vaguely specific

Jet lag and 38+ degrees take their toll.

Posted by Faith at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

Happy Birthday Oma!

Last night was a little warm. Luckily Om and Opa slept well after spending a day earning their keep sanding, varnishing and repairing an old kitchen table in the almost-40 degree heat. Oma did have a good incentive to finish the table. We ended up celebrating her birthday on it!

Yes, the bunglow-deluxe is turning out to be dearer than they expected!

Posted by Faith at 11:44 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2008

Nog een keer!

They've landed. Oma and Opa have arrived for their almost-annual holiday in Australia to check-up on how we're raising their grandson. When they left the Netherlands the high was 8 degrees celcius. They woke this morning to 38 degrees. Opa is now sunbaking in the sun! (And they say the english are crazy!)

Posted by Faith at 06:24 AM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2007

Mt Donna Buang

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December 30, 2006

Cookin'

In the lead up to Christmas Oma was busy baking Dutch specialities that she'd never before made from scratch. And so it was that we mastered the art of making amandel-spijs from the original ingredients instead of buying it. We were spoilt with Dutch apple pie, gevulde speculaas and a boterletter. Jacob and I contented ourselves with making gingerbread cookies. The left overs we bought home from Christmas Day at Grandma's included Christmas cake, trifle, cheesecake and Christmas pudding. So you can see we're a bit spoilt for choice these days when coffee-time comes around!

Posted by Faith at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

December 29, 2006

Wind

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without a pantomine. Thursday we went to the Botanic gardens to see Wind in the Willows. I'm not sure who enjoyed it most, Jacob or Opa, despite the language barrier!

Half-way through the performance Ratty started looking strangely familiar. It turned out he had house-sat for me for a month when Ron and I went to the Kimberley just before we moved to the Netherlands.

After the performance we visited the Ian Potter Foundation Children's garden, the Observatory Cafe, the Shrine and Alexandra gardens before heading home. More touristy things crossed off the list!

Posted by Faith at 11:39 AM | Comments (0)

December 26, 2006

'Tis iets.........

Christmas and Boxing Day passed in a blur of food and gezelligheid........just for a change. Christmas Day dawned with Jacob sleeping in to a respectable 7.00am. He discovered Santa's presents before we all dug into a breakfast of scrambled eggs, smoked salmon and champagne. Opa was a bit shocked at the idea of drinking champagne for breakfast but in the end seemed to have made the conceptual shift more than adequately.

After breakfast there was just time to exchange presents before we headed off to Grandma's house for lunch. Practically the whole family was there and all the usual supects on the table, ham, beef, chicken, roast veggies, (we're not turkey people), Christmas pudding, trifle, cheesecake, (for the non-fruit eater) and custard. Jacob was learning quickly intermittently breaking into "Ho Ho Ho's Merry Christamas and lost of presents!". After lunch hours flashed past with face painting and card games (uugh!)before we ventured back home, the car laden not only with presents but also enough leftovers to keep us going well into the new year.

Posted by Faith at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2006

Gefeliciteerd 1

Today was Opa and Oma's wedding anniversary and we decided to celebrate by taking them to the Night Market at the Victoria Market. This was a brilliant idea on my part; easy to manage with a three year old, food choices for everyone, music we could all enjoy and a relaxed atmosphere that would be appreciated by everyone. The only flaw was that the Market wasn't open tonight. Something I only discovered after we got there.

We ended up going instead to the Supper Inn in Chinatown, almost just as good; easy for a three year old and always worth it just for the address alone: Celestial Lane; followed by a visit to the Myer windows and ice-creams all round before a tram trip back home up Sydney Rd.

Posted by Faith at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)

December 20, 2006

Animal crackers

We managed to drag Oma and Opa away from their chores long enough on the weekend to take them to the Royal Melbourne Zoo. Jacob made a must-see list of animals which took us the best part of five hours to cover and which he only just made it through before collapsing and falling asleep.

