Taart! Cake!

Het was mijn verjaardag op 8 februari en wij vierden het heel uitbundig. Ik kreeg een chocolade truffel kit, een paar schoenen, een gratis lunch/avondeten bij de IKEA, een dagje bij de Efteling, een kop telefoon, twee spijker broeken, Kaarten en elektronische kaarten, telefoontjes van Oma en text berichtjes van Oom en Tante. Ik deed ook een traktatie op school en dat was een success!! Maar. . .

Ik had ook recht op een verjaardags taart!! Dus, op vrijdag gingen Mamma en ik naar de HEMA om mijn taart uit te kiezen. Er waren twee taarten waar ik het moeilijk vond om uit te kiezen. Uiteindelijk koos ik een Mokka Slagroom Taart, die er extreem lekker uit zag. Wij zouden er een stuk van hebben voor onthbijt in de volgende ochtend. We fietsten voorzichtig naar huis en toen we thuis kwamen, wou mijn zus het heel nodig zien. Mijn moeder en ik opende het en ze vond het er super uitzien.

Nu is het zaterdag. Vanmorgen wou ik heel erg dat Pappa de taart zag. Wij hadden de onthbijt klaar gezet en de taart stond op tafel. Ik mocht het helemaal zelf snijden!! Voor het eerste keer. Wat bijzonder! Nu zijn er wat foto's.

 It was my birthday on the 8th of February and it was very well celebrated. I got a Chocolate Truffel Kit, a free lunch/dinner at the IKEA, a day at the Efteling (a dutch amusement park), a pair of shoes, headphones, two jeans, cards, emails and phone calls. I also had a treat to give out at school. That was an amazing success!!!! But. . .

I also had right on a birthday cake. That I got too! On Friday my mum and I went to the HEMA to choose my cake. I couldn't choose out of two cakes. In the end I chose a Mokka Slagroom Taart (Mocha Whipped Cream Cake). It looked delicious!! We would have a piece of it each for breakfast on Saturday. We carefully biked  back home, and when we were there, my sister really wanted to see the cake. My mother and I opened it and she thought/said it looked amazing.

On Saturday, I really wanted Dad to see the cake because he hadn't seen it yet. We had got the table ready and put the cake on it. I was allowed to cut it all by myself! For my first time! How special! The photo's are up there.

First time - Sour and Salty Herring! Saturday 16 January. Eerste keer - Zure en Zoute Haring! Zaterdag 16 january.

On Saturday the 16th of January 2016, we decided to wake up with a fresh start. We spread our bread/toast and drank a cup of tea, coffee and milk. M m m m m m m m! Then we got onto the computer and started to do some educative learning because we are already at school in the Netherlands. We had an appointment at a brilliant musical school and they were even going to open just for us! So we went out on time so that we wouldn't be late for the generous occasion. Broom, Broom. . .

We were there at last and stepped out of the car. Still a little bit wet from yesterday and all that wet snow. Oh, and by the way, it snowed today a little bit too! The weather today is really awkward though. Let's sum them all up. There's been: Hail, Wet Snow, Rain, Sun, Hard Wind and also just coldness. Crazy, isn't it??? Well, we waited in the car. and waited, and waited, and waited, but nobody came. Now past 11:00. . .
What would you do in this situation? We got out a few times to see if we could get in or if it had opened, but no. Eventually, we just went back home. When we were there, we chose if we would go to the city to do our shopping, or if we would go to a supermarket where we went to a lot when we were younger.

Wow!! We were in there for around about two hours! I'm quite excited for dad's Pasta Meal he's going to make in the week. Mum nearly always does the cooking in our house. Now is the exciting part. The first time Stella and I get to try Salty Herring!!!!! We skipped to the fish shop and saw that they have a special place separate from all the other fish for the Herring! I guessed that meant that the Salty herring a must be a very popular and traditional food in the Netherlands!!

With my Dutch flag tooth pick thing, I placed the first piece in my mouth. It started going all kind of melty. I didn't have enough to see if I liked it or not so I put another piece in my mouth. That made me decide. I had a bit of the onion. Dad asked if I liked it, and I didn't know how to answer. I just said: "Not really. . .".
Dad said: "Oh, what do you not like about it?" But that, I found too difficult to explain. He asked if I had tried it with a bunch of onion. "No," I said. I tried that, but it didn't really help so dad had it. He LOVES it so I enjoyed watching him enjoy it!! (Photo at the bottom!)

Op zaterdag 16 januari 2016, besloten we om wakker te worden met een nieuwe en frisse start. We smeerden onze boterham en dronken een kopje thee, koffie en melk. Mmmmmmmm! Toen gingen we op de computer en begonnen een aantal educatieve dingen te doen. We hadden een afspraak bij een schitterende muziekschool en ze waren zelfs van plan om te openen alleen voor ons! Dus gingen we op tijd weg, zodat we niet te laat voor de gulle gelegenheid zouden zijn. Vroom, Vroom. . .

Wij waren er eindelijk en stapten uit de auto. De auto was nog steeds een beetje nat van gisteren. Oh, en even zeggen, dat het vandaag ook een beetje sneeuwde! Het weer vandaag is echt lastig hoor. Laten we samenvatten wat er allemaal was. Er was: Hagel, natte sneeuw, regen, zon, harde wind en ook kou. Gek, is het niet??? Nou, we wachtten in de auto, en wachtten, en wachtten, en wachtten, maar niemand kwam. Nu was het al 11 uur geweest. . .
Wat zou jij doen in deze situatie? We keken een paar keer om te zien of we het open konden krijgen of alsdat het misschien geopend was, maar nee. Uiteindelijk stuurden we een textje, en een emailtje en gingen we gewoon terug naar huis. Toen wij er waren, kozen we of we naar de stad zouden gaan om onze boodschappen te doen, of dat we zouden gaan naar een supermarkt waar we veel naartoe gingen toen we jonger waren.

