Merry Christmas!

It has been a very busy week. Strange to combine work/school/family visit. Everyone has settled in, and the Covid that Mom and Dad brought with them hasn't spread. Or at least the rest of us don't have symptoms. School wrapped up for me without much trouble. Amélie stayed home feeling sick (mostly tired) on Monday and both girls got sent home with a tummy ache on Thursday. Other than that we stuck to the routine. Sure is helpful to have Grandma and Grandpa around to pick them up!

We went for some nice walks, ate some good food, and on Thursday, Mom, Kalia, Joshua and Claire all went out to a three star restaurant in Zwolle. One of two or three in the whole country. It was quite the experience! They didn't make it home until after midnight.

Friday felt like a Saturday as I didn't have to go to school so we had some professional pictures taken in a greenhouse. Christmas program with mentors in charge. So glad I haven't needed to be a mentor. Naomi was able to get out of her program as well. The grocery store was a madhouse though. One of my least favorite things to do in this country. One of my most favorite in France. Guess we are in the wrong country. Yesterday we played lots of games and had pizzas for dinner. Opened some presents as well because there are so many! 

Pictures in the greenhouse.

Unwrapping presents on Christmas Eve.

Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner.

Pretending to be Evi.

Fun with the Christmas Tree.

Safe Arrivals

Everyone got here in one piece! Mom and Dad made it on time on Wednesday, but soon after found out they have Covid. They aren't too sick, so that is good, but it limits some of our options. Claire and Matt had a delay because Claire got sick, but she is starting to feel better, and they are now settling into the Bosrand. Kalia, Joshua and Evi made it yesterday after a very long trip. They have a really nice spot right in between our house and the Bosrand. 

Yesterday we picked out a Christmas tree together. The rest of the time has been spent on settling in, getting groceries, cooking food, and catching up. Strange to have to go to work tomorrow!

We have also been working on our immigration paperwork. Rather frustrating, but we are slowly chipping away at the latest steps. It has been a really good, but really intense week. It has been nine years since we were all together for Christmas! 

Beautiful hike - it has been cold! 

Welcome package for Claire and Matt.

I-130 Approval

After a four month delay, Naomi finally got approved for the first step toward getting her green card! Only twelve more steps to go. The second step is moving faster than expected, so that is a plus. I guess that makes sense as step two is another payment. We are on track for a July 2023 immigration if all goes according to plan. 

This has been a busy week. Doctor appointments, lots of things to take care of before the family visit, and we got the damage on our car fixed! They didn't do a great job of matching the paint color, but I guess it was a difficult one. The car does look brand new though, so they did a nice job of getting the scratches off and buffing everything. Even managed to get the rims clean! I wasn't able to.

On Sunday we had a lot of fun with Jan and Heleen unpacking the Sinterklaas presents. The idea was to get a small present, make something to hide it in, and write a poem. Also enjoyed my two weekly hikes into the forest. It was beautiful on Tuesday. The sun actually came out. A rare occurrence this time of year. Making some progress on the novel too. Cover design is almost finished and so is the manuscript! Just running through the text for the last couple times to make any final adjustments. Not sure how much time the actual publishing process will take. 

Sinterklaas suprises!

Forgot what sunshine looked like.

The last day with Heleen for the year.

Finished up some projects in the workshop and got it cleaned out. The girls are beyond this 'practice board' now!

It's Cold!

That means it has dipped below freezing once or twice this week. Not by much though. Sure feels cold to us! Haven't seen much of the sun in a few weeks. Depressing time of year. Also far too busy. We are all ready for a break! 

The girls have been working hard on their Sinterklaas presents. They get a small present for someone, and make a craft and a poem to go along with it. I think Naomi worked harder than they did. Abigail really got into it but Amélie wasn't so interested. Later today we will celebrate with Jan and Heleen. 

We watched the World Cup game yesterday between the US and the NL. It was a lot of fun! The US played better, but the NL ended up winning 3-1. It was nice to sit by the fire together. For some reason I always seem to get a headache after sitting by the fire though. Not sure why.

The forest is looking darker these days. I hike back there twice per week.

Happy Thanksgiving

It was a bit sad to celebrate our last Thanksgiving here. We have really enjoyed the tradition with Clifton and Karmen. We met them at a cool wood shop called Tree ID in Den Hoorn beforehand that handles the whole process, from forest to finished cabinet. This year Karmen and Clifton were able to host in their new house! It is a beautiful place right on the water. Our friends who I made the branching bookshelf for also joined. We had a really nice night last night.

We continue to make progress with getting the house cleaned out. Naomi sold the hall cabinet, so I needed to make some new coat racks to make space for the stuff that was in there. Not finding much time for other projects in the workshop. Both girls want to work on something, but it has been too busy.

