My mum and Miriam on our way to Palm Island.

Lekker knuffelen met mijn mamma (this just sounds better in Dutch to me...)

It's so nice to have so many of the family here. On the sofa are my dad and his wife Ina, my sister Miriam and her husband Laurenz and my two younger (half) brothers Vincent and Floris. Oh, and little Aidan of course.

A day at the Waterpark on Palm Island. It was brilliant. By the way, see that big bucket in the middle of the picture at the top of that waterpark? Every so often it would be filled up with water and then, without warning, the whole load would crash down on the people underneath it. Scary, but good fun!

Life's a beach!

Quick note from Aruba

Hot, hot, hot. Aruba is boiling. If it wasn't for the constant breeze here you'd go crazy.

Poor Aidan has been sick ever since we've got here, the poor thing. Not too great for me either. I'm longing for a good night sleep. Andy will join us on monday, so we can share our parental duties again. Because even though we are staying at my mum's, when it comes to night time parenting you're on your own really. You simply can't burden other people with a crying baby at night.

By the way, I'm looking forward to an evening out with Andy next week, without the kids!!!!! We never get to do that normally, so it will be a real treat. My mum and Miriam will look after the kids.

My dad, Ina and the kids arrive at the same time on monday, so we'll have a lovely family reunion.

Anyway, I'm not in the mood for writing much. I'm sleep deprived and brain dead. Once we get back to Belize (on the 1st of September) I'll be able to blog loads again.

See ya!

Slide show for the Jungle Dome blog

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Our little beauty

The simple joys of life...that early morning cup of coffee.

Visiting great-grandad Harry

Bounce!

Having a laugh on Jody & Amber's trampoline

My beautiful goddaughter Amber Angel. She's turned into a real lady and is one of the most wonderful teenagers I've come across in a long time. I always knew she was a great kid.

Sorry Jody...I know this is a terrible picture, but it makes me laugh every time I see it. God knows what made you and Aidan look so surprised...

Spoiled for choice

So it turns out that too much choice is not good for you. That’s apparently what recent studies have shown; the more choices people have in life, the unhappier they are in the long run. According to this study, people in countries that offer the most choices are unhappier than those in “less fortunate” countries

How could that be? Well, the researchers think that when you are presented with too many choices, you are generally less happy about the eventual choice that you’ve made, always wondering if something (or someone) out there may have been an even better choice.

People who are looking for “good enough” are happier than those looking for the perfect something or other (fill in the blank)

It's funny how overwhelmed I get with the choices these days in Europe or the States. My head now literally spins when I walk into a big store. So my strategy in England recently was to only look at a certain part of the store (especially in mega clothes stores like Topshop), decide what I like & buy it, without continuing my search. Did I find the best bargains, the most perfect top or best fitting jeans? Probably not. But I am truly happy with the goodies I brought back to Belize.

Along these same lines; Andy has been trying to tell me for years that you need to find happiness where ever you find yourself. The answer to your questions and your happiness is not “out there”, it is right in front of you, staring you in the face. Yet most of us overlook it, because we continue to believe that the grass is greener somewhere else.

I have always been guilty of this myself, feeling like I was looking for something and never really finding it. But these days I feel very content. As tacky as it may sound, I feel like I am finally "home". Does this mean that I am slowly becoming more “Zen” like my husband?

“Try not to see your glass as half full or half empty. Just be happy that you have a glass”

Gggrrrr....getting annoyed!

This is so bloody frustrating...I've been meaning to post a ton of pictures from our UK trip, with little stories about each one, but Blogger won't allow me to upload any more (these 2 were uploaded a few days ago). I must have tried a thousand times since and am getting extremely annoyed.

So stuff it, these 2 pictures will have to do for now.

Blogger...sort your service out please!


This is the back of our mate Russel, with Lucas and Jack in his arms. It was great seeing Russel again. He used to live with us in Greenwich, London & living with him was my first practice at being a 'mum', as he used to behave like a teenager; not cleaning his room, piling up dirty washing and refusing to eat any vegetables apart from peas (if you can even call them vegetables). So I used to hide veggies in the dishes I cooked, worried about his nutritional needs and nagged him to clean his room.