Wauw!! We waren daar voor ongeveer twee uur! Ik ben heel enthousiast voor papa's Pasta Eten dat hij gaat maken later in de week. Mama maakt bijna altijd het eten in ons huis. Nu is het het spannende deel. De eerste keer dat Stella en ik Zoute Haring proberen!!!!!! We liepen naar de viswinkel en zagen dat ze een speciale plaats apart van alle andere vis hadden voor de Haring! Ik vermoedde dat dat betekende dat de Zoute haring een een zeer populaire en traditionele gerecht in Nederland moet zijn !!
Met mijn Nederlandse vlag satee prikker ding, plaatste ik het eerste stuk in mijn mond. Het begon helemaal smeuig te worden. Ik had niet genoeg gehad om te kiezen of ik het lekker of niet vond, dus heb ik een ander stuk in mijn mond gestopt. Dat maakte de beslissing. Ik had een beetje van de ui. Pappa vroeg of ik het lekker vond, en ik wist niet hoe ik zou antwoorden. Ik zei alleen maar: "Niet echt...".
Pappa zei: "Oh, wat vind je er niet zo lekker aan?" Dat vond ik te moeilijk om uit te leggen. Hij vroeg of ik het had geprobeerd met een hap ui. "Nee," zei ik. Ik probeerde dat, maar het hielp niet echt. Pappa smikkelde er van. Hij houdt daar echt van dus ik vond het fijn om naar hem te kijken. Ik kon echt zien dat hij daarvan geniet!!                (Foto onder!)

Een speciale ervaring! Slagroom chocomelk. . . A special experience! Whipped Creme chocolate milk. . .

Op de nacht van een van de vele cito deeltoetsen, had mijn familie een hele speciale tractatie voor mij. Ik kon het niet meer binnen houden dat ze het zo lang geheim hadden gehouden. Voor ons is de Cito een hele, hele, hele, hele, hele, HELE belangrijke test en als ik iets heel goeds heb gedaan, dan krijg ik vaak iets bijzonders, een tractatie en vaak houden ze het dan geheim. Dat vind ik heel leuk, maar als mijn familie het dan heel lang al zegt dat ze iets voor plan zijn, dan kan dat je echt heel veel bezig houden en soms irriteert het mij een beetje. Bling, bling, bling. . . Pappa was bij de deur. Dit was HET moment. Ik rende er naar toe, trok de deur open en binnen stapte Pappa! Ik knuffelde hem plat en liet af en toe een gilletje van blijdschap en enthousiasme. Na een paar minuten. . .

Vertelde Stella (mijn zus) aan mij om te gaan zitten. Ik huppelde naar de tafel en zat op een stoel aan de rechterkant. Ik hoorde Mamma op en neer springen vol hyper gevoelens in de keuken. Zo wurmde er een gedachte in mijn hoofd. Dit zou echt heel fantastisch worden als iedereen zo compleet vol energie zat. Mijn zus bracht drie hoge glazen naar binnen. "Maar, ze zijn leeg!!" riep ik.
"Ja, zodat mamma het kan doen!" zei mijn zus. Ze liep terug de keuken in. Ik zat vol verwarrende gedachtes. Opeens werd het een beetje donkerder in huis. Het licht in de keuken was uitgeschakeld.

Mijn moeder schuifelde de woonkamer binnen. Ze hield een geel pak iets in haar hand. In haar andere hand hield ze een ijzeren bus. Toen schoot het me te binnen. Chocomelk met Slagroom. In Pappa's hand was een houten plank met Speculaas brokken. Het werd helemaal voor me gedaan. Eerst werd de Chocomelk in geschonken. Toen schudde Mamma de metalen bus met slagroom en draaide zij rondjes boven op de melk. We genoten echt super. Ik kreeg het ook nog aangevuld zelfs!

Wat een fantastische herrinering!!              (Foto's eronder!)

On the night of one of the many parts Cito (a really important test that takes a few weeks), my family had a very special treat for me. I could no longer hold it that they had kept it secret for so long. For us, the Cito is a very, very, very, very, very, very important test and if I've done something very good, then I often get something special, a treat and often my family keeps it secret. I think that's very nice, but if it is for a very long time, it irritates me a bit. Bling, bling, bling. . . Dad was at the door. This was THE moment. I ran towards it, pulled the door open and Dad stepped inside! I hugged him flat and allowed an occasional little scream of joy and enthusiasm to pop out. After a few minutes. . .

Stella (my sister)told me to sit down. I skipped to the table and sat on a chair on the right side. I heard Mum jumping up and down full of hyper feelings in the kitchen. A sudden thought wormed into my head. This would really be very great if everyone was so completely full of energy. My sister placed three tall glasses on the table. "But, they are empty !!" I cried.
"Yeah, so Mum can do it!" said my sister. She walked back into the kitchen. I was filled with confusing thoughts. Suddenly it was a bit darker in the house. The light in the kitchen had been switched off.

My mother shuffled into the living room. She held up a yellow something in her hand. In her other hand she held an iron pot or tube. Then it hit me. Chocolate milk with whipped cream. In Dad's hand was a wooden plank with Speculaas chunks (cookie chunks with a special taste). It was made completely in front of me. First the chocolate milk was poured. When Dad shook the metal tube with whipped cream, and Mom turned circles on top of the milk. We really enjoyed super. I even got a refill!

