De Waterkant

Today, we're not going to the beach. If, from our house, you go in the opposite direction, there's a beatiful series of parks, the most amazing of which is the Westbroekpark, which includes the Rosarium, a rose garden spread out among spacious landscaping. At the edge of this park, which is surrounded by water, is De Waterkant, which consists of a little wooden shed, a large field of grass with tables and chairs, a wooden waterfront with rowing boats for rent, a floating terrace (which doubles as a motorboat) and - somewhat surprisingly - an old bunker next to the shed in which art exhibitions are held.

De Waterkant is an ideal place for a lazy day. It can be reached either through the Rosarium, or by a small hand driven ferry. We take the latter, which is always a bit of a risk, because it is operated by whoever happens to be around and willing to get you across the water. We're lucky, however: a group of women that is about to set off with one of the rowing boats notices us and one of them helps us out. Rihanna Gaga loves taking this small ferry - which she's been doing since she was ver little, in fact: she did so during one of our very first outings with us, when she was merely a few days old.

We're not the first customers - several people are already renting boats, which have impressive names like Odessa and Titanic - but we are the first to order something. When I ask for a croissant and an omelette, the waitress tells me she's not sure the kitchen is open. Then she spots the cook arriving on her bicycle and with a bit of relief, she assures us breakfast can be served - although the croissant will take some time, since they have to fire the oven first. I assure her that we're in no hurry and I ask Rihanna Gaga which table she wants to sit down at.

Rihanna Gaga picks a table in the sunshine, which is already quite strong despite it only being ten o'clock in the morning. Good thing I put sun screen on her before we left the house. I'm not in a good shape. Two days ago, when we celebrated Rihanna Gaga's birthday with friends with a picnic in the Rosarium, I overstretched my back when I played flying dragon with Rihanna Gaga. I picked her up, to throw her in the air as I often do, and then it happened. I have barely been able to stand straight and walk since then. I hoped the pain would cease, but it hasn't and I am very worried about what this could mean. But sitting down, surrounded by the beautiful park and alongside the water, I could almost forget about all of this. Rihanna Gaga sits down on my lap and we enjoy our drinks: a latte macchiato for me, an apple juice for her. She marvels at the fact that we can see the moon, even though there's road daylight, and we tell the moon she can go to sleep now. As we gaze up at the moon, an airplane appears and heads straight for the moon. "Oh no," I say, "it's going to bump into the moon!" Rihanna Gaga is delighted by the idea and we both laugh when the airplane indeed hits the disc of the moon on its way to Schiphol.

Other than my problems with my back, Rihanna Gaga's birthday was a big success. While on the day itself there were only three visitors - our good friends and their baby - we had a great, lazy day in the park and later dinner at beach club Copacabana. The week before that, however, we threw a big party, with friends and family and that was a great success as well.

Rihanna Gaga takes her dolls out of my bag - a series of anthroposophical dolls she got as a birthday present from her grandmother - and plays a bit with them. Then she lays them down on the grass, tells me the dolls need to go to sleep, and she's off to the bushes at the edge of the field of grass on which we are sitting. She tells me to come - she wants a  big stick, she says, because she lost a smaller stick just now when she tried to angle with it in the water. We find a big stick and she goes to the waterfront, pretending she's angling for fishes. I tell her not to get too close and keep a close eye on her.

The omelette is brought: a simple omelette is €6,- and then it's €0,50 more for different toppings. I've chosen bell pepper, cheese and tomatoes and Rihanna Gaga loves it. She eats about half of the large omelette and bread, leaving the rest for me. We also share the croissant when it arrives and she has such a good time playing in the grass and alongside the waterfront that I order a mint tea when we're done eating. Rihanna Gaga tells me she wants icecream, remembering that when she was here with her mother last time she also got icecream. We buy a simple one for her and I show her how she has to push it to get the ice out. Then, she returns to playing on the grass and I read for a while.

I suspect we could easily spend the rest of the day here. Rihanna Gaga feels very comfortable here and the chairs are good enough for my back not to hurt too much. We have to go, however, because at twelve o'clock we have an intake at Rihanna Gaga's new daycare, the place where she will go when school is out and her mum and I are still working. Like her current daycare, she will do so three days a week and she is actually quite eager to check this new place out. When we talk about it with here, her face becomes very serious: it is clear she isn't sure whether she likes the idea that she has to leave the daycare that she has become used to over the past months, but she is looking forward to school and mingled with some worrying about it, there's also an eager anticipation there. We pay and a friendly man helps us to take the ferry across to our bicycle again.