LuCaspeRobin + Thomas ;-)

Yes, it took some time, but she finally got around to it - turning 32! And she celebrated it too ;-) ! We started the Sunday morning in real family Naafs - van Dijk style, in other words: Casper up quite early, pulling daddy Sebastiaan out of bed so that he can take Casper downstairs to play with all his toys. Robin then gets his breakfast - mother's milk - and the both of them fall asleep again. Sebastiaan makes some food for Casper and then prepares breakfast for all of us. Breadrolls, croissants, pain chocolat, it's amazing what you can get out of a deep-frozen bag these days! Then when Marjolijn's taking a shower, Sebastiaan puts on the kettle, starts the coffeebrewing process, and takes the rolls out of the oven. It's time for breakfast when Marjolijn comes downstairs. So also on her birthday, except that Sebastiaan had decorated the livingroom with balloons, "slingers" and other typical birthday stuff - together with Casper!

That afternoon Marjolijn had invited some of her friends and most of her family (except for Meike, as she is staying with her boyfriend Peter in Austria for an unknown number of days/weeks/months). The idea was to take a walk through the surroundings of Rhijnauwen, a wonderful outdoor area along the river Vecht, just south of Utrecht. After having worked up an appetite outside in the fresh, crisp air, it was time to catch up on some calories. Along the river there's a genuine, old teahouse, rebuilt to accomodate a real Dutch tradition - a family pancake restaurant.

Pretty soon though it became obvious that Sebastiaans back was doing everything but OK. Much to his dismay he had to leave early for home. Bart was so nice as to bring him, and well situated on the couch at home, he quickly put a DVD in his laptop ("The Fast and the Furious") and tried to forget that he was missing what turned out to be a very nice rest of the afternoon and evening. Casper ate and ate at an astonishing speed, wolfing away a whole pancake. In Dutch terms that's pretty much pancake! Everyone else was very much enjoying the atmosphere and the talks. Taco and Karin told us that they were going to live together in The Hague, in a newly rented appartment (strange isn't it, living together in an APPART-ment...). A big step for both of them, but especially for Taco, who has lnged for some time to settle down in one place.

Marjolijn didn't come home with the kids before 7.30 in the evening, and said that she'd had a very nice birthday. All's well that ends well, I presume! Completely nackered by all the fresh air and the good company, the talks and all the good food, we all tucked in early that night.

Posted by Sebastiaan Naafs - van Dijk | top