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!

Switzerland

Naomi and the girls picked me up from school a bit early on Friday, and we got to enjoy sitting in Dutch traffic jams for an hour. Once that cleared up, we were on our way to Switzerland. We want to help out Auntie Claire a bit because of her knee surgery and it sure is nice to be able to enjoy the mountains in the fall. We plan to head back on Wednesday.

It was a really busy week getting everything wrapped up before the trip. Even managed to finish up the new website. Still needs a bit of tweaking, so let me know what you think!

Worldwide Scholars (worldwide-scholars.com)

We visited the Blausee yestersday. Perfect weather!

A New Friend

I made a new friend this week! Author/journalist by the name of Drew Philp. He also has a popular TED Talk. We graduated from Michigan at the same time and now he is living nearby, in Berlin. He wants to work with us a bit on the education business and he is also interested in Dutch Domes. Really interesting guy to talk with.

Yesterday Amélie got her second swimming diploma - one more to go! The ceremony was much better this time. No loud music, and guests were able to come. Helene and Jan came to watch and celebrate afterwards - really nice of them! 

Naomi is able to ease up on her diet a bit now. That is good news! Over the course of the next few weeks she will be reintroducing some things to see how they make her feel. Fingers crossed! The girls had a really good week together. Amélie is getting into preparing food for people, so she made Abigail's lunch a couple times and Abigail told her she could cuddle with her as a thank you. Usually Abigail wants to fall asleep on her own. 

I made a hedge hog house for the neighbors. 

Amélie's second swimming diploma!

The present she got from Helene and Jan for swimming so well. 

3:6:9

 I have been trying out a cleanse this week. Supposed to clean out one's liver. We shall see if it reduces any of my symptoms that seem to be liver related - low energy, eczema, etc. Basically it is 9 days of mostly fruits and vegetables without any fat. The nice thing about it is that you don't need to feel hungry, but it has made me feel sick. Super tired, a bit brain-foggy and grumpy, but only losing a small amount of weight. That is supposedly normal and some people say it is the liver releasing the toxins that have been causing trouble, while others say it is just symptoms of an unbalanced diet. We shall see how I feel in the weeks to come. 

The girls have been kind annoyed with the food situation. We have made normal meals for them, but it means three preps - Naomi has to make her own food for her crazy diet, I have to make mine, and the girls get stuff we are both jealous of. Naomi has about 10 days left, and she is counting them down! After that she can start re-introducing foods to see what works for her and what doesn't. 

The fall weather has definitely started. Strangely enough, the tomatoes have recovered in the past month and even have some little ones. Now it is cooling off and rainy though, and we had to start with fires and the heating system this week. Good timing to stay on the couch today and drink nothing but smoothies! 

We met Clifton and Karmen at the Open Air Museum.

Parents are allowed to visit the classroom by appointment now.

Naomi has lost some wait because of the diet and can fit into her wedding dress again!