Winter holidays

I asked the kids to make a wish list for the holidays, for our staycation.
They decided on:
- BMX-track
- Cinema (Despicable Me 3)
- Library (on the last count we had over 60 library book in rotation)
- Play overs and sleepovers with his mates (Tim).
- A new playground to visit
- Tramping through the waterholes
And I’m happy to say we manage to tick them all off!
Some were even crazy brave enough to go swimming.

Another Full Moon party,
which coincided with Davids 3rd birthday.
A rather cold night, perfect fresh bread and pea & ham soup

Definitely not a baby anymore

With a temper that comes with the age (and being the youngest), it’s going to be a long year...

Lots of baking, Turkish breads have been very popular.

Laura, only 2 years old. She’s so very much like David, so clever and strong, but oh so stubborn. She’s starting to fill out a bit more, we’re getting ready for the next step in her training: lunging.

I used to train horses, lots of horses when I was a teenager. Those crazy horses no-one could ride, or had never been ridden before, they were my forte. Training was something I didn’t thought about much, it was done on an intuitive base, because they were all so different.  Topped up with a sense of feeling infallible, so common in teenagers. But it changes, hard, when you become a mum and little ones depend on you.
To be honest I was about to throw in the towel last week. Thoughts of “If something happens to me, we’re screwed” and “I haven’t ridden for so long, do I still have the touch?”
I’ve become so cautious, her getting exited I think of the damage she could do to the kids, every time I see her buck, I think “ouch”. I’m not a worrier, but I’ve found that with every child, the thoughts going around in my head have increased. There is always so much to organise, plan and do.
Horses are so sensitive, they pick up so many feelings. Me going in tired and overwhelmed, it gets picked up and mirrored back.
Being conscious of that, I want to try to use that, to learn from that. To empty my head and work in little baby steps. It doesn’t matter how long this might take. She’ll make a wonderful horse, she’s solid, surefooted and has an exuberant energy that can take her places.
I want to give it a couple more months, trusting myself. If it doesn’t come back to me, I’m sure we can find her an owner who can take her to the next level.

Tomatoes, so many tomatoes in so many different varieties. From tiny cherry tomatoes, to yellow ones, mini roma, large roma, to the huge tennis ball sized whoppers and everything in between.
Some of them are planted, most of them are making the most of these wet months Having come up from seeds and kitchen scraps from the 6 years I’ve been planting this garden.
It’s one big tangled mess of plants, growing in, up and over everything else. It’s like an Easter hunt finding them all. The upside is that the king parrots find it very hard to find them too...

Teamed up with basil some make it to our elderly neighbours, by courier.

My sister (left) winning at again at Henley, this time the Princess Grace Challenge Cup. We’re all so very proud of our aunty Lisa.

Proper single size beds for the youngest 3, who were still in small beds. 

Such a beautiful bed, only to found her napping here...
Or behind the cupboard/drawer block, where she’s made a cubby.

Alex is still telling everyone he sees that he now has a bunk bed,
there was never a question where he would sleep...

Marzipan filled speculaas (Gevulde speculaas).
Some special baking for a gathering of Dutch families living in the Northern Rivers area.

Working bee at playgroup

Looking back at our wedding 11 years ago.

 Lemons

Jonquils are starting to pop up throughout the border, such a happy, quirky sight.

Seeing how much more grows through the winter, if you water it a bit more...

has been enough incentive to improve the irrigation system for the garden. 

With a separate system for the border, giving the perennials and fruit trees a boost in their development and fruiting.

This week: Autumn Holidays

The last week of the Autumn Holidays, (the eldest two went back to school again today), they made the most of it. Involving many playovers.
(Can you spot them with their bikes?)

With the weather so sublime, they were to be found outside.
And collecting sticks for the evening fire pit session.

Getting orders ready for Mothers Day.
And with only a week to go until the Valley Made Markets, the pressure is on!

School is back, so are the extracurricular activities.
David’s first “big boy” swimming lesson. No more sing-a-long baby swimming lessons!
I love that huge grin!

 Finishing touches on a table runner

Trying to keep up with her brothers. So tired all the time, working out if the epilepsy or medications are to blame.

Doing some maintenance under the watchful eye of our puppy.

Making power smoothies with the boys,
they’re now ready to rule the world...

Summer Snapshots

It’s a Summer of heatwaves and thunderstorms. With the kids just about living in the pool, they can’t be far of growing gills.

Hiding inside with the aircon on, for those particular brutal hot afternoons. Anything over 36 degrees (with maximum humidity) isn’t fun anymore.

Making an early morning start to tackle the bitou bush that has slowly started to invade our forest. We want to have it all out before it goes to seed.

Laura is a sure way to cheer up your day, coming to you in full gallop, following like a little puppy, calling out to you the moment you step outside. And being a great friend for Sophie.

At last we’ve discussed all the test results with the specialist. It looks like Sophie is in for many more tests. It’s a long, uncertain road, but we’re hopeful.

 A family picture and it isn’t even Mothers Day!

Waving goodbye to the grandparents, they’re swopping heatwave Australia for a snow covered Holland.
We’ll miss the love, company, eyes and hands that they brought along. We treasured the time and happy memories we had together and look forward to their next visit.

