found a very cute little shop with quite a variety of oilcloth... hurray! I'm developing quite a nose for finding these shops!
I bought these three:

I really like the yellow check, I've never seen this kind of pattern on oilcloth before.
The lady of the shop was very nice and we got talking about all sorts of things. When I told her what kind of things I make with the oilcloth, she said I should show her some stuff if I wanted and that she might sell it for me there. I don't know if I dare... I'm really such a coward!

We then went to my "normal" fabric shop where we looked for fabric for the dress I'm going to make Amber. She picked out this fabric herself (the photo is bad):

A very good choice I think. A chique black baby corduroy that will make a very nice party dress for her. Hopefully, if I don't mess it up.

I also found this very cute fabric printed with old Dutch images... I love it!

About the oilcloth... I've had quite a few questions on how to purchase these fabrics. It seems that in most parts of the world it's impossible to buy some nice oilcloth... poor people! I've looked around and I've found two online shops that might be some good. This one (it's all in Dutch, but perhaps you could contact them) and this one ( although I'm not sure whether they're selling online). If I could help out with translating or anything, let me know!

Camping is fun/not so fun

Last week after we dropped the children off at the oma's, Michel and I had five days to ourselves. No work, no children... what were we going to do?!
On Monday we decided to go camping in Limburg, which is in the south of Holland (a looooooong way down, an almost two-hour drive!). We brought a little tent and a couple of books and not much else.

The campsite was lovely and almost deserted. We set up our tent... it was perfect!
On Tuesday we spent the whole day reading in the sun and we both finished our book (this was mine, very enjoyable).

Unfortunately, it started raining in the late afternoon, but we decided to take advantage of it and had a wonderful meal in a cosy restaurant.

However when we arrived back to the tent our bedding was damp, the mattress had already proved to be uncomfortable the night before. There was nothing to it than try to get some sleep. All through the night it continued to rain and our bed and duvet went from damp to downright wet. When it was finally time to get up and we looked under under the mattress it turned out that we had been lying in a large pool of rainwater... nice! Apparently, the bottom of the tent wasn't water-resistant.

There was no way we were going to stay another night in an even wetter tent (it was still raining), so we packed everything up and went to the most southern city of our country: Maastricht.

It was an 8o km drive, but because of the rain, accidents and roadworks it took us three hours to get there! When we finally arrived we comforted ourselves with a piece of traditional Limburger cake.

However, Maastricht was lovely and we enjoyed ourselves there and when we came home that evening we still had a good feeling about our little break.

And the best thing was that our own bed never slept so nice!! We have once again proven that there's no place like home!

When men go wild...

The other day we went to a woodcutter's festival in a village near us.

First there was a Jack Russel-race which was great fun since both the kids are terrified of dogs (Michel and I aren't fans either).

Then we watched the chainsaw woodcarving contest. Simon thought the sound of the saws was too loud.

What he did enjoy were the tractors that were parked everywhere.
This was definitely the largest, awesomest tractor we've ever seen:

We also enjoyed watching a demonstration of the fire brigade.

When we cycled back home, we were all pleased with a day well spent.

And it managed to stay dry....

... until we sat down outside to eat our homemade pizza.

That's summer in Holland for you all!

In full bloom

After an early dinner we went for some fresh air tonight. Luckily the rain had disappeared and except for the fact that we were wearing our coats, you could almost pretend that it was a summer evening.

We went to the heath in Hilversum, the town we lived in until we moved here almost two years.
We lived very close to the heath and therefore we spent many, many hours there. In the snow and in the sun, pregnant, with baby nr. 1 and then with baby nr. 2.

We dragged everyone along with us onto the heath. The fact that nature is rare in the Netherlands and that we didn't have a garden then made us cherish this place even more.

The good thing was that on the other side of the heath there was a nice restaurant where you can get a lovely cup of tea or coffee. Needless to say that we went there often. And we still go there now and then, since it's only a short drive there.

Today we started at the restaurant and walked onto the heath where all the heather was in full bloom... a splendid sight. We enjoyed the sun and the silence and the children said we were on an adventure (again! two days in a row!). A magical moment was when we came face to face (well, almost ;)) with a deer.

Of course, our walk ended at the restaurant where we had a lovely dessert consisting of chocolate milk and cake.

I love it that the children can stay up a bit later because we don't have to rush anywhere in the morning... holiday bliss!

And Amber lost her fourth tooth today!!

There's a big hole where her teeth used to be... it was a bit of a bloody mess when her tooth finally came out, but we're all relieved. The way she looks now is a big improvement on the way she looked earlier in the day, when she was still able to do scary tricks with her dangling tooth... brrrrr.

