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Upon entering his twentyninth month on Planet Earth,
our Sun Child gets up at 5 AM on Saturday morning, to take off at 6
AM for Les Pieux in Normandy, France with Luna, Aafke, and Esther-Mirjam
(row below, left). Lior kindly offers to do some of the driving (row
below, middle) and mom tires her kids playing tag during the stops (row
below, right). Unaccustomed to squat toilets, Luna ends up peeing on
her pants instead of into the hole! |
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With frequent stops and long lines at the toll booth,
it takes the group roughly twelve hours to reach Camping Le Grand Large
(row below, middle and right) in Les Pieux (row below, left). |
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A very kind staff member walks the group to pretty
much the best spot at the camping, a mobile home (row below, left) located
right next to the swimming pool (row below, middle) with a lovely view
of the hills (row below, right). |
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The camping is located right next to
the beach (middle right), which is very wide and usually deserted (far
right). |
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The camping also has a small play ground
in the dunes (left). Incidentally, Luna and Lior are not in these pictures,
because they are too busy having fun in the pool when mom heads out
to take a few pictures of the play ground. |
Going grocery shopping is at the top
of the list during the first day, especially since the supermarket closes
around NOON on Sunday, and the group is shocked by the high grocery
prices. Fortunately, they have some money left to get a drink at a café
in Les Pieux (middle right) and light a candle in the local church (far
right). |
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Each day starts off with
Lior waking up sometime between 7 and 8 AM. The plan was for Esther-Mirjam
to sleep in the big bed with Luna and for Aafke to sleep in the same
room as Lior, but these plans are changed quickly to alternate "Lior
duty". This involves keeping the young man occupied until the camping
shop opens, go out to buy fresh French bread, and wait until Luna finally
wakes up (left).
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And the days oftentime continue with
hanging out at the pool. That is, Lior is not into just hanging out,
but cannot seem to get enough of the slide (right). |
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Thanks to his water wings, Lior manages
to get up again after having taken a plunge (left). That is, he really
does not need his water wings, but wears them just to be on the safe
side. |
Sometimes Luna accompanies her little
brother in the kiddy pool (right) and sometimes she hangs out in the
heated, big pool. She tries really hard to keep up with mom and Aafke's
swimming, but needs a few more swimming lessons and a little more strength
to be able to do so. |
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The camping organizes a few activites
for the children, where Luna befriends some Dutch girls. One of them
translates the English instructions for the Dutch kids. This is not
easy, when the organizer tells them to chase the beer instead of the
bear, but they seem to get the message (top, left and right). Playing
"zakdoekje leggen" while singing a French song is also a bit
of a challenge (middle, left and right). For Luna, the dancing requires
no explanation and she seems to enjoy this part the best (row below).
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When Lior takes his nap, Luna entertains herself
with arts and crafts (left). And when mom gets tired of doing the laundry,
Lior uses a garbage bag as a bib (right). He has to wait for quite a
while when Aafke and Esther-Mirjam mistake water for lighter fluid! |
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The drizzle does not keep Luna and Lior from enjoying
their visit to the Saint Martin animal park (row below, left). It does
keep the raccoons from venturing outside their cramped hiding place
(row below, middle). Aafke buys some animal popcorn to feed the deer
and other animals in the zoo (row below, right). There are no pictures
of Lior going for a pony ride, because the pony does not want to ride
and neither does Lior want to ride the pony! |
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Before going to bed, Luna and Lior get to watch a DVD and usually
do not sit as quietly as they do in this picture (left). Luna tries
to prolong going to sleep by entertaining Lior with a K3 song while
admiring herself in the mirror. Meanwhile, her little brother tries
to join her, but forgets that the bed is much smaller than his mom's
at home. Note: You can watch the clip with the free QuickTime player.