What a fantastic memory!!         (photo's under)

Amersfoort Animals Park! Amersfoort Dieren Park!

Today was the first day in 2016. We wanted to make this an extra special day because it was 2016 and Dad was home even though it was Friday!! At the wooden breakfast table, we were discussing what amazing and fun thing we were going to do today. -Munch Munch- went our mouths as we chewed up a brilliantly spectacular piece of fresh bread bursting with flavour because of the vividly tasting spreads gently brushed over the bread. Suddenly Dad suggested that we go to the Monkey Zoo. Thinking about it further in our brainy heads, we decided together that we would go to the Amersfoort Animal Park! So we packed up and went to the brand new pearl white shiny car.

Finally, we got to the park of animals! We were absolutely FREEZING cold. In the car, the coldest was 2 Degrees Celsius. I hope all of you in NZ are nice and warm at the beach or in your house all nice and warm. At least you don't have to put on the heater!! Anyway, back to the subject. We hopped out of the car, put our jackets on and headed towards the ticket sales woman. She was quite nice and gave us our entries and our parking ticket. Then we entered and were amazed by only the sight of the entry! Walking into the Zoo a bit further, we saw people walking up a log into the bird cage. When we realised that there was a slide at the end we decided to just enter into the fluttering bird cage on the ground. I was a bit scared that the birds would poop on me, but luckily they didn't. I walked over to where a man was focusing hard with his eyes wide open. And OH!! What did I see? Two perfectly big brown bears. The thing I don't necessarily like about bears is that their eyes look quite unpredictable. Either nice and cute or cunning and hungry.

So, all the animals we saw yesterday were: Aldabra Giant Turtle, Algazelle, Asian Elephant, Agaat Snail, Flower Grasshopper, Baardagame, Baboons, Brown Bear, Boa Constrictor, Bever Rat, Crocodile, Chimpansee, Cheeta, Chilneese Flamingo and much much more!! If you want to find out more animals there, Klick on this link: http://www.dierenparkamersfoort.nl/dieren/

At the end of the day, I concluded that I think the differences of the Auckland Zoo and the Amersfoort Zoo were/are: The Amersfoort Zoo has many more fun activities and Playgrounds. The Auckland Zoo has mostly just animals to look at and not really any things to do. The Amersfoort Zoo has a Dinosaur park that is fun, but also educative.

Overall I think I had a great experience and would love to come back again some time. There are a few photos at the end of this post.           (There are many more animals, but I could only put a few on here)



Vandaag was de eerste dag in 2016. We wilden dit een extra speciale dag maken, want het was 2016 en papa was thuis ook al was het vrijdag !! Op de houten ontbijt tafel, waren we aan het bespreken wat voor geweldig en leuk ding we zouden doen vandaag. -Munch Munch- ging onze mond terwijl we ons ontbijt aan het eten waren. We hadden een briljant spectaculair stuk vers brood vol smaak vanwege de levendig proevende smeersels zachtjes geborsteld over het brood. Plotseling stelde Pappa voor dat we naar de Apenheul zouden gaan. In onze intelligente hoofden, dachten we er verder over en uiteindelijk kwamen we tot het besluit dat we naar het Dierenpark Amersfoort zouden gaan! Dus we pakten in en gingen naar de gloednieuwe parelwitte glanzende auto.

Na twee uurtjes kwamen we aan in het park van de dieren! We waren absoluut ijskoud. In de auto, was de koudste temeratuur 2 graden Celcius. Ik hoop dat jullie allemaal in Nieuw Zeeland mooi warm zijn op het strand of in uw huis allemaal leuk en warm. Tenminste hoef je niet de verwarming aan te zetten!! Hoe dan ook, terug naar het onderwerp. We stapten uit de auto, deden onze jassen aan en liepen naar de kaartverkoopster. Ze was heel aardig en gaf ons onze toegangsbewijzen en onze parkeerkaart. Toen we binnenkwamen waren we erg verbaasd door slechts de aanblik van de ingang! We wandelden een beetje verder de dierentuin in, en zagen dat mensen op een balk aan het lopen waren die in de vogelkooi terechtkwam. Toen we ons realiseerden dat er een natte glijbaan aan het einde was, besloten we om gewoon op plattegrond de vladderende volgelkooi in te gaan. Ik was een beetje bang dat de vogels zouden poepen op mij, maar gelukkig deden ze dat niet. Ik liep naar de plek waar een man was gericht met zijn ogen wijd open. En OH !! Wat zag ik? Twee perfect grote bruine beren. Het ding dat ik niet zo fijn vind aan beren is dat hun ogen heel onvoorspelbaar lijken. Ofwel mooi en schattig of sluw en hongerig.

Dus, enkele van de dieren die we gisteren zagen waren: Aldabra Reuze Schildpad, Algazelle, Aziatische Olifant, Agaat Slak, Bloem Sprinkhaan, Baardagame, Mantel Baviaan, Bruine beer, Boa Constrictor, Bever Rat, Krokodil, Chimpansee, Cheeta, Chilneese Flamingo en nog veel meer !! Wilt u er meer te weten over de dieren, dan klik je op deze link: http: //www.dierenparkamersfoort.nl/dieren/

Aan het eind van de dag, besloot ik dat ik denk dat de verschillen van de Auckland Zoo en het Dierenpark Amersfoort waren / zijn: Het Dierenpark Amersfoort heeft veel meer leuke activiteiten en speelplaatsen. De Auckland Zoo heeft meestal gewoon dieren om naar te kijken en niet echt dingen te doen. Het Dierenpark Amersfoort heeft een Dinosaur park, dat is leuk, maar ook leerzaam.

