First day at school 2012!

The summer vacation has come to an end and last week Nina & Stasiu started their new school year at Amapola. Nina in the Sala Verde (Green classroom) and Stasiu in the Sala Azul (Blue classroom). New teachers, new and old friends, new rooms, new toys to be explored. But is was as if they had never been away and they did very well. Now back to the everyday routine of getting up and ready in time :)

With cousins Sofie and Isabel!

Cousins Sofie and Isabel came to Apeldoorn to meet with Nina & Stasiu. All the toys were sampled, we had a great lunch together and to top it all off, a manicure by cousin Sofie for Nina!

With cousin Lotte!

All the way to Rotterdam by train we went to see cousin Lotte! The train ride was a lot of fun. Upon arrival we had a lovely lunch with Lies and then we took the metro and bus to her house, where Lotte arrived a little later. Time for dress up play and dinner! After that the train back to Apeldoorn. It was a long but great day and Nina & Stasiu did not want miss one minute of their time in Dutch public transport also because of the super goodie bag that Lies had given them :)

With the cousins Lycke, Jesse, Bente & Symen!

They came to visit us and we went to visit them in Zwolle: going for a bike ride, joining Lycke to her acrogym class and watching a movie together with Bente and Symen!

With the grandparents!

In those two cold weeks there was a lot of time to be spent indoors too with the grandparents; opa and oma, baboe and dziadek! From reading, to doing puzzles, artworks and decorating faces, all was fun!

Visiting freezing Holland!

In February we went from high summer in BA to two weeks of wintery cold in NL!. The much anticipated snow was there to be enjoyed, but Nina & Stasiu did find it 'muy frio' outside. Fortunately they both received a much needed hat and scarf set to stay warm as a present upon arrival so they could spend some time and play in the super fresh air!

New Year

We spent New Year's eve with friends in the northern suburbs of Buenos Aires. We had a very relaxed evening and although Nina and Stasiu both did not enjoy the real fireworks (at all!) they had a great time with the sparklers (sterretjes).

The kids stayed up all night but barely made it till the new year...

The next day we discovered that a New Year's dive is much more relaxed in the southern hemisphere than in the northern....

Happy New Year!!

Beach time!

The week before Christmas we drove to a little beach town called Carilo where we spent a week of swimming, sunbathing, reading, kiting, horse riding etc. We all had a great time.

Weekend in Patagonia: Seals and Sea Lions

The seals and sea lions were present all along the coastline. One evening we caught a small colony just outside Puerto Piramides while watching the sun go down into the sea. The next day at Punta Norte we were welcomed again by lots of them chilling on the beach or having a relaxed swim along the shoreline. Fortunately for them, the orcas were not around while we were there.

Weekend in Patagonia: Penguins

Next on the list were the 'pinguinos'. On Valdes Peninsula we found a great spot where they could be observed from very close. Nina & Stasiu spent about two minutes watching them and then changed their attention to collecting small pebbles which they found much more interesting. Later on our trip we went to Punta Tombo where the largest colony of Magellanic penguins in South America can be found. Thousands of penguins come to mate and nest in this area from September to April. They were literallly all around us, protecting their nest with little ones or eggs, waddling around, sunbathing, relaxing. Again very impressive and some great photo opportunities!

And yes.....that's a llama in the background.

Weekend in Patagonia: Whales

From Puerto Piramides we took a boat trip to watch the Southern Right Whales (ballena franca austral). It was the end of the breeding season but we were promised that there would still be whales around to watch. Together with a group of about 25 we set out to sea and we were not disappointed: almost straight away a mother & baby showed up for their 'audience'. They were so close, sometimes as close as less than two meters or even under the boat. It was impressive! We spotted three or four mother/baby pairs during the 1.5 hour trip and went back contently.