First month in Philly

September 16, Elin had her first music workshop after school and Jana had piano lesson again. They both have this at the same musicschool but Jana's piano lesson takes half an hour and Elin's music workshop takes about an hour so when Jana was done, I went to the playground with her until Elin was done with her music workshop. Elin was very happy when I picked her up and she really liked the music workshop. When we got back home I started cooking. I made macaroni with peas, mushrooms, zucchini and chicken, but unfortunately the ids didn't even try it and I had to make macaroni only with cheese for them… Oh yes, and I also finished my roomdecoration! Everything I want and a lot of work on making the pendulum with all the pictures with my friends and family! But I am very happy with the result!

September 17 I had a lot of fun with the girls! They were happy the whole day! In the morning Paige brought them to school by herself, because she still had to drop something off at school, so I went to the YMCA (the gym 2 minute walk from home). After school I picked the girls up and we went to the library, because Jana has to read for her homework and I made an account here for free so that the girls and I can borrow books. Along the way to the library they were doing very crazy as you can see on the pictures! They both chose 3 boooks, 'coincidentally' all from the same collection-> fairytales! Then we went back home by Uber and they were so excited to read their new books! Elin can't read of course becaus she is still only 5, but I had the idea that Jana could read out loud and repeat the words that are hard for Elin to pronounce because of her motor retardation. This worked great! Then we did arts and crafts and we made some birds on a rope and Jana made a drawing for me! Then we had dinner and this was the first meal I made that they really enjoyed! I made fish fingers with peas and selfmade fries! Then they watched some TV and went to bed. Jana gave me a big hug and said 'I love you', and I really loved that!!

My crazy little girls!

Reading Terminal Market!

September 18 I went out for having lunch at Terminal Market in Philly together with Bereket and 2 of his friends. Bereket is a Dutch Au Pair who is here for his second year now and he had invited another girl who also was an Au Pair and comes from Brazil. She is also here for her second year and her second year ends in December. She had brought her boyfriend whom she met in Philly. Bereket also knows him well. It was really super cozy and it is really a huge restaurant where you can get everything you want !! There was even a supermarket inside!
I had chosen a kind of thick wrap with chicken, mozerella, tomato and some other vegetables and for dessert I had a donut with oreo & white chocolate filling and this was really delicious !!


September 19 both of the girls had gymnastics but unfortunately not the same time... I brought them together with Arjan to gymnastics. First Elin had gymnastics and then 45 minutes later Jana. Jana met some of her friends and we went to a park close to the gym with one more babysitter, Nathalie. She also lives in Philly really close to me so that’s great! After the gymnastics we ate at Arjan’s place and then we went to the swimmingpool while he did some work in his apartment and aftet we brought the kids to bed I went back to Paige’s home.

September 20 I started exercising again at the gym (like I do every morning during week) and then I went to the supermarket, called Sprouts. I went ther because I wanted to buy some American chocolate chip cookies for Bereket, because of hi birthday party. I knew that he really loves those cookies so that's why I bought them! However, I had never been to this supermarket before, because I only went shopping with Paige once and that was in a different supermarket. Sprouts is the closest supermarket in our area and it's only 1 minute bike! I really admired all the products of the big supermarket when I entered it! There was so much you could buy and of all the products there seemd to be hundreds of varieties! For breakfast cereals and nuts, you even have a very separate department where you can fill a bowl by yourself and then pay per pound! I also really like it that you don't need to go to a cash desk in the USA because you can also pay by yourself and that's much easier sometimes! In front of the supermarket entrance was gathered a whole pile of pumpkins! At half past two in the afternoon I went to pick up the girls from school again and then I went to Sister city (a park close to Arjan's house) with Elin. Or I mean, that was the plan... But Arjan told me that we could also go to a few shops alon the way to the park, because he and Paige had noticed that Elin really likes to enter shops and look at all the items (especially toys of course). So I went to the target with her and she lookd at the toy department for about half an hour! She also came to me very happily and said: 'Oh my god Lieke, look what I found! I found some marshmallows!' And this turned out to be just cotton balls so I had to laugh a lot! She also met her best friend Mr. Skeleton! After we returned home, Arjan went to a spinning class and then we went out for having dinner at Marathon.ihad vegetarian chili soup and capellini with vegetabes and this was very tasty, but a bit to much (like all the American portions are). After dinner we went swimming and I brought the girls to bed becaus Arjan went out for a drink somewhere.

Sprouts Supermarkt & Target with Elin

September 21 I started running along the river in the morning. A very long path has been created here especially for runners! I ran a total of 14 km and thought it was a very nice area! In the afternoon we celebrated Jana's birthday with her girlfriends at a climbing park. I went here by bike with Arjan and this was a tough trip, quite uphill. After 40 minutes we finally arrived at the climbing park. Soon Paige arrived and we were able to prepare all the snacks and drinks and then the children came. They couldn't wait to climb and they absolutely loved it! In the evening I went to a party by Bereket, (a Dutch au pair who lives in my area) and this was also very nice! I thought it was a bit exciting in advance, because I hardly knew anyone but I also met new people again!