In het geheel genomen denk ik dat ik een geweldige ervaring had en ik zou graag weer terug komen .Er zijn een paar foto's aan het einde van dit bericht.

(Er zijn veel meer dieren maar ik kon alleen maar een paar hier op zetten)

A nice stroll through town! Een lekkere wandeling door de stad!

If you want to find new things, discover new places and breathe new, fresh air, I would recommend to take a nice little stroll through town. That's exactly the thing my Mum, sister and I did on the 29th of December. If you do want to take a walk through the town, city or neighbourhood you have to take your time, look around you, enjoy the sights and talk, chat or at least listen to the people you are with or around you.

When we went, I saw the high, tall and beautiful churches towering above us with their amazing bells ringing at exactly twelve o'clock. Walking past the old and historical buildings some smaller and some larger than others, some skinnier and some wider than others. Hoping that it would start snowing, as it seemed that it was about 0 degrees, we realised that we had already reached our destination. The A B C Architecture museum!!

Standing in the hall, we saw that there were two doors, so entered the one that said: Entrance. There were three ladies there, and we started to talk together. When we reached the point to say that we were going there for Stella because she wants to become an architect, their smiles fell into concentrated faces and told us that we were in the Historical museum. We excused ourselves and went through the other door. Then we started talking there. The lovely ladies there told us that the theme for the present exhibition was: What Do You Dream For Haarlem? and they let us enter. We saw amazing things. There was even a three d (3D) smaller version of Haarlem!! This is called a maquette. I went over to the next room, but Stella and Mum kept going in one of the other rooms. So, as I said, I went to the next room. And man! What did I see? Millions and Millions of pieces of lego. After a while, we left having been entertained, having let the time fly by and having built up a bit more experience of Architecture.

As a twelve year old leader, we followed Stella through the rough roads and small alleys to different types of buildings that we could gaze up and stare at. With some streets cozy and fun, but others eerie and scary, we walked past a wall covered in ivy and it reminded me tremendously of my favourite book: The Secret Garden!

What a great experience! Many things we saw that we wanted to try out or do again. But now it was time to go back to our bikes and pedal back home!!


Als u nieuwe dingen wilt vinden, nieuwe plaatsen ontdekken en nieuwe, frisse lucht inademen, zou ik aanraden om een leuke wandeling door de stad te maken. Dat is precies wat mijn moeder, zus en ik deed op 29 december. Als u een wandeling door het dorp, stad of wijk wilt maken, moet je wel jouw tijd nemen. Kijk  dan om je heen, geniet dan van de bezienswaardigheden en praten, chatten of op zijn minst luisteren naar de mensen die u met of rond zich heeft.

Toen we gingen, zag ik de hoge, lange en mooie kerken die boven ons uittorenden met hun geweldige klokken die luiden om precies 12 uur. Wandelen langs de oude en historische gebouwen enkele kleinere en enkele grotere dan anderen of wat magerder en wat breder dan anderen. In de hoop dat het zou gaan sneeuwen, want het leek erop dat het ongeveer 0 graden was, realiseerden we ons dat we al onze bestemming hadden bereikt. Het A B C Architectuur museum !!

We waren aan het staan in de hal, en zagen dat er twee deuren waren, dus gingen de ene binnen die zei: Kom hier binnen. Daar waren drie dames, en we begonnen met elkaar te praten. Wanneer we het punt bereikt hadden om te zeggen dat we er gingen voor Stella omdat ze een architect wil worden, viel hun glimlach in geconcentreerde gezichten en ze vertelden ons dat we in het Historisch Museum waren. We verontschuldigden ons en gingen door de andere deur. Daar begonnen we weer te praten. Ze vertelden ons dat het thema voor de tentoonstelling nu was: Wat zijn jouw dromen voor Haarlem? Toen lieten ze ons naar binnen. We zagen verbazingwekkende dingen. Er was zelfs een drie d (3D) kleinere versie van Haarlem!! Dat heet een maquette. Ik ging naar de volgende zaal, maar Stella en mamma bleven in een andere zaal. Dus, zoals ik al zei, ging ik naar de volgende ruimte. En Oh!! Wat zag ik? Miljoenen en miljoenen stukken van lego. Na een tijdje, vertrokken we. Wij vonden het leuk, het liet de tijd voorbij vliegen en we kregen een beetje meer ervaring met Architectuur.

Met een twaalf jaar oude leider, volgden we Stella door de hobbelige wegen en kleine steegjes om verschillende soorten gebouwen te vinden waar we naar konden kijken en staren. Met sommige straten gezellig en leuk, maar anderen angstaanjagend en eng, lliepen we langs een muur bedekt met klimop en het deed me enorm veel denken aan mijn favoriete boek: The Secret Garden!

Wat een geweldige ervaring! Veel dingen die we zagen wilden we nog eens uitproberen of opnieuw doen. Maar nu was het tijd om terug te gaan naar de fietsen en naar huis te pedalen!!

A-Z over Nederland! A-Z about the Netherlands!

