All good things must come to an end...

Two-and-a-half wonderful weeks with our family have come and gone. Very early this morning Jorrit, Molouk, Nadim, Minou and Nushin started on their journey home, and they have in the meantime arrived in the Netherlands. We had such a wonderful time with them. Its amazing to see how Enna-Marie has thrived with the presence of her aunties, uncle, and cousins. She played so well with her cousins. Nadim especially loves her, treats her like a little sister. Also Enna-Marie's speech has greatly developed. She understands most things we ask her in Dutch, and she is now able to construct some simple-but-slowly-growing-more-complex sentences, mostly in English, such as "Enna... tea... drink", "Enna... eating", "Minou... sleep", "Enna... sit auto", or "Enna... toys... pease (please)". Her favorites are "there she is..!", "Peekaboo... I see you..." :). She will say sorry even if something isn't her fault, and is also learning to say please when she asks for something.

Last night we all went for one last visit to the Shrines of the Báb and 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It is so wonderful to see the children pray at the Threshold. Minou said a short prayer out loud in the Shrine of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and that was just adorable! Also Enna-Marie is beginning to repeat some words of the prayers we say each night: "O God, Guide me...stars...powerful", and "He is God, oh God my God..."

After the Shrine we went to Leggenda in the Merkaz for delicious ice cream. Enna-Marie had her first ice-cream ever and she loved it! After ice-cream we quickly stopped by at the 19th terrace on the top of the mountain to enjoy the panoramic view of the city of Haifa one last time.

Here are some pictures of their last few days with us.

little cookie lovers...

visit at the terraces

playing slide at home

playing at the camel beach

eating lunch after a nice swim

group photo after the Rose Garden children's class

Bahji visit one last time

dinner at Faces

Visit at the Shrines of the Báb and 'Abdu'l-Bahá

enjoying her first ice-cream

want some...?

yummy ice-cream cone too!

Weekend dinner...

This weekend we invited May and Martijn to come over for dinner. It was nice for them to catch up with Jorrit, Molouk and Nushin who are still staying with us until this Friday. We enjoyed some Persian food that we prepared for the evening and had tea, cake and delicious watermelon afterwards.

with the gentlemen sitting in front and ladies at the back (or should it be the other way around so the men can really be called gentlemen..he.he?)

us with Molouk, Nushin and Jorrit

family shot

Bahji visit...

view of the garden in Bahji that is currently under construction

daddy and Enna-Marie at the Mansion

Enna-Marie enjoying her visit

with her friend Ruhullah

group photo with the Ardjomandis

our baby girl coping well with the extreme heat the whole afternoon

taking a break with cousins

family photo with Mrs. Z. Ramirez

Visit to Tando

It is nice that my cousins are visiting us, mommy and I brought them to Tando play center last Friday together with tante Nushin and boy...we have fun together. Although I was a bit sick, we were still able to play together.

Another Rose Garden class...

I went for another Rose Garden class, but this time I brought my two cousins Nadim and Minou with me. It was quite a big class compared from the previous weeks. We welcomed back Rylan, Ruhullah Ardjomandi came again with his parents and their baby Farid, and of course other friends of mine were there as well: Carmel, Rubin, and Layla. It was so much fun, see our photos below...

Pictures at home...

eating some pasta dinner

reading time about Elmo with tante Moulouk

just hanging out at the stairs

...this is actually Enna-Marie's favorite area climbing up and down. Minou likes this area as well as she makes this her stage, she sings and dances here...see the tiny microphone she's holding and her outfit.

Some more pictures with cousins

having lunch at the beach

Nadim and Minou

me and Nadim

playing in the backyard

family having 'gezellig' time

running and playing ball

Minou: ja we're having fun!

rolling the ball in this tree

taking rest while mommy sings some nursery rhymes to us