And then we went to Holland!

Well, in truth, we were in Holland over a month ago.. and it was a BLAST!

I saw cheap plane tickets (Ryanair) (who else!) to Charleroi in Belgium, and I thought it would be fun to try out that route. It still involved travelling several hours to NL to visit the grandfolks but for that price it was worth the try.

Why did we 'have' to go to Holland you may well ask! Well, firstly my lil bro D and his partner W were due to have their second bean somewhere in August AND as it would be foolish to get there before the babe, I decided to do the old 'two birds one stone' routine, namely (and secondly) go to Holland for my mum's 55th.

So tickets were bought, my mother-in-law drove us to the local airport, and off we flew to Charleroi. Painless flight. We arrive in Belgium. Silly me, thinking I could speak Dutch in south Belgium.. I try the lazy approach: 'Do you speak English?' 'Non' 'Oh, do you speak Dutch?' 'Non' *exasperation hits* 'Bon, je voudrais bla-bla-bla'. Anyway we get train tickets to Lelystad and yeehaa, the REAL trip has started. Exciting for the kids who have never been in Belgium, nor in an old rattling train. Quaint.



Some kids are just plain crazy,
this was one of the most normal looking photos I took!



The munchkins at Charleroi Sud



Pity we had to sit in a train when THIS was the weather outside!


Long story short, we ended up travelling for 7 hours, on a day with BEAUTIFUL weather. But we finally arrived!! Next day was a visit to princess L. Overload of photos of her, unfortunately none of the little sweetie pie O. I did get him a Cars blankie tho.. *must remember to take photos of lil O next time in Holland*

Lil C and lil L - eldest and youngest Barnie grand
(note the Cars blankie behind them)



Proud lil J holding baby L



Aunty lovin' lil L

I got to squeeze in some alone time with my baby bro W, while D and M 'babysat' my two beans (they kept lil O occupied, so who really babysat who!?) ;-) Uhmm, no photos of that outing either. Moving on! Next was The Cake. A birthday, and especially a 55th birthday, just cries out for A Cake.

I had prepared the cake deco beforehand and smuggled it down to the kitchen to continue working on it. After the cake was baked and when mum was out of the house, the secret decorations began.

The making of the bracelet



The Pandora Cake

Mum and I made some Peruvian style sandwiches, Simply Scrumptions Sandwiches!! The result? See for yourself! The Cake was a Pandora Cake, as the birthday girl was getting a mum bracelet: one charm for each of us 4 kids whilst my dad gave a dad charm. It was as I previously said, a BLAST!



Birthday girl :-)



Party table, lots of goodies!
(Simply Scrumptious Sandwiches on the left)

However, the way back home was slightly hectic. That is, if running till you are out of breath and making it in time even tho you are 30 minutes off schedule (NOT my fault, I think.. I blame the train as it did NOT leave as my schedule said it would).

ANYWAY, that is the first and last time we travel to Charleroi if we are going to NL. It was cheaper but the long hours were not worth it. Unforgettable? Sure was!