The website is basically wrapped up, so it was fun to share it with a few people this week. I am happy with how it is shaping up. Also reached out to a lawyer in regards to this immigration business. Still haven't heard anything back. 

Abigail's artwork.

New coat racks.

A bit too much fun coloring in the car. 

A Thanksgiving feast. 

Cars and Cold

This weekend is our first taste of winter. The wind switched directions and is blowing down from Russia. I had to bring in the last of the peppers. Even the ponds froze! Warmer air is on its way back up though. On Monday we had a really nice birthday celebration. Went to Kapadokya, a local restaurant, for some pizza. 

On Wednesday we were driving back from the hardware store to pick the girls up from school. The road we took back was narrow, and apparently had recently become a one-way. I didn't see the sign, and was driving the wrong way. We met a car coming from the correct direction, and to my surprise, the driver did not use the pull out next to him so that we could pass by. He just stopped in front of our car, so I stopped too. He have us an angry look and then tried to get around us, driving into the back corner of our car, scraping along the whole side of his car. Normally when you feel your car hit something you instantly stop.

When he got out of the car he blamed us for causing the accident as it was a one way and demanded money to fix his car. So we called the police. The officer was quite friendly, and said just because you break a traffic rule doesn't mean you cause an accident, and confirmed my point that from the damage pattern it was clear that our story was true - we couldn't have been moving if just the back corner of our car was scraped and the whole side of his was, even though the other driver claimed we were moving too. While we were standing there another car drove past from the wrong direction.

The officer also said he wasn't there to assign blame, that was up to the insurance companies. Naomi spent the afternoon sorting out all the paperwork. What a headache. The next morning, she was grading some tests and recognized the last name of one of her students. She checked the address, and it turns out the father was the name on the accident report. 

Birthday cheesecake with Jan and Helene.

Ouch.

Apple blossoms? In November?!

Birthday present from Amélie. 

The last of the peppers.

Deep freeze. 

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas is back in town. The story of how he got here disappointed us though. His bought a new steamboat (his normal mode of arrival from Spain) and flew here instead. Rather unsustainable. Last night we had our annual fall bonfire and then went to his arrival party at the castle. We stayed for 10-15 minutes, but the party kept going long after our bedtimes. We won't miss trying to fall asleep to that kind of noise! 

Naomi had more doctor appointments this week. Now she has a hernia that needs to be operated on. Hopefully we can get all of these health issues out of the way before it gets really expensive. 

Made a lot of progress cleaning out the study and Naomi sold the hall cabinet, so we will need to figure out where to put all the stuff that was in it. Still no word on the green card stuff. We were supposed to be able to contact them this week as our case is well outside the normal times, but when we fill out the form, it still says we are within the normal times. Very annoying. In ten days it will be 14 months. 80% of cases are processed after 10.5 months. No idea what the problem is. 

Found some fun stuff while cleaning out the study!

Sinterklaas came to our castle. 

Another Sick Week

This time it was Naomi's turn. She was in rough shape but is recovering now. I got the Covid booster, so that slowed me down a bit these last few days as well. Amélie had to stay home on Tuesday, but she recovered quickly. Luckily Abigail is in good shape!

We have been going through all our books and office stuff to get the study cleaned out and organized. Big project. Good to have some extra space though. Also good to be back at school so I can make some more progress on the website. Wrapping up the two short stories.

Amélie has been busy with the physical therapist. Her hips pop and hurt when she walks. Hopefully they are able to figure out the problem, but she has some stretching exercises to do with a big ball. Mostly she plays with the ball, but she likes the stretches. 

Carving pumpkins outside for the first time! No jackets!

Original designs with very little help from Daddy.

Triangle of Traffic

(October 30th)

We had a nice time exploring Berlin and visiting Auntie Claire and Matt in their new apartment. The traffic was terrible though. Worst backup of our lives outside of Zurich - 60km. No apparent reason. We did get to drive through Austria and France though, and that was fine. So many people on the roads in Germany and Switzerland. 

Our two days in Berlin were packed. We walked through most of the sights on Monday and then on Tuesday spent some time on a boat ride and in a museum. Dinner with my friend Drew on was a lot of fun, and we were surprised by how nice the biggest department store in Europe was. Very impressive, and we don't like shopping!

It was great to see the new apartment in Switzerland. Claire and Matt have a nice spot. We really enjoyed the walk into Solothurn and the girls had a blast playing with the cat. Claire got a bit sick, so that stinks, but hopefully she is feeling better for their trip to the States. Now we have a day to get caught up on everything before school starts. Sure could use a vacation! I am really tired of travelling. 

Welcome to Berlin.

Saint George and the Dragon - Naomi read the story.

Checkpoint Charlie.

The Brandenburg Gate.

View from the top of the department store.

So many escalators in the department store.

Tired after a long day.

Boat ride past the museum island.

We caught a partial eclipse on camera! 

King Nebu