Now for a blog about our house (quite a few people wanted to see more photos of our house).

This is the front of our house

This is the back of our house, where we spend a lot of time
under our nice big verandah.

When you look from the back of our house, you can see
the vegie garden (a bit of a mess at the moment!) and more of our
block.  Everything you can see on the photo is our property.

We enter the house from the back, through the laundry
(which has a toilet going to the right).

As you walk in the laundry, you can see the lounge room.

To the left of the lounge room is the dining room

The kitchen

This is the long hallway to the sewing room,
play room and bedrooms.

As you walk down the hall you get the sewing/computer/
craft/junk/storage room on the left...

...and the bathroom on the right (it is still being finished off -
we never had a bath tub, so we changed that)

Next on the right is the playroom, which is open to the
hall.  See the nice big cupboards right to the ceiling for
all the toys.

On the left is the girl's bedroom...

...and then the boy's bedroom on the right...

...and our bedroom is right at the end of the
hallway.

We have a walk in wardrobe, which is very handy.

And our own bathroom (which is also very handy!)





Finally, another blog from me!  It's been 2 weeks exactly since we got back and I've been very busy with everyday life and catching up on all the things that pile up over 5 weeks...  One thing I really noticed (other than my own bed!) was the sound of frogs at night and birds and crickets during the day - the sounds of God's nature around our house. 
The last morning in KL, we had a wakeup call at 5am and we were in the taxi to the airport by 6am.  We only had a little bit of time to spare once we had sorted out our problems with our baggage...the good deal (I thought) of 80 euros each for the extra boxes to get to Australia, was actually only to KL!!  That could have been because we had a 2 night stopover there, but be warned!!  I was sure they had told me on the phone it was for Holland to Australia, but anyway...
We had a really good flight from 9.30am to about 3pm.  Maddi slept well twice.  She was well behaved and easy (as usual) while another baby nearby was crying and screaming a lot.  Once again, I'm very thankful for how easy Maddi is!
I got through customs etc. relatively fast because they let the people with little kids through first.  I nearly thought I was going to have trouble with the customs lady I went through as I accidentally ran over her toe with my (very) heavy baggage trolley.  I didn't realise it was so bad but she got quite mad and really limped back to her desk and acted quite grumpy.  I apologised again and she finally got over it.  I had all the food and wooden items etc. I had bought in one suitcase, so it was just a matter of her checking it all and it was all fine.  I couldn't push Maddi (in the pram) and the baggage trolley very well (Dad and Wiwik were way behind me) so the lady offered to help which was nice, though I did warn her to stay right away from me and the trolley!!
We stayed at Howdie's (Steve's brother) for the night before we travelled back to Albany the next day.  The kids loved playing in his pool that night and in the morning, though they were a bit scared of his (big) Great Dane puppy!

The kids waving to my plane

Yay!  Finally home!

The kids were really happy to see Maddi (and me!)

A hug from big sister

Maddi wasn't too sure about Steve at first, but she
got used to him pretty quickly!

The teddies decided not to stay in Holland and
asked if the kids (with Anne Bosveld in the photo)
 could adopt them.

Back to our crazy family

Being back home is very nice, especially when you have
some different things to play with...

...or a good book to read.



Driving to Kuala Lumpur in the taxi

Maddi had a sleep in the taxi on the way back.

We had a really good flight to KL.  We left at 8.50pm and arrived at 3.45pm the next day (we also gained 7 hours along the way, so now we are the same as Australia).  It was a 12 hour flight and Maddi slept for nearly 10 hours.  I also slept a bit (I think all the late nights and busyness were catching up).  I even slept through the dinner getting served, which, if you know me well, I would never usually allow to happen!!  Apparently they even tried to wake me up.  They must not have tried very hard...anyway, they still had some left fortunately.  It was seafood risotto, salad, a roll, dessert and crackers and cheese.  It wasn't till we were leaving the plane that I found out the stewardesses thought the man next to me was my husband!  There was another couple sitting next to us with a 6 month old baby and they were in the unfortunate position that they couldn't have a baby bed as the attachments in the wall were a bit broken.  Well, at least they had 2 people to share the job.  Breakfast the next morning was fruit, omelette with cheese sauce, wedges, a roll and "ontbijt koek" (dutch koek/cake, I think some people have it for breakfast).

