We got to Nieuwegein about 4pm and after dinner there with the family, we were to sleep at a friend's place due to there being so many people staying there - well, Den - John's dad, Jan and Maaike which uses up all the spare space, especially with us needing travel cot space. I was on the one hand really glad to be able to go somewhere a bit more organised than Mum's which is always a bit chaotic but on the other hand, both Tob and I felt a bit rejected. To go so far to visit and then to be in someone's house we've never met was a bit strange. Then there was the 'oh by the way, there's a dog' this was a bit of a worry - an elderly deaf and blind dog with a baby doesn't mix which meant keeping Leon well clear and no messing. Later that evening we met Dawn, our host, who was really lovely and felt a bit better about the whole situation. Talk about extremes though - from the clutter and chaos to a very tidy, roomy place. Neither places in the least bit child friendly but we've coped pretty well all holiday. The only marks on Leon are mozzy bites.
On the Friday we intended to go to the zoo with maaike but the weather was bad so we did the Nijntje (Miffy) Museum in Utrecht instead. This also meant a chance to go to the groene winkel (my old health food haunt) to get some decent baby food and some biodegradable disposable nappies as I'd brought the wrong size with us.
Maaike had a good time at the Nijntje Museum, there's plenty to play and interact with there for little ones in multiple languages. The major ones being Dutch, English and Japanese. There were loads of Japanese tourists there too.
On the Saturday, the weather was better so we went to Amersfoort Zoo. Fantastic place for kids of all ages, the play ground there was amazing, Maaike had a great time, it was as much as we could do to drag her away to look at the animals! There was an enormous circular swing set up with about 5 swings round in a circle so the swings swing in on each other but don't touch. Leon enjoyed the baby swings no end too. It is a very impressive zoo, within minutes of arriving we'd seen bears, a white tiger, rhinos and larger primates among other things. We did the mini train round the zoo, much to Leon's delight (see picture). He sat in the train and took it all in.
In the evening was the party, yes the party. We got tarted up back at Dawns and left Leon in the capable hand of Nigel, Jan's boyfriend. When we got back, Leon was fast asleep in Nicola's arms having cried alot. My instructions about food and milk in the event of such things had been missed in the throng but at least he was asleep. I put him down in the travel cot upstairs and he slept all evening spark out while the party buzzed below him. There were around 100 people at the party, about 10% I knew and most of them I'd babysitted their kids who were now off at university.
The highlight for tobe was the abundance of trifle no doubt about that, possibly mine too although I did enjoy catching up with some of the aforementioned friend of mums. A handful just kept on asking if Leon had woken up yet and couldn't wait to see him. About midnight, he did wake up so I changed him and put him in his night stuff before bringing him down for an introduction to the ladies. He wasn't very sociable, understandably so I took his hint and we left to take him back to Dawn's too put him to bed properly. I didn't see him going back to sleep in the cot upstairs, the noise now in his consciousness. We got back to dawns about 1am, Leon took about 10mins to go off, woke up about 7am for a feed then we all slept in the king size bed until about 10.30. Heerlijk as the Dutch say.
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