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Juultje got a lot of attention during the holidays, sometimes from multiple adults, but often one-on-one and typically oma. The day uncle Jan Anne (Jan's cousin) arrived for a two night stay, was an exception, as dad looked after Juliana, while Piet and Emma took mum and oma to the zoo in Bouillon. During these trips, we had to keep oma's walking to a minimum. Piet and Emma discovered the joy of taking pictures and quickly became as annoying as a busload of Japanese tourists.
Language lessons
The Ardennes region proved ideal for day tripping with 6 and 7 year olds and with most signs coming in French, Dutch and English even provided some
language lessons - this sign misspelled "geva(a)rlijk" in Dutch and got the word order wrong in English. Most mornings, dad and Piet would go to the bakery at 7.30 am, where Piet would lead the conversation:
Uncle Jan Anne took many pictures that we would normally not take, either for lack of time or inspiration. Dad tickled Piet, who is very ticklish. on the sofa. Dad, Piet and Emma read the look-and-search book
A near daily walk for Juultje was to her cows, which she adores, much like cats and dogs. Some days, we walked a bit further to a little forest where we played hide-and-seek and tree swapping. Back home, Emma studiously took the bark off a 6m long branch (which had to be carried home - it made good barbecue firewood in the end). Juultje showed uncle Jan Anne how to put all the cars on the traffic jam game board. Mum checked Emma for ticks, which found us in the Ardennes as easily as they do in Sydney. Juultje had fun inside mum's sweater.
Mum took the kids to the castle in Bouillon, first mentioned in 988 AD (it blows your head off). The bridge overlooking the Semois gives access to the medieval castle, where flying eagles and owls were demonstrated. At the end of the visit, the kids gave it a thumbs up and mum bought the guide.
Meanwhile, dad drove uncle Jan Anne to Maastricht - a 2.5 hour drive - where he picked up cousin Bento. The kids quickly warmed to Bento, or at least to his mobile with various interesting apps and YouTube videos. Bento proved apt in swatting flies, ceding his collection to Piet and Emma. In the evening, we held a welcome barbeque for Bento and ate in the garden at the coffee table, which works much better for Juultje - she feels more part of the group.
Piet is often bored, but as he adores animals and our cottage was close to the Ardennes forests, dad did a dawn walk and spotted a squirrel. The next day, Piet wanted to get up at 5am too and so we did. Unfortunately, Piet does not like to sit or stand still, so we kept walking noisily through the forest and did not spot a single wild mammal. At least we had a camera and Piet also liked taking pictures (with flash). He enjoyed seeing the traces of boars in the mud, some mosses and these mushrooms.
Our family from Oostzaan arrived on a campsite 45 minutes drive away, where we welcomed them and gave uncle Gerson a hand with mounting the (rather large) camper trailer or tested the swimming pool and river. We finished with a joint dinner in the campsite restaurant.
The next day, we returned to the river to finish building the dam. Juultje enjoyed pottering around too. We had lunch near the river (and a nice bit of lawn, which would be occupied by three tents the next week when the campsite was really full to the rafters). To her joy, Emma discovered that her swimsuit, a present from overseas, matched those of Elisabeth and Maartje. After an ice cream for the kids, we returned. This holiday, Juultje started going to bed at 9 or 10pm. This was not ideal, but often oma Bep would entertain her, while she also became better at playing by herself.
