Going to Europe

We flew Malaysian Airlines - partly because they allowed Annabelle (5 days before her 2nd birthday) to fly as an infant, and hence at 25% of the full fare. Most other airlines require the child to still be one year old at the time of the return leg. We're full of praise for Malaysian Airlines: on both the Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur, and the KL to Amsterdam section, they had blocked-out a seat for Annabelle, even though we were really not paying for a seat for her. They were also very helpful and considerate on board, and their in-flight entertainment system kept Christopher occupied for a large part of the flights!

It is getting much easier to fly with the kids now they're a bit older. Christopher was great, and Annabelle was really good most of the time, apart from one huge tantrum in the middle of the night while people were trying to sleep after we'd left KL. She's starting to get a bit of the "Terrible Two's", or the 'ik ben twee en ik zeg nee' (I'm two and I say no). A little thing can set her off, and she'll scream her lungs out, lay on the ground arching her back and there's no reasoning with her. Usually taking her away from Doris works, because she'll settle down once she's reunited with Doris.

We arrived at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport early in the morning on Wednesday June 11. The arrival was much more pleasant than almost 4 months earlier (on Feb 12) when Bernt heard there that his dad had passed on an hour earlier.

Bernt's brother Gerben came to pick us up and it almost felt like we hadn't been away. We went to Gerben and Tanja's place and still saw Anouk before she went off to school (she's having exams with the end of the school year almost there), and Tanja woke Charise up, who, just like Gerben, can sleep in really well: she has been known to not get up until after noon (after a late night though). It was lovely to see them all again.