Stasiu's Birthday

The 8th of April was Stasiu's 3rd birthday; he's a big boy! In the morning there were lots of presents and later in the day we had some kids over to double the birthday fun together with an Easter egg hunt because the two coincided. Then during the week, we had Stasiu's birthday party for his whole class in a salon de fiesta, as is custom here in Argentina. It was a pirate party complete with entertainment, snacks. sweets, treats, a pirate cake and of course a pinata! The kids had great fun and Stasiu got lots of presents, but the treatbag at the end was the most important; sweet!

Libertad

When in port, Libertad, a training vessel for the Argentine Marine, doubles as a museum ship that you can  visit. The kids love it with all the big lines, steering wheels etc. to touch and enough space to run around. Laura joined us this time too!

Horse riding

Nina had been invited to a birthday party at the club hipico in Palermo. About 30 excited kids and 4 ponies - they had to wait their turn but it was worth it. At first Nina was a bit shy, but later she wanted to go again. Stasiu had no fear whatsoever and the went forward. backward and probably upside down if they would have let him. 

Shop girls

A saturday morning, getting ready to do some serious shopping at the Palermo market!

Mi Sueno

Mi Sueno (My Dream), supposedly the best street parilla in Buenos Aires and judging from the queue waiting to get their choripans and bondiolas this is true as welll as from our own experience. A Sunday afternoon lunch in the after summer, enjoying the food a drink and the people passing by on the boulevard in Puerto Madero. 

Flight attendants

On the flight back from Holland to Argentina, Nina and Stasiu were put to work! They got the help the flight attendant handing out sugar, milk and even collecting empty trays. You can never start too early with exposing them to a carreer in aviation :) They had a great time of course and (most) people thought they were so cute.

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.