We follow Jacky and Dieuwertje in this guest blog during a lovely holiday at sea with a toddler: Mats!
Holiday at sea with a toddler
Monday
Jack (Mr. Frown good looking alias daddy) and little old me get into the car and take off in the direction of Qurios Bloemendaal aan Zee for a holiday at sea with a toddler, our toddler! Mats (smart mouth of 4). We booked a cottage in the dunes a couple of months ago. First of all, the cottages on the website of Qurios looked promising; new and directly at sea. Luckily we don’t have to take a lot of stuff with us as the cottages come prepared with made beds, towels and dishcloths. Nice!
After a warm welcome we are shown the way to our home of the next 5 days and we are given a good view of the park. Our cottage (no. 49) is situated slightly higher, giving us a nice view. Especially when evening falls, the view over the dunes from the couch through the large windows is quite stunning. In addition, the cottage has a modern Scandinavian interior with a beautiful concrete floor. The bathrooms and bedrooms are cozy but large enough and the living room is gorgeous and certainly spacious for the three of us. Tomorrow we will go out and explore our surroundings!
Our cabin
Tuesday
Today started off with a little rain so a good moment to explore our surroundings by car. We had a lunch at Mr. Paprika in Haarlem, a toy store with a lunchroom and lots of entertainment for kids such as a table with a toy train track and a play corner for our little guy. As soon as the sun pops out we head on back to our little cottage in the dunes. Mats is enjoying himself, playing with his spade, bucket and his new German friend while we chill on the comfortable lounge set outside. The roof of the cottage sticks out a bit. This comes in handy if you need a little shade or in our case, shelter from a light rain shower. After dinner we walk onto the beach, because we can! The tide rolls up on Mats just a little too quickly and as a result we head on back to the cottage with his feet all wet!
Wednesday
There’s always something to do in or around Bloemendaal! Today we visited a really fun fair in Haarlem which was located on the Zaanenlaan. We were joined by Uncle Kevin, nephew Floris and niece Lot. Mats had the time of his life and “won” his fair share of trumpery. Lot got to meet Woezel and Pip and Floris learned how to steer a mini scooter in the opposite direction on the trail. Unfortunately the supervisor of the mini scooter trail did not see him coming and got into a “rear-end collision”. A fun afternoon nonetheless! After a busy day Mats is in bed late around 21.00. “Is the sea still open mummy?” “No, unfortunately it’s closed, just like when it was raining”.
Thursday
Today we decide to take it slow. Kiting on the beach, a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and a slice of apple pie and whipped cream on the side. That’s right, we’re on holiday, Jacky will sport it all off later. After that we went for a bite to eat in the park on Qurios. At 20.00 it’s Remembrance of the Dead. Two very defiant minutes to get through with a toddler; please be quiet. But it goes well! Until the last few seconds that is: “So, I’m almost done”. Thanks honey, good to know…
Playground at the Qurios Bloemendaal aan Zee
Friday
Our check out day and it’s Liberation Day too. Since we’re close to Haarlem where a liberation festival is organized we definitely want to go. We arrange to see our niece and nephew again but this time with Aunt Aafje. There’s a special part of the festival organized for kids where “Dikkie Dik” is set to perform. Flo and Lotte happily jump along but our Mats turns out to be less fond of shouting ladies who pose as fat cats. At the end of the day we return to Brabant. Lovely holiday, lovely park, lovely family. In conclusion Qurios is most definitely a recommendation for a holiday at sea with a toddler!
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This midweek is made possible by Qurios.
