KissKus

Vive la France & vive our own home!

Hello, we're back from (mostly) sunny France!

We had a great holiday, but we're all enjoying our own home very much again too. Don't you love coming home again after a holiday too? Everything looks so fresh and comfy... it's the best way to appreciate your home I think!

Now what did we do in France?

We read...

We played...

We ate...

... and we enjoyed the kiddies very much!

All the ingredients for a good holiday :)

Do you know something else I enjoy? Washing about 20 loads of dirty holiday clothes. Seriously... I do!

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!

Au revoir!

Tomorrow morning (apparently before dawn, if Michel has his way) we'll leave for Paris!!
Yes, that's right... PARIS!!

Well, alright, not quite the capital of France itself, but Disneyland Paris.
Although I'm not a great Disney-fan, I'm looking forward to spending two whole days with my husband and children doing something other than working on the house. Besides, this trip is more or less free, since it came with the car... I'm not complaining!

I'm even looking forward to the 5-hour journey. I've always enjoyed being confined to the car with my loved ones... except when the children are whining, needing pee... etc. ;))

So hopefully we'll be able to relax and enjoy it. If the weather is as nice as it was today then I'm sure we will.

Thankfully I'm feeling a little less stressed out already. Wednesday morning at work I didn't make it past the receptionist's desk. I was so tired and sore that when she asked me how I was feeling, I started crying right there and then. She was so kind to me, she phoned someone and said I wasn't able to work anymore and then she sent me home. After a couple of hours in bed I felt not so disappointed in myself anymore, after all I had just one more week to go, so I nearly made it till the end. I do feel that I really need to get a little more rest now; it's not just wise, but a necessity.

Anyway, have a lovely weekend everyone! I'll be back in a couple of days with a full report of our trip!
Bissoux!!

The photos btw are some of the tissueholders I've been making these past weeks... I've got a little factory going on here :)

Off to see the neighbours

Today we're off to visit our nextdoor neighbours.
The ones that live to the right of us. The right of our country that is.

We're off for a long weekend to Germany with family.
We'll be celebrating Sinterklaas, we'll go to a Christmas market and we'll undoubtedly enjoy the good food and drinks of Germany.
I'm really looking forward to it. I think I deserve a break after a whole month of blogging, don't you?!

Amber made a list of what clothes to pack... she did it all by herself; the mistakes are just delicious!

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!

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!

Kaffe Fassett exhibition Part Deux

As promised more photos of the Kaffe Fassett Exhibition I went to in Hasselt, Belgium.
The quilts were the main focus for me there, but there were so many more wonderful things to see. I had expected to see quilts and knitted jumpers, but there were also many embroidered pieces (cushions, slippers, whole chairs) and lots of beautiful mosaic pieces. I really knew so little about Kaffe Fassett (I must get my hands on his books), but I definitely didn't appreciate his work any less because of it!

The quality of the photos isn't great since I had to make do with sparse artificial lighting, but they do give you a clue as to what was on show.

Like this amazing embroidered cushion:

or this one:

Look at this fantastic tapestry:

Whole decors were set up in the same style...quilts, embroidered pieces, wallpaper, paintings and mosaics

What a gorgeous table!

With matching vase

I think I might have to improve my own mosaic skills a little... although with mosaics you can't really go wrong, can you? I can't wait to get started on that again... come out sun!

*I might upload some more photos tomorrow*

Kaffe Fassett exhibition

My parents' birthday present to me was a trip to Hasselt (Belgium) to the Kaffe Fassett exhibition in The Fashion Museum.
It was fabulous!
Exhibited were quilts, jumpers, mosaics, embroidered cushions and so much more. I just can't believe how multi-talented this man is!

Since it's late and I have to work early tomorrow, I'll just show you some photos of the quilts I liked best loved.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to take really good photos because of the sparse lighting, but you get the idea, don't you?! Look at that explosion of colours!

This one is much more subdued, but I love the simplicity and the pattern. See how he used the stripy fabric to create the pattern as well? Simple, but so effective.

This was one of my absolute favourites. Yellow, pink & orange just are my colours.

Genius. Love everything about this. Must try something like this.

Mum (quilter, knitter & allround crafty girl) and I (just crafty girl) got so inspired on so many levels by just looking at his work. The choice of fabric, colours, patterns... I can't wait to get started!
And I didn't leave empty-handed either. Mum & Dad were sweet enough to contribute this to my stash:)

I'm so happy just to look at it. I do believe it's the prettiest (and most expensive) fabric I've ever had!

Next post I'll show you photos of the other items that were on show.

Flashback

We had a pretty full schedule in England.
Breakfast, coffee, lunch, dinner, sleeping, shopping and bus rides took up most of our time.
We did manage to squeeze in a few other activities as well.

On Thursday we hung out in St. James' Park and hit the shops in the Piccadilly District.

On Friday I met up with Monica which was lovely. We hadn't sent photos beforehand, but I managed to find her by recognizing her brooch... hurray for handmade crafts! We swapped gifts and she gave me some gorgeous fabric and also one of her beautiful brooches, which is the first one in her post.
Unfortunately, neither of us has any photographic evidence of our meeting, but we had a great time shopping and having lunch.

The rest of that day was spent in the centre of Oxford and we cycled a bit on our rented bikes. We also went to the Pitts River's Museum, where you can find the most unusual things displayed. If you're ever in Oxford it's a real must-see.

We had dinner at my sister's boyfriend's College. As of this summer my sister will move in with him, so it was nice to see where she is going to live.

On Saturday we went to London again, where Michel and I spend some time alone in Harrod's and The Victoria & Albert Museum.

The museum is huge and packed with interesting things. Since our time was limited, I thought it would be a smart idea to just concentrate on the Textiles, but when we finally arrived there that section was closed :((
It did give us some more time at the keys and tins sections.

We then rushed to Hammersmith to experience the Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. It was all great fun and very exciting. The atmosphere reminded us of our Dutch Queensday. Unfortunately, Oxford lost the race, which we were told by text messages from The Netherlands.

After a pancake feast and a delicious Easter/English breakfast it was time to go home.
Where the Easter partying continued. First at the one set of grandparents....

...and then at the others.

Simon discovered the best hiding place for the chocolate eggs he found: inside the seat of his car.

Well, so far the flashback. Now I'm all up to date and ready to look into the future again :) And Michel and I have something very exciting to look forward to in our very near future (a couple of hours); we'll be going to a lecture in Amsterdam. No irony there, because it will be held by Ian McEwan, a writer I very much admire.

Have a good weekend all!

In our element

As I was looking through the photos I made in England, I noticed how we all really seemed to be in our element.

Three sisters sniffing up some culture outside The Royal Academy of Arts:

Shopping:

Having COFFEE!!

Or hot chocolate:

Cheering on the Oxford rowers (whilst catching up with some essential reading... yes Laura, that is NOW that you are reading!!):

Cycling:

Soaking up the sun in St. James' Park:

And the happy reunion at the airport: