Disneyland and The Netherlands - by Daniel

In  London we went to look for the BFG Dream Jars.  We found one with a person's head made out of metal string things and there were butterflies.  We took photos. 

We went to France and I liked it so much when we went on a ride at Disneyland.  It was so fun because you could get wet if you went in the front of the boat.  I liked eating yummy croissants.  I asked for cinq croissants s'il vous plaît at the bakery.  They were so yummy with jam but I didn't really like them with nothing on them.

We are having a lot of fun in the Netherlands, we have been here two days and have 6 left.  Today we went to a goat farm where there were lots of bikes and things.  None of the big tractors could work on the bark so I couldn't ride them on the bark.  We had ham and cheese toasties for lunch and we dipped them in tomato sauce!

This afternoon we saw a duckpond with green stuff in it and every single time a duck swam it would make a little trail and the swans made a bigger trail.  We visited Leiden and I had a bubblegum icecream.  It was the third icecream we've had on our holiday already.

London and Paris - by Callum

On our first day in London we went to see our old friends from Singapore.  We went to Big Ben and we saw it become 11 o'clock.  We went on a boat and we went to Hampton Court Palace.  

When we got to France we got our car and it was a seven seater car. We drove to our apartment that we were staying in then in the morning we had croissants for breakfast. THEY WERE SO YUMMY!!!  On the same day that we had croissants we went to two churches and we went on a bus called Big Bus.  It was a tour bus and you got headphones.       

On our Second day in France we went to Disneyland and we went on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast which is a firing game and you shoot at the monsters and you get points if you hit them and you are moving.   That was my favourite one and my second favourite was a cowboy shooting range and you had to shoot the targets they would make a sound.

Disneyland Paris (and fun with the Griffiths)

Our long-awaited Paris Part 2 finally came around this weekend. We had a cold, wet drive down from Belgium but arrived to find a lovely haven in our apartment in Paris. The host, Monica, is an interesting old duck. Like many of the Airbnb apartments we've stayed in, there are shelves FULL of interesting books - Shakespeare, art history, divine cookbooks, Bill Bryson and DVDs galore in English, French and Spanish (including plenty for the kids). It has been great as our first two days were cold and wet - a bit different from our first Paris stay in August!

On Sunday the Griffiths gang joined us from England. They came round in the afternoon and Callum was so excited to see Maia again, it was very cute to see. We drank wine, ate too much and had a lovely few hours catching up.

Monday was Disneyland Paris. We felt extremely lucky to wake up to blue skies and sunshine and only a 5% chance of rain (according to Google's weather forecast). We met the Griffiths at the gate and spent an unforgettable day meeting characters, riding in teacups and flying elephants and eating burgers and popcorn. We stayed right till the light show and fireworks and when we got home at 9:30 Callum asked if we could go back again tomorrow. If only!

Today has been a bit crazy as we have been packing, clearing out the kitchen, washing and drying clothes, weighing baggage and looking for missing shoes... In the midst of all that we met up with Nina and Giles and the kids again for a trip up the Eiffel Tower and pizza for dinner. We had a great afternoon despite a couple of chunders from Callum, poor thing. He seemed ok by the time we got home this evening so fingers crossed for our flights tomorrow!

So here we are. Our final night in Paris and in Europe. It has been noisy, funny, interesting, stressful, confusing, diet-busting and more fun than I ever imagined possible. I know a lot of you thought we were a bit mad taking a toddler and a preschooler round the world for three months but I can say now that all the sleepless nights, roadside nappy changes, chicken pox dramas and tantrums have been WORTH IT. It's been amazing and I wish we could do it all again. But fortunately we have another adventure to look forward to now - 10 days in Melbourne with Mike's family and then home to New Zealand.