Home Videos

I started going through our huge collection of home videos this week. A rather daunting task, especially as I found out the camera was set to a low quality and all the clips need to be reformatted. Disappointing. It is fun to see what our lives were like eight years ago though, and once it is all edited, spliced together and organized well it will be a lot nicer to watch. Another one of those projects that should be wrapped up before we depart.

The website is coming along nicely as well. I decided to put a couple of my short stories on it. Not sure what else to do with them.  Also, I will include the original emails that turned into a series of newspaper articles that I wrote while in the Peace Corps.

Got back into the workshop yesterday to start on another little project for our friends in Rotterdam. Abigail likes to join lately. She is working on a small project of her own. Fun to see how enthusiastic she is! While we were doing that yesterday, Amélie and Naomi went into Apeldoorn for a special day out with a bit of shopping and a nice dinner. 

Fun at the Open Air Museum even though it was rainy. We had a great visit! Boat building. I want to try someday!

A cool structure for our land.

Video chat with Grandma.

Abigail and I made pizzas while Amélie and Naomi went out for tapas.

Caryn & Paul!

We are in the midst of a really fun visit. Caryn and Paul were able to pick the girls up from school on Thursday. Friday Abigail was feeling sick and stayed home with Naomi, but I managed to finish up with work early and we spent a couple hours exploring Zwolle. The church turned bookstore was a big hit. 

Yesterday we had a game morning and then went to Hattem in the afternoon. Managed to visit a working windmill and got a nice explanation on some of the details. Didn't even get too wet! Then we went to the Anton Pieck museum. Naomi in particular really likes his artwork, but the rest of us liked it a lot too. Caryn got a bunch of prints to hang up once they get back.

Today we will go to the Open Air museum in Arnhem, but it is supposed to be cold and rainy. Luckily we all have umbrellas. The rest of the week went fine. Naomi and I looked over what we have to do for the green card. Still no word. Nearly a year now since we submitted the first form. Many more to go. Hopefully we can stay on track here. 

We had a great walk through Zwolle!

Trying to figure out why the shutters are only on the lower windows in these old houses. 

Enjoying some Dutch treats.

Amélie took a picture of a rainbow on the way back from Hattem.

Skating Again

It has been a while since we have been to the skate park. I don't think we went at all this summer! This morning I took the girls there so that Naomi could have a bit of down time. We had fun - the girls don't seem to lose any skill with these long breaks. Naomi joined us later on for a game of petanque. 

Piano lessons went well this week. The girls learned a lot and have plenty to practice. We also got a chance to meet with their school teachers. Seemed nice enough, but once again, they have no understanding of Abigail. She doesn't want to do the work because it is way too easy, so they don't get that she finds it easy. On Thursday she gets a chance to meet with the upper level teacher for the first time. They will spend one hour per week together working on some more challenging material. Abigail is really excited about this!

Naomi and I got tetanus shots on Wednesday. Afterwards we were able to take a nice walk through the castle gardens to sample some apples and blackberries. It is great to have some time for just the two of us on Wednesdays. 

Amélie did a great job of helping make dinner and setting the table. 

New Desk

It is a pleasure to type this from a new computer desk that I made! It was a freestyle project, where I had a vague idea of what I wanted and just made it up as I went. I really like to work that way. Standing up at the computer feels a lot better than sitting down. This one is a lot more solid and larger than the portable version I was borrowing from Naomi. I have also been busy with building the new website and it is a lot of fun. Who knows, maybe a side job down the road to put together websites for people.

Amélie stayed home on Monday with a concussion, but is feeling good now. She even got to take part in the school swimming lessons which she was really looking forward to. The girls also got some homework for the first time. Abigail found it way too easy so she was a bit annoyed. Hopefully the teacher will adjust the level soon. The girls also had their first piano lesson - it will be over 800 euros for the year - so they need to practice at least 15 minutes per day.

The weather has been way too hot and dry. The tomatoes are still doing well since I give them plenty of water, but lots of other things seem to be dying. It was a good chance to get all the sawdust bricks made for the year though! Just letting them dry and we should be in good shape. They keep pushing the rain forecast back.

First piano lesson.

Sawdust bricks.

Ready for a burger.

The new desk.