Time flies. An time flies even faster when there is family visiting. Alex loved the visit of his niece and nephew and uncle and aunt and so did we!
Visiting
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Scarcity
The departure of queen Beatrix and the arrival of our new king Willem Alexander is of course very big news and just like a lot of other commercial parties the royal Dutch mint is trying to get a nice slice of the cake. They are producing aankondigingspenningen (announcement coins), abdication sets, special 2 euro coins and a lot more merchandise. Right now all products feature the portrait of our queen, but after the 30th of April there will surely be a big number of new coins which are minted with the portrait of the new king Willem Alexander.
The new 2 euro with both portraits of Beatrix and Willem-Alexander will be mixed with the normal 2 euros and there will be 20 million of such coins, so for sure you will encounter a few of them. For collectors the KNM has a different approach. Once again the created an extra nice coin but in a very limited edition. So limited that they were sold out in days. It seems like a standard approach to quickly sell a few coins which then become very rare and expensive.
The last few emissions by the KNM in 2013:
2 euro dubbelportret – sold out in 3 days
2 euro verdrag van rome in coincard – sold out in 15 days
muntrol 2 euro dubbelportret – sold out in 1 day
BU set Nederland 2013 – sold out in 11 days
Once sold out the price of the coins usually quickly doubles. It almost obligates collectors to review the KNM facebook page and website to keep up to date with new releases. I am not sure what exactly is the advantage for the KNM, but coin dealers must be very happy.
Mommy
Alex has been saying daddy for a while, but now he also mastered mommy. He even knows his mother is called Ana.
Cats&Dogs
The wait is finally over. Cats and Dogs, Boys and Girls, a never ending battle between men’s best friends, combined with the most epic battle of all, the battle of the sexes. Action-packed in just half a minute of gaming frenzy.
An easy and exiting game, now playable on your Android phone. Practice your reflexes as you try to keep up with all the action on your mobile. This hot new game is available as an Android App on Google Play now and best of all, totally free!
The object of the game is as easy as it is challenging. Select either cats or dogs and boys or girls and start the action. Avoid touching the wrong animal or gender. Are you able to get the high score of the day, while only playing one minute? Don’t wait any longer! Get this game now!
View the all time high scores and today’s best scores.
Sick
After our nice visit to Madrid we are once again home but this time with a very sick child. On the flight back his temperature slowly went up to around 39 degrees and the only thing we could do was keep refreshing him with a wet towel. Once we landed we headed directly to the hospital where Alex got a big shot of antibiotica.
Now a few days later Alex is getting better. He is sleeping better and he even finds the energy to play a little every now and then. Still he is not his original 100% and sometimes needs to be held, just to show him there are people that love and protect him.
Madrid, here we come
Today we leave for Madrid. A nice few days of holidays with little Alex visiting the capital of Spain. We’ll be flying with Ryanair, so we’re in for some discomfort, but afterwards we’ll be ready to enjoy the three kings celebrations.
Overview 2012
The year is almost past so once again its time for a review of the past year. We are still living in Las Palmas on the Canary island Gran Canaria. In January we got a nice visit from Kees and Nel which was great fun! Alex was really happy to see his grandparents again, and it was difficult for his to say goodbye. Later in the year we went home to Holland to visit brother Bert, Sally, little Annabel and Jack, grandpa Kees, Grandma Nel and a big part of the family.
In the beginning of this year we had some stressful times. Ana needed to undergo some surgery, and her bladder was removed. After the operation it took some time to get back to her normal self, but eventually she could go on without pain and without a very strict diet.
This year we also moved to a new home. We still live in Las Palmas, but now a little more in the city center and in a little bit bigger apartment. Also we now how our own parking space. 2012 was one more year in which the crisis was noticeable. In Gran Canaria there is an unemployment rate which is more than 30% and this is something you can notice. In July I also lost my job and ever since I’ve been a full time dad and looking for some new job.
Our little angel has gone through some tremendous development this year. He now has teeth and is walking around all the time. He knows Spanish and Dutch words. He learned how to swim. He dances! He likes to play hide and seek with us. He likes painting. In all being a parent has turned out to be a fantastic experience.
We wish everyone a very good 2013!
Marry Christmas!
Alex and the crocodiles
Since the end of the world did not occur Alex got in the mood to take a little more risks. He wanted to visit some crocodiles. Luckily for his there is a big park with crocodiles (cocodrilo park) right here on Gran Canaria near Agüimes and they claim there are more than 300 crocodiles walking around the park. During our visit we could even touch a few little crocodiles and Alex liked this a lot. In the park there were a lot more animals like chickens, rabbits, parrots, snakes, dear, monkeys and more and Alex at times didn’t know where to look. Some of the animals like the chickens and the rabbits seemed to be in high risk to end up as crocodile food but this is maybe just my incorrect assumption.
The ark itself was very charming. It was almost the opposite to a normal commercial park. The tickets to get in were cheap. The food was priced normally and the park was big enough to spend a couple of hours. The park is closed on Saturdays and open the rest of the week from 10:00 till 17:00. At 1 they feed the crocodiles which is like a show and afterwards there is a clown performance.
Surprisingly, the personal was not commercially trained, but they were ‘real’. The boy that was clearly there to take our picture with some parrots did not even bother to make a picture. He started telling us about his parrots and that sometimes one of them bites. One female parrot could be held by men, but did not like to be held by women. We were allowed to pet the parrots and continued our stroll through the park.
An older Canarian that worked on the park took some time to tell us about his work and his relation with one of the apes. In his time working at the park he had developed a relation with one of the apes,Judith, and now he trusted the ape and the ape trusted him. I have never seen a person talk with so much emotion about his relation with and ape and even enter in a discussion with said ape. This was very nice to see.
We liked the park a lot and will return for sure.
Alex and the end of the world
When we told Alex about the possible end of the world he did got a bit scared. Quickly he put on his special camouflage.