Merry Christmas!

The sun is, strangely, shining and we had a great morning! Amélie was up with a cough in the middle of the night, but some Benadryl put an end to that. We were worried it might be Covid as they were at school with someone who tested positive earlier this week, but we all just did a test and it was negative. 

That means we will go North as planned. Getting up early tomorrow morning to make our way toward Copenhagen. Then even earlier the next day to explore the city for a bit before crossing over into Sweden. These past few days, both countries have announced travel restrictions. Denmark is implementing on the 27th and Sweden on the 28th. Six weeks ago, we booked to enter Denmark on the 26th and Sweden on the 27th. We are cutting things a bit close I suppose!

Our schools closed a week early due to the severe lockdown here. It was nice to have a bit of down time to prepare for the big trip. The girls have been playing so nicely together and even sleeping in the same bed. They just can't seem to be apart. Hopefully all the time in the back of our car won't ruin that!

A present made for Helene. 

Naomi has enjoyed some nice bike rides to work.

All negative!

A new kind of mouth mask.

Enjoying their Christmas books!

The First Woodworking Workshop

One year ago I invited a couple colleagues to learn how to build things in the workshop with me. We kept trying to make it happen but one thing or another kept getting in the way. Finally got a chance to do it yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! Teaching woodworking is much more interesting than teaching Math or English, even though my colleagues son also learned some Math and English yesterday. He decided to make a cutting board out of a nice scrap of birdseye maple and his son made a game. Barely finished in time for dinner!

The girls were told last week that school would be cancelled this coming week due to the virus, and now this weekend they mentioned that our secondary schools might shut down as well. Nice way to save things for the last minute. Not sure if I am supposed to go to school tomorrow or not! Looks like we are back to a full lockdown. Amélie was crying because she wants to go to school so badly!

We will see if our holiday plans are able to work out or not. Denmark is also having a rough time. I haven't seen any travel bans yet though. Hopefully they don't roll those out the night before we leave...

Amélie rolling into the pool wearing a rain jacket over her clothes.

Abigail jumping in with her clothes on.

They did it! Amélie got the more advanced level and she wants to keep going.

The first woodworking workshop.

Preparing for the Christmas celebration.

Christmas Tree

We picked out a small tree yesterday. Fun tradition to do it together with our friends. They always get a big one. Today we will decorate it. Yesterday we got a package of presents from our friends in Rotterdam - one of my former students. Very friendly of them! We had to open them already as there were perishables. 

So much unhealthy food this season! Naomi is having trouble with avoiding all the stuff she is allergic to. There isn't that much she can eat. Hopefully it is temporary. 

We had some ice on the pond for the first time of the year. The big goldfish didn't have the sense to stay away from the surface, so it started to get frozen in. I had to turn on the waterfall to thaw it out. Today is the big day for swimming lessons - the two year finale. The girls get their diplomas, and then we can celebrate. 

Winter by the castle.

Making some bird food.

A dangerous spot.

Present time!

Sinterklaas

 It has been quite the week in terms of the holiday festivities. Amélie won a coloring contest, so one of Sinterklaas's helpers, a Piet, showed up at our door with a prize. Pretty special for her! We also opened presents this morning, and the girls got lots of new things but the biggest were two new bikes! 

The girls also are doing really well with swimming lessons, so coming Saturday will be their last day, the ceremony where they show off their skills. Sure will be a relief to be done with that after two years!

I have occasional contact with a friend from the village where I lived in Mali. He sent me two pictures of the house where I lived, and they made me feel sad. Too bad that it looks rather abandoned - I had always hoped that someone would enjoy all the improvements I made. 

Amélie lost another tooth!

My old house.

The big winner!

Opening presents and reading some clues about the bikes.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving celebration with Clifton and Karmen yesterday. The turkey and everything else turned out really well! Lots of leftovers. Lots of fun. 

Abigail stayed home from school for much of the week. She was throwing up on Monday, so we had her tested for Covid, but that was negative. She is feeling fine now though! Yesterday a package came from one of my students in China. She painted a beautiful silk cloth for me as a Christmas present. Very sweet!!

The government also started up some stricter lockdown measures while allowing over 5000 people to come in from South Africa. Many countries have denied these flights due to the new variant there. This country isn't even prepared to give out booster shots. Quite the mess here - but they will leave schools open for now. 

