The Zoo

On Monday we had the day off of school, so we went to the zoo! It has been a long time. Nice to be back. got new season passes. The last ones. We will miss that place. Interesting to use our trips there as a measure of our girl's progress. They are so much more independent now at the playground, moving from the slides to the ropes. They also have more patience and interest to look at the animals. 

We have been working hard on getting our garden ready for some pictures after we come back from our holiday. When we put the house on the market next winter, we want to have a few pictures of what it looks like in the spring. 

For the next two weeks, we will be on a road trip. First Switzerland, then the South of France and Barcelona, then Paris. Lots of time in the car. Naomi is really looking forward to it partly because she wants to go back to where she studied in Toulouse. It should be a really great trip! Lots of packing to do today though. 

Easter Dinner. 

Back to the Zoo!

Giethoorn

On Friday we all had the day off. Decided it would be fun to check out a major Dutch tourist attraction before it got too packed with tourists once again. The village of Giethoorn is about an hour north of where we live, and it has canals instead of streets. 

Fun little place, but I was a bit underwhelmed. Maybe just because it was cold and cloudy, but it didn't seem to live up to its hype. We went to a rock museum which was really cool and enjoyed a fun boat ride. The girls even got to steer, and they liked that a lot. 

Thursday was a big day for the girls. School breakfast to celebrate Easter and then a market to raise money for Ukraine. They made and sold some things and had a lot of fun. The weather has been nice, so we have been busy with getting things done outside in the garden and a bit of painting here and there. 

Amélie had a sick day on Monday.

Enjoying our home made ice cream!

Making stuff to sell at the market.

Easter Breakfast at school.

The rock museum.

We found a collection of stork nests on the other side of the lake.

April Showers

It has been a really busy, cold, and wet week. Got the news that our 'aggressive' bid was not aggressive enough. The house got 12 offers and went for well over 10% above asking, in cash. Disappointing. We decided to take a break from that crazy housing market in hopes that it will cool off by next year. That way we also don't need to deal with renting it out, although this place would have been perfect. 

Amélie has been sick this week. She is starting to feel better though. Naomi is feeling a bit better as well. After a return to winter, on Tuesday it is supposed to be in the 70s again. These extremes are tiring. 

Signed up another class for our new teacher, so we are at 21 lessons per week - our goal is to hit 50 by the time we move back to the States next year. Good to be more or less on track. 

Still looks like winter in the forest.

The girls tried to build their own tent. 

Magnetic

The weather has really thrown us into a loop this week. For the past few weeks it has been 60s and sunny. All of the sudden, after a snowless winter, the temperatures dropped and we got some snow! Lots of fun. Much more than expected. Had some good snowball fights and the girls even built a snowman. 

Naomi has been sick all week, but is starting to get better. We had a realtor come to our house on Thursday so that we could make a decision about which one to choose. Not planning to put it on the market until early next year, but we have so much going on that it helps to spread out the work and decisions. He valued our house higher than we expected, so that was nice to hear. Who knows what the market will be like next year at this time though.

We also found a house in Marquette that we would really like to buy. Ideal location, in the middle of everything. The back yard happens to butt up against a big park with groomed cross country ski trails. The house was built in 1957 and the original owners are selling it now. They have taken care of it and we really like the small size. Nothing more than we need. Efficient to heat and maintain. It will be another bidding war. Hopefully we can win this one!

Making something with clay at school.

Snow!

Naomi finished making a beehive!