A- Amsterdam
B- Bebogeen
C- Chocolade Musket Kransjes
E- Efteling
F- Fietstochten,
G- Glazen Huis,
H- Haarlem,
I- ING Bank,
J- Jeugdjournaal,
K- Klokhuis,
L- Leverworst,
M- Muisjes,
N- Noord Zee,
O- Oliebollen,
P- Pepermunt Ballen,
Q- Quiz over Anne Frank of Vincent van Gogh?,
R- Roggebrood,
S- Sneeuw,
T- Theetje Drinken,
U- Ultra mooie molens,
V- Veterdrop,
W- Winter in de Sneeuw,
X- X-tra Gekke Smurf Knisper Pasta
Y- Yoghurt
Z- Zure Haring met Roggebrood            

A- Amsterdam,
B- Bebogeen,
C- Chocolate Musket Sprockets,
D- DROP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,
E- Efteling,
F- Bike rides,
G- Glass House,
H- Haarlem,
I- ING Bank,
J- Jeugdjournaal,
K- Klokhuis
L- Liver sausage,
M- Muisjes,
N- North Sea,
O- Oliebollen,                                      P- Peppermint Balls,

R- Rye,
Q- Quiz about Anne Frank or Vincent Van Gogh?,

S- Snow,

T- Tea Drinking,
U- Ultra fine mills,
V- Lace Drop,
W- Winter Snow,
X- X-tra Crazy Smurf Crinkle Pasta,
Y- Yogurt
Z- Sour Herring with Rye!

(Sorry, but because of the spelling, the English version was a bit jumbled)

Settling in the Netherlands: What I have been doing so far! Wat ik tot nu toe heb gedaan!

*I will write this in Dutch and English.                              *Ik ga dit in het Nederlands en Engels schrijven.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! I hope it is all warm in NZ because right now in the Netherlands it is quite cold!! We are having a very fun and exciting Christmas despite my cold!! Today my family and I went for a long (2 and a half hour) bike ride. We went to my new school then to a gigantic forest with bare trees (Elswout) and ended up in the dunes (Kennemerduinen) where we took a turn back home. My new school is called the Dreefschool. Here is a link to its website: /https://www.dreefschool.nl/ (it is in Dutch though. . .) We are having a lovely Christmas! We had a gingerbread house for breakfast and lunch! Although we can't put up a Christmas tree, we have two beautiful bouquets in vases instead.

So, as I said, we went on a long bike ride and had a lot of fun this morning/afternoon enjoying Christmas as a family. The time we went out to ride was reasonably early and as it is already cold in the middle of the day, our hands were absolutely FREEZING!!!! After about 10 mins my hands were already numb and I found it slightly hard to steer, but it went fine and I didn't fall off or crash into anyone or anything. When we came home at about 2 o'clock, I stepped into the lift after the others and slowly and carefully, we made our way up to the third floor where we live. Glad to have seen the route to school, I took my jacket and shoes off and served lunch. For lunch, we treated ourselves with a wall from our gingerbread house and each two chocolate fondant X-mas wreaths. (the wreaths were mouth size though!) How sweet and filling! Mmmmmmm!! Now, packed up from lunch, we work educationally untill 3:50pm. Then we will watch Brave on the TV. At the end of this post, there are some photos for you to see. Just go past the Dutch section/paragraph to see them.
Merry Christmas!! Happy New Year!!

Translation Dutch:               Vertaling Nederlands:


Vrolijk kerstfeest! Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Ik hoop dat het lekker warm in Nieuw Zeeland (NZ) is want nu in Nederland is het vrij koud!! Vandaag hebben mijn familie en ik een lange (2 en een half uur) fietstocht gemaakt. We gingen naar mijn nieuwe school, dan naar een gigantisch bos met kale bomen (Elswout) en vervolgens belandden we in de duinen (Kennemerduinen), waar we een bocht terug naar huis maakten. Mijn nieuwe school heet de Dreefschool. Hier is een link naar de website: /https://www.dreefschool.nl/ Wij hebben een fijne en leuke kerst ondanks mijn verkoudheid! We hadden een peperkoeken huis voor ontbijt en lunch! Hoewel we niet een kerstboom kunnen opzetten, hebben we twee prachtige boeketten in vazen.

Dus, zoals ik al zei, gingen we op een lange fietstocht en hadden veel plezier deze ochtend / middag. We genieten van kerst als een hele familie samen. Toen we weg gingen, was het redelijk vroeg en het is al koud op het midden van de dag, dus onze handen waren superkoud!! Na ongeveer 10 minuten waren mijn handen al gevoelloos en ik vond het een beetje moeilijk om te sturen, maar het ging prima en ik ben niet gevallen of gebotst tegen iets of iemand. Toen we thuis kwamen om ongeveer 2 uur, stapte ik in de lift na de anderen en langzaam maar zeker, maakten we onze weg naar de derde verdieping waar we wonen. Blij de route naar school te hebben gezien, trok ik mijn jas en schoenen uit en serveerde de lunch. Voor lunch trakteerden we onszelf met een muur van onze peperkoeken huis en elk mocht twee musket kransjes smikkelen. Hoe zoet en vullend! Mmmmmmm !! Nu, met lunch op en in de keuken, werken we heel educatief tot tien minuten voor 4. Dan zullen we Brave op TV kijken. Aan het einde van dit bericht, zijn er een aantal foto's voor u te zien.
Vrolijk kerstfeest!! Gelukkig nieuwjaar!!

Magical Autumn Leaves!!!!!!

On a damp autumn morning I crunched through brightly coloured leaves,

I could see rainbow starfish winking at me hanging off skinny branches,

The chewiness of my ham, lettuce and mustard sandwich roamed around my mouth,

Still crunching on the leaves under me I smelled the fresh damp morning air that welcomed me to the 

park,

The sound of wind whooshed past my body making my hair fly happily behind me,

I could feel the sloppy leaves that had been twirling and fluttering in the air just layering the gravel path,

Autumn is leaves, colour and it is a season!!!!!!!!!!

Owl colouring competition

This is my owl. I worked really hard to make her beautiful to get into the class colouring competition. I think I did really well and gave her heaps of bright colours. I think I could work on colouring inside the lines. I tried to blend and that is a technique I think I am pretty good at but I still need to work on. I think I will call my owl NEON.