Today-this week

We went to one of our favourite Dutch towns today: Deventer.
We go there about twice a year (this was the last time we went) and every time we discover something new and amazing.

The first thing we did when we arrived was have lunch at this lovely place.

See a photo of the interior here.
Lunch was delicious and very cosy.

Then we went straight to some back streets that we had discovered at our last visit.

I bought new oilcloth. I'm so in love with the fabric on the left that I kept staring at it on the way back in the car.

We discovered a shop that sold nothing but dolls houses and accessories. Here is a (bad) photo of some things displayed in the shop window.... wonderful!

I love the next photo of Simon. He was thirsty, so he just sat down to drink... things are very simple when you're little!

The last bit of the way home we took the touristy route and enjoyed some of the best things about our country: the grass, the cows and the clouds (do you see that hole in the clouds?!).

We even went on a ferry without really knowing where we were going... the children thought it was an adventure (so did we)!
This hilarious sign was on the ferry:

It says: buy the paper before you read it!

So that was our day today.
You may have noticed that I've been absent this week. There is no real reason for it. Michel and I are both free from work now and we've just been busy adjusting and enjoying. I think I just switched to light blogging because of summer... I'm still here though!
Btw, thank you so much for your kind words about Michel's new job...they're very much appreciated!

Oh, and since some of you so nicely asked... I will translate the recipe soon!

Humpf...

While I was at work my family went swimming!

Do you realise what this means though... the weather was good enough to go swimming! Outside! Michel even got sunburnt! Could it possibly be that summer has come at last?!? Let's hope so... we all could do with a bit of sunshine on our faces.

I've had a bit of a blog block these past days, which is mainly due to the fact that I haven't been sewing for a while. We've also been spending some time with my sister who was back from England for a short visit. Amber and Simon we're happy to see her again.

I'm hoping to relax a little more. Even though Amber doesn't have to go to school, we still seem to be running around a lot. Tomorrow I'll just enjoy the lovely weather and perhaps I might even get some sewing done.

Oh, I finally finished Harry Potter! I promise I won't spoil anything, but mail me if you'd like to talk about it ;)

Shiny and new

Well, here it is at last... our new car!!

If you don't know how we came to own this car then read the whole story here.

It is a very nice car, very spacious from the inside and at all levels a big improvement to what we had. However, it was difficult to leave our dear, faithful car behind this morning!! We really believed that it sensed its fate, because on the way to the garage it refused to go!

Anyway, I have to go... I'm taking our new toy for a ride!

What can you get for €8?

Yesterday I thought that today it would be fun to go thrifting/shopping in Hilversum. When I read Kristy's post I was even more determined... she challenged us to go thrifting on a budget of 6 pounds, which is 8,95 in euros.
I think I did well.

There was this pretty fabric, huge tea towel and lovely hand-embroidered hankie:

and this bedlinen and flowery curtains...

and this wonderful table runner and delightful hankie:

This Pyrex bowl:

I'm so happy with this. I had seen Pyrex things show up everywhere on blogs, but I never really knew what they were. When I saw this bowl today, I immediately knew it had to be Pyrex. I think I actually smiled when I saw the stamp :) The things you learn from blogging!! There were in fact quite a few Pyrex items, the prettiest being a small butter dish. Although I was quite smitten with it, I decided to be sensible and not buy it. I knew I wasn't going to use it and I'm not really good at neatly displaying pretty things. Besides, if I had bought two pretty Pyrex things then that would almost be the beginning of a collection, wouldn't it?! Considering the state of the house starting a collection would not be the wisest thing to do... This bowl is useful though.

Then there was this gorgeous tablecloth:

Oh how I love it!! Have a closer look:

And then this mug:

Michel and I like to drink our tea from  firm, colourful mugs. This one goes perfectly with the rest of our random collection (there you go... we already have a collection!).

And finally this large piece of fabric:

I love it, although I'm not sure what to do with it yet... any ideas?!

So that was all. I spent 8 euros precisely. There were lots of other lovely things that I could have gotten instead/as well. There were such pretty cups and saucers for only 50 cents, but again I was sensible... what was I going to do with them? I saw many things that I just knew would make some other bloggers drool... if only we'd be able to visit eachother's thrifstores!

By the way, I also did some "normal" shopping. I came home with a huge bag of clothes for the children... all on sale at H&M. I do love my bargains :))

I'll round off with this photo of the boy that claimed he didn't need a nap today... He climbed into his bed by himself just before we were supposed to have dinner and fell asleep right away. As you can imagine dinner was a challenge!