Utrecht....

Today was simply a wonderful mix of sightseeing, parenting, travelling and friendship.

Wikke and I took all the kids on the train to Utrecht.  There, we walked and sat and ate and rode a boat along the canal, and listened to the kids talk and talk and talk.  The littlest ones have the most amazingly animated conversations with their toy dolls and puppies and selves.  They create universes in which siblings and parents die (!) and kings and queens always win in the end.  Oh, and which are peppered with the extremely loud barking of imaginary dogs.  

The bigger ones discuss all things relevant to their lives.  And when that conversation falters, they revert to pikachu hand games.  And tickling.  Mostly they stroll with their arms around each other and discuss ways to annoy their Mums (ways which NEVER work, may I add!).

We BIGGEST ones discussed heaven and earth and all things in between, while appreciating our environment (and resolving kid-arguments between sentences).  

Utrecht is arguably the prettiest city in Holland.  If it's not... I'd like to see the prettier one.

This was an unexpected sight along the canal....

While we were walking through the pedestrian area of the town, Wikke was stopped by a couple who recognised her from her book cover (click here for details of her book - in Dutch only, I'm afraid) and who had been so inspired by her travels through Malaysia and Thailand with her children that they had taken a very similar trip with their own children.  They had used her book as their own "lonely planet" type guide, and were thrilled to see her in the flesh.  They sometimes look in on her blog too, which means that may look here as well (having met me today!!)  "Hi!!".

It was wonderful for Wikke to know that her book had impacted someone else's lives so positively.  I was just damned proud for her.  And embarrassed for me because I was standing there like a fool because I don't understand Dutch.  Why oh why aren't I fluent in 7 languages (at least)?