More Queens Day!

Charlotte wanted to put her bunny right into her backpack



Gary couldn't believe how soft this little one was

Danny bounced his head off

Fun or Fear? You be the judge!

 

with an extra token to use up, Danny hoped on the merry-go-round.
Pattons Tank-sweet!

 

at the big show-the trick bikers

high wire walker

acrogymnastiek

nunchaku team(this is what Danny does each Wednesday)

The Three cooks comedy act

check out that flip!

okay-my words in the blog entry probably didn't do this justice

blow up ballon, insert head!

Atlas?

the one foot hop/dance

now his head peeps out

POP! It's Elvis!!!

Queens Day candids

Oranje power

with a dog on her shirt, she is ready to go!

Molly's shirt says "only one can be the Queen"  Perfect for her, yes?!

Gary and Molly check out the deals at the flea market

The crowd at the magic show

taking the train to the sportpark

sure beats walking Mom!

Ready for action!

"Pick me up in Amsterdam Mom!"

So independant

Is there a troll under that bridge?

No, it's Danny!

going under the bridge is fun

Danny loved being back on the water

exiting the kinderadventure

as mentioned in my entry, this is the "big boys" set-up

Danny and Charlotte liked to watch the backhoes

The Michigan masher is gonna do some bumping

Molly loved this guy

 

Koninginnedag 2012 It's all about Oranje!

Queens Day 2012 

The gray skies of last week gave way to a beautiful sunny Monday here in Pijnacker. The temperature reached 21C for the first time since we moved here and the timing was perfect. The kids eagerly got dressed in their festive orange outfits and hats and we headed in to town. Our first stop was the train station where the kinderrommelmarkt was being held. The parking lot was filled with blankets and on each one an adorable child, usually wearing orange and having the Dutch flag face painted on to their cheek, waiting eagerly for someone to buy there old toys and books. We strolled up and down the aisles and enjoyed the sights, but unfortunately (or fortunately if you are Jerry “we don’t need anymore junk in this house, Kerry!” Hincka) most of the treasures were to young for our group. We did pick up a board game about becoming a successful business entrepreneur in Den Haag, who knows, this may turn out to have been a well invested 1 Euro. We went into the tent and saw a magic show. We were unable to catch Rolando the magnificent jokes and ad-libs, but we could appreciate the tricks without translation. We walked to the end of the parking lot and there was a little green train just loading up for a trip down to the sport park so we bought our tickets and hopped aboard. What fun to drive through the streets of town and see all the crazy orange covered people strolling along and the Dutch flag flying from the shops. I practiced my Queen wave and enjoyed the funny looks I got! When we arrived at the sport park we stopped at the canal for the Kanovaren, kayaking. Danny got right in and paddled off He thought it was really fun having to duck down to get under the bridges. Molly, Charlotte and our friend Gary decided to go watch the 4x4 demonstrations. Now as kids coming from the mud-bogging state of Michigan they found the Dutch version a bit tame! We all headed into the Big Tent to see what was happening. Danny tried a kids aerial adventure course. We watched local girls demonstrate twirling, gymnastics and dance routines. Some “big boys” aka grown men, had a large remote control vehicle course set up. They seemed to have fun maneuvering their backhoes and dump trucks through the streets while the children watched from behind the ropes! Funny! Next was the luchkussens, known to us as the bouncy obstacle course and hop houses. Danny worked up a fine sweat in all of them. This was right next to the kinderboerderij, or petting zoo. The kids walked in to a pen, sat down on a milk crate, and a helper put a little bunny in their lap! Charlotte really loved this and stayed in there for about 15 minutes. Molly made friends with a sheep and spent her time petting it and helping other small children pet it as well. I pretty much forced Molly and Danny onto a ride, the Powerwave, which swirled you around clockwise/counterclockwise at high speed. Molly screamed bloody murder the whole time, then said “Wow, that was fun!” Danny also demolished a bunch of folks on the bumper cars with a great deal of relish. At a nearby pond we grabbed a great spot on the hillside to see the Spektakel. This was 2 hours of crazy awesome acts ranging from hip-hop dance, nunchaku, stunt biking brothers, a comedy/gymnastics act called Eigengereide koks (the Three Cooks--I know! and they didn’t even cook anything!), and more. The highlight was a tightrope walker who traversed the pond with no harness, hopping on one foot, sitting down and standing up again, and even doing the walk blindfolded! The kids loved it! My favourite act was Bruce Airhead en zijn ballon. He was from Melbourne, Australia and opened his act by saying he was sorry he didn’t speak Dutch. Our little group cheered happily! Picture a bald man in a business suit who chats about balloons, blows one up as tall as he is, turns on music, does a strip tease out of the suit to reveal a black wrestling type garment. Dances around for the crowd while applying oil to his whole body (stay with me!)
And then part by part inserts his whole body into the ballon! When he just has one leg sticking out, he hops and dances around on it! His balance was unreal! Then the foot goes in and the music stops….we all sit and stare at the giant green ballon when he suddenly pokes his head out! We all clap and cheer and I think that he will hop out now…but no, in goes the head and with a loud bang the ballon pops and he leaps up fully dressed as ELVIS including a wig and guitar and Ain’t Nothin But A Hound Dog blasts from the speakers! The crowd went wild! It was really something I have never seen before, to be sure!
We joined the throngs heading to town when the show ended and walked a bit, but the kids decided that they were ready to head home. I whipped up a quick batch of meat sauce and macaroni, garlic bread and salad for my starving revelers and they settled their sunburned orange selves on the couch to watch a Harry Potter movie. The verdict is: QUEENS DAY ROCKS! And we even have Orange pudding for dessert, a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Mama's takin us to the zoo tomorrow,zoo tomorrow,zoo tomorrow..

When I looked at the hour by hour forecast for Pijnacker and environs this morning, I didn't know what to do...rain was shown for each time block, getting heavier as the day wore on...Well, what can you do but grab coats, hats, lunch and the cameras, say a little prayer and head out.
Well GOD is good(all the time!) as we say in our family, and the day at the zoo was a rousing success. The wind was ever present and the skies gray, but it didn't rain until we got home at 5:45pm. Excellent! And on the bright side, the place was empty and we had great views of every animal. Since our last trip 2 lion cubs have been born. Charlotte and Gary and I watched a video this morning on the zoo website and that was Gary's main wish today. We got to see them in action, playing with each other and Mom. My favourite was the gorillas/ They were so active the kids had to drag me out of there to keep going, I could have watched their antics all day! We saw the Sea Lions being fed at 3:45 and they put on a great show of barking and diving which is always fun to watch.  The giraffes were staying inside(climate here today as far from the savannah as you could get!) but we could see them eating. And the polar bear cub and his Mom were great. When we arrived at their enclosure the Mom was nursing the baby, and then he got up and rolled around in the mud and carried on, he really reminded us of a human toddler. So I sure am glad that I ignored the weather forecast. And I hope it is as wrong about tomorrow!

baby lion cubs and Mom

Mama nursing her baby

"Hello, did you bring any snacks?"

"Are you talkin to me??"

Gary and Charlotte loved the monkeys!

Danny compares his wing span to that of the apes

snakes

we all enjoyed the face/hand painting
sea turtle, spider, sea turtle and snake

snack time!