Kids

On Saturday afternoon we went to visit Marc and Mandana and Tess and Yarrow´s cousins - neither Tess nor Yarrow had actually met most of them as they have been out of the country for so long. Juliette and Carmen hadn´t been born yet when they were last there. They are four now, and Sophia and Leila are six and seven, Esmee is twelve and Nick sixteen. The young girls were totally fascinated by these strange people from far away who were related to them and didn´t seem to speak much Dutch, but within 30 minutes or so they were completely used to us and jumped on us, told stories and played practical jokes on us, challenged us (´Can you ....? Can I show you what I can do?) , told us everything about their pet guinea pigs, rabbits and cats and created a lovely chaotic atmosphere of hilarity and playfulness. At some stage the whole troupe, including Tess and Yarrow, so eight in all, filed out of the house to go to the local supermarket to get some things. The quiet descending on the house for a bit was breathtaking... but you should have seen the smile on Marc´s face when they all came back. He so much enjoyed the fact that his kids had been able to go out together with their cousins. It´s quite amazing to see how both he and Mandana deal patiently with the constant happy clamour and demand.

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