Happy New Year!

The fireworks kept us up for a little while last night...but we still got a good night of sleep. Very important for us. We got a chance to take part in a Dutch New Year tradition of making these donut-like treats yesterday called 'oliebollen'. Usually people just buy them, but they were fun to make with our friends in town who have twin boys that are 6 months older than the girls. Nice to spend time with them.

On Thursday, the girls went to daycare, and Naomi and I slipped across the border to visit some friends. They live in what used to be a Nazi work camp. Kind of a creepy vibe, but it seems like a nice community now. They have a baby boy now, so it was fun to meet him. We also got some knives that we had been wanting for a couple years. Fun to get them nearby to where they are made. What wasn't fun was the traffic jam on the way home. The highway was blocked up for half an hour with people who went to Germany to buy fireworks. We barely made it back in time for the girls.

It has been a rather exhausting week. We have made a lot of progress in the house though. Hopefully by the time this 'vacation' is over we will be satisfied with it for now. It is still a bit mess at the moment. Will definitely try to rest a bit more before school starts again...