Toverland (Magic Land)

Today, we did something fun for the girls. We have been running back and forth to the new house so often and have been doing so much looking around for items we still need to buy, that we thought it would be nice to do someting just for them. They have been really great entertaining themselves while we were doing our new house things. So, we went to Toverland (Magic Land).
The witch's climbing hat; Emma and Janne were ever so proud when they managed to get to the top!

Toverland is something in between a amusement park and an (indoor) playground. There are several rides/rollercoasters, but above all there are lots of play areas and there is really BIG climbing equipment. Emma and Janne LOVED it and they were shattered by the time we went home. They were still too little for the most exciting rides and climbs, but that is something to look forward to next year :-)
Two very big slides, connected to an even bigger climbing jungle; a BIG hit with the girls

We thought we were being pretty Taiwanese, being at an indoor amusement park when it is sunny and hot outside! The park reminded us a bit of what Windance in Hsinchu used to have at the top floor, only a lot bigger.

Oh, I almost forgot; yesterday we also did something fun with the girls; fingerpainting. After about half an hour, it almost turned into bodypainting...
Look mom, the plate is stuck to my hands!

After some real fingerpainting, Emma could not resist the temptation either ...

Our things have arrived

Boxes come out of the truck

Packing material goes back in

It's already one week ago, but here are a few pics of the arrival of our household goods. As it was is storage in Rotterdam for a while, it arrived in two 20-foot containers, instead of in one 40-foot container. It didn't look as impressive as the 40-footer, in which our items arrived in Taiwan, but it still was A LOT of stuff. The moving in was done in very high speed, it took four guys about five hours to unload both containers. The next day, two of them came back to help 'set up the items' as the contract stipulated. Which meant that they put together three beds, two cribs-turned-couches, one bookcase and three wardrobes and they unpacked about 30% of the other boxes. Which means that the other 70% are still to be unpacked. By us! Emma and Janne love the fact that all the items are triple-packed in large sheets of paper, because they make perfect, really big, drawing surfaces.

Our garage as temporary storage facility. At this moment, there's about twice as many boxes in there, and about the same amount in Pieter's studio (behind the white doors in the back). We will have to move all this into the house ourselves... Starting next week Monday.

Janne turns 4!

Yesterday, the weather was glorious and we spent a very nice and hot afternoon at the playground. Even though they sell drinks, snacks and ice cream at the playground, they don't mind at all if you bring all your own stuff. So, we took about five big bags of candy, potatoe chips, snacks, drinks and cake with us, to celebrate Janne's birthday. We had a small, but very nice group of people and I think everybody had a good time. As the adult could sit at picknick benches in the shade, it was not just the kids who had fun :-)
Cake time at the playground

Only one little thing went 'wrong': mommy forgot to bring the birthday candles! We decided to sing an extra birthday song for Janne and she didn't really seem to mind too much. She was proudly and happily handing out party hats, gifts, drinking straws, plates etc to everybody way before it was time to use some of those items. But, it all worked out fine and we stayed until closing time.
Janne enjoying her birthday present

Almost there

Today, the workers started putting in the wooden floor in the living room and kitchen. The wood looks VERY nice and exactly as we hoped it would. Hopefully the lacquer they put on won't change the looks of the planks too much. We chose Canadian maple (esdoorn) for the floor. Maple is a very light (almost white), but hard type of wood. It should make the living space on the ground floor very sunny and light. In a little over a week, we should be able to move in.

There will still be lots of boxes to unpack and lots of work to be finished, but at least we'll be in our own house. The kitchen won't be finished until third week of August, as will Pieter's studio and the build-in closets in the bedrooms. Not all the (newly done) electricity is working as it is supposed too yet. Several doors need detailed work done. Every room needs painting (they're all white now). Etc etc. I guess most of you recognize the situation: most of the work will be done in the next two to three months and the remaining work will be done in ten years or so (if ever).

We keep our fingers crossed what the kitchen will look like when it's finished (not having very much confidence anymore in the craftsmanship of the guy who is building it),but apart from that, we're VERY HAPPY with the way the house turned out. Admitted, the project was much more expensive than anticipated, but it was worth the money. Well, almost ...

Tomorrow, we will celebrate Janne's birthday. If the weather is nice, we'll go to a nearby playground. So, we hope it'll be at least dry, because the rental house we're in now is not really big enough to accomodate even the few people we have invited :-) Fortunately, Janne's birthday is not a real kids party yet, but more of a family get-together. When Emma's birthday comes in December, I'll have to put much more effort and creativity into it. Now, we're just planning for a fun afternoon at the playground.

