Storm

 We get our big fall storm today. Lots of wind and rain. I guess I won't be going for my usual run this morning! Sure am glad the days are getting longer and longer. Pretty depressing around here. 

I have started making more cutting boards in the workshop. I would like to turn some of the wood I have collected into stuff that might be sellable in Marquette. People here don't seem too interested. 

I officially have my first student in China. The parents paid for their first punch card. The bank fees were more than expected though, so we will really need to find a way to cut down on those transfer costs. Complicated to do so though. 

The girls have started to miss their friends. Hopefully they can play together in the next few days. We had a nice Christmas together, although it was a bummer that Claire and Matt couldn't come. Sure is nice to have a bit more time to work on the designs for our house though!

Christmas pictures.

Naomi and the girls worked all day to make two gingerbread houses that had trouble staying together.

Delivering the second gingerbread house to Helene.

Present time.

Christmas dinner.

Lockdown #2

 On Monday they announced the start of our second lockdown, to last at least 5 weeks. Definitely ruins our remaining holiday plans. No more swimming, museum, or zoo. I guess the girls can use a break from everything though. 

They have been adjusting to life at home really well. In the mornings they have been doing their schoolwork really nicely without being asked by us. It was a big relief for them to be home for a while. 

I don't have a problem adjusting to the online lessons, apart from the increased screen time. Combined with working on this ESL online business, there is way too much sitting in front of a computer. I was hoping to teach some twins English, but they got scared off by the international payments. I will need to work on that. May still have one student, we will see if the mom can figure out how to pay. 

No time left for my architecture or writing projects. Haven't been waking up as early in the mornings. Sure hope this business turns into something!

We found a Christmas tree! Got to pick one out of a tiny forest.

Candlelight dinner.

Girls got a special lunch with Helene.

Almost There

 Just one week left. We all really need a vacation! It has been too busy with starting up a new job (I have my first Chinese students in a few days), extra swimming lessons, Christmas prep, etc. Naomi is thinking of staying home this week as Covid is spreading so quickly now. 

Looks like all our plans for Christmas might get cancelled - can't go to Switzerland, Claire and Matt probably won't be able to come here, we reserved for the zoo and a museum but those will probably close down. Even the extra swimming lessons we booked might drop out. What a drag. 

Getting some rest is what we all need though. Hopefully the weather won't be too terrible!

Busy at school!

Sinterklaas

 Yesterday was the birthday of Sinterklaas, so his Piets knocked on the window and left a mysterious burlap sack full of presents for the girls. They got some really nice dresses, a weaving loom, round paper, books, and some other things. So much, in fact, that I think Santa must have gotten a bit lazy and asked Sinterklaas help him deliver a few presents. 

Next weekend we will get the Christmas tree, so a small break in the festivities. Sinterklaas and the Piets also came to school this week and the kids had a bit party with lots of singing, dancing, and sugar. A little monster came home looking a bit like Amélie, and it took a few bites of a sandwich before our Amélie made a reappearance. 

I have started working with a friend that I played basketball with in Jr High to start up a business tutoring Chinese students in English online. Hopefully we can make it work. Kind of complicated though with all the international stuff and trade tensions and monetary restrictions. China lets money in, but they don't want to let it out.

Fun with Kinetic Sand!

Amélie made a picture frame in the workshop (with a bit of help).

Christmas packages!!

Happy Thanksgiving

 We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with our friends from Rotterdam again. It was a lot of fun, although they are having a rough time as his mom just passed away from Covid. We also had a family video chat which was a lot of fun - wish I could have stayed for the whole thing, but it was good to see everyone for a little bit. Sure makes me feel homesick!

I keep plugging away on the designs. Kind of obsessed. Takes forever, but okay. Hard to know what level of detail I should take things to. I have a friend in China who started an online tutoring business, and I think I might try to join him. Lots of potential, and it might be an employment bridge to the States.

Wrapped up with most of the tests at school this week. Always an intense period. Got to hang out with a friend after school on Friday, so that was fun, but now I am really, really tired! Time for a restful Sunday.

Couldn't really capture it, but the drops of water looked like Christmas lights.

Naomi made some scones.

Quite surprised to find these in the woods at the end of November - still tasty!

Broken Records

The climate milestones are stacking up here faster and faster. The latest record is the consecutive number of days with high temperatures of at least 10 degrees Celsius, or 50 degrees Fahrenheit. The count stopped above 240 days on Friday, when it only got up to 8. Still pretty warm for the end of November!

I have been plugging away on the digital modeling for our future house. The garage is really taking shape. Kind of addicting to keep adding to it and making changes. Sure would be nice if the software program, SketchUp, worked a bit better though! I suppose I can't complain too much since it is the free version. I wouldn't mind spending some money on it, but they ask 300 euros/year, and that is just too much!

