Barcelona 27/9-14/10

We went to Barcelona for a little over 2 week for Ana's birthday and one of the things we did was go to the Barcelona zoo with Ana's friend Emma. Emma goes all the time so she was more than happy to take Ana and show her around. We had never been to the zoo before because Ana was too young before we left. I did not realize the the zoo was so large and nicely shaded place for little toddlers to run around. This will be great in the summer since Barcelona gets really hot in the summer. Many of our friends buy a year long membership which is a lot cheaper than paying to go everytime. It surprised me how expensive it was to buy a pass. There is also a great dolphin show which Emma and her mom introduced us to and Ana enjoyed since she had never seen a dolphin except on TV. Afterwards we went for a walk and the girls enjoyed climbing on this log beside the flamingos and we were able to take some photos.

We spent the whole wednesday morning at the zoo and then had lunch there. Emma and Ana shared sandwich and a snack afterwards. You can tell they were really hungary! It was a great afternoon!

London Weekend September 2008

We did not really have a summer holiday this year since I am not able to leave the country so we decided to use our hotel points and spend a few days sight seeing in London. Of course, all sights chosen to be very toddler friendly for Ana's sake. We toured the London Aquarium which was a huge success since Ana had never seen fish so up close and personal. Then we booked a package that took us on a boat tour down the River Thames which also included a ride on the London Eye.

Of course I think it was all lost on Ana because she quickly made friends with a 4 year old she met on the boat and proceded to drum up her own social agenda. It didn't faze Ana one bit to be so high up in a little buble when we got on the capsule for the London Eye.

We stayed in a Marriott near the Marble Arch area of London which was not too far a walk away so after sight seeing we strolled through St. James Park and fed the ducks and chased the squirrels. It took about 1 hour to walk back to the hotel.

Norfolk Gathering July 2008

Every year Andrew gets together with some our good friends from our Rabobank project in the Netherlands. This year we met up in Norfolk, UK. Everyone brought their kids and we rented this lovely house in the country and took the kids out sight seeing. It was really a lovely weekend for everyone...even the adults. We ate good food, BBQ every night and the guys did most of the cooking...what more can any woman want?!?!

One of the things we did was go to the Dinosaur park and Andrew took Ana for a ride in the 'Raptor Races' which includes a bicycle with handles. You can tell Andrew really had his excercise for the day!

Ana had a great time because there were so many kids flying around that weekend that in the end no one wanted to go home. We were lucky that Oliver and Josh got to go with us. In the pictures below, Ana has had her bath and just hanging out with 2 of her favorite guys watching Lazytown on TV.

Dress Up Box July 2008

Ana loves trying on hats and any jewelry she can get her hands on.

One of the lovely presents Ana got during the Norfolk trip was a box full of dressing up things from our friends from the Netherlands. Ana was really digging into the box of goodies and putting on the 'bling'. She has really taken like duck to water with wearing the high heal shoes. A REAL drama queen is our little Ana!

Dressing Up

Ana loves to try on everyone's shoes and carry handbags. In this way she is very much the girly-girl. Ellie, one of Ana's older cousins, came for a swim and left her lovely possesions for Ana to try on. Ana had no problem trying out to see if the handbag and shoes fit her or if even there were anything else in the handbag that might be useful in her quest to look ultra-chic :)

Granny Ray Birthday June 2008

All of Andrew's brothers and sister family got together at Chris's house to celebrate Granny's birthday this year. Alister and Helen drove up from Kent with most of the 5 kiddies. Chris and Aileen live in a lovely old thatched roof house and have a lovely garden. Fortunately that day was nice and sunny so everyone had a good family picnic in the garden. Ana didn't enjoy family picture time as you can tell from her scrunched up crying face!






Peter is teaching Ana how to be a good hairdresser and fixing up Sarah's hair. It was a lovely day with all the cousins for Ana.

Cutie Pies!