Baby Has So Much To Do

Enkhuizen

Cherrie’s cousin Stephanie has finished her University degree in Germany and will start her new job in Stuttgart in autumn. Her student life is over and she has some time to spend this summer so she will be staying with us for a while in Amsterdam. Cora is happy about “Tante” being around as well. Now we have two people speaking German to Cora in the house. This weekend we’ve driven up to the North and visited Enkhuizen. It’s a place I always wanted to visit. It was one of the harbor-towns of the VOC (Dutch East India Company), just like Hoorn and Amsterdam, from where overseas trade with the East Indies was conducted during the golden age around the mid-17th century.

Nowadays, Enkhuizen is still a place that oozes maritime tradition. It has one of the largest marinas of the Netherlands and one of the largest fleets of historical vessels. I guess you can see why I always wanted to go there.  Unfortunately the Zuiderzeemuseum, an open-air museum reflecting life in the villages around the Zuiderzee throughout history was closed today and we could only peak at some of the buildings. It was still a really nice day walking around through the old city center and letting Cora play in the sun on a local playground. We’ve had some of the best “Kibbeling” (freshly deep friend cod) I have eaten so far in NL and just a really relaxed day out in the sun. It was definitely worth the visit. I know I come back, quite possibly under sail.

Here are the pictures

Dancers Go To the Library Too!

We live not far from the Amsterdam Central Library. It's an impressive 8-story building just opened 2 years ago. Furnished pretty much entirely of designer furnitures and decorations down to the toilet signs it combines two of my biggest wordly passions; designer chairs and books. On a hot summer day, it also have the added bonus of air conditioner (and a cafe that sells ice-cream on the top floor).

I've been taking Cora to this library for the second time now this summer. It's got an impressive space for the juvenile section on the ground floor that allows for some running around, very comfy chairs and cushions, a 'tree house' to climb to for quiet reading, and a big collection of books in all kinds of languages, DVDs and games.

When reading gets a bit too stationary for Cora, she likes to go up the hall area where there is a piano where anybody that can play are invited to play. She loves listening to them and then to dance around on the shiny floor (well, a bit marching to her own beats, but it's the happiness that counts).

And when Cora found the books she'd like to bring home (she can pick from the English and the German shelves), or if we felt a bit thirsty, we all went up to the cafe and get ourselves some ice cream and cold drinks, and then walk over the canal to take the bus home. It just feels so nice and wholesome, and at least she doesn't come home covered in sand with cuts and bruises.

For the rest of the pictures, click here.

I am Crazying

Cora always know the best way to distract us in whatever we do. When I was busy behind the computer she would pop up from the other side of the desk and started doing all sort of acts. This first video is of her simply dancing away to 'Come on Eileen', announcing that she was 'Ik ben gekken!' (I am crazying - most probably not grammatically correct).

And then she started to sing a Paul Anka song.

How come she knows a Paul Anka song? Because it's a song I sing to her every night before bed for no particular reason. I actually just Googled the lyric and found out that it was by Paul Anka. I guess I've been singing it this whole time without really knowing who sang it in the first place.

Ijsselmeer strand

It’s been an unbearably hot and humid week and I finally recovered from my pretty persistent flu. Cherrie is working on various projects at the moment and so it was a dad and daughter day for us. 

We cycled from Amsterdam along the Ijsselmeer first to Uitdam and then further to Monnickendam and later via Broek in Waterland back home. First stop was a small shell beach for a quick dip to cool down and then we cycled further to a sandy beach in Monnickendam.

Cora spend hours and hours in the water but it was really warm and I didn’t have to worry about her getting too cold. My attempts to make her rest in a blanket for a while failed after just a few minutes when Cora announced, “Ik wil niet slapen ik wil zwemmen daddy!” (Dutch for: I don’t want to sleep, I want to swim daddy.) She was covered in sun screen all day but being back home Cherrie and I looked at her and just thought that she’ll be super dark after this summer.

Last thing in bed today when asked, what do you want to do tomorrow peanut? "STRAND!"

Here are the pictures