It is funny to now see him as a responsible and loving father to Tom and Jack, with baby boy number 3 on the way. And his wife Sarah did say that he would still live on pies, peas and cheese if she'd let him ; )

Having a picnic in the park with those you love, what more can anyone ask for? Tania, Caroline and me, soaking up some rare London sunshine (although...rare? It's been hot for ages now, hasn't it?)

My old MTV Partyzone friend Tania Raymond has moved away from making television (not a very compatible industry with raising children) and is currently setting up a business called Peoni, making and selling exclusive cushions and throws made of antique Japanese kimonos, plus funky childrens clothes from around the world. I have bought some cushions of her for our new house and they look amazing.

Caroline Prothero (who had a big hand in me and Andy getting together all those years ago) has moved from traditional record labels and music distribution to distributing and promoting dance music online through a downloading service for deejays (by invite only) with her company Prohibition.

Isn't it great to have good friends that have stood the test of time? I feel so blessed with mine, even if I don't get to see them much. Whenever you can be away from people for months or even years and get straight back 'into the groove' the moment you see them (feeling like you saw them only yesterday), that's when you know that you are dealing with the real thing.

Images of our tree top Suite

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Photo Sharing

I've been saying for ages that I would show you our new Suite. Well, here it finally is. I've also been trying to upload pictures of our UK trip for the last 2 days, but blogger seems to be playing up for some reason. I'll keep trying though.

For more clips of the Belize Jungle Dome, go to our Belize Vacation Blog

Back to the old school!

What a brilliant time we've had in the UK!

But so far for keeping a video diary...I've been way too busy hanging out with my friends to spend time on the computer. Still, I think that's a good thing.

We got back yesterday and are pretty jet-lagged. Lucas, Aidan and I were up at 3 this morning, so we're good for nothing much today. Still, it was all worth it.

Being back in London was very 'old school'. Especially hanging out with James Hyman (the music and film expert, check him out if you need a Music Supervisor or Music Supervision) and bumping into other old MTVers. James and I dusted off tons of old MTV & Partyzone tapes and are having the best of them digitized (soon to be seen on this blog)
There is not much left for me to say about my Partyzone reunion with James Hyman and my dear friend (and host to our London trip) Tania, as James has said it all on his blog (Top rant as usual, he's a hard act to follow).

Many things caught my attention whilst traveling; I'll post/think out loud about them in the coming days/weeks.

Also many pics/travel clips to follow.
Peace!

Living on the edge

We're still alive and well in Norfolk. Went to see the OAP's play bowles today & are back to the bowls club for a BBQ tonight. That's the excitement of Norfolk daily life.

So no beefworms, flooding rivers or torrential rain for us at the moment. Poor Karen is the one dealing with all that right now in Belize (sorry Karen, our timing seems to be a bit off...hope you're okay with it all)

Tomorrow we're edging our way down to London and from there on to Brighton. Looking forward to catching up with my old mates and of course my sister Iris. Oh, and I can't wait for dinner at Bart's house (our friend the super chef) in Brighton. Rich will be there too, so it will be a nice Jungle Dome reunion. Anyway, I better get ready for the barbie. Don't wait up ; )

Oops-a-daisy!

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Wiggle...

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

And giggle.

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

British summer

All is well with the Hunties. We got through the flights without too many problems (bless our gypsie kids) & are enjoying ourselves enormously. Our days are jam-packed with outings for the kids, the meeting of friends, a bit of shopping here and there and hanging out with the grandparents. It's a tough life ; )

By the way, everybody is going on about how hot it is and has been in the UK lately, but to us it feels just right. Not too hot, not too cold. Very pleasant indeed. So anyhow....we're very happy!

Our little champion swimmer

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

So we're off to England in the next 15 minutes. I'll film our trip as we go along.
See ya!

My beautiful boys

Aidan

Lucas

Vivid imagination

You often hear about children having imaginary friends, but have you ever heard of a 3-year-old with an imaginary castle?