Trying out some plant based tuna - it was good!

Opening presents from Sinterklaas.

Fun at Thanksgiving.

Mini-Lockdown

The Dutch are closing things down again. Booster shots aren't ready. Schools still open for now, but we shall see how things go. Looks like we won't be able to see the girls finish up with swimming lessons. That is a bummer! Naomi's beehive building class has also been cancelled. Other than that we aren't really affected much so far. Sure hope our Christmas plans won't get scrapped!

I have been working hard on the novel. Implementing some really helpful, specific feedback. I want it to be wrapped up by this time next year, so hopefully that will work out. Every Monday I meet with my 'editor' and his feedback is great!

It was good to get back to school this week. Not sure if it will stay open though. A lot of people are out with Covid, so it makes things pretty hard to run. 

I wore some flannel in honor of Deer Day.

Abigail prefers art to eating sometimes!

36

 It has been a big week! Two days ago Naomi's grandma turned 101. Yesterday Sinterklaas came to the NL, so there was a parade and the girls got some little treats and presents in their shoes this morning. Today I turn 36, so we are going to the zoo soon. Should be fun!

I am starting to feel better, I was sick at home all week, so tomorrow should be back to school and business as usual. Except that they are starting to lock things down again. Cases are spiking and the booster shots aren't ready to go. We will see what happens this time around. 

Hopefully we can take our trip to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Berlin for Christmas. We were able to get things booked, but who knows what will happen. Sure would be nice to be able to look forward to something like that without all the uncertainty! At least we made sure there were good cancellation policies. 

Yesterday Amélie and I finished up the shelf for her bedroom. Matt had a couple failed giraffes from the 3D printer that we used. Amélie did most of the design and the build herself! Fun to see how much she can do. 

Amélie stayed home from school a couple days this week too, so we took a walk. 

Amélie's new bedside shelf!

Helping with the birthday cake.

Sinterklaas made it!

Drip, Drip, Drip

Picked up a bit of a cold on Friday. Got tested yesterday, and it was negative, but this morning I couldn't smell much. Oddly, it seems to affect the left side of my face (kind of like my left sinus is burning up and the rest of the left side of my face starts to burn too. My left eye leaks and only opens halfway. I have a decent amount of energy, though. All feels very strange. I will do another test today. 

Amélie had her second figure skating lesson yesterday, and Naomi was asked if she wants to be an instructor. Might be fun for everyone! Naomi also started a course on how to make beehives from grass. Hopefully someday we can have our own honey! 

The girls had a study day on Monday, which means there wasn't any school. They got to hang out with Helene for the whole day! Lots of fun. 

Fun with Helene!

A New Sport

Yesterday Amélie got to try out figure skating for the first time, and she really liked it! The teacher said she was quite the daredevil. Her rollerblading skills are really helping! As swimming lessons wind down here, we are looking into some other things the girls can do. Abigail has a long list! 

We did manage to get to the skate park again as well. It has been a while! Lucky enough to get some beautiful fall weather. Things are cooling off and getting rainy again.

They made a drama series about a storm breaking through the dykes here in the NL. We watched it on Netflix. Pretty interesting - gave us a lot to think about. Glad we don't live below sea level any more!

Enjoying the last moments of the year on the sofa swing.

We always get these clumps of crocus that bloom in the fall. Strange.

Amélie's first figure skating lesson.

Body Worlds

We had a really great visit with Claire and Matt in Switzerland. Finished up most of the things that were on Claire's list of things to do. Carved pumpkins, made a terrarium and pumpkin pie. Even got in a short but very expensive boat ride. I found some new boots too at an outlet store that are actually comfortable. The traffic on the way home was really terrible. We did manage to visit our friends in Essen for dinner though - a late dinner. 

Thursday we had some down time, and then Friday was Amsterdam. Amélie finished up her swimming lessons early, so as a reward, she choose to visit Body Worlds. They plasticize dead people and display the insides of their bodies and organs in interesting ways so that you can see how the body works. Amélie really like it! The rest of us thought it was pretty interesting too. 

Yesterday the girls went to a Frida Kahlo exhibition and then visited with family. We had our annual fall bonfire cookout, and the girls ate too many marshmallows. Of course. Today we will get to relax a bit and visit with Susan and her sister before she heads back to Canada. Busy week!

The boat ride near Biel.

Fun at Body Worlds!