In the Netherlands !! Day One

We are here!! It's so wonderful to be in Holland.. after 24 hours in the plane, we were warmly welcomed at Amsterdam airport by Femke & Rudy Broeren-Poldner. It's been 7 years since Shirin has seen these friends that she made during her Bahaí youth year of service with Artworks in Perth WA. Femke & Rudy live in the city of Utrecht, a 30 min drive from the capital. We wasted no time at all, heading to the centre of town. Shirin was like a broken record continually repeating "So pretty!" as you can see for yourself from these pics..

Broerens & Ludhers! Dom Tower in background.

Rudy tells us that everyone in Holland owns a bike.

Best tour guides in Holland - our mates Femke & Rudy.

Old friends re-united!!

"De Kloostertuinen" Monastry Gardens

One of the many beautiful canals that run through Utrecht city.

Cooking up a storm - Dutch style!

Enjoying Boerenkool (boo-ren-kol) a traditional Dutch meal of smoked sausage, mashed potatoe with farmer's cabbage & bacon, served with sweet apple sauce and cinnamon. YUM!

Beautiful sunrise view from Femke & Rudy's apartment.

Christmas ' 07

Rohan's first Christmas. Here with Jas & Jay.

Was lovely (as always) to see Uncle Jag, Aunty Jackie, Jas & Jay. Great to have Shirin's parents also join us. Sadly Jasmine's hubby Dan was unwell with the flu, so is missing from this pic.

Later, Rohan received a gift from Diyee Korosh

Anticipation as the gift is unwrapped...

WOW! What a great toy!
The smile says it all.

Chillin with the pretty girls

Here is Rohan posing with the pretty skater girls who put on a Xmas show in the middle of Garden City shopping centre today. He really enjoyed it, entranced by their twirling and skating movements .

Mihrshahis visit Brisbane!

It was so wonderful to catch up with our dear friends Gowhar & Robin, with their beautiful son Anis!
We enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea while the boys played in the yard. Anis is 6 months older than Rohan and was looking after him so well. He is such a beautiful natured boy, we were happy Rohan had the opportunity to interact with him.

Sharing frangipanis.

Its hard to imagine Rohan will be this much bigger in 6 months!

Cutie pies.

Eager to walk..

Nothing like the love of grandparents.

More news about "you know who"

Not long after setting off crawling (Nov), Ro Ros is confidently pulling himself up to standing from sitting position and now taking it to a new level with climbing! He also understands "boos" Farsi for "kiss" and happily kisses his books & toys. Showing spontaneous affection towards us is soooo wonderful and melts our hearts every time.

Its been a few days now that Ryan's parents - Nanny and Dada Ji to Rohan - have returned to Brisbane and we are enjoying the time together very much. Nanny remarks that Rohan has just as much energy as his daddy did when he was a baby, which is a little worrying as Ryan was so accident prone as a child!

So much fun at lunch time with nanny!

Very content in Dada Ji's arms.

Rohan driving us to Maya & Jordan's wedding.

At Safiya's 2nd B'day!!

With beautiful Safiya, Rohan gets ready for the wheelbarrow race.
Shirin apparently would make the same funny face when she was a baby! So we can say he gets that from his mama.

Wow! Birthday parties are exhausting!

Big boy now!

Trying to figure out how to get back down.

Was wonderful to have a visit from Mommoni, whilst in Mackay.

Enjoying the low tide.

Island boy!