My bike is back!

Today, my brother-in-law brought my bike back to me. Actually, it's at the motorshop, where they will (try to) get it back up and running. I am SO EXCITED to have my Tranalp back (even though it is not exactly nice touring weather at the moment). I didn't really miss the riding in Taiwan, but ever since we're back, it's been itching pretty seriously. So, hopefully they will be able to fix the bike and hopefully we'll have at least a few nice days in fall for me to go riding.

The bike looks surprisingly good, pretty much the same as I left it seven years ago, and even the tires seem to be still ok. Next week, the guys at the shop will start working on it. As I forgot to take a picture this morning, here's one from 1996. It's taken during a motorcycle trip to Switzerland.
Me and my bike! Also note the long hair I had back then :--)

Happy Birthday Pieter!

Happy birthday from Emma and Janne

Yesterday was Pieter's birthday and also the day he finished the garden cabin. Two reasons for a party, so he got breakfast in bed, gifts from all of us and lots of best wishes from the birthday guests.
The roof under construction

Finished!

Found you!

For all those who were concerned about our lost photo albums and who kept their fingers crossed; thanks, it worked! Even though I said we unpacked all boxes weeks ago, that was not true literally. There were one or two boxes of which I scanned the contents, but which I didn't unpack. One of them was a box with ASML stuff (or so I thought). I briefly looked through the box and concluded it was filled with work related ASML binders. Today, I needed some ASML information and therefore took all the binders out of the box. And happy, happy me, when I discovered that the bottom five binders were actually Taiwan photo albums number 4 - 8, representing October '02 - April '06!!! I guess it would be wise to re-check a few boxes to find the last missing album, of my six months in Colorado, USA, back in 1992. So, thanks again for the crossed fingers; you can un-cross them now :-)

Another month went by ...

Well, almost another month; time flies when you're having fun. Time also flies when you're busy :-) Even without a job, I don't have much 'spare' time. I spend a lot of time putting things in the proper places, moving them from one room to the next to yet another place. I have to admit that I also spend about half an hour every day exercising, mostly roller blading these days, sometimes bicycling. Wardrobes in the guest room are in place (and full already) and I've started moving boxes to the attic. Fortunately, I finally had some inspiration as to how to decorate some of the rooms, so we can start painting and buying curtains etc. The living room is still a question mark with regard to decorating, but I cannot really make any decisions about that until the dining room furniture has arrived and the kitchen is finished! Indeed, the kitchen is STILL NOT FINISHED! That's all I'm going to say about that topic here, otherwise my blog may be shut down due to improper language ....
The raw materials

Under construction

Pieter, has been busy as well; he is putting a shed/garage/cabin in our backyard, all by himself. Even though it's kind of a LEGO construction package cabin, it's still a lot of hard work, mainly because many of the planks are bent or rotated. I'm very proud of my hubbie! I'm also very happy, because one of the main reasons for building the cabin, is for my motorcycle! After seven years, my Honda XLV600 Transalp is finally coming home! In what condition, I don't know, because it's been 'in storage' for the whole period. Next week, my brother-in-law is bringing the bike to Veldhoven, where a local dealer will get it up and running. If all goes well, I should be able to ride it again in two weeks time.

Still under construction

Emma and Janne have resumed their swimming class. They're both making nice progress and even got their first dolphin part two weeks ago. Each dolphin part represents a certain skill, e.g. swimming with their head under/in the water or swimming without arm floats. When they earned all the dolphin parts, they will start practicing for their first certificate. It's really a nice way to keep the kids motivated and Emma and Janne try very hard to earn their second dolphin part. I hope they will have their A certificate by summer next year.
Dolphin part 1: the eye

Trampoline!

Yesterday, I bought a trampoline on Marktplaats.nl (Dutch version of eBay) and today we put it in the back yard. As you can imagine, Emma and Janne love their 'move gift'.
Jumping for joy!

Oops ...

We've unpacked all moving boxes. Which is good. What's not so good is that we are missing some items. And of all the things that could have gotten lost, this is definitely one of the worst: photo albums. After going through all the boxes, even the ones which go into storage, I'm still missing at least 5 photo albums from our time in Taiwan!!!! Although we still have all the digital files of the pictures, it would be virtually impossible to redo the albums, because I simply don't remember everything anymore. That's exactly why I spent so much time making those albums right there and then. Please keep your fingers crossed that we'll find the albums, either in some forgotten box here or at Crown's warehouse is Taipei or Rotterdam!!!!

In the meantime, I did find my photo storage device. I'll try to find some time later today to post some pics.

Making good progress

Over two weeks ago, I promised some pictures of the move, but alas ... I misplaced my photo storage device. As the connection cable for my camera has not resurfaced from the boxes yet either, I'm currently unable to post pictures. So, you'll have to believe my word that we're making good progress unpacking boxes. The guest room still looks like a storage facility, but in all the other rooms, most boxes are gone, even in the garage. And once we start moving boxes to the attic, the guest room will also look more presentable.

Last week, both the Erard and the Yamaha piano arrived. Pieter is thrilled to have his two other sweethearts back and we are happy to have music back in our house :-) We also have grass in our back yard now, instead of a huge sandbox and as of today, Emma and Janne are allowed to play on it. I am trying to buy a trampoline via marktplaats.nl, Holland's most popular second hand sales website.
9 am: yard without ...
6 pm: yard with grass!

During the last week of summer vacation, Emma and I participated in the Jeugd Wandel Driedaagse. This is a three day event, during which kids aged from 5 to 12 walk 5 or 10 km per day. We registered as members of one of the school's groups, because I thought it would be a great way to get to know some kids and parents from school. I also hoped it might kindle some interest in Emma for walking/hiking. I'm very glad I did, because Emma had a great time. Not to say that she didn't complain about the distance or the heat or her tired legs, but all in all she did very well. On the third day, she didn't complain at all and she absolutely loved the marching band, which accompanied us during the last kilometer, the cheering people along the route and the flowers she got from dad. We are all so very proud of her!!
Walking the walk
Group picture

Emma and Janne both (!) started school a week ago, so their lives are 'back to normal' as well. Emma was very excited to go to group three and proudly informed us that she can now write the letters 'i' and 'm' in handwriting font. She did say she missed all the art time they had in Kindergarten though. Hopefully we can make up for that at home for the next couple of weeks, until she's used to the new regime. Janne was looking forward to going to group one of the basisschool and I think it met her expectations. She was totally shattered by the end of the week though, so she'll also need a few weeks to get used to this new experience and the new schedule. Now that we live at less than 10 minutes walking distance from school, the morning and lunch routine are a little bit more relaxed than before, when I had to cycle 15 minutes to get Emma to school.

That's about it for now. It's seven am and our day has started. Emma and Janne went to bed a little late last night, so it's be a difficult start of the week :-)