Ron and I put Phase 2 of The-Master-Plan into action and made Oma and Opa Friends Of The Zoo. This means they have unlimited visiting rights with their grandson for the next year. Just the next six weeks will do us.

After the Zoo we all ventured over to the south side of the Yarra for dinner at Grandma's place. Jacob spent most of the evening in the kitchen-sink-cupboard being the pudding-monster after replenishing his reserves with lasagna and Lemon Delicious. It is my favourite desert and has become Ron's since he was introduced to it in Australia. Puddings aren't well-known in the Netherlands and the Lemon Delicious was also a big hit with Oma and Opa so I spent the later part of the evening translating a recipeinto Dutch for Oma.

We were thinking of making a detour on the way home to The Boulevard, Ivanhoe but it became apparent that none of us would be able to stay awake long enough to appreciate the lights. Rather than have the Mazda drifiting eerily through the traffic full of sleeping passengers like some sort of 4WD Marie Celeste we opted to go home and try again another night.

Posted by Faith at 12:21 AM | Comments (0)

December 17, 2006

Working for their keep

We are going to have beautifully painted front windows whether we deserve them or not...........

Also apparently, clean floors, cupboards, clothes, bathrooms and nicely finished interior woodwork. Not to mention the garden, the car, the ironing and a host of other chores and DIY jobs. If I can't find enough things to keep them busy they'll be starting on me next!

Posted by Faith at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2006

Op de fiets

Jacob is visiting Grandma today and Oma and Opa are off to explore the south leg of the Merri Creek bike path. I get to stay at home and work.

Posted by Faith at 12:02 AM | Comments (0)

December 07, 2006

Domesticity Brunswick 101

Wednesday Jacob and I tend to do exciting things like grocery shopping.This Wednesday we invited Oma and Opa along and took them with us to Ceres where we bought some vegies and olive oil while admiring chickens and sheep. After a reviving coffee at the Ceres cafe and a play in the adventure playground we wandered down to the Merri Creek so that Oma and Opa could see how to navigate their way onto the bicycle path from our house.

Lunch was a picnic at home in the backyard followed by a walk to Spotlight, Bristol, the Post Office and the butcher in Sydney Rd. It doesn't get much more exciting than this. I'm suprised Tourism Victoria aren't on my doorstep begging me to come work for them!

Posted by Faith at 02:07 AM | Comments (0)

December 06, 2006

Orientation Day

Jacob was at creche today so I took Oma and Opa into the city to make sure they knew how to get in and out by themselves, which trams and trains to catch, and to try and give them some basic idea of the orientation of the city to the other parts of Melbourne we keep talking about.

We went in early and stopped off at the Myer Christmas windows first before going up to the Rialto observation deck. These are two things you NEVER do when you live in Melbourne so it's good to have visitors here to remind you to do them once in a while.

After the Rialto we wandered through the Casino to gawk at the gamblers before making our way along the river to the Blue Train at Southgate for lunch. Opa seemed a bit shocked at the idea of a 'meal' for lunch (I think it was tandoori chicken salad....) but managed to cope alright in the end. After that it was ice cream and sitting on a boat on the Yarra for an hour before wandering around Federation Square and catching the train back home. Not the most exciting day but at least now they do have some general idea of how to get in and out and around the city by themselves. We'll start with the rest of Melbourne at some later date.

Posted by Faith at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)

December 02, 2006

Studley Park Boathouse

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December 01, 2006

Globalisation 1

Globalisation gone wrong.

Dutch father-in-law demanding of the Vietnamese butcher at the Vic Market whether she had any "chicken herbs" (...its a Dutch thing...) to go with the chicken he'd just bought. In Dutch!

Posted by Faith at 04:41 AM | Comments (0)

November 30, 2006

Oma en Opa in Australie

Oma and Opa are here.

Much excitement.

Posted by Faith at 09:45 PM | Comments (0)