This was the last week for the girls to go to daycare after school. Helene will start looking after them this Thursday. We are all looking forward to it! It will be more expensive, but a lot nicer for us, the girls, and Helene. 

Making some progress on the designs.

35

 We had a really nice birthday yesterday. The girls made piles of artwork for me! After a movie by the fire in the morning since it was a bit rainy, we had a nice lunch and then went out to the forest for a walk and some hot cocoa at a restaurant that started up drive-in service. For dinner we fired up the grill for some burgers and finished things off with a bit of cheesecake. 

On Wednesday dance lessons got cancelled as the teacher needed to quarantine, but the girls each had a friend over to play with instead. They played nicely and had a lot of fun outside, although Amélie definitely had a bit of an attitude. 

At school, a couple of my friends got tested positively for covid early in the week, so we will need to wait and see if I get any symptoms. Half of one of my classes is in quarantine. Not sure how they expect to continue with this...

Somehow the very last of our prematurely picked garden tomatoes ripened up this week. I had given up hope!

Big stump.

Drive in restaurant in the forest.

Birthday pancakes.

Digital Detox

 Seems like everyone here has been glued to their news feeds this week. Topics of conversation haven't drifted far beyond the election. Lots of relief once the winner was finally announced. We celebrated last night.

Beautiful weather today - it should not be this warm in November! We will enjoy it anyway though. Back to the forest for some skating this afternoon. 

Amélie is really starting to be able to handle the busyness of her routine. She even played with two different friends this week and didn't have too many moments of bad behavior. Abigail was a pain yesterday though - she had a couple 'Amélie' moments. Hopefully they are doing better today after some rest. Their swimming lessons are on hold now because of Covid. 

More confused crocus in our front yard.

Unseasonably warm weather that we are enjoying!

The national school breakfast to promote healthy eating - the girls just have bread with some form of sugar on top. Hmmm...

Saturday celebration.

Rotten Pumpkins

 We carved those pumpkins a bit early this year, hoping they would make it to Halloween. They didn't. It has been really, really warm. We have barely needed to turn on the heat but the fireplace has been going a couple times a week. Today and tomorrow it is supposed to get up into the mid-60s. After that it should start cooling off though. 

I have been getting a bit frustrated with Sketchup - two steps forward and one step back. The software just doesn't do what I expect. Shouldn't complain though as I am using the free version. Nice to start to get a visual of some of the ideas that are in my head though. Nice way to work through some of the design details. 

Amélie pulled out her first tooth this week! One of the few examples of her being ahead of Abigail. The tooth fairy came, and they thought that was pretty cool! Amélie is doing better and better with school and the busyness of our routine. Hopefully this week she will have the energy to play with a friend on Wednesday. 

Our friend Helene provides childcare for these girls, but their Dad lost his job, so she lost hers too. Very sad for her and those girls, but nice for us, because now Helene can watch our girls on Thursdays.

Sometimes living here can feel a bit like the pages of a storybook.

The first one!

Our couch broke again...hopefully this fix will last.

I guess these have become fall crocus. We have some in the front yard too!

A Very Long Weekend

 We had a whole stretch of what felt like Saturdays during this fall break. Nice to be able to get things done around the house, see some friends, and do some fun stuff too. We went to the zoo and the girls went with Naomi to the Baker's Museum yesterday. We even did a repeat of our fall fire. As a bonus, the time changed so we got an extra hour. 

The leaves are really changing color now, but it has been really warm the past few days. Kind of strange. Windy too. We went to a local fish farm with a playground and ponds that people fish for fun in. Seemed like a pretty depressing place to fish to me, but the girls had fun playing. The fish didn't look too happy - packed into dirty, concrete pits. A number of them had cancer or some kind of weird growths. 

I have still been waking up early. Nice to have a bit of quiet time in the mornings. Watched a good documentary with the girls on Netflix: A Life on Our Planet. One statistic in particular popped out. If you add up the weights of all the mammals on Earth, 60% are livestock, 36% people, and 4% wild. 

Playground at the fish farm.

We carved pumpkins! Already getting moldy because of the warm weather.

The bakers museum.

Submitted.

 I finished up the first twelve submissions of my novel this week. I will wait about a month, and if I don't hear anything back, I can try to tweak things a bit and then do another round of submissions. Not sure what to expect. 

Yesterday we took the girls to a local place we hadn't been to before - a trout farm with a playground and  a candle making studio. The fish part was disappointing - unhealthy looking environment and fish. Then they had a few square, concrete ponds that people could pay to catch fish in. Seems like a terrible way to fish when you grow up in the UP. We did have fun on the playground though. 

It is really nice to have this week of vacation. Naomi is planning to see a couple friends and we reserved a spot at the zoo. The girls are much happier now that they get a break from school, but we will see how long that lasts.

Time to refill the freezer with some enchiladas.

We found some pumpkins to carve. 

Fun at the fish farm.