It’s going to be back to reality for me again. Sander goes back to work on Monday, while the eldest two still have another 2 weeks before they go back to school.
The kids have plans, many plans. While I have granola orders, a house to keep liveable and a wobbly pile of admin...
Well, most of that can wait two more weeks.
Time, so precious.

After having dropped of the parents at the airport, we needed something to change the mood. It took us 10 years in Australia, but we finally visited the Clog Barn in Coffs Harbour.

With demonstrations in the making of clogs (wooden shoes), a miniature village, depicting famous Dutch buildings and squares. And a Dutch coffee house, making many Dutch delights.

It might be a couple more years before we’re brave enough to travel 48 hours with our tribe, to the other side of the world. But the taste of kroketten (beef croquettes) was enticing.

 I love the addition of these cheeky, real life (water)dragons to the Muiderslot!
(can you find them both?)

Summer holidays

It has been quiet, but only here on the blog. 

The summer holidays are coming to an end, only a couple more days and Tim is due back at school and Sophie starting the week after. The weeks have flown by. The above photo sums up most of this holiday: day trips to the beach, nippers, lots of swimming (including a two week intensive course at the local pool), playing outside, thunderstorms and just being. I would almost say: “we haven’t done a thing” and it feels great... No fancy cooking, or baking. Just lots of salads, wraps and buckets full of beautiful summer fruits. We’ve gone through stacks of books and lots of drawing paper.

The kids are rested, all grown a mile, tanned. Looking froward to get back to school, to see their friends and a new mental challenge.

I’m slowly getting myself ready for this new year. Getting giddy with all the new possibilities, a new routine, a new phase.

Darwin

23 weeks pregnant, while I'm still comfortabel enough to travel and sleep on a blow up matress, we book tickets to Darwin. In the middle of winter, the temperature is still quit allright (read bloody hot!). I think everybody is with me when I say 32 degrees in Winter is pretty good...

About 5 hours by plane (Mackay-Brisbane-Darwin), we pick up the rental car and spend the night in Darwin. The next day we drive to Katherine (300km) to stock up and drive the last bit to Nitmiluk National Park (previously know as Katherine Gorge). Tim is sick with a nasty fever and sleeps a lot. We carry him around in the sling where he sleeps peacefully having us both close by. We check out the Gorge with a boat tour and a hike up to the viewing platform.

The next stop is Cooinda (250km) in Kakadu National Park, where we go on the Yellow River Cruise at sunrise. The light and views over the wetlands are spectacular at sunrise. You don't want to go for a swim up here, it is infested with crocs. Tim is starting to feel better again and learns himself a new sign for mandarine (I first massage the mandarine before I peel it, Tim rubs his hands if he wants a one).

We drive back to Darwin (250km) and spend the rest of the day in the city and feeding the wild fish that come to the shores at high tide. That night my parents, Paul & Margriet, arrive in

Darwin and after a broken night we pick up their camper and drive to nearby Berry Springs. We pitch up our new tent and go for a well deserved swim. Being very impressed with the swimming holes we go back the next morning for more.

In the nights it cools down to 22 degrees, we don't even bother with putting the fly over our tent, instead we enjoy the cools breeze through the mesh and en clear view on the Milky Way.

Litchfield National Park is another short drive and we have a refreshing swim at the Florence Falls. At the Wangi Falls we set up camp on a very nice bush camping and spend the next two days visiting other (crocless) swimmingholes and waterfalls. Tim is such a water rat, with the support of one hand under his tummy, he is of! Times flies and before we know it is time to say goodbye to my parents and drive back to Darwin. We spend the last night in a hotel on the Esplanade and fly back very early the next morning. Back to cold (20 degrees) and wintery Sarina.

Sailing in The Whitsundays

We have been sailing with Hanneke & Hedzer for a week in The Whitsundays on a cute 35 foot boat. The dinghy made it possible to go on land without getting wet.

This was our first time on a sailing boat and we did fine, after a couple of days we were considered crew instead of passengers.

Tim needed a day to find his sea legs, a couple of scrapes and bruises were inevitable. He soon figured out that you have to keep holding on to things and to spread your legs a bit further to not topple over all the time.

This cheeky cocky gave us our wake up call in the Nara Inlet, jeez they are noisy!

From the mooring buoys in the bays we could just jump overboard with a snorkel and have a closer look at the reefs. Excellent snorkeling, I have been diving at some very nice places in the world, but this was even better. These bat fish were huge (50cm diameter), you had to jump on them to go for a swim.

We have seen and been on most of the islands, most of the islands are pretty deserted, some of them have big resorts on them. We have been into one, on Hamilton Island, which is the most "developed" to stock up our tiny fridge.

On the second last day we cought this big spanish mackerel, plenty of meat to last feed 10 people. It was delicious!

Whitehaven Beach, a perfect photo opportunity.

It was a great week, prior to our adventure we were a bit worried how Tim would handle being stuck on a boat. But he loved it, discovering all these new things and handles, having a swim and having lots to see. And if he would get tired, he would just pull his hat over his head and go for a snooze...