ODMC

In two weeks time, I will be competing in the Open Dutch Masters Championships Swimming. Emma and Janne will be staying with Oma and Tante Elly, so I will be at the swimming pool from Friday 1 pm until Sunday 5 pm :-) Even though I don't stand a chance of winning a medal, I'm still getting a bit nervous. For most distances in which I'm competing, I'm listed somewhere in the middle of my age group, usually 9th or 10th out of 20. It would therefor be super if I could finish around 5th or 6th place on some of the distances.

For those of you who think that there are only a few 'oldies' (old being over 25 years of age ... ) crazy enough to want to do competitive swimming, here's some statistics of the ODMC:
- number of countries participating: 10
- number of clubs participating: 158 (120)
- number of swimmers participating: 621 (520)
(To put these numbers into perspective a little bit, I added the numbers for Dutch clubs and participants between brackets.) Even more impressive (I think), is the fact that there are 4 participants (3 women, 1 man) in the age group 80+ !!

In case you didn't get it yet; I'm really looking forward to the event!!

Museum tour

The past couple of months, the theme at Emma's and Janne's school has been 'cultural heritage'. For the younger students this was translated into 'now and the old days'. To start off the theme, there was a short play by some of the teachers and there were displays in the hallways with old items from older days. Quite surprisingly, the theme was a big hit with the little kids and even Janne came home with stories of how things were done 'when oma was young'. To close the theme, a visit to two regional cultural heritage museums was planned. I helped out with Emma's group, by guiding a group of kids through the exhibition. Most children were quite good at listening to the stories and participating in the question and answer session. Some of course were only interested in running around. As it was only a 1 hour visit, it was very doable and we all had a good time.
At the (very old) wishing well

Class 3a with Ms Henriette

Motorcycle tour

Today, I went on my first motorcycle tour since we came back. A former ASML colleague introduced me to a local motorcycle club and I could join them for today's tour. It was great fun, but also a bit tiring. The speed was a bit higher than I'm used to when riding on my own and I'm not used to being on the bike for hours on end anymore either. Still, great fun! We did a 230 km tour, through northern Limburg and Germany, from 9.15 am until 15.30 pm, including two stops. Meantime, Pieter took the girls to the playground, so they probably didn't even miss me ...
During our first (coffee) stop in a pretty little town in Limburg

Waiting for the ferry to bring us across the Maas river (mine is the red bike)

Spring flowers

With spring one month old and some glorious weather in the last two weeks, spring flowers are blossoming at their fullest. Not all that many in our garden (there's not much more than grass and sand for now), but enough in other people's yards :-)

Japanse Cherry (I think) in our neighbor's front yard (of which all the petals somehow end up on our doorstep ... )


The girls enjoy playing with the flowers on the driveway

Purple tulip in our back yard (looks more like pink in this picture)

Swim, bike, ride

Emma and Janne are still attending swim classes. Progress is not as fast as one would hope, mainly because they only have one lesson a week and then only half an hour ... Still, Emma is now swimming half the lesson float-free! She and I are equally proud of that milestone, even though her swimming-without-floats still looks more like almost-drowning-without-floats!
With floats, Emma is quite confident in the water

Without the floats it's much harder to breathe ...

The sun has been out for the last couple of days, until the end of this afternoon (it's raining now), so ideal weather to get the motorcycle and the convertible out.
What is learnt early, is learnt well? Two girls on mummy's 1989 Honda XLV600 Transalp

And here's one for Oma and Tante Elly

Janne going to her play date in Pieter's 1988 Chrysler Le Baron convertible

Sunny Easter

Very different from last year, this year's Easter Weekend was (is) sunny and nice. We had my family over for brunch on Easter Sunday and it was a comfortable day with lots of time spent outside.
Result of the Easter egg hunt; enough chocolate to last a month!
The girls are helping me make a quiche

Enjoying a full table of successful cooking (not always the case)

It was great that just before Easter, Pieter had spent some time putting grass in the front yard and planting some little shrubs. Now it looked quite nice and nearly finished with the sun out :-) As daddy's big helper, Janne is rolling out some grass

And last weekend, I had another swimming competition. Taking into account that I had been sick two times in the three weeks before the competition, the results where not too bad, albeit still below (my) expectations:
100m breast stroke - 1:40.53 (2nd place of 2)
200m freestyle - 2:55.21 (5th place of 6)

Next competition is May 9 and 10, in the famous Pieter van den Hoogenband Swim Stadion in Eindhoven. Distances in which I will compete are: 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle, 50m and 100m breast stroke and maybe 50m backstroke and 50m butterfly. It will be my first opportunity to improve my own times and swim some PRs (personal records).

Last but not least, I'm also preparing to participate in the Nijmeegse Vierdaagse (Four Day Marches Nijmegen), a four day walking event held in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It's a huge event, in which 45.000 people participate, all of whom have to walk (at least) 40km per day in four consecutive days. At this moment, it's not 100% sure that I will do the walk, because more than 45.000 hiker registered, which means that they will do a lucky draw to decide who can and who cannot join. Results will be communicated next week; keep your fingers crossed that both me and my hiking buddy will be in! For now, I just continue my training: at the moment, I'm walking 2x8km per week and 1x20km per week. This will go up to 2x13km plus 2x40km per week. At a average speed of about 5.5 km/hr, this means MANY hours walking from now until the end of July!

Growing up ...

There are many 'firsts' in a childs life which make you, as a parent, realize that your child is growing up. A first tooth, a first word, the first steps, the first day of school. Emma has reached her next 'first' yesterday, one of which she is VERY proud and is eager to share with anyone who wants to hear and see: she lost her first tooth! My goodness, she IS growing up fast! The tooth had been loose for a few weeks and after playing with it for all that time, it finally came out yesterday, in the dressing room of the swimming pool. Emma put the tooth under her pillow and (even though she doesn't really believe) the tooth fairy brought her some money for her piggy bank.

And here are the before and after pics
All white soldiers still there ...
One down, 20 or so to go :-)

Another touching thing happened with our little big girl this week. There's a song by the Dutch singer Marco Borsato, called Dochters (Daughters). A father sings about his daughter, how fast she is growing up and how he will miss her when she gets married. It's a lovely song and I mentioned to Pieter that it would be nice to sing this at Emma's wedding (planning ahead, aren't we?). Emma overheard us and asked what we were talking about. After I explained it to her, she started crying! When I asked her why she was crying, she said it was such a sad story ... Two days later, the song was playing on the radio again and again, Emma started crying! 'It's so said for you and daddy when we grow up and leave you', she said. We explained to her that we would be very happy for her if and when she decided to get married and that she was still going to be living with us for a LONG time. She seemed to understand. Still, we turned off the radio. To bad for Marco, but no fans in this house for a while.

And just because it has been so long since the last post, here's two more pics.
Emma after having played outside and having eaten a chocolate paste sandwich; a bit less groomed than usual

One of the many artworks Janne brings home from kindergarten; this one is from one of her favorite areas in the classroom: the carpentry corner