Let Them Eat Cake

Saturday 9th –

 
Since the boys had gotten the supplies they thought they needed the day before, they headed out to a fishing pond by 10:00 that morning 👬🎣

Mom and I drank our coffee in peace for a couple of minutes before starting the preparation of birthday foods and house cleaning.

She’s one of the fastest preparers I have ever known so I was extra lucky to have her here for the birthday 😁😋👌🏻

We made a bread bowl with spinach dip.
(Mom had the task of picking out all the noodles from the dry vegetable soup mix we had purchased to use in the spinach dip 😁)
Chopped up fruit and veggies.
Made a veggie dip and a warm buffalo chicken dip for the crackers and chips and then tried to store it all in my minnie fridge and pantry until 3:30😜

House tidied and mom and dads ‘bedroom’ was once again more of a dining area 😏

Pre ground the coffee beans so a few brews would be easily made come party time, but after the mornings efforts we had to use one up prematurely 😉☕️

Once everything in the house was done we ate our leftover Greek pork and then figured we should take advantage of the sun that was finally shining outside 👭🌤

We walked over the bridge near the cottage and meandered about.
Taking pictures and chatting whilst sipping our coffee.  

 

We seen a fisherman on the bank and thought we could talk and gain future knowledge incase dad tried fishing there.
He wasn’t willing to humour us though.
Avoiding eye contact and doing his best to act like we were not there, he ignored our attempts of asking if he spoke English with a blank stare ahead.
Maybe he didn’t speak English but smiles are universal 😏
We learnt that frowns are too😜

We heart a ‘yooohooo’ called across the river and seen the boys had come back from fishing, so we made our way back to the cottage to see what their morning had held.

Came across some nesting geese near our yard… Perhaps we shall see some goslings soon😊🐣

Mike decided he for sure doesn’t really like fishing and dad only learnt the technique needed for the fish here, near the end of their fishing adventure.
They got one trout and though it was smelly and small, it was cleaned, bagged and now awaits cooking. 😬🐟🍴
Since it stunk so much, dad said he was giving it to Mike as a thank you for taking him to the pond 😏

We still had time before anyone would be showing up so we went back outside 😊
Mike decided to throw the line in the river a couple of times but to no avail. 

  
Mom and I walked along the river bank towards the Mooirivier hotel and then turned back… after I had walked through some kind of itch inducing plant 😬🌱

Family arrived and introductions were made.
Mom was told twice that she is a ‘little person for a mom’… we took that as a good thing? 😋

Glenn and Shauna Grunert were visiting John and Inge so they came along, Glenn quietly said to me that the Canadian style food was really hitting the spot😉  
 

I told him I knew exactly what he meant 😜

Sarah finally got to try my ‘Canadian’ coffee… She said it was good, not as strong, but the roast was a smokier flavour.
We should become coffee testers 😏👌🏻☕️
(I was going to say ‘connoisseur’ but after spending 5 minutes back and forth attempting to spell it, gave up for ‘testers’ 😝)

Everyone asked if the ‘burger’ cake was edible…   

Why  would we make a cake that can’t be eaten?! 🎂 😋

Inge brought appeltaart so the Dutch folks wouldn’t feel totally lost without any familiar dishes😉👌🏻  

 

After eating and visiting awhile it was decided that a walk should be taken.
Everyone headed out.   

  

Some with a kid on their shoulders, some fast and some slow.  

 

Mom and I were of the faster variety 😁
The girls were entertained with the odd adult who would indulge in a game of tag.

Eventually the walk came to an end and everyone refueled with more coffee back at the cottage.

It was 8:00 pm before we knew it and everyone had a ways to drive back home so they said their goodbyes.
But with the daylight lasting longer and longer it felt fairly early still 😊👌🏻🌤

Clean up was tackled and the evening was then spent sitting relaxed, munching on this and that and watching some shows.

 

Sunday 10th –
 

Morning came a bit earlier then usual as we were going to a church in the west of Holland, about 1 hour away.

After church we made our way towards the beach.  

 Stopping by some fields that still had flowers blooming along the way there.  

 

The sun was shining so that was nice but the wind here still brings enough of a breeze to make it uncomfortable.

We parked the car and walked along the beach to the restaurant ‘Strandclub Witsand’ where we had previously eaten at while we were dating and touring Europe with Josh and Kristen Naber 😊

But first we walked by the beach house I have seen once before and still dream of owning 😍 

 

The decor of the restaurant was beachy and inviting, hot chocolate with a fair bit of whipped cream to take off the chill and tasty meals enjoyed.  

 

Though when mom and dad ordered a steak sandwich they were expecting a steak… Not thin slices of sandwich meat, style steak 😁😉   

 
  

  
The sea had to be seen up close and shells picked up.
I actually refrained from picking any shells as I have a thing full of shells from that beach already and haven’t done anything with them yet.
Than Mike comes up to me and says “here I found you some Jess” … I tried 🐚🌾🌊😉

There was a small market set up so we walked through that before heading back to the car.

Mom and I again attempted to sleep the drive away but the back seats of the car are becoming less and less comfortable.

Mike needed to stretch from driving and just so happened to do so at McDonald’s, so ice cream was then purchased. 🍦

Once we were back at the cottage with wifi, everyone was able to stretch out and relax while catching up with ones back home and news etc.
Coffees drank, cake, buffalo chicken dip, appeltaart, cheese and popcorn were then eaten throughout the evening 😋
I forgot to previously mention something about mom and my laughter filled evening the first part of there trip.

We had been talking about what they call different animals and their babies or plurals.
We asked what would you call moose here.
Mike paused … Looked deep in thought momentarily and then answered calmly and with confidence “elk”.
Maybe not so funny as a reader but it was quite hilarious to us 😏