Happy Mother's Day!

 Naomi got to wake up to a massage and breakfast in bed this morning - along with the first day of May weather. We are finally saying goodbye to March. Plenty of work to do in the garden today! 

Last Sunday we got to visit some of Naomi's family in their new (old) farmhouse and then she got to see her Grandma for the first time in a long time. The girls and I went to a nearby skate park while she was visiting, but it was late and Amélie had had sugar, so she just melted down on the bench while Abigail skated.

Karmen and Clifton visited us on Tuesday and that was a lot of fun...even though the weather reminded us of Thanksgiving which is when they usually come to visit. I managed to finish up my 5th video of 6 and they were impressed with the work I have done. Who knows, maybe someday they will be a part of the project. 

Rijssen's skate park.

I got an appointment to get vaccinated! Too bad Naomi isn't eligible yet...

Fun at the castle.

Finally repotted a plant.

Last chance for the tomatoes to enjoy the great indoors!

Big Skate Park

 The stores opened up again this week, so we went to the sports store in Apeldoorn to pick up some things for the girls. Next to it is a skate park full of big kids. The girls had to give it a try and they did great! We thought they would be scared off by the crowd but they just jumped right in. We were very impressed. They were the only ones wearing helmets and pads...

The girls had to go to school for a few days this week, but now they have two weeks off. Naomi's birthday was on Friday so we had a nice relaxing morning with the girls at school then Ron and Edith came for the afternoon. Yesterday we baked Guinness brownies with Auntie Claire over the video chat before she and Matt went skiing. 

Claire just finished up her last test for her Masters degree on Naomi's birthday, so that was a bit of a celebration too. Sure wish we could visit with them! We decided to hold off on buying an investment property in Marquette this year. It might make things more difficult for Naomi's green card application, but the market is just too out of control right now. I wonder who is buying these places. I also finished up another video for the Dutch Domes website...two more to go!

The first tomatoes!!! Early this year.

The big skate park.

New safety gear.

Happy Birthday!!!

Time for a Break

 This week has been a bit intense at school. After the May holiday they are changing up all my third year math classes, mixing the kids up similarly to the way they will be in the fall. It is supposed to help with the transition, but I think it will just make things more difficult for them. Definitely not the right time to try messing with the routine - during a pandemic. As math teachers, we aren't really sure how or what to teach them for these next couple months, but at least we only see each class once per week. 

On the business front, our very reliable and trusted teacher just quit on us, so that is a bummer. Luckily we have a backup, so we can shift over her classes, but it is not good for the students or the parents. Seems like finding reliable teachers might be the real challenge here. 

The girls have a different schedule for the May holiday, which is really annoying, but not such a big deal as we aren't allowed to go on a vacation anyway. There will be a few days where we are at home and they are in school, and vice versa, but okay. It will work out this year. 

Our school also gave us new laptops, and they are quite expensive. I don't really like the idea of being responsible for such an expensive machine that I didn't get to pick out, but it will come in handy as I should be able to use it for my business as well. Not sure why people want the touchscreen/tablet option, but maybe I will find out!

Fun at Helene's house.

Abigail started a journal.

Dressed up for the King's day celebration at school.

War Grenades

 Here is the best excuse I have ever gotten from a student who shows up late for math class:

Dear Mr. Cook.

I'll be a few minutes late because we've found old world war 2 grenades near our house. The EOD is going to blow them up so I have to leave the house for a few minutes.

kind regards,

Viggo

Speaking of school, had some conflict there this week with the other math teachers. We gave different tests to our students due to some miscommunication with the management, so now there are complaints from parents followed by the blame game. It will be hard to last for two more years when these situations continue, but things will probably just continue getting worse.

We had a really nice BBQ yesterday with some friends - the twin boys and their parents. It has been a long time since we have seen them. They had a rough time with schools being closed as she is a nurse and there was little understanding for her situation. Thankfully the weather is warming up and the kids had tons of fun playing together - for once Abigail and Amélie were not so shy.

We also got to celebrate Ron's birthday in Amsterdam last Sunday. We tried to drive through the center of the city because there weren't any tourists, but it was all blocked off due to continued protests over the lockdown. Still got to see some cool stuff though. 

Happy Birthday, Ron!

The table that I started and Ron finished.

Improvised wrist guards - Amélie lost hers.

Amélie lost her second tooth too!

Three Videos

 I have been working on updating my Dutch Domes website for the past half year or so, trying to model my designs for the house we want to build. Finally finished three of the five or six videos. It will take a lot more work to update the website completely, but this is a great start!

The girls had a lot of fun playing with friends this week and practicing a dance that they will perform for their class on Tuesday. They are also busy with swimming lessons - three sessions instead of two this coming week!

The weather has been terrible. Sure would have liked to spend a bit more time at the skate park, but oh well. At school we have a terribly organized test week. Causing lots of problems for lots of people, but instead of my lessons, I just have to show up for an hour of standing in a gym and watching kids take a test. Wish we could play basketball instead!

Special Easter dinner.

Special Easter cookies from Rijssen.

Instead of decorating Easter eggs...

Yes, it snowed. That doesn't happen in April!

Happy Easter

 It sure is disappointing to not be able to see Claire again this year! We also have a week of really crummy weather to look forward to after 70s earlier this week. The tomatoes are confused. Hopefully in a few weeks I can plant them because they are already outgrowing their pots.

The girls had a lot of fun on Friday playing with friends. They had the day off. I had to work though. Spent a bit too much time on the new business yesterday, so I will take it easy today. Managed to work in a trip to the skate park though. Amélie fell again and hurt herself. Maybe this afternoon it will go better!

Today we have lots of special food lined up. Naomi is trying to make a particularly tasty cookie from Rijssen, the town her family is from, for the first time. Hopefully it will work!

The tadpoles started hatching!

Finally figured out how to integrate my model with Google Earth.

Time Zones

 Time zones give me a headache. Especially when you add in daylight savings time. China got rid of it in the 80's. I learned that Arizona and Hawaii don't do it either - our new teacher is from Arizona. The time change just happened here this morning, but in the States it was a few weeks ago. 

The girls both sprained their left ankle this week. They both lost the same tooth first. They both have problems with the same new molar that came in. They are nothing alike, most people assume they aren't even related, and then all at the same time they are twins. They are off to a good start with swimming lessons though! Twice a week seems to be working. They also got their report cards and all is well at school. Amélie is average or above average for everything, and Abigail is off the charts for math and spelling.

The weather is finally supposed to warm up for the next few days. Got the table outside ready to go 6 weeks ago when the weather was nice, and now we finally will get to use it again! Just need to get past this cold, windy Sunday. The tomatoes will be happy to spend some time outside!

Naomi cooked a nice dinner.