Apparently, Lucas owns his own castle in Guatemala. He lives there, so he says, with 2 babies (including a baby girl who can already walk and has teeth), 4 little dogs and lots of chickens. He looks after the babies and the animals himself and does all his own cooking (he mainly cooks eggs). Seeing as his castle is far away, you'd have to fly to get there. But he can sort you out tickets if you like.

Now, the funny thing is that he hasn't just mentioned this castle once or twice, but that he has started to talk about it on qan almost daily basis.

Whenever he is not allowed to have something (a sweet, or whatever) he tells me that next time in his castle, he won't give me any sweets either. He also talks about life in his castle whenever we drive the car and there are no other distractions.

I quite like this imaginary world of his. A place where he is the boss and there are no grown-ups telling him what to do.

Anyway, I better get packing....

Our little piece of paradise

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Why I love these kids so much

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

My neighbour's nasty parrot

Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Emerging from the jungle

I had a look through my wardrobe today and noticed that there is virtually nothing in there that can be worn in the UK. See, when you live in Belize you become less fussy. You wear clothes with small stains, rips or discolorations, without even noticing it. And you also don't notice these imperfections on other people.

But the weirdest thing happens as soon as you step off the plane (be it in the States, Canada, Europe...anywhere): you suddenly notice how shabby you look and how shabby your friend/partner/children look. You suddenly notice each other's bad hairdos, the tiniest of imperfection on your clothes, how there's a bit of mold on the baby's stroller, etc.

I'm sure that Karen and both my sisters Miriam and Iris will giggle when they read this post, 'cause they've all been there. Miriam apparently was in shock when she first arrived in Miami after having lived in Belize for 2 years. She suddenly noticed that her trousers were too short for her legs, that both she and her husband had crappy haircuts and that they basically (in her own words) 'looked like tramps'.

Mind you, people on Miami's South Beach look freakily perfect anyway (with a little 'pull and tuck' and a hefty prize tag of course), so next to them most of us feel like tramps. But Miriam had actually not seen herself in a full-length mirror for months and when she finally did in her Miami hotel room she was not too happy. "Why didn't you tell me how crap I looked?" She asked me afterwards. But of course I hadn't noticed, as we all looked as bad as each other.

Mind you, these days we look a tat more professional. We live more comfortably than we did those first few years in Belize, we don't have to cross the river by boat or hand-cranked ferry anymore, we no longer keep our own horses or chickens, we don't have to do our own gardening or fence building anymore, etc.

So, all in all, we look better and more 'organized' than we did before, but according to the standards of Western society, we still are a bunch jungle bunnies.

For instance, last time when I saw my friend Tania at her hen night, she dressed me up in her clothes, stuck some make-up on me and said "See? You still scrub up nice". Now how's that for a 'compliment'?

Oh well, it gives me an excuse to shop, so I don't mind too much.

But I'll have to try and get Lucas to wear shoes whilst we're in England. That's probably going to be our biggest challenge.....

Yep, you can take the boy out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the boy.

This is great!

I just found out that it's possible to stream video on the blog. Wow, that opens up a whole new world again. More to come.....


Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

We're wacked!

Wow, it's been 11 days since I last blogged. I've had many blog ideas, but no chance to write. See, Andy and I have been running the Belize Jungle Dome whilst Karen went on a well-deserved Birthday break. Throughout that whole time Deborah has been sick, so we've been working full time and looking after both the kids. Especially Lucas demands a lot of our time. He is so energetic, talks non-stop and is just a very 'in ya face' 3-year-old. One of our guest once asked if he had ADD, which annoyed me, though I also understood what he meant, as Lucas is incredibly energetic & even manic sometimes. Oh well....all part of the joys of parenting boys! Thank God we live in the jungle and can let him run riot out there, otherwise we'd all be going crazy.

I do wonder how the Mennonites manage to produce such quiet children. Those kids just sit on those horse drawn carts all day and you don't hear a peep from them. You couldn't do that with Lucas even if you did stick a straw hat on him.

