Back to previous page
In October, dad painted the new carport post. This inspired Piet to do some painting too. The old carport post had suffered some damage after the Falcon backed into it; surprisingly, there was only a small crack in the bumper. Inside the house, Piet tried to lift Emma sitting in a plastic box. Every night before going to bed, we read Piet two stories from frog and toad. During the day, he gets a few more.
For the weekend, we had a few visitors. First came "the other Emma" with her boyfriend Vinnie for lunch. And if this was not complicated enough, the next day, "the other Pete" came with his two daughters, who loved our sandpit. As the weather was good, we had a barbecue. The kids enjoyed eating their sausages at their own table.
Optimistically, dad and Piet cleaned the fireplace. The next Saturday, 16th October, we lit the fire again as we got a downpour of hail, surprisingly enough. Piet realised that he had some sweeping to do, which he did under the watchful eye of Emma. When satisfied with his result, he continued mowing the white driveway.
On 21st October we started our six week trip to Europe. The first destination was London. We started with bringing the kids to nursery in order to have an empty house to pack and do a last tidy-up. The taxi came and on our way to the airport we picked up the kids again. We watched planes at the airport and ran for our plane. We had the spacious bulkhead seats and on the first leg the kids could easily entertain themselves with the new toys bought by mum. By the time we arrived in Singapore for a short stopover, the kids were pretty tired. They would sleep a few hours on the second leg, which, interestingly, was by Airbus A380. But is was still a long leg and the last two hours, Piet would keep insisting: "I want to get out". He would sleep again in the cab.
The next three nights we stayed with Angelika, Sascha and Vivian, who live in our old neighbourhood. Vivian got on well with the kids, playing puzzles with Emma and having discussions with Piet. She allowed us to play with her toys and we would read her Maisy in return. In front of the apartment block was a playground with swings. Unfortunately, Piet was pretty jet-lagged, which made for various wakeful nights and early breakfasts. During this stay in central London, we met up with the antenatal group. By now, the second wave of babies had arrived and most mothers were in their second maternity leave and could make the Friday morning get-together. It was, however, the first time the group met up again as the second child seems to prevent most mothers getting out of the house. It was delightful to see each other and the kids had lots of fun too. We also met up with a wider group of friends in our local Fox pub. Piet still got on extremely well with his old friend Anna Carolina, who he hadn't seen for more than fifteen months, nearly half his life.
The next four nights we spent with cousin Penny in a cottage in the Cotswolds. It had a beautiful garden and the moist autumn weather did not prevent the kids from enjoying their play with the various pots and pans they could find in the cubbie house. Due to the weather, we only managed to have a single walk through the scenic countryside. Emma admired some pigs. The rest of the holiday, she and Piet enjoyed making animal noises: pigs, horses and sheep. Piet had a snooze in the carrier backpack. The other days we went for a drive, had some food, a drink and a tidy-up. It might have been the leisurely pace that helped the kids to get over their jetlag in the Cotswolds.
The last weekend in England we spent with the Hoekemas at their new house. Alex took on the role of babysitter, entertaining Piet with his
Thomas the tank engine train and Emma with his
charm. Emma in turn decided Melissa's ears could do with a
clean. We had a little outing to the
model village, which is a short walk away. The miniature
railway did not only entertain Piet but also
Emma and Melissa.
