New arrivals

One plus one is two, or in this case, one plus one makes ... four! Either we didn't bring home two female guinea pigs or we did and one of them was already pregnant. Result: two more guinea pigs :-)
Presenting: Jip and Janneke (don't know the gender yet, named them anyway)

Of course, Emma wants to keep the little ones ...

Loonse en Drunense Duinen

Thanks to an article in the ANWB Kampioen (AAA Magazine), we went for a nice, long walk in the Loonse en Drunense Duinen. This national park has, among other beautiful things, the biggest drift-sand landscape of Western Europe. Lots of sand, great views, wonderful all-natural playground and lots and lots of people. I guess more people read the Kampioen ... Made us think of Taiwan; like going to 18 Peaks Park in Hsinchu or Flying Cow Ranch in Miaoli on the weekend ... Still, we (including Boelie) had a great time!

Lots of sand; the girls practicing their Nordic walking skills

Playing climb-a-tree

Big bird

Another unexpected visitor landed in our back yard today (fortunately, this one did not end up in our bathroom). When we saw it fly past in a glimpse, at first we thought it was a heron. When it landed in a tree, we recognized it to be a buzzard. Quite an impressive bird, I must say!

Corn harvest

In spring, the girls got their own little vegetable patch in our back yard. Since then, we harvested green beans, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, carrots and sun flower seeds. Today, Pieter harvested seven beautiful ears of corn and we had the freshest possible corn-on-the-cob for dinner. I'm sure Emma and Janne will want a vegetable patch again next year!
Don't they look great?

Enjoying home grown produce

Not only delicious, also rather photogenic :-)

Toverland, again

A study day for the teachers and a day off for the children. As we hadn't visited Toverland yet this year and as Emma and Janne love to go there, that's where we spent the day. Nice bonus this time around was that Emma and Janne are now big enough to get on many of the rides by themselves, while Pieter and I enjoy a cup of coffee.
Emma and Janne even rode Troy, the big wooden roller coaster by themselves; they were ever so proud :-)

Passed!

Today at dog training, Boelie and I were tested and we passed, meaning that we can start the 'obedient dog' training. The obedient dog training is one level up from 'young dog training', which is one level up from 'puppy training'. It will be our third course and it is concluded by a genuine diploma, so Boelie and I will have to work hard to meet the requirements.

Boelie finished the young dog training as best of her class, and we are very proud of her :-) That being said, there are still a few annoying habits we need to convince her to give up; she jumps up to people, she pulls at the leash when being walked and her preferred resting place in the house is our couch ... We'll get there though, I'm sure :-)

Unexpected visitor

I don't know when or how it got in, but we had a bat in our bathroom today. At first sight, I though Emma had left her hair band in the shower. When I looked closer though, the hair band seemed to breathe and it appeared to have feet and a mouth ... When I came back with Pieter (heroic me ...), the bat was hanging from the faucet. With the help of a towel I (didn't need Pieter after all) set it free. Hopefully it'll be all right.

Our little black and brown visitor

School art

Every year, Emma and Janne bring many pieces of art work home from school. If possible, I put them up on a door in the hallway for all to see. At the end of each school year, I take the art work down to make room for new ones. Some of the pieces I keep, most are thrown out. But, not before a picture is taken of all of them. Special request by the girls. Hurray for digital photography ...


The pics are a lot easier to archive than the originals :-)