Unfortunately, the first day of Luna's fiftyseven month on Planet Earth is also the last day of her holiday in Normandy, France. Fortunately, the weather treats her to lots of sun, giving her the opportunity to show off her modeling skills (middle right) until she gets tired of her mom taking so many pictures (far right).

No matter what Esther-Mirjam and Luna say to Lior (far left), he is not to be convinced to go swimming with them (middle left). For some reason, he seems a little scared of the sea.

Lior much prefers to build sand castles on the beach (middle right) and to dig a big hole for his little sister (far right). To be honest, this is Aafke's doing!

All good things must come to an end, and the end of the holiday involves cleaning the mobile home before heading back to the Netherlands. Luna and Lior are very happy to help (left).

The group takes off around 11 AM because it takes a while to check out at the camping. Luna and Lior end up sleeping through the first part of the drive and are real angels during the remainder. To reward their stellar behavior, Esther-Mirjam offers to treat them to a happy meal at McDonald's. This means spending about two hours scanning the horizon for the golden arches. When Esther-Mirjam and Aafke spot them simultaneously, they each let out a big scream. With short visits to McDonald's being impossible, the group arrives in Nijmegen a little past 11 PM, with two very sweet children who are thrilled to get to play with their toys at home again and have no intention of going to bed anytime soon!

When Aafke spends a day with Luna, she spends an hour or so braiding our pretty girl's hair (row below, middle). Mom loooves the result and makes her little lady pose in front of the slide (row below, left) and the rabbit residence (row below, right)!

Luna figures it is pay back time for all the times her mom has made her pose. At first, the camera does not quite cooperate (row below, left) and then Lior and mom do not quite cooperate (row below, middle). In the end, Luna almost squeezes her mom into the entire picture (row below, right).

When Hans and Michelle get married, Luna gets to be a flower girl, along with Jasmine (left). The girls perform their duties under the watchful eyes of their parents, Michael, Esther-Mirjam, and Ann (far left). The two look just stunning in their flower girl dresses and turn the heads of many a young man!

During the ceremony, Luna and Jasmine sit quietly side-by-side. That is, at some point, they decide that their wreaths are much too heavy. And at another point, they decide that they want to sit on their moms' laps. When the ceremony is finished, they get to work (right). Unbeknownst to Michelle and Hans, Luna's feet had grown so much that the flower girl shoes no longer fit her feet. Fortunately, the dress is long enough so the shoes are barely noticed!

As you can see, Luna takes her assigned task quite seriously (far left). Being a flower girl not only involves taking care of the flowers, but also posing with the ring bearer, Ethan (middle left). Esther-Mirjam gives the three a ride to the wedding reception and feels to honored to be in their company.

The girls have done a wonderful job with the flowers (middle right) and get to have some fun after all the hard work (far right). Though they have never met each other, they instantly become best friends!

For the group pictures, Luna and Jasmine try to give the wreaths another try (far left), if only by placing them on their laps (middle left). To see the official result, you can visit the Wedding Website

Hip, Hip, Hurray!
Fiftyseven Months Old!

With the summer drawing to a close, Luna starts going to school again and loves it. At school, she gets complimented for her hard work and is observed to be a generally happy little lady. At home, she is a very cooperative girl. That is, she does try to get her little brother into trouble by, for instance, cajoling him to sit under the table with her during dinner and by coaxing him to jump on mom's bed when it is time to go to sleep. Every now and then she feels some healthy jealousy towards him, but for the most part they get along spectacularly well. Indeed, they are lucky to have each other. And mom is lucky to have them!