20 Weeks

On Wednesday I also got to go to the Zoo (which is right across the street from our school) with a few classes and a nice group of teachers. It is quite a nice Zoo, and we had a lot of fun.

We had our big 20 Week Ultrasound on Friday. My school was nice enough to give me the whole day off - but then I couldn't have done much teaching anyway as we were at the hospital from 10 - after 1. The ultrasound itself took an hour and they did all sorts of tests and measurements - everything was normal (by Dutch standards) for both babies. Enjoy the videos...we sure did!

Yesterday was the first King's Day, a national holiday to celebrate the new King's birthday, and part of this holiday involves all sorts of people going to the street to sell their old things. We ended up getting two car seats, a bouncy seat for the floor, and a pile of baby clothes all for less than 20 Euros. Quite the deal. Hopefully we will be able to track down some more things during our much needed Holiday (we have the next two weeks off).

The Bird Show - with the butterfly dome in the background.

Inside the butterfly dome.

Week 18

Week 19

A Growing Belly

This week at school was one of the most difficult of the year. By Wednesday I was so exhausted that I felt as if I had a massive hangover. I almost came home early, but fortunately my Intern was able to help me out. He is a pleasure to work with - too bad his stint will end next week.

It is great to have a three day weekend - Monday we have off - I have been wishing for one of these for awhile! Tomorrow I should be able to make more progress on the Chest. Claire joined us for Easter on her way back to the States while she waits on her work permit in Switzerland. She is a pleasure to have around and is enjoying her time in Europe.

We came to the Cottage on Friday, took care of some things Saturday and did some mountain biking - actually found some hills here that I couldn't get up! Today I finally got the kitchen light installed.  A three day project. Incredible. It should be a matter of hooking up some wires after drilling a few holes, but I had to exhaust myself more than I do at the gym to get that thing up there. It looks great now, though!

In the past couple days Naomi has been able to feel the babies moving a lot. She is lying here now describing the kicks. I even saw the kicking through the skin on Friday - in a few months it will look like a scene from Alien. We have been taking a picture every week to show how her belly has been changing. It is going much faster than average for her - the combination of a small frame and the Twins.

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Bulb City

This week was uneventful at school. A lot happened outside of school though! I realized that in order to make the seats/lids of the chest I would need to make a router table. So I did. It turned out quite nicely, although it isn't quite finished - just need to get a couple hinges and a latch for it. I figured while I was at it that a new workbench was in order, so now I have a much improved place to work too!

Today we got up a bit early and went to the Disneyland of gardens. It is called the Keukenhof, located in the middle of a bunch of Tulip fields, and feels like you are coming into a theme park. The crowds certainly aren't much different - but it was worth fighting them.

We got lucky with the sunshine and took lots of pictures. The crowds got to us after awhile though, and we headed over to Amsterdam for Naomi's Dad's 70th birthday party. He has been working on making his apartment livable for the last couple years and finished it just in time for this event. It gave him something to work toward. Finally!

New Workbench.

Router Table.

The Keukenhof (and a couple of the surrounding tulip fields).

Another Intern

This week my new intern started. He is a really nice guy and, unfortunately, will only be around for a couple weeks. He has been teaching people to become real estate brokers for the past 18 years, but that market has dried up, so he needs to find a new line of work. Teaching middle school kids math is quite the change - he was rather overwhelmed after his first day of observations.

The weather was beautiful this week. 60s and sunny. On Thursday I got home before lunch and after a winter of hibernation, pulled the tools back out, got rid of the plants, and turned the plant stand back into a work in progress. I started making the lids/seats. Not quite sure how I will join the 45's yet, but hopefully I can figure something out soon.

I hope that the design will go together well. I make it up as I go and combine some different styles, so hopefully they will compliment each other instead of looking stupid and out of place. It was fun to start work again. Hopefully it will continue!