So anyway, next week we fly back to England to visit the grandparents and old friends. That's when we really want Lucas and Aidan to act like those Mennonite children, on that 10-hours+ flight across the Atlantic. Do you think it would be ethical to drug our kids with children's cough syrup before the flight? Or is it even bad to think like that?

Oh, I'm sure we'll survive. Lucas is actually a pretty good traveler. As long as produce a long stream of presents and snacks throughout the trip, we should be fine. And if he sleeps at least part of the way, that's an added bonus.

And Aidan? Who knows? It will be his first long flight. But the good thing is that much of the flight is at nighttime and he usually sleeps great at night (ridiculously short cat napper by day, but a sleeping beauty by night)

So I am quietly optimistic. And very much looking forward to seeing friends and family again, to taking Lucas on family outings (Dinosaur park, playgrounds, etc.) & to shopping! So England...here we come. Only 5 more days to go!

10 cars, a horse and a helicopter

So funny...I phoned Andy at the Dome this afternoon and he told me that there were 10 cars, a horse and a helicopter parked outside the gate. We had a full house for lunch & people had come with all kinds of transport.

In the meantime, my mum is doing better already. She was able to hold down both her food and a normal conversation this evening. I mean, she is still spending all her time in bed, but there is some improvement. So hopefully this means that we're dealing with the tail-end of her Dengue Fever.

And then there's Aidan. He's is growing and developing at lightning speed these days. He laughs and giggles tons (cutest sound ever) and is now able to sit un-assisted for up to about a minute at a time. I looked at Lucas' baby book the other day and noticed that he was 5 months before he was able to sit unassisted. I really think that Aidan is going to be quick with many things. He's just so strong (according to my mother-in-law, he's going to be 'a right bruiser')

Oh well...time will tell. I'm in no particular hurry. I'm still enjoying the fact that we don't have to baby proof the house yet.

Grandma's got Dengue!

My poor mum. She's been kind of sick ever since she got here, a week-and-a-half ago. And she was sick even before then. In total she's been ill (on and off) for 2 weeks now.

The last 2 days have been particularly bad, so we had a bloodtest done today. It turns out that she has Dengue Fever.

No one knows if she picked it up in Aruba or here in Belize and whether or not she's almost over it now or just starting the illness (she could have had a different flu just before this)

All in all, it's pretty horrible. I don't think I've ever seen her this sick. And there is no medication for Dengue. All she can take is Tylenol and get through it as best she can. I wish that there was more that I could do for her....

A day on the beach

Walking to the beach BBQ & trying to keep the baby shaded. He still managed to get a tat sunburned, the poor little thing.


I was ready for a party, but sadly enough I was the only one who was. I can't wait to go out again & dance till I drop. It's been too long...

By the way, as you can see I am no Victoria Beckham. My post-pregnancy belly is still with me. Hopefully not for much longer though (I went back to aerobics last night, by the way, and was amazed to see a woman do the whole class with a lollipop in her mouth. That, mixed bith tons of giant June bugs flying around the place, made for quite an interesting class. I never expected Belizean women to scream when giant beetles fly into them, but I now know that they do)

One of the nice things of living inland is that whenever you go to the beach, it's a treat. I would get so bored living on a beach all the time, but I love these little breaks that we take to the islands.

A cloudy, but pleasant day on the Ambegris Caye beach.

The joys of coming home

It's so nice to go to the islands for a few days, but I'm always happy to come home again as well. There is just something so comforting in pottering or, as I like to call it, faffing. Moving our things from here to there, filling the fridge full of food, playing the music you like, even stupid things like sorting out washing has something comforting about it (am I becoming a Desperate Housewife?) Anyway, you just can't do those things in a hotel room. I guess coming home is part of the joys of traveling. It's hard to appreciate what you've got until you haven't got it anymore, even if this 'lack of' is self-imposed and only for a few days.

My family and I, we're all a bunch of gypsies, yet we all love our homes! We're incredibly homely people yet if we were to lose all our belongings tomorrow, we'd simply brush ourselves off and create new homes all over again.