It took quite a long time to find a taxi and drive to the hotel - it was about 6.30pm by the time we got there.  This time we had separate rooms, which was nice :

View from our bedroom window

The next morning, this is what I saw out of our bedroom window : fish drying on the roof:

That night and the next day, I had a few walks around the streets.  I took Maddi once and everyone kept talking to her and touching her.  It was nice looking around at all the different things for sale and all the foods.  Wiwik told me what lots of the unusual (for Australia) vegetables were.  The toilets here are interesting, they have a hose on the wall which I think is for washing yourself and the toilet paper is behind you on the toilet, maybe the idea is to dry yourself with it - very hard to reach if you go to the toilet in the "normal" way!  The temperature was mostly mid 20's but very humid.  The streets, things for sale, people etc.  are all very similar to Bali.

Anyway, it's goodbye to KL tomorrow at 9.30am and hello Australia at 3.30pm.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my family again DV.  That's all for now on the blog, I will add a bit more to finish it off, but I'm not sure when - I'll be quite busy unpacking and maybe doing a bit of cleaning (I know Steve is really good for doing the major things, but the dusting (5 weeks worth) is probably more in my department...thankyou for sharing the journey with us and thankyou most of all to God for making it all possible.



Teddies at Madurodam



Our very last day in Holland : Maddi and I woke at 5am but fortunately, I could give her a bottle and she went back to sleep for a while.  I, however, didn't.  Instead I worked on my blog and also had breakfast.  Every half hour, I checked whether she (or Dad or Wiwik) were awake, but they slept till 8am!  We were leaving for the airport at about 1pm, and Madurodam was close, so I decided to go there - I could see lots of Holland in miniature!  Dad stayed with Maddi so she could have a good sleep (she had 1/2 an hour the day before and 2 lots of 1/2 hour sleep the day before that and she normally has about a 2 hour sleep twice a day) before our journey back.  He was quite happy to do it, I think he was ready to just relax and have a good sleep.  Thinking about it later, I probably could've done the same - I think the last 4 weeks have been fantastic, but also very draining and now that we know we're going home, we are just focussed on that.  Madurodam was very nice and the kids would've loved it, but I've had enough, I want to go home!



Miniature soccer (football to the dutch) field at Madorodam

We took a taxi to the airport, which was much easier than taking the tram and then the train.  We were there nice and early so we didn't have to stress too much.  It's really nice outside Schiphol airport - they have a huge observation deck where you can see all the comings and goings of the planes and also an old plan that you can actually go into (great for kids).

Oom Eg, Tante Herma, Oom Roel and Tante Geke came to bring our last bits of luggage and wave goodbye.  Once we had checked in our luggage, we went and had a drink and a snack.  Then it was time to go.  Big hugs goodbye and tears. 

I am so thankful for this experience - seeing the extended family and getting to know them a bit, also to see my country of birth and where I spent the first 4 1/2 years of my life.  I am still so glad that we moved to Australia, or otherwise I wouldn't have met Steve and had my beautiful kids, also my fantastic friends.  We also had many wonderful "Uncles" and "Aunties"as we were growing up - the Schoofs, Oldes, Baxes and Dobbes at first and the whole time the Mulders and Templemans.  But blood is thicker than water, which I found out on this trip.  Meeting people that you basically don't know from a bar of soap, yet, you connect, you come from the same background, you are blood family.