Birthday Party Jana & Bereket!

Today I traveled with Lara along with the hop-on-hop-off bus through Philadelphia to explore the city even better. This was very nice and we have seen many beautiful things and we got out 3 times. First at a large Art museum and there we have made some nice photos. Then we went to a harbor and there we drank something at the Riverside in a park with lots of hammocks and sitting areas. And finally we got out for lunch and afterwards we went into town to go shopping. I had already seen most of the things we encountered with the bus tour, but Lara hadn't because she lives on the other side of the river (West Philly). I am very happy that I live so close to the center, but not right in the center or outside the city! Ideal right ?! So, it was a great day and we made a lot of pictures! Now we both know where we really need to go back here!

Big Bus Tour with Lara!

September 23, I went to the gym in the morning because the girls were at Arjan's place until Wednesday, because Paige had a worktrip to Toronto. So I only had to pick up the grils from school and bring them to their activities if they had some. Today they had music lesson again. Jana had piano lesson and Elin had her music workshop again. When Jana was done I went to the playground with her until Elin was done and then we went back to Arjan's apartment and I made dinner for them. Then Arjan went out for having dinner with a friend and we went to the swimmingpool. After that I quicky showered the girls, they watched TV for 10 minutes and then I helped them with brushing their teeth and brought them to bed.

Tuesday, September 24 I also first went to the gym again and after that I facetimed with a friend from the Netherlands and I really liked it to see her again! Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time so we just called for about 15 minutes. But it was great! After I picked up the girls from school we went to the playground together and when we walked back to Arjan, it took us about 40 minutes to get back because it was a bit too long for the little girls and Elin fell down on her knee… When we finally got home I warmed up the dinner Arjan made for us and then I gave the girls their desert. When Arjan got back home from is spinning class, there was another babysitter for the girls because Arjan went out for having dinner again and he didn't want to ask me to stay until 11 pm again. I think that is very nice of him! So I went back home at 7:30 and then Bereket, Prenisha and Hendry came over to play 30 seconds together and it was really funny! I had to describe the word Big Mac for Bereket so I said: 'It is the most famous burger you can get at the Mc Donald's'. Bereket very seriously answered 'Uhmm Burger King'... And then we all had to laugh! And Prenisha had to describe the word 'Holland' for Hendry so she said: 'It is another word for The Netherlands'. Hendry answered: 'Uhmmm Dutchland??' So that was also very funny! I had a great evening with them and thanks to Paige that they could come, even though she wasn't home!

On Wednesday, September 25 I went to the gym again and then I called with my parents because I really don't know what kind of classes I want to do for earning my 6 credits for my visa. Then I made a healthy pancake with apple, cinamon and muesli (#/loveit). And around 2:30 pm I picked up the girls from school again and we got back to Paige's home by Uber. Jana couldn't wait to open her birthday presents from last weekend! She still hadn't opened them because Paige took them home after her party and the girls stayed at Arjan's place until today. She was very happy with everything she got from her friends and she opened and played with everything she got! Then Paige came back home and brought Elin to the 'playdoctor' for her motor retardation and then she picked Jana up for going to girls scouts. Paige is a volunteer at the girls scouts, so sometimes she goes there together with the girls and I can stay home. Girls scouts is only once on Wednesday in every 2 weeks. I finished making dinner when they all got back home and then Paige brought the girls to bed and also went to bed. I made my plan for tomorrow and also went to bed after that!

On Thursday September 26 I brought the kids to school with the Uber because Paige had to go to the dentist. It was a little chaos again because Elin wanted her mommy to bring her to school... But when we finally got there, she was fine and gave me a big hug before she entered the school. Her class was already inside because we were a bit too late. When I waved to Jana at the windows on the other side of the school I went to the gym at Arjan's place and after that I went back to Paige's home. There I took a quick shower agian and at 3 pm I was at school again and picked up Jana from school because Arjan had already picked up Elin from school because she pooped in her pants again… This happens very often since a few weeks and we all don't know why… Then Jana and I went to pick up Elin at Arjan's place to get ready for their gymnastics classes. There I met Hendry ( a friend who is from South-Africa and who I know from Bereket). Elin had gymnastics first again and Jana went to a park with her friends and one babysitter, so I went to Prenisha with Hendry. Then Jana had gymnastics and then we went back home. I made a salad for the girls and then we had a movie-night because they didn't have school on Friday. After we finished the movie we made some jokes and then I brought the girls to bed.

