Two birthdays today! Our son and the youngest grandson have their birthdays on the same day. To celebrate we went to a mall together. We never visit so many malls as when we are at our son’s place. A Dutch saying goes: a child’s hand is quickly filled. As was the case today. With the … Read more
I was in the shower this morning when I heard children’s voices. The walls are paper-thin, so I thought they were at the neighbor’s house. Until suddenly there was banging on the bathroom door. Opening the door there were 2 bright faces in front of me. I couldn’t believe my eyes and thought I was … Read more
Outside in the shade, it’s 35 degrees Celsius. Nobody is wearing socks and shoes except for my two nietos (grandchildren). The little one has these lovely red sandalias (sandals) which I refer to as escándalos (scandals). So I tell him to put on his escándalos. It might be for this word joke, but he says … Read more
When I bought the soil for my succulents I saw sets with seed on the counter. It seems a nice set for the grandchildren to grow seeds, but they are still little. So I wanted to make sure the waiting time wouldn’t be too long. Besides, I like growing things myself as well. Last Sunday … Read more
Today was an excellent day. The family – son plus grandchildren – arrived very early giving us ample time to play. The highlight of the day was of course the swimming pool. They both have some kind of life jacket to make sure they don’t drown. And we made sure to don’t drag them into … Read more
There are not many things I love more than walking next to the surf in a nice temperature with a cool breeze surrounding me. How lucky we are to be able to do this frequently. This beach, Playa de Nares, is just a 10-minute car-drive from our house. Like most beaches over here, it has … Read more
We have an actual address at the moment and we’ve got mail today. Every drawing of our grandchildren is precious as you can imagine. Brighten up a day that was a bit pressing. In a literal sense, because both toilets were clogged. Being in someone else’s house and not knowing our way around, neither in … Read more
We wanted to go to the fair with the grandchildren, but since that is a 20-minute walk we said it was a surprise. For some reason, I thought that would be a better announcement, than saying ‘we are going to the fair’. A big miscalculation that was. We are still not used to the strange … Read more
The sun is doing its best and if you see those snowy mountains north of Madrid and Leganés you can understand why the wind stays cold. We are lucky: the playground is in between big apartment buildings, and out of the wind the weather is gorgeous. So the children can play outside all day today! … Read more
March had the theme ‘Animals’ for the grandchildren so we decided to go to the Madrid Zoo this weekend. We were very lucky to have chosen Sunday because the weather was sunny. Cold, but sunny. The kids were out of their heads with excitement, running around and hardly giving themselves any time to have a … Read more