Squiggle Story - The Niboofareackoo

On a sunny Saturday morning in Egypt there was a pyramid. There was nothing peculiar about the pyramid apart from one thing. There was NO door. Well, maybe two things. Every Saturday morning the whole entire country or land would be covered with a tremendous and frightening NIBOOFAREACKOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It would wake everyone up because it goes on from 5 am in the morning to 12 pm at daytime!! Surely there is nothing more hideous than that! Then out in the open, a thundercloud rolled over town. A lightning bolt hit the pyramid and it burst open to show the rarest and scariest animal ever known on earth. Everyone started screaming so surprisingly hard that the whole town, country, land, earth, world, universe and much much much much much more but I don't think I could, should or will mention the rest of that. The only thing that the strange and crazy animal said was NIBOOFAREACKOO!! So they called it the NIBOOFAREACKOO!!
P.S. Just so you know, it is a cross between a Bunny, Dog, Person, Duck and Cow.

The day Giraffes had stripes and Zebras had spots

On October the 26th 2011 on Saturday, three 7 and 8 year old children went to the Buckworth animal zoo. Their names were: Charlie, Charlotte and Chrystal. They were certainly very excited. Their favourite animals there were the Giraffes and Zebras. The patterns they wore were fascinating! Spots and stripes! But the three children were silly. . . and naughty . . .

Because they adored those two animals so much they went straight through the whole zoo over to the Giraffes and Zebras. As the watched the amazing animals, Charlie started to form a ridiculous plan in his head. He led the girls to a quiet spot in between some bushes. Chrystal and Charlotte thought the plan was very cheeky and weren't sure if they should do it. But with Charlie as persuading master it wasn't long before they agreed to do it.

As Charlotte, (the oldest) went to buy some paint, Chrystal and Charlotte plotted out how to get over the animal cage. When Charlotte came back, she found them crouched down in the bushes, whispering quietly and looking up every now and then. Slowly and carefully but noisily, she tiptoed over to them. When they shared their plan with Charlotte, she agreed and they set their plan into action.

As Chrystal lowered a rope down the fence into the cage, Charlotte climbed down it and carried the paint down with her. Charlie slid down with some paint brushes. Chrystal tied the rope up and lowered herself down into the cage. Immediately, they began to put their plan into action. Chrystal climbed up a tall tree with a paintbrush and paint. She started to paint the neck of a giraffe Black and White stripy. Charlie went to paint a giraffe yellow and brown spotty. Charlotte, on the other hand, was stretching out her hands far above her head, painting long and thick lines on MR giraffes legs. After three whole hours, they completed their horrible deed.

Once they were up on the bridge above the cage, the three children were face to face with a blood boiling angry Buckworth zoo keeper. All around them were people who were very confused, angry, surprised, concerned, bewildered etc etc. Still, they stood in front of the frustrated zoo keeper. She shooed them out of the zoo pushing and shoving the children. Then she went to her desk and thought about how to get the animals back to normal. Suddenly, she had a thought. . .

Straight away, she sprinted as fast as possible over to the entrance of the zoo. Just as she had hoped, the children were panting and nervously shuffling back into the zoo. "Wait!!" panted the zoo keeper, "I have a solution for the mistake! Come to my office with me and I'll explain it." So the four of them walked together walked together hurriedly to the office. Her idea was to give each of the animals a humongous shower with the help of a tree so that all of the paint flakes would fall off and the animals would turn back to normal.

So Charlie, Chrystal and Charlotte all agreed and set the zoo keeper's plan into action. Charlie climbed up a tree and got passed the shower tube. When he got it working Charlotte and Chrystal got into their togs and started scrubbing with big squishy foam sponges. When foam sponges get wet, they start producing soap and it cleans the animal!! With every giraffe and zebra, they had to give five showers and each shower had to be twenty minutes.

When the three of them had completed their deed and turned it into a good deed (NOT LEFT THE ANIMALS LIKE THAT!) they returned to the zoo keeper. She thanked them and gave each of them a little chocolate heart. Then she let them all leave and so they did and lived happily ever after. And this is the day the giraffes had stripes and zebras had spots.

2015 End of year reflections

Overall, from this year I have definitely enjoyed having Miss Cooper. EOTC week was a memorable time of the year for me. I have so much more to list though. I am looking forward to the Netherlands and the snow!! There are going to be lots of cheeses and different licorice types. I have improved a lot in writing. Now I enjoy it! I think I have gone higher in reading because I have done many more tests and nearly made it to nr 20. There are too many best parts in this year. Thank you Miss Cooper!!

The most special of all: ME!!!!!

It's time to show our specialities!! I have heaps of specialities. Here are three of them: I play an instrument, am smart and I'm a great team player. These things make me special and awesome.

I am special because I do lots of after school activities which includes instruments. I play the piano. I love it!! Only sometimes, when I have to play for one hour I get a bit bored of it. I think I started when I was five or six. My sister influenced me because it looked like she enjoyed it so much that I thought I should probably start playing it. I haven't had an exam yet but I am doing grade three. I am planning on playing Oboe because it sounds beautiful just like the piano!!!! This makes me special.

I am awesome because I am quite smart. I love maths and whenever Miss Cooper says lets do maths, I go YAY while lots of others say EURGH!!!! I have great ideas and am good at writing. That took me a long time to enjoy though!!!! I absolutely love reading. Sometimes though, I do get a bit bored of it. I speak fluent Dutch. The reason for that is, because I was born in the Netherlands and emigrated here when I was two. I have the talent to speak about five other languages although many of them aren't fluent. This is what makes me awesome!!!