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While mom is trying to read a bedtime story (row
above, middle), Luna and Lior are much more interested in jumping on
the bed (row above, left and right) and falling on top of each other
(left and right). |
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As far as Lior is concerned, the best
stand at the weekly market in Les Pieux is the one with wooden toys
(middle right) and he manages to convince his mom to buy one (far right). |
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Luna and Lior have a love-hate relationship
that characterizes many sister-brother interactions. They "love"
each other when they gang up against their mom to prolong going to sleep,
and they "hate" each other when they fight over who gets to
play with the magic wand (left). |
And the "love" flows again
when some nutella-filled crepes magically appear (right). Meanwhile,
mom's love does not quite flow at the sight of the nutella on the faces
and clothes of Luna and Lior! |
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The beach is wonderful for going on long walks (row
below, middle) and taking a break to play with the sand (row below,
left). When Aafke does not know how to get back to the camping, Lior
shows her the way (row below, right). |
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Luna and Lior take the Train Touristique du Cotentin
(row above, middle), a heritage railway between Barneville-Carteret
and Portbail (row above, left and right). The train takes a looong time
to cover a short distance, because the train stops before and after
each railroad crossing for two flag people to get off and on the train,
leaving looots of time for pictures (left and right). |
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Luna considers the beach a big stage, eminently suited for her Mega
Mindy impersonation until she gets tired of it and wants to see the
result. Note: See above for instructions on downloading the free QuickTime
player. And the beach is wonderful for building sand castles
(top and bottom, left) and showing off your cute curls (top and bottom,
right). |
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When the beach gets boring, the group heads to Cherbourg
for a tour of the harbor, where a seagull entertains them before embarking
on the boat. (row above). Luna, Lior, and Aafke do not seem too thrilled
with the boat tour (top, left), though Luna is happy to pose with the
sun hiding behind her face (top, right). Meanwhile, Lior is unable to
fight off sleep and ends up taking a nap on Aafke's lap (bottom, left).
To keep him from getting a sunburn, his sister covers him with her sweater
(bottom, right). |
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While mom and Aafke have fun flying a kite (row below,
middle), Luna shelters from the wind (row below, left) and Lior tries
to entertain himself (row below, right). Wasn't the kite meant for the
enjoyment of the kids? |
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The next trip of the group gets off on a bad start
with the boat to Ile Tatihou being fully booked (row above, middle)
and the merry-go-round being out of the running (row above, left and
right). Things get better when Lior and Luna find a merry-go-round that
is in business (left and right). |
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And the day ends in a wonderful crescendo
with a visit to the Cirque Fratellini (right). Luna loves the clowns,
while the dromedary is Lior's favorite, though he insists on calling
it a camel. |
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Though Aafke and Esther-Mirjam have
their doubts, Lior and Luna fully agree with the announcer that the
circus is "a grande spectacle" (left). Indeed, they consider
it the high point of their holiday. |
The weather treats the group to lots
of sun during their last day in Normandy, France, giving Luna the opportunity
to show off her modeling skills (middle right) until she gets tired
of her mom taking so many pictures (far right). |
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No matter what Esther-Mirjam and Luna
say to Lior (far left), he is not to be convinced to go swimming with
them (middle left). For some reason, he seems a little scared of the
sea. |
Lior much prefers to build sand castles
on the beach (middle right) and to dig a big hole for his little sister
(far right). To be honest, this is Aafke's doing! |
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All good things must come to an end,
and the end of the holiday involves cleaning the mobile home before
heading back to the Netherlands. Luna and Lior are very happy to help
(left). |
The group takes off around
11 AM because it takes a while to check out at the camping. Luna and
Lior end up sleeping through the first part of the drive and are real
angels during the remainder. To reward their stellar behavior, Esther-Mirjam
offers to treat them to a happy meal at McDonald's. This means spending
about two hours scanning the horizon for the golden arches. When Esther-Mirjam
and Aafke spot them simultaneously, they each let out a big scream.
With short visits to McDonald's being impossible, the group arrives
in Nijmegen a little past 11 PM, with two very sweet children who are
thrilled to get to play with their toys at home again and have no intention
of going to bed anytime soon!
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Back home, Lior makes himself at home while having
dinner in the back yard (row below, left and right). As you can imagine,
he went straight for a bath afterwards (row below, middle). |
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Hip, Hip, Hurray! It is hard to believe that our little Sun Child will soon turn two-and-a-half years old. That is, one could easily imagine him being three years already. His vocabulary is amazing, his grammar is faultless, and his agility is tremendous. On top of that, he is not a typical terrible-two's toddler. Granted, he does have his stubborn moments when he crosses his arms and says "eh-huh," but mom finds those cute rather than difficult. And he does have his angry moments, especially when going after his youngest sister, but those are easily corrected with a short stay at the "chair for bad behavior". |
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