New Car!

We were able to pick it up a bit early, on Monday. It had some battery trouble, so they put a new one in for us. Nice to have a warranty. It is such a relief to travel in a nice car! We took it to visit some monkeys on Friday and then to Rotterdam yesterday. The adaptive cruise is great on the highway, and it is so quiet! Going 130 feels like 80 in the old car!

It was also a big week for my business. I took the final photographs of the cabinets upstairs. That project has lasted a lot longer than planned! I also made a sawdust press to turn the leftovers into bricks for the fireplace. Seems to work well so far.

We went to the monkey zoo for our anniversary. It is a really cool spot! Some monkeys just roam freely and they might even climb on the visitors. If they think food is a possibility anyway. The girls had a lot of fun - really nice playgrounds too.

Our trip to Rotterdam was also really nice yesterday. Instead of needing a break after the journey, we arrived and were ready to go. We walked through the park by our old house and let the girls ride the train and the escalators and play in the fountain. Then we met some friends for a nice lunch at Hotel New York - the spot where the ocean liners to the States used to leave from. A cruise ship still docks there once a week.

The new car.

Helping with the sawdust press.

Monkey time.

Ready to chase some ducks.

Amélie was terrified - but Abigail loved this slide.

Hello, friend.

The big city - misty and wet of course.

We ended up being a little late for lunch...

Winding Down

We are still feeling exhausted and a bit stressed about a few things, but summer vacation is setting in, and we have taken some time to enjoy it. Lots of visitors, little afternoons out with the girls, and good food have all found their place. Still not quite enough down time, but we are getting there. Still have a few more weeks to go!

It is really a good thing we don't have any big travel plans. There is plenty to do around here. We live in an area where lots of Dutch people come on vacation, so there is plenty of exploring to do.

I took a bike ride in the forest and came back with a pocket full of blueberries. They are never-ending. The problem is that the ticks like to hide out among them, and lyme disease is a growing concern. These ticks are tiny, barely visible, so finding them before it is too late is rather tricky. Unfortunately, I don't think the endless blueberries are worth it.

Time for a bit of shopping.

We cleaned out the garden and had some extra herbs for the neighbors.

Setting up for the BBQ with the twin boys. 

Ice cream at a campground.

Swinging at the lake with the twin boys.

A diversion from the Saturday market.

A bit of good food.

New Things

We had quite the week. Got a brochure put together for my business to include in a store display. It is a kitchen store in the nearby town of Epe. I think it turned out nicely - fun to see my work on display. We had a fancy dinner with the girls, their first one, at a Sardinian place in Epe. They were so well behaved! I also got busy with the cabinets upstairs again. The never ending project!

Thursday was quite the day. We went to test drive a car and ended up signing for it! A big relief to have that long search behind us, but also kind of annoying now that we have to wait a few weeks before it is ready. Good thing we waited this long though, because we got quite a deal on a really unique car!

We spent that afternoon in Utrecht, eating pizza down by the canal and talking about all the things we could do there with the girls. That night, when we told them about the new car, Abigail almost started crying. She was so sad about having to say goodbye to our old car!

Friday we had a nice visit with Joost, one of our friends from Mali. It was good to see him again!

The display.

The brochure.

Dinner in Epe.

Lunch in Utrecht.

Vacation!

For us, this summer vacation is all about hanging around here. We have a few projects that need to get done, friends that need to be visited, but mostly just recovering. It has begun!

Claire and Matt took a detour from their German car tour to visit us. Yesterday, we took them back to Germany to visit some friends who live in what used to be a Nazi work camp. Today it is a really nice community and we had our first taste of summer vacation. There was this huge mall that Naomi and Claire did some shopping at. One of the fanciest ones I have been to. The other drivers got angry at me because I didn't understand what I was supposed to do, but we ended up going back there for what turned out to be a really nice dinner.

The girls did not have a nap yesterday, and they did not sleep in the car at all. They didn't get to bed until ten! They were happy for the whole day though. We shall see how it goes today. They slept in an extra 2+ hours, so that helps...

A Friday morning walk in the woods.

Helping to wash Auntie Claire's car. It was so much fun that they washed ours too!

Riding to Germany.

Shopping with Mommy at the big mall.

Abigail learning to skateboard on the trampoline. Nazi buildings in the background.

The End.

This week was my last at the KSG, the school where I have taught for the last year and a half. Monday I had my last set of lessons. Only six students showed up for the final one, so I just sent them home. Sports day or something. We had report meetings on Thursday, and Friday was a goodbye dinner. The food was terrible, but it was nice to say goodbye to some colleagues.

While I tried to hang onto this job because I like the teaching, the atmosphere in the school really isn't right for me. Glad to have a better option lined up even though I will be stuck teaching Math...

The goodbye dinner meant that we had a babysitter for the first time. It went really well. Nice to have that option now. The girls had been missing mommy the whole day, especially Abigail, but they managed. This week they started playing 'mommy and baby' where one is the mommy and the other the baby, so they take care of each other. It is funny to hear them say all the things Naomi says.

A few of the projects my students worked on and the classroom where I taught some of the time.