Here are the last things I want to say about Holland : 

• the "gezelligheid" (warm, cosy, good feelings - no word in English describes it properly) - the Dutch have got it down to a tee when it comes to their homes. Small lamps on in a room instead of one big one, beautiful decorations on the walls and in the windows, lots of candles.  They even have classes and workshops where people can go to learn how to make nice decorations for autumn, Christmas, spring etc.  One reason I can think of for this is that the Dutch spend a LOT of time inside, whereas in Australia, we live outside a fair bit.  As a result, I think, we don't place as much emphasis on the insides of our homes (which is probably a good thing in a way).
• Nice Dutch words.  Our words in Australia like darling and love are not as loving I feel as some of the dutch ones eg. lieve schaat
• How extended families can work eg.  all going to Oma's on Sunday morning.  All chipping in with a bit of housework, maintenance, gardening.  It's made me think more about the ways maybe we can learn from this.
• In Holland, people don't even wear helmets when they ride scooters and some motorbikes!
• This blog has been viewed nearly 1800 times!  Thankyou for your interest!
• The train toilets flush directly onto the tracks...interesting...
• Bikes have the right of way in Holland, cars need to be on a constant lookout - if a biker is hit by a driver there are big penalties and nearly always the driver is held responsible (even if the cyclist was at fault)
• Everyone has just loved Maddi, everyone comments on her, how friendly and easy she is.  The other day, there were 3 lots of people behind us at the checkout and they were all trying to get her attention!  The people in Malaysia also really love her, talking to her, touching her cheek.  Apparently these people think she looks just like a doll.



Near the main train station



On our last full day in Holland, Wiwik, Maddi and I travelled into the city centre of Amsterdam by train.  There were a few problems with trains, so it ended up taking 2 hours to get there (I am never going to say that Holland is small again!)  It's actually quite expensive to travel by train - around 45 euros which is maybe about $60! for there and back for 2 people.  The time changed yesterday by 1 hour, so now Holland is 7 hours behind Australia.

Amsterdam was extremely busy!!  As we only got there at 12pm (due to the train problems), I didn't end up having enough time to go to any museums, but we still had a nice day, looking in a few shops, walking around, seeing the old buildings etc.



Spot the teddies



Walking the streets of Amsterdam



There were a lot of coffee shops like this one, where
people can smoke marijuana without getting in trouble.
You can smell it when you walk past.

During our walk we saw a really old church, which was....surrounded by a red light district (talk about direct opposites!)  This area is called "De Wallen" or The Walls.  We walked through it to get to another area and it was...interesting...lots of narrow alleyways where ladies posed behind glass doors in really small rooms and even smaller underwear.  If you look carefully, you will see various red lights in the photo below :

We walked along Damrack (street) which was extremely busy.  Lots of pigeons and also buskers and street performers.  A really good one was a man that appeared to be sittting crosslegged in the air with nothing touching the ground except for a walking stick.
We came back when it was dark at about 5:30pm.  That night we went for a walk along the Scheveningen Boulevard which was very close to our hotel.  Lots of restaurants and shops, also a long pier (jetty) with lots of shops and restaurants.  Very nice.  We were all going to have dinner together but Dad and Wiwik chose The Crazy Piano which was very noisy so I decided to walk back to the hotel with Maddi as she needed a sleep in a quiet (!) location.  It was relaxing back at the hotel, I even ordered a pizza from the hotel restaurant and ate it while reading my book.  Then we slept so soundly that we didn't even hear Dad and Wiwik when they got back to our room!

Greetings from the Bad (Bath) Hotel in Scheveningen (near Den Haag - The Hague).  We are sharing a 3 bed room (with a travel cot for Maddi) for the 2 nights before we depart from Amsterdam.  Oom Henk and Oma brought us to the station in Vroomshoop with our luggage (we are fortunate though, we didn't have to take all of it - the family is going to come and wave us off at Schiphol, so they are taking the bulk of it with them).  I've been awake since 5am.  Maddi woke up too, but she is back asleep after I fed her a bottle (it's 7.30am now).  I've already had breakfast - scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages and tomatoes from the buffet breakfast which is part of the deal.  We are sleeping on the 5th floor.  If you look carefully, you can see Dad waving from our window in the picture below :

We left Vroomshoop at 9.22am and arrived in Amsterdam at 12.45pm - a long journey!  It was very busy on the train - we had to stand nearly the whole way.  Fortunately we had the pram for Maddi, which was a LOT easier.  We also had to stand near the doors as the pram doesn't fit down the aisles in the train.