I am a lovely team player. I have a great passion for hockey and my dream is to become a hockey star in the Black Sticks. I cheer on others and am happy for them if they make an improvement or win a prize. I play: Hockey, Cricket, Judo, Swimming and do Piano although that isn't really a sport. Sometimes, I even get a really sore throat because I cheer people on so well! This is what makes me amazing!!!!!!!

Everyone is special. It doesn't always have to be a good thing, but it's true. The things that make me special are: I play instruments, I am smart and am a great team player. So, next time you do something special, think about how you are special. GOODBYE!!!!!

Party headaches

On Saturday the 26th of September 2015, it was Olivia M's birthday party! The children that attended were: Hannah N, Madison O, Eve C, Harrison P, Mitchell R, Charlotte H, Brooke M, Rebecca F, Jacob H, Emily S, Izzy P and Gemma W. It was held at her house. And because it was her birthday, they CELEBRATED!!!!!!!!!!

While everyone was arriving, all the kids were shouting, screaming and stomping about. Once everyone had arrived they played the chocolate game! The pieces of clothing the kids had to put on were: A black tutu, pink tie, sunglasses and Olivia M's Mum’s where’s wally hat. Eventually, halfway into the game, the black tutu got illuminated because it was too hard to put on. Finally, after both of the chocolate blocks had been gobbled up, Olivia’s four year old sister; Amelia had won with fifteen pieces with Hannah only behind by three squares.

The next game they played was the flour game. The flour game is a game where there is a pile of flour moulded into the shape of a bowl and you put a lollie on the top in the middle of it. With a knife, you go around the circle and each get a go at chopping the flour. If it collapses, the person that cut it and made it collapse has to put their face in the flour and grab the lollie with their mouth. Then they get to eat it. In Olivia’s game, Eve got the lollie.

At the start of the party, as everyone started coming, there was a jar of lollies. You had to guess how many there were in the jar. Then you had to write your guess on the piece of paper that was laid out. At the end of the party, the person with the closest guess would recieve the jar. The child that recieved it was… Hannah. There were 59 and she guessed 64.

After the flour game Olivia’s parents had decided to plat a game called the sucking lollie game. This game is where there is a platter with different types of lollies. Each child recieves a straw and cup. Their platter had Jaffas, Maltesars, skittles and m&ms. After that, each has a minute to suck up as many lollies and drop them in their cup. The kids that got the most were Harrison and Brooke. Hannah said ‘It was pretty hard.’

Next was the moment they had all been waiting for. The movie… Miss Doubtfire!!! Everybody settled in for a comfortable place on either the couch or a beanbag. The movie started and halfway through the dozed children got handed lollies and popcorn. Drinks were also asked for- Water, L&P, Sprite or Lift. Before the movie, they had also eaten either and American Hotdog or Nachos. A couple of seconds aswell. Olivia said: “ the movie was hilarious!”

Finally, after the movie, parents started arriving. They cut the cake, played outside and started leaving. What a busy afternoon!!!!

Minions Squiggle story

" Banana, nananana, Banana, nananana, Banana, nananana, Potato!"

These little Minion workers definitely do their job for Gru. Thousands and millions of these cute, clumsy crazy and yellow monsters do lots of funny things in their daily lives. You might want to know what Gru-their masters job is. If you really want to know, I'll tell you. It's a ... " Banana,nananana, banana, nananana, banana, nananana, POTATO!!! " Oh, Minions, stop it. I'm telling the readers a story about you!" " OK then." So, where was I? Yes, I was telling you about Gru's job. It is... " Can I please have a banana?"

" Urgh! No! Go away will you please? One more time and I will shut you in the closet!"

Gru's job is to go to the mall and be a ... Dun, dun, duuuuunnnnnn! "Banana?"

" Bob, you're going into the closet." SLAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His job is to be a spy in the mall. I actually quite like spies. Do you? It's time, it's time, time, TIME! I'm off sorry. To a tea party with my favourite minion. It's BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB, BOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'M COMING BOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seven Squiggle story

In a land called Sevenapery, there was a language called Sevenair!!!!

Dear diary,          8.2.2006

Today was the best seventh birthday ever!! I woke up at seven o'clock and read a book called: Seven is up. At eight o'clock my parents said sorry because they were meant to come at seven o'clock!! They were holding two presents but my sister Stella, brang five more presents which means I got seven presents! My party guests started arriving; there were seven of them. We played a game where you had to roll two dice and get the number seven. If you got it you would have to scream seven at the top of your voice! Next was time for my seventh birthday cake. We drank sevenade and and ate my double chocolate chip cake which had seven layers! All sevenths of the cake had been gobbled up. Eventually, all seven party guests had gone. I had to clean up all seven pairs of everything. Good night now! See you tomorrow.

The white shoe

Have you ever gone for a walk in the forest? Well, last Saturday I went for a walk.. in a forest. It was a dark, gloomy and scary forest and it was full of chirping birds that eat the nice and juicy bugs crawling in the straight damp grass. My parents said that now that I am old enough, I will be allowed to go for stroll in the forest every third Saturday. I am so happy that I am allowed to have a before lunch walk in the woods.

One day, while my mum was preparing a toasty, my dad was mowing the lawn and my sister was at a party. I went for my little time of cruising in the woods, I saw something as bright as a massive fire burning right before my eyes. I was very excited and went to investigate. Walking slowly to the strange object, I started to get a little bit nervous. Once I had reached it I figured out that it was a brand new shoe. I instantly pulled my shoe off and shoved the new one on, tackling the tightness of the shoe but managing to pull it on.

Hours went by and I still wouldn't take the shoe off. Even disobeying my parents and getting no Masterchef wouldn't make me take that shoe off. Only at night I carefully took it off like a precious gem and used it as a teddy bear to calmly get to sleep. It was only then that I didn't know what special things that shoe contained.

