Usually Saturday morning is the time that the children can watch cartoons but we were just not getting to Kabouters and Welpens in time for the 10am start. So cartoon watching has been moved to Sunday morning, which has now become the sleepin, chillout morning for the week; our church meeting is at 4pm which gives us that time for a sleepin.

So our weekend began with the weekly ritual of dropping the 3 older kids off at their meetings and mum heading back home. The weather has been sunny and chilly but on Saturday it was sunny and warm ~ after all the dreary weather of late the change has been delightful. So a last minute decision was made to get along to the wedding of a young couple who had invited our church to share in their wedding happiness. I'm so glad we decided to go! They were getting married in a little church in a villiage on the northern side of Amsterdam, the place is called Durgerdam. Seeing as the weather was great we also decide to ride our bikes and make an afternoon of it! That trip turned out to be a 28 kilometre round trip through Amsterdam, over the IJ river and then a ride through the countryside. Marcel, Michael and Jasmine were on their bikes and then I was had Jackson on my bike, in his seat, and Sammy had the easiest ride of all of us; she was being towed behind me in the Burley (a light-weight carriage for kids). So with our supplies we set off and away we went. Yeah, it was hard work at times but really worth the effort and we got to see some different parts of Amsterdam and going over two bridges we were able to see some good views of the IJ River right up and down along it's banks. The little village of Durgerdam is quaint with all the houses along the one and only street facing out to the water of the IJ-meer. The wedding was a delight too, with lots of singing and music and I enjoyed very much the way they committed their lives to each other. Saturday night was an early night for our kids and a chillout movie time for me and Marcel!!

Our Sunday included a morning tea with friends in Ouder Kirk a/d Amstel (another bike ride BUT much shorter than the previous days ride!), an afternoon rest/sleep and church for 2/3 of our family. Jackson wasn't well enough to go to church, and with Marcel teaching in the Children's class, I was happy to stay home to look after him. Jassy was invited for a sleepover at Cait's so she got to stay up really late and have a girls play-day today ~ an unexpected long weekend bonus!

So that was our weekend!