I know for a fact that I don't get too attached to 'stuff' as a few years ago there was a fire threat to our home. A huge tree next to the Jungle Dome was on fire and ambers were floating onto the wood shingled roof of our wooden Dome. Whilst a group of men climbed on to the roof with buckets and hoses, I was warned to take all valuables out of the house, just in case. I wandered around the house in a daze. What was actually of value to us? I just couldn't answer that question, so I simply grabbed our laptop, some paperwork, creditcards, photographs, a few old MTV videos and some football trophees. That was it! All our 'valuables' fitted into two bags. I couldn't think of anything else to take.

The moment I realized how unimportant all our 'things' were to me, I felt totally liberated. Eventhough everybody still ran up and down the stairs with buckets and the whole situation should have been quite stressful for me, I walked around with a huge grin on my face. I remember that, as Andy hugged me, I thought 'This is all that matters. If the house burns down...so be it. As long as we've got eachother and our animals are safe (this was before our children were born)...all is okay'.

So anyway, isn't it strange that our homes are so comforting to us because we have all our stuff there, yet all this stuff is so unimportant at the same time?

It's a wonderful paradox to me. So, home sweet home.

And enjoy yours, where ever it may be!

Trying to get fit again!

Finally managed to do some aerobics. I took Deborah along to look after Aidan & Lucas and Deborah’s younger brother wanted to come too. I would never have been able to show up with that many kids at an aerobics class in Europe, but here in Belize it’s not a problem. Lots of women bring their children and they either all play together, sit quietly or join in with the exercises at the side.

Lucas loved it! He had a blast & mummy got a good work out. I actually surprised myself by not being as unfit as I thought I was. I managed to do the whole class (not bad for my first post-pregnancy work out) without fainting. I had a head like a beet by the end of it, but still…

Oh by the way, my mum is back! She only left about two weeks ago and now she’s here for another two weeks. That’s the great thing about her not working at the restaurant anymore; she can come over whenever she wants. Yeeha!


Now, the plan for today was that we would go to San Pedro for Andy’s birthday (Happy Birthday babe!) But the weather is just too miserable. So we will wait for a few days until it clears up. That’s just how things are in the rainy season; you never know what to expect weather wise.

Last week's pictures

My mum and the kids. I am days behind on myself with regards to Blogging. Still no picture of the suite (slack....I know) & my mum left Belize ages ago already. Still, these are sweet pictures, aren't they?



Andy and Aidan hard at work. Talking of work, sometimes it annoys me that my blog is linked to our business, it kind of makes me sensor myself. There are just some things that you don't want all your clients to know.

Still, I'm sure most Bloggers keep their mouths shut about certain things as they know that there might always be family members, neighbors, etc. watching in on them.


This, by the way, is how I have to carry Aidan when he's upset. In a kangaroo pouch. It's the only thing that settles him. And here we are posing here with our dear friends Cindy Gordon and Dr. Ralph Pennino from Intervol.

Charity update

Okay, okay, you're right. I should have put up a picture of our new suite when I announced that it was finally ready. Andy, Lucas, Aidan and I will be moving in there for the coming days, so I'll snap a pictures of it & post it in the coming days.

So anyway, our dear friends of Intervol and FAB (Friends Across Borders) have just left. They have done some amazing work again in this last week. I can hardly believe how much these guys can achieve in such a short space of time.
They operated on children with cleft palates, on burn victims, they gave computer lessons at the new computerlab from the Scouts (set up with computers donated by Intervol), they hosted a 2-day grand-writing workshop, set up new alliances, etc. And they still had time to play football with the local kids, to drink Dr. Tim O'Connor's dangerously potent 'jungle juice', to go caving and to just have fun together. I love these guys!

I especially love the fact that these doctors, nurses and students not only give their time for free, but that they pay for all their own expenses on top of that (flights, board, food, etc.) And the fact that they don't come under any specific religious banner also appeals to me. It makes me feel that there are no hidden agendas here, they help people just because they want to, not to convert anyone in the process.

