May

May started with Daniel's seventh birthday. We had a quiet family party this year. He recently lost his hearing aid, which cost us €1000 to replace, so we recouped part of the cost by not having a birthday party with his schoolfriends. The deprivation was minimal as het still got plenty of birthday loot and his Grandma gave him €100 when we went down to Brussels for a visit.

It was also spring holiday, so we took the birthday boy and his brothers to the fair that turns up in our area each year this time. This year they went on the bungee jumping thing that was way too scary last year and the pony rides got short schrift. Marjolein also took them to the "Linneaushof" playground, which is an enourmous playground full of all possible kinds of slides and climbing things, all free once you have paid entry. The two big ones disappeared off, on strict instructions to report back regularly, and Marjolein settled down with a girlfriend and her baby boy next to the toddler play area. Matthijs cunningly stretched out his last report-in in order to avoid missing anything, but thereby missed out on everyone eating chips. He was of course livid, but that is a natural consequence of not keeping your appointments...

Falco got invited to his first birthday party in his new class, his friend Brechtje became 5. He was the only boy and did not mind at all, but was less able to appreciate the "K3" theme (=Belgian/Dutch teenybopper girl band).

Mother's day was on the second Sunday, so Marjolein sat regally in bed dutifully rejoicing in the great works of art the boys had prepared at school. Her ambition is that one day the monsters will realize that consistently clearing their bedroom floors is a better present than any amount of painted cardboard, but that day may be a while coming... Naturally the fact that she almost always gets coffee in bed on the weekends had somewhat spoiled her.

At the end of the month Marjolein took Falco to the "Land van Ooit" (Once Upon a Time Land). It is a different kind of theme park, with a historical theme and populated with knights, fools and princesses who all did their utmost to draw children out and engage them. Falco was initially wary (he is the most cautious of the three) but finally warmed to it and had a great time. The climax of the day was a tournament between the prince and the black knight, with jousting, hand to hand combat and mighty blows exchanged. A good time was had by all...