Baby Has So Much To Do

Autumn 2009 in Berlin

After a pretty busy summer at work with no option to take time off, I finally got to be out for a 10 day break. I wanted to go to Berlin with Cora to see my sisters new house and her little boy, visit my parents and just spend some quality family time with Cora. October 3rd is also a National holiday in Germany where the German reunification is celebrated each year. It’s a special day for me to go to Berlin  this years since it’s been 20 years exactly that my life changed drastically forever when the Berlin wall was opened over night bringing lots of new possibilities but also allot of uncertainties. I had some time to reflect on things like, what would my life have looked like if history would have been different. I still wonder sometimes what I would have done in East Berlin if 1989 would have turned out completely different. Back then my plan was to go to the merchant marine as it seemed to be my best option to have a chance to see the world. Things turned out different and looking at my little girl I know I’ve been lucky several times in my life. 

On October 3rd we went to the Brandenburg gate to see the festivities but the children soon got scared by the amount of people flocking there to celebrate. We decided to just do lots of things that are fun for Cora and the following days. We went to an eco farm where children can pet the animals, we went kite flying, collected acorns, chestnuts and lots of colorful leaves in the woods around my sisters new home in the north of Berlin. Cora loved to have so much attention from all the people around and picked up a bit more German once again. It’s been a really nice few days in Berlin. Cora even was a good girl on the 7 hour train ride from and to Amsterdam. I admit I was a bit scared going on such a long ride with her. She is just really becoming a big girl now.

Here are the pictures

Birthday at the beach

It has not only been a perfect summer but it also seems to become a beautiful autumn with warm temperatures and lots of sunshine. Usually my birthday is already the turning point where summer really is gone and jackets have to be pulled out. I don’t remember having more than 20 degrees and walking around in shorts and t-shirt on my birthday. So what better way to make it a special day then going to the beach and enjoy the weather outdoors. Cora was so excited to drive in her new big girl car seat and watching her being so happy playing with in the sand, running around and just being her bubbling self was all I could wish for on a perfect birthday. Egmond aan Zee is one of my favorite places on the NL North Sea Coast. Its far enough from Amsterdam to feel like we are on a mini vacation and it has wide beaches with perfect soft sand. In Egmond aan Zee is also one special restaurant we discovered in recent years. It’s called Zilte Zoen. Its where we finished the day with great food watching the sunset. It’s been a perfect day. 

Link to the pictures.

Mummy jumped off the plane

Chris gave me a voucher to do a tandem skydiving jump on my last birthday in November.

Since I can't jump out of a plane out in freezing air, I have been sizing up the right weather and temperature to do it since the beginning of summer. Last weekend I finally got a spot to do the jump, and the waiting up had been really worth it. The summer day was sunny and dry, with very clear sky but not at all too hot.

I believe this is so far had been the best present I have ever received. I was expecting it to be an adrenaline rush like the bungee jump we did a couple of years back, but it was anything but. The fact that I was actually attached to an instructor twice my size who didn't waste time to jump off the plane on first chance (thus taking me with him), probably contributed a lot to the absence of real dread. The way up on the small plane was filled with anticipation, and once we were in the air, it didn't feel much like falling, it felt like flying! It was such an amazing feeling to drop through clouds (they're cold!) and to see so far into the horizon (including having to see there was nothing between my feet and the ground). Once the canopy was out, we descended slower and much more in control, until we finally touched ground.

The jump itself probably didn't last more than 2 minutes (I've got record of 38 seconds for the free-falling phase itself), but the whole experience was definitely the highlight of the already awesome summer of 2009.

Chris and Cora waited for me on the ground. At first Cora insisted that she wanted to come along, but then later on being OK to let me go. After I was back at the airfield, I asked Chris, how did Cora react when I left them for the plane. 

"Cora said, daddy, now we can have cola ijsje." (Cola ijsje is cola flavoured ice lolly that I never allow her to have. She has different deal with daddy, obviously.)

More pictures here.