On Friday, September 27, the girls didn't have school because of a holiday, so we went tot the Franklin Institute museum together because Paige has a membership there (and also at some other paces in Philly). This was really funny and first the girls didn't really want to go there but when we finally got there, we had a lot of fun together!! After we went there, they played outside for a while and then we got back home. Elin had to go to the doctor with Arjan for a flu shot and I went to a playground with Jana. Then Elin also came to the playground and after that we went back home and I made some sweet potato fries with cauliflower and chicken. Luckily, the girls really liked it! When Paige got back home from work, I went to the bus because I was going to Brooklyn and stay over at Esmay's house. She is a Dutch Au Pair who I met at Schiphol almost 4 weeks ago! It was very nice to see her again!!

                                                      The Franklin Institute with my girls! 

On Saturday, September 28, Esmay and I woke up early because we were going to Long Beach to met Robin (another Dutch Au Pair who lives there). First we went to the Starbucks and bought the Salted Caramel frappuchino! This tastes soooo great!! And then we went to the subway station and took the subway to Atlantic Terminal where we had to take the train to Long Beach. We arrived around 11 am and it was so great! Robin has her own apartment from her hostfamily and it is so big and great! When we arrived and dropped our stuff, we first walked to the beach (about 2 minutes walk!) and we bought a Pink Lemonade (something you should defiinitely try at Long Beach!!) Then we went back to get our stuff for going to the grocery store and there we bought our lunch and dinner and some donuts. We dropped the food back at Robin's apartment and we walked to the beach again. We took a lot of beautiful pictures and we waited at the beach for the sunset, which was great to see! Then we went back to the apartment and prepared our dinner and after we had dinner we watched the movie 'The hate you give'. This is a very very impressive movie about black people being treated differently by prejudice. During the movie, we ate our donuts fron Dunkin' Donuts and after we saw the movie, we went to bed because we all were very tired! But it was a great and a very succesful day with the girls!

Long Beach with Esmay and Robin! 

On Sunday, September 29, Esmay, Robin and I went from Long Beach to Penn station (NY) buy train and from there we went to West Village with the subway. This is a vintage village in Manhattan (NY) and it was really great! We made some pictures and walked around a lot! Along the way, we came across the apartment where the Netflix series F.R.I.E.N.D.S is recorded and oof course we took a picture of it! Super cool!! We had lunch at 'The Grey Dog' and it was really tasty! I had a sandwich with chicken, pesto mozzarela and dried tomatoes and I also had some sweet potato fries! After lunch we went to a skateboard shop and Robin bought her first longboard and she was very happy with it! It was very nice to see a shop with only skateboards and try some! It also was very funny to see Robin struggeling with her longboard! After we went there, we walked to Chelsea Market, a shopping mall nearby. We also ate Dutch poffertjes in a cute restaurant. We told the staff that the word 'pancakes' was incorrect and that it must be 'poffertjes'! Very funny! Late in the afternoon, Robin and Esmay walked back to Penn station and enter some other shops and I went to the other side of the city because I had to go to my bus which went back to Philly. On my way to the bus, I went to Washington Square Arch and I walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately I didn't have time to walk on the bridge and take some pictures there… Also my Phone was empty, so I wasn't able to figure out where my bus was going to stop... Luckily there were a lot of people standing on the sidewalk with suitcases and that's why I knew that they were probably waiting for the same bus, because that bus only goes to Philly. I quickly got some hot chocolate and a sweet bread because I really had to eat something and there weren't lots of shops I could go and then the bus finally arrived 15 minutes too late... But wow, I had such a great weekend with Robin and Esmay! They are very great girls!! And when I finally got back home, I also met Paige's parents who came from Washington and stay here untill Tuesday. They are very kind and they kept on saying they really loved to meet me finally!

West Village Manhattan (NY), Brooklyn Bridge & Washington Square Arch! 

Monday September 30, the girls didn't have school and ther grandparents (Parents of Paige's who live in Washington D.C) were staying at Paige's home so I could first go to the gym again. The grandfather always wakes up around 3:50 am! I still don't know why exactly, but it is also for his work... When I got back home I took a quick shower and then Paige went to her work and the girls were playing together. I talked to the grand parents about the plans for today and I told them I would also like to bake something with the girls. They thoght this was a great idea and the grandmother gave me some money to go to the grocery store and get the stuff I needed. The girls really wanted to make brownies so I chose the mix for making cookiebrownies (brownies with cookie dough in it). I made it together with the girls and then we had lunch with the grandparents at home. After lunch we tried a piece of brownie of course and we all really loved it!! Then we went to the playground together and also with 'Cloony', the cute little dog of the grandparents. When we came back I started making dinner for the whole family: salmon with marinade, roasted potatoes with rosemary, green beans and a salad with tomatoes, carrots and raisins. Everyone really loved the dinner I made and it was the first time we could eat dinner all together, because Paige got home earlier form work! After that I talked a bit with the grandparents and then I went downstairs and Paige brought the girls to bed.