Tomorrow

After being in storage for almost six months, our things will arrive tomorrow! We heard plenty horror stories about mildewed furniture, leather and clothes, but we hope it's not too bad.

The contractor and carpenter have been driving us crazy these past couple of days, by showing up hours later than agreed or not showing up at all! And without a single phone call or even an explanation as to where they were. At least it seems that they will finish the works they promissed to do before going on vacation. Even though this meant that they worked yesterday untill 11 pm and that they will have to work today as well. Pffff. Everything always done at the very last minute.
There should be a trampoline soon!

The ground workers did a great job at preparing the yard for the street maker. They did miss one important point though: we explained to them that the driveway had to remain accessible, because the movers would come on Monday. Their definition of accessible appeared to be quite different from ours though. They left 750 bricks and 30 wheelbarrows of sand on the driveway. I know these exact numbers, because Pieter and I stacked the bricks and moved the sand to the back yard.

One single trip by wheelbarrow

Dirty as can be :-)

Meanwhile, Emma and Janne had great fun playing in the biggest sandbox they'll ever have!
Look mom, a little Scoop (Bob the Builder)!

Lots of work done

The work on the house is finally nearing the end. Our household goods will arrive comming Monday and we'll move into the house on August 4. All the items for the first and second floor will be moved to the propper rooms, the ground floor items will be stored in the garage en maybe some in Pieter's studio. After having our things in shipment and storage for six months, we really have no idea anymore how much stuff we have anymore. We hope it will all fit, especially the living room / ground floor things. We'll see.
Kitchen as of today

Work on the kitchen has also (finally) started and it should be usable when we move in. Mind that I say 'usable', because it won't be ready then. Final work will be done one week later, as well as some of the last carpentry jobs elsewhere in the house. I guess the carpenter/kitchen guy bit off more work than he could chew. But he'll finish chewing second week of August. At least that's what he promissed ...
Garden as of today, almost empty!

To our amazement, work in the garden has also started. That went so fast, we felt like we were back in Taiwan. Pieter spoke to the guy for the first time on Tuesday and today the work started! Most of the ground work has been done in one day and they will finish tomorrow! And next week, the street maker will come. We thought we would have to wait until end of August for those works to start, so this is a very nice surprise. For a change :-)
Master bedroom

Pieter moved most of the packing material, rest material and other garbage out of the house today, so we could finally make some pictures of the rooms as they are with the floors almost ready. We are very happy with the result and cannot wait to move in!
Guest room

Two days in Hoogerheide

With Pieter gone off to Hungary on a sales adventure for TPV, I thought it was a nice opportunity to spend a few days with my mom and sister in Hoogerheide. The first day, we spent at tante Elly's, the second at my mom's. Onfortunately, the weather was (still is) typical Dutch summer weather; not really warm and rather wet ... Forntunately, Emma and Janne love to play with Lego as well as play games, so we spent the whole Wednesday playing memory and koetje boe en building Lego houses. It was really fun to see them finally being able to enjoy their aunts company, after so many years of only short visits!
Story time with tante Elly

The next day was very cloudy but dry and we took a long walk through the woods with grandma. We made it into a puddle search adventure to keep Emma and Janne interested, which worked out very well. They were looking for puddles and mud pools the whole time, running towards them and through them. Some were surprisingly deep, but no damage a washing machine cannot fix was done :-)
Wet and muddy but FUN!

With the upcomming move into the new house (hopefully), we don't plan to go on anywhere for vacation. The plan is to go someplace or to visit someone every week, so as to make these six weeks a little bit special for Emma and Janne. Even though for now, they seem to be perfectly happy to just be able to play in and around the house every day :-)

Janne's birthday

Janne's birthday at peuterspeelzaal

Before you all get confused, it's not Janne's birthday yet. But, as her birthday is in the middle of summer vacation, she celebrated her 4th birthday at the Peuterspeelzaal (play school) on the last day of school, the 4th of July.
Janne with mice and birthday candles

In keeping with Dutch tradition, I spent two evenings putting her treats together. I used eierkoeken (egg biscuits), edible paper, M&M's and drop (licorice) to make mice and must say I was rather proud of the result. Even though the eierkoeken didn't stick together very well and the mice fell apart upon hand-out ...
Janne doing magic

Janne had been looking forward to 'her birthday at play school' for weeks and was very excited about it. The teachers made a really nice birthday celebration, with lots of songs and rituals. Janne got to use the magic wand to make her gift appear in the magic hat, she got to choose a friend to dance with and of course, she got to sit on the birthday chair, wearing her birthday crown. It was such joy to see her enjoying all the attention en specialties!