So the next morning I woke up with the shoe still on. I was in a land full of Fanta rivers, Jaffa rocks, Gingerbread houses, Caramel glass, Lollipop trees, Smartie flowes, Rocky road paths, Mint grass and much much more!!!! I decided to go on a little walk to see where I was. On my way I found Chocolate bunnies, Cola horses, Fruit burst cows, Winegum flies and all the other animals you could think of in candy land. As the day went on I started to get tired and sat down to rest. This land was easy to get some free lunch and dinner so I ate, sat down to rest and fell asleep. No sooner or later I woke up in my bed, in my ordinary room but the shoe had disappeared and I was bare foot again.

Science: How Does Light Travel?

1. How fast does light travel?
A. Light travels really fast. Absolutely nothing is as fast as light.

2. How far can light travel in a second?
A. Well, I got a very fast answer. The Answer Is... 299,792 km!! In one second!!

3. What is a light year?
A. A light year is a unit of distance, not time. A light year is a way that astronomers measure distance in space. It is how far a beam of light travels in one year. A distance of six trillion miles.

4. Where can light travel?
A. Only straight. It can't turn corners.

5. Why does light travel?
A. Light is made out of bits called Photons. Each Photon is made out of a big pack of electromagnetic energy. It's made out of energy so it moves!!

My speech - SAVE THE DUGONG!!!!

Save the Dugong!!!!!

Did you know that there are only 17,500 Dugongs left in the world? They are becoming extinct!!! We need to SAVE THE DUGONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right now, you might be wondering what a Dugong even is. If you keep your ears wide open, you will walk away knowing what the animal is, why they are highly endangered and how to save it.

The cutest underwater vacuum cleaner, the cheekiest chubbiest Manatee species, cousin of the Stellers sea cow, this is the Dugong. Now, what is a Dugong? Well, the Dugong is an underwater sea mammal. They can reach up to 900 kilograms and can become 4 meters long. They have a flat tail and flippers just like a Whale but are they are more related to an Elephant than a Whale. Adding to that, they have a large mouth with an upper lip used for bristling sea grass. They even eat a bit more than 18 kgs of seagrass each day! These highly endangered animals have very dense and heavy bones to keep them submerged. These innocent creatures live on their own, in pairs or in larger groups. As you can tell, these lovely animals aren’t dangerous but useful and charming instead so that is why we should SAVE THE DUGONG!!!!

Now that you know what a Dugong is, we should go and have a close look at why they are endangered. The numbers of Dugongs are becoming less because they are getting stuck in fishing nets but people aren’t letting them go. Tourists are swimming up to them and the Dugongs are getting scared away. These cute and lovely animals do have predators. The main ones are crocodiles, killer whales and tiger sharks. The problem with that is that Dugongs are not fast swimmers so they will most likely get caught. Another reason that Dugongs are highly endangered is that they only give birth to one child every 3-7 years. For all of these reasons, I feel that we should SAVE THE DUGONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that we know why they are endangered, we will take a look at how we can save these adorable animals. We need to stop tourists scaring them away while swimming up to them. In some of countries there are already laws to stop people being cruel to the Dugongs but we need to make the whole world have those laws. Being cruel means killing them for meat and skin. Plus, if we lose our special species the grass will grow so much that our oceans will get destroyed. If we lose the Dugong lots of other animals won’t be able to get around because the Dugong eats sea grass and they make paths for crabs and other animals to skuttle through. There are already companies working to save the dugong. They have websites and on those websites there are petitions that you need to sign. Go to Savethedugong.org and sign the petition. We need to work together with them to SAVE THE DUGONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that I have told you what a Dugong is, why they are highly endangered and how we can save them I challenge you to think about how to save these innocent creatures. I urge you to sign the petition and go about telling other people to sign the petition to SAVE THE  DUGONG!!!!!

The Bridge

Not so long ago there was a bridge. Just one of those ordinary bridges. But this one doesn't have anything to hold onto. So on a very sunny day a very cute but big moose walked onto the bridge. He was very tired as he yawned and scratched his bottom a bit. At the same time a not so cute bear with pricked up ears walked proudly with his head up high and his eyes closed. Suddenly, they bumped into each other and both looked very shocked. The bear blew air out of his mouth and tried to push past the moose. If I haven't told you yet, the bridge was very narrow and made out of wooden planks. So they both got really angry and wanted to pass each other. Then the bear decided to be really mean and nearly pushed the adorable big moose off the bridge but luckily he angrily shouted at the bear.

Then out of nowhere a little very extremely adorable raccoon tapped softly and quietly on the Bears' hip. He looked over, very surprised. The raccoon looked happy and worried because the bear angrily grabbed it by the neck, punched it on his head and threw him to the ground at the end of the bridge. They kept on fighting and the bear started to push the moose backwards. A bunny was behind the moose that definitely didn't like getting pushed back. He growled angrily at the moose and got thrown with his ears at the end of the bridge.

Suddenly the bridge made a huge bang!!! The big moose and bear looked to the end of the bridge and noticed the bunny chewing at the rope to make one side fall. Another bang sounded and they saw the raccoon untying the rope at the other end. One second and the bridge will have tilted to one side and they screamed and tumbled down into the river at the bottom.

Happily, the bunny marched across the half fallen bridge. He opened his eyes and saw the raccoon standing in front of him. They both stood thinking frozen on the spot. Then the raccoon smiled a happy smile and lowered his body. The bunny hopped over and they both walked away.

                                                                                       Here is a link to the video:
               
                    https://vimeo.com/27299211