Blausee

We have had a really nice fall vacation. Started out by bombing down to Switzerland to visit Auntie Claire and Matt. Turns out the Autobahn really wasn't much of a success. Lots of traffic, rain, and construction. Bummer. At least we got good gas milage.

We only saw a few moments of sunshine while we were there, but it was enough to catch a glimpse of a snow capped mountain on the way down to the 'blue lake'. It was a beautiful spot with a glacial river draining into the crystal clear waters of a deep, trout filled lake. Huge boulders along one side mixed into the trees, a playground on the other, a bridge, and even a man with a row boat to take us around the lake. It was a short visit, but we had lots of fun and plenty of good food. Claire was a bit surprised by how much we all eat!

Since we got back, we have been getting plenty of little things done around the house and garden. They have been piling up. Feels good to get on top of things again. Amélie took a renewed interest in roller blading, so we went to the skate park yesterday. It was almost 70 and sunny! The day before we had a bonfire in the back yard and cooked sausages and marshmallows over it. Now things are cooling off and it is time to carve pumpkins. Nice to have the time change this weekend!

A great day at a lake in the Alps.

The girls did well in the car.

Vacation Needed

This is the start of our fall break. We get a week off. Much needed. This has been a pretty good week though. I was a bit worried about the trip our school (just the staff) was planning for one of the Dutch islands because it was such a long day and I was out of energy, but it was a lot of fun.

We took a ferry over to Texel, the biggest island, and were met with an old American school bus. Brought back lots of memories. Had a nice lunch, and then spent some time at an aquarium/rehabilitation center. They focus on seals. Abigail felt betrayed that I would go without her, because she loves seals, so I took lots of pictures and videos for her. Even brought back a few presents from the seal infested gift shop.

After getting lucky with avoiding much of the rain, we took a nice walk in the dunes and went down to the beach. There was a restaurant there with some Green Eggs that they fired up for a BBQ. They did a nice job of keeping over 80 of us happy. Then we were chased off the island by some big thunderstorms. The wind on the ferry was so strong that I couldn't stand up. Ended up being a really good day.

Sure am tired now though, and not able to get much rest since we are prepping for our trip to Switzerland. We will visit Claire and Matt for a few days. Should be a lot of fun, but there is a lot to do in order to head out straight away in the morning.

Big boat for such a short distance. Two levels of cars.

Leaving the mainland - you can see the island (and the other ferry) on the horizon.

Blue Bird!

Lots of seal pictures and videos for Abigail.

Would be cool to have a tank like this in the dome some day.

Whale jawbones.

Sick seals that they are helping.

Very windy on the beach.

Thunderstorms chasing us back to the mainland.

Day of Rest

Yesterday Naomi took the girls to visit her Dad in Amsterdam. They had a really nice time. I needed to recover, so I had a day on the couch. Starting to feel a bit better now.

Also had some resolution with the conflict at work. Should be able to move forward, but feeling rather demotivated. On Friday the staff is going on a field trip to one of the Dutch islands. It will be a really long day, but hopefully fun. My energy levels are really low, so it makes me a bit nervous.

Finished up making sawdust bricks. The ones in the shed won't dry though because it won't stop raining. Today should be the last warm day of the year though, so hopefully we can make it to the skatepark again!

Always fun to get mail!

Thankfully, Dad's hip surgery went really well this week!

In the Ring

Our poor tomatoes are dying off. The last two terrible weeks of weather have wasted about half of our tomato crop. Very sad. Time to start buying them from the grocery store again. That will be disappointing to our taste buds!

I barely made it to school this week. Still dealing with a cold. When I got there, I got into a fight with my former team leader. We shall see how that plays out. Complicated. Takes a lot of time and energy away from what I should actually be working on. That is exactly the problem this fight is trying to solve though - she is an obstacle to making progress with our work.

The girls didn't make it into swimming lessons. We will have to figure out how to deal with that. Maybe wait a year. Maybe start a different program. I don't know. Still irritated that they charge a fortune but still expect parents to train some basic skills with the kids. Used to just be part of primary school here.

At least this weekend has been a bit more restful. Found some great new winter shoes for the girls yesterday. They can't wait to wear them to school tomorrow! Looking forward to continuing to clean up the novel this week, although the changes are feeling pretty minor at this point. Time to look for some readers again I suppose...

Looked a lot better in real life, but I made a colorful dinner.

Amélie dressing up as a 'neighbor from a very exciting country' yesterday when the girls had a friend over.