Please check out their blogs for more stories and tons of wonderful pictures of their time here:

http://intervolorg.blogspot.com/
http://intervol.blogspot.com/

And check out the Scout's page on their Intervol collaboration & the new computer lab:
http://www.scoutsbelize.org/intervol.htm

The plan is that Intervol will now help the Scouts in the setting up of computerlabs all over Belize. The computers are already ready and waiting in Rochester, New York. All we need to get organized is the shipping of these computers. If anyone out there can help with this, please contact me or Intervol.

Oh, and finally...I went to The Belize Christian Acadamy (the best private school in the country) to talk about getting the Jaden Foundation kids accepted there next year. But I'm afraid that it may be a near impossible task. The fees have gone up this year. The total price per child would be $1,750 ($ US) for the year. So to get all 17 kids in there would cost close to $30,000. That's just too crazy, even if the school could sponsor part of that money through their own charity. The Jaden Foundation is simply too small for that. Still, I'll see if I can organize something for the youngest kids at least (the ones starting school next year)

I'll let you know how it progresses.

The new Suite is ready! (finally)

Wow, things have been busy lately. I had to get the resort and our new Tree Top Suite ready for our biggest group of visitors so far, our friends of Intervol from Rochester, New York. They arrived Saturday, so yesterday I had my first chance to relax again (the rest of the Jungle Dome team are looking after them now)

I now have uninterupted time again with my kids. It feels like I have been looking after them 'on the run' lately, so yesterday I took the opportunity to draw pictures with Lucas, cut his hair, cuddle with Aidan etc. What a lovely Sunday it was. We all needed that.

My mum & Hans are back from San Pedro. They went there for a night, so Hans could see a bit more of Belize than just the Jungle Dome.

Poor Hans tried to read a bedtime story for Lucas last night, but Lucas got up in the middle of the story and said "Bimma (grandma) can do much better than that", leaving Hans on his own with the story book. I think that may be the last time that he attempts to read an English bedtime story for anybody (it did all make us laugh though).

And Lucas has been having a blast with the Woopy Cushion that his grandma brought for him. Actually, the adults have been having just as much fun with it. Especially at Hans' birthday party. Incredible how immature people get with a toy that makes farting noises.

Pictures of our Antigua/Lake Atitlan trip

Lost my posting!

Oh, how I hate this! I just wrote a post about our trip to Guatemala & I bloody lost it. Isn't that just the most annoying thing ever?

Can't be bothered to write the whole thing again just yet, but will do so in the coming days. Right now I have to get going, got to pick my mum up from the airport. Hey, that's actually put me in a better mood straight away. My mum is coming!!!!!!

Yvonne (my mother-in-law) is with us for one more night. She's off tomorrow. I better get the hankies ready. It's always so sad to say goodbye to family.

Oh....Guatemala was great, by the way.

Our little Budha with his grandma

Aidan with his protective older brother. Lucas even started crying with Jessica walked away with Aidan yesterday. He shouted 'Mum, she's taking the baby!" and was ever so upset. Bless him!

Aidan's first vacation

So much to sort out before our big adventure this coming weekend. We're off to Antigua, Guatemala on Saturday. We'll be there for 3 nights and will spend 2 nights at Lake Atitlan (I wonder how the area will have recovered from last year's mudslides)

Anyway, God knows how Aidan will take to traveling. Hopefully he'll adapt well as we'd like to be a rather mobile family. Lucas has always been an amazing 'gypsie baby' who you could drag along anywhere, so hopefully that runs in the family.

Andy's mum Yvonne has been staying with us since the 21st of last month and she'll be coming with us to Guatemala. She's also pretty excited about the whole thing. And we're all looking forward to being in a place that is slightly cooler than Belize. It's been hot here recently, so much so that we've been using the AC most days (and I normally hate AC's) Apparently the temperature in Antigua is between 21 to 27 degrees C. during the day & between 12 to 17 C. at night. Lovely!

I just hope that we're all over this cold that we've been having before our travels.