Is exhausting… Especially when you don’t get your nap in the afternoon…
Fruit and flower
A picture-heavy post with some recent images of the allotment, where stuff is starting to bloom, grow and yield fruit! We have enjoyed a lot of fresh strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb, plus coulis on ice cream and yummy jam. The veggies are coming slowly but surely. Next year, the beans will go in a bit sooner, and will be aided by some fertilizer, which hopefully speeds up the process a bit 
Our apples are getting bigger by the day, and are now the size of tangerines. It’s so cool to have a fruit tree! Later on this year, we will plant a cherry tree! Can’t wait!
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- Oak-leaf lettuce, lollorosso, rhubarb, loads of picking flowers and our compost heap :D
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- The apple tree, broad beans, two types of long beans
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- Our early potatoes. The leafs will start to turn yellow and die off soon, then it’s harvest time! Behind it are our raspberries, yum!
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- Strawberries, more strawberries and even more strawberries. And big ‘uns too!
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- The (still small) brassica section. Flat-leaf kale, Chinese cabbage and white cabbage. Parsnip and more cabbages will be planted tomorrow!
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- So beautiful! Unfortunately the poppies never last long in the vase after being picked!
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- Ready to go in….
Animal farm
To rectify Steve’s mistake (how can you mistake a guinea pig for a goldfish?), Sam and Amy got a fish today. Meet Elmo! We are still in discussions with Hannah about the name, but I think it will stick 
Other fish is totally happy with this new little critter which has invaded his bowl…
And more animal pictures, from the previous time Sam and I went to the allotment.
First up: a frog. Living under the assumption that if you don’t move, they won’t see you. Yeah, right…
And then the horsies, who have moved to almost next to our plot. Sooo cute!
A huge strawberry:
And then a few piccies of Sam today with his poffertjes. Kids and food, there is no better subject for funny pictures…
Miscellaneous in May
We totally didn’t post any pictures of Hannah’s B swimming diploma… or the Evening 4-Day Walk, which we did this year. As they were hidden on Amy’s phone, that’s not really a surprise, cause they’re easy to forget about, but here they are!
First up: a proud wee girl with her B diploma! 6m diving under water through a hole, breast and back stroke, crawl… The things they need to do, amazing, for such wee kids! Next week, she’ll be starting on C. Which we don’t even have…
And then a girl with a medal. Four evenings in a row, she walked 5K, 3x with Amy, 1x with Steve (who also walked along a bit on the final night with Sam, after meeting up with us to give Hannah a bunch of roses). Despite a few raindrops, it was super! Definitely something we’ll do again! On the final night, the kids were allowed to dress up, and our little fairy posed with her girlfriend Rianna, who dressed up as Jasmin (from Alladin).
And… another one
This is what happens when you send Steve to the pet store to get another goldfish, to help comfort our neurotic, recently widowed other goldfish.
This does not swim! It’s another guinea pig! The new little brown one behind Rosalina is Brownie, nice to get to know you!
(Brownie almost made her escape within 24 hours, on her first outing into the garden. Luckily she got stuck in a corner, but is now grounded.)
Austrian wedding
The weekend before last we went to Austria for a wedding. Yes, we DROVE to Austria for a wedding, 1320KM there and 1320KM back. Mad or not? We had a great time, not only there, but also on the way. Despite it being a long trip, the kids loved it. Hannah had a map and crossed all the major cities on the way, Sam read his books, played with his cars, marvelled at all the trucks (and was disappointed there were hardly any on the Sunday back) and slept. We took the necessary breaks to fuel up (ourselves and the car) and to let the kids run wild for a bit, take a pee and sniff the grass. On the Friday we drove until about half an hour of the Austrian border and stayed in a cute hotel in Deggendorf, in the south of Germany. Then the Saturday, we drove the last leg of the trip, towards ever higher mountains, some even with snow (in the distance). Steve tried his hardest to get some proper pictures, but alas… Trees and walls kept popping up and blocking the view.
And then, after a few more hours, we arrived here:
Yes, a car park 
But when you looked the other way:
Still doesn’t give much away, does it? Okay, will a small bird’s eye view do?
Told you… Gorgeous!!! A place in Austria that makes you sing and gets you in the mood for a wedding… Theirs:
Christian and Christina tied the knot in a beautiful, although muffled (no microphone), German and slightly rainy ceremony in the courtyard of the castle. Here (see both flags? Austrian and Frisian):
With music to cheer everybody up who was looking up and seeing the rainclouds draw in closer and closer…
A happy and beautiful bride, now travelling around Indonesia with her new hubby:
After dancing the night away and enjoying the fireworks, we had a restful night’s sleep in the hotel/castle, and then after a hearty breakfast we drove the 1320KM back in one day. Just over 13 hours it took, despite lots of roadworks in Germany… A weekend to remember!
Thanks, Wiebe (brother-in-law of the bride) for the pictures!!!
Happy days…
Hannah got her B swimming diploma last week and then the next day we were off to Austria for a wedding… Pictures of these happy occasions are on Steve’s computer and on Amy’s phone, so these will come later…
But today was also a happy day, ’cause finally, finally, finally: this!
Of course all this got paid back with a big mouth a bit later (but hey, the girl was tired…)… But we know they love us…
Spelling lessons
‘Moooommmyyyyy!’
‘What?’
‘How do you write goudvis? With ou or au?’
‘With ou darling.’
‘Mooooommmmyyyyy!’
‘What is it?’
‘How do you write Geldou?’
‘With ou.’
‘Okay!’
Hannah has a diary. She writes in it religiously every night. Amy writes down the date and then Hannah writes about her day. Today, she wrote about her goldfish dying and playing after school at Geldou’s. Brill…
Awarding good behaviour
Hannah has had a behaviour chart on the wall, as she was being slightly ‘volatile’ lately. After 3 weeks of many good days, and only a few bad ones, she earned herself this:
So, this Sunday, coming to a cinema near us: Hannah!!! (and her mommy, it’s a PG movie after all… haha)
Next week a new chart will go up (cause rewarding does work well with Hannah), and her next target is… a hoolahoop (pink with loads of sparklies…)
What they see, they do
Sam sees me empty and flush the potty in the sink every night after he has done his pre-bed pee. So, what does he do when he is in his room for his afternoon nap and does a poo? He gets his toy box, climbs on it with the potty and very neatly deposits his faeces in the sink.
Luckily we heard him pottering about and cleaned up after him straight away…
But… Sam is potty trained, fully! He only has the odd accident at night, and had to wear a nappy at daycare because the toilets were too far away (normal situation will be restored from next week, hooray), but our little scitter has been nappy free for some time. Even though it did take a bit longer than Amy had anticipated, who firmly believed in the infant potty training thing, it’s still a huge achievement for such a wee man… Big round of applause!
