Mona Lisa with braids?

Janne wanted curly hair for a birthday party we're going to today. So, I braided her hair before she went to bed, hoping that would do the trick.
She came up with this pose all by herself; ready for the Louvre, what do you think?
Curly hair!

Another one gone ...

Emma got another visit from the tooth fairy last night, because her third tooth came out! One from the top row this time, so she's now sporting a genuine 'bicycle rack' (as it is called in Dutch).
Proudly presenting The Gap!

And this is the tooth, before it got abducted by the tooth fairy ...

Skiing in Austria

Yesterday, we arrived back home from a week long ski-vacation in Radstadt, Austria. It was the first time for Emma and Janne to go skiing and they were very excited to go. We left on Friday, right after school at 12.30 pm, spent the night near Munich and arrived in Radstadt at 11 am the next day. Our two bedroom apartment was very convenient and everything we could have hoped for (and more). The owners, who lived downstairs, were very friendly and hospitable and we felt at home from day one.
Ferienwohnung dr. Kindler; recommendable!

Emma and Janne started their class on Sunday and all four of us skied for the next six days. The girls were lucky, because they had a Dutch instructor and a really nice group of kids. At the end of the week they were skiing down from the top of the mountain and it was wonderful to see them have so much fun doing it :-) Even though they were very tired every day and especially by the end of the week, they were both asking to 'please go back again next year'!
Posing like real pro's, before class starts

Paying attention to instructor Vanessa on day one

Our five year old, racing down the hill on day five!

Our seven year old, even faster ...

For Pieter and me, the start of the week was a bit less great. I had hoped to pick up skiing where I left off fifteen years ago, but that was not the case. It took four days and two hours of instruction to get part of my skill at skiing back and it was not until Friday that I felt confident again on red slopes. For Pieter, it was pretty much the same. Most important was though, that at the end of the week, we enjoyed skiing down the slopes again! If we go again next year, it all should come back a lot faster ...
Sunglasses with a view

Colorful me enjoying the sunshine at the top

Akwakwadabra

Yesterday was a very busy, yet fun, day. School until 12, music class from 1 till 2 pm, carnival at gymnastics club Voorwaarts from 2.30 until 4.30 pm and swim class from 5.30 until 6.10 pm ... All I did all afternoon was drive Emma and Janne from one place and activity to the next.

Carnival is a big thing in the south of our little country! It is traditionally celebrated in the southern provinces (Noord Brabant and Limburg) of the Netherlands, on the evening before the forty day fast before Easter. During the fast, Roman Catholics were not allowed to eat meat, candy and treats. Children had a fast box, in which they kept all their candy. Only on Sunday they could eat a little candy from the box. The remainder of the candy was kept until Easter. Because of the restricting nature of the fast period, on the evening before the forty day fast, people went all out in a big eating and drinking feast.

Nowadays, carnival lasts from Friday until Tuesday 12 midnight. In certain towns, there are already carnival celebrations on the weekends leading up to the 'real' carnival. Many companies in the southern regions take into account that most of their employees wont be at work on carnival Monday and Tuesday (and will call in sick on Wednesday ... ).

There are many carnival celebrations around the world and they're all different. Carnival celebration in the Netherlands is not the same as for example in Venice, Rio de Janeiro or New Orleans (Mardi Grass). Typically, in Holland, carnival is less glamorous and it's just as big for kids as it is for adults. Although in Maastricht (the southernmost city of the Netherlands) more and more people dress up during carnival in the famous, grand, Venetian style costumes.

During carnival, everybody dresses up and dances across the street. Special carnival music and songs are played, usually in the local dialect. A Prince Carnival is elected and he and his Council of Eleven (11 being the number of fools) act as temporary carnival council. Cities and towns are temporarily renamed and they all have carnival parades, with big floats and many groups. Carnival also has a mocking character. Local politicians and other well known people are favorite targets for the mockery, which is often played out in carnival parades.

This being said, the girls really had a lot of fun at Voorwaarts, where all members of 9 and under where invited for a carnival celebration. The place was literally packed with kids; there must have been at least a hundred kids crammed in the rather small canteen of the gymnastics hall. I'm not sure if they were able to dance around on carnival music (which is the typical way to celebrate carnival), but they enjoyed themselves anyway.

The most fun part of the afternoon was the performance Akwakwadabra by the children's theater group Drommels. It was a great play, with wonderful costumes and very enthusiastic performers! Emma was even more excited when she recognized one of her teachers in the theater group. For the remainder of the day, Emma and Janne couldn't stop talking about the performance, even though Janne admitted that 'it was a bit scary'. With all her bravado, I sometimes forget that she's only a five year old little girl ...

As it was a 'kids only' party, I have no pictures of the carnival celebration at Voorwaarts.

Flevonice

Yesterday, I took a day 'off' and went with my sister to Flevonice. It's a 5 km outdoor ice skate track, located in Biddinghuizen, province of Flevoland. Flevoland is the province which the Dutch reclaimed from the sea. It consists of NoordOostPolder, Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland, reclaimed in 1945, 1960 and 1975 respectively.

With the rather warm temperature of 5ºC, the ice was a bit soft, but still, it was a unique experience. We arrived before noon (after a two and a half hour car ride ... ), so there weren't very many people yet. We skated 25 km and enjoyed a hot chocolate next to the fireplace in the restaurant. Great way to get a real Dutch winter feeling!

In summer, the track is open for roller skating and other 'rolling' sports. As there are fine opportunities nearer by to go roller skating, we won't go to Flevonice for that :-)
My sister going strong, despite the headwind

Resting after skating 15 km

We did it; time to go home!

Pretty ice flowers on my car window