Maddi was her usual cheerful self - smiling at everyone, even a very dark skinned man (who kept her entertained for about 1/2 an hour!)  Our hotel is situated right near the North Sea, as you can see from the circled area on the photo below :

After we had settled in at the hotel, we decided to go into central Den Haag with the tram (which stops right outside the hotel door).

It didn't turn out to be a good trip, not a good trip at all...

Dad took a photo of a black man on the train (Dad explained to us later that he heard the man talking about us on his mobile - some "gangs" operate that way - picking out good targets for theft etc.  Dad wearing big yellow clogs probably didn't help!)  The man got very angry and was quite aggressive in the way he talked - he said that you're not allowed to take photos of people (it's actually illegal to do so).  Dad had given the mobile back to Wiwik at that stage and the man snatched it out of her hands.  Dad stood up and got it back off him, they were both exchanging heated words.  Meanwhile, I'm sitting opposite, trying to keep Maddi as far away as possible.  The man said he was going to phone the police and he did.

We got off at the next stop and the man and his partner followed us, still talking on his phone to the police.  I left Maddi in the pram with Wiwik and talked to the man and offered to delete the photo.  But then I didn't know how because it was Wiwik's phone!  So I asked the man if he could help me, which he did and the photo was deleted (with my hands shaking and heart beating).  Just as it was deleted, we were surrounded by 5 police cars and vans!  The man talked to some officers and dad talked to some others and finally it was sorted out.  Scary stuff - especially when you hear about what sorts of things can happen in bigger cities - people can get knifed for the smallest things...

We walked around a bit longer, but I decided to go back to the hotel with the tram as I didn't feel comfortable anymore, for all I knew, we were sitting targets for a man with many contacts (my imagination is probably very good, but better to be safe than sorry, especially with Maddi in tow).

We thank God for His protection and pray that everything will continue to go well on our way home.

Maddi with her new doll
from Tante Herma and Oom Eg

Friday : We had nothing planned except packing but it turned out to be a pretty busy day anyway.  In the morning I went and had a haircut and also decided to put a colour and highlights in.  I don't think the haircut is so much different to my normal one and the colour is nothing really way out, so don't get too excited!
I managed to finish off my packing and it juuuust fitted...phew!  In the afternoon, lots of people came to say goodbye, which was really nice.  A few more lovely presents, a bit more adjusting in the baggage to fit them in...
Johan de Lange, his wife Hennie (Uncle Arend's sister) and Luke Lucas were there too.  Johan de Lange managed to find us a hotel near Amsterdam.  Dad had tried, but a lot of hotels were booked out due to a conference.  He also specially went home and printed out our exact train route to get from Vroomshoop to Den Haag (The Hague - very close to Amsterdam).

Maddi chewing on a delicious piece of "droge worst"

 Roy (Oom Roel and Tante Geke's youngest son) had come to Oma's on his bike and he decided to stay until his parents came in the evening and then go home with them.  I offered to ride his bike home for him and come with his parents when they went to Oma's.  So I rode his bike from Vroomshoop to Marienberg.  It was a lovely fresh evening and it was really nice riding at night.  We got to Oma's a bit later and found Berdien and Alexander as well as John and Esther waiting there to "neem afscheet" which basically means to say goodbye.  More lovely presents, I'm seriously going to be just like Sinter Klaas when I get home!!!  ...and they juuuust managed to fit in my baggage too!


Alexander and Berdien

Roy