So picture this. At the campground, tent close to bike. You’ve been efficient and emptied the tent on the way out. There was no wind last night, so you didn’t bother pegging it except for the front door. You set up the stove to make coffee. Last night, it took to the third-to-last match to get the stove lighted for soup (who knows how old these matches are and things are a bit damp). You want to give the last…
Naturally, I didn’t leave on time. I didn’t actually leave until 4 pm. There was a time when packing for a trip was routine and I knew exactly what I needed and where it went. Of course, that is no longer the case. Everything lives in different places now, adapted to the things we do as a family. And I had to find again where it all goes on the bike. Yes, I should have done that in the days…
It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a proper motorcycle trip, and even longer since I’ve gone it alone. The last trip I took was just before we left Canada when I was pregnant with my now 11-year-old son. And I haven’t gone alone since Ivo came to join me in Canada. So, it’s time to go and just ride, with no particular destination in mind, although this time, for the first time ever, I’ve planned the route…
I think in the end I was a bit scared to actually go. Normally as I approach a deadline I get super efficient and get everything done like Super Woman and I was counting on that burst of energy and anxiety to kick in. But as this deadline approached, I found myself stalling and not being efficient at all. Was I having second thoughts about it all? Was I actually a bit nervous, even though it’s what I’ve wanted for…
We had gorgeous summer weather for the end of September, so headed off to Camping De Altena (one of the Natuurkampeerterreinen or natural campgrounds) for the weekend. There were only a few other campers on the site, which was spread over six big grass fields, each surrounded by forest. We arrived Saturday at lunch time and just basically ran around (at least the kids) for the rest of the afternoon. Then, after a leisurely morning, we packed up, moved the van…
Woke up and had the van ready to go by 9, without really rushing, and with packing things up in their stuff sacks since this was our last morning, a time we’d never achieve in a tent. Then our breakfast, one of the kids’ favourite: yoghurt and granola (crunchy muesli for the Europeans): Then, as we’d promised Sprocket, we got a bit of time in at the playground outside the medieval city walls: Yes, as DutchBoy read there, and as…
The sun having been pretty much absent in the Netherlands this summer, or at least well hidden by clouds and rain, we decided that the sun was the object of our inaugural trip in our new green camper van. And when I say inaugural, I mean, we hadn’t even taken it out for a weekend, or even taken the kids for a ride in it yet. But here we were, heading out on vacation. We bought the bus on July…
DutchBoy took a day off work and his dad came up and we all went to the Railway Museum. I have to admit, all the boys really, really liked it and I, well, I thought it was OK (pictures with a date stamp taken by DutchBoy’s dad). This amused me. Sorta. In an eye-rolling kinda way. Roughly translated, “There’s work in the Railway stores. There it’s responsible and interesting work… MENS WORK. A friendly and welcoming work environment and above…
Again taking advantage of our museum memberships and a lovely late September afternoon, we headed off to the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuisen. It’s another outdoor museum, a collection of old buildings and other heritage stuff. You take a boat from the parking lot to the museum and then get to wander around in buildings and such. I can see going back there when the kids are older as there was a lot of cool stuff for them, including dress up clothes…
The Openluchtmuseum (literally “Open Air Museum”) is a collection of restored historic buildings, staffed by people in traditional costumes. They do traditional crafts (and naturally, sell the products) and have activities for the kids. But mostly, it’s just a very pleasant place to walk around in, with lots of interesting things to see. We’d been meaning to get there for a while – we bought these museum year cards (free entrance to many museums for only €35 for the year…
A very traditional Mothers Day. We went with DutchBoy’s parents to the Keukenhof. We’d won tickets in the bank lottery he plays and a lovely sunny Mothers Day seemed the perfect day to go. It was beautiful, and though busy, not so busy that it was overcrowded. And by around five, everyone had gone home for dinner so it felt almost deserted and we got to wander through the flowers at leisure. I took quite a lot of pictures and…
Today we went with a visiting Canadian friend to another World Heritage Site, Kinderdijk. Again, while nice enough, it was hardly on the scale of an Angkor Wat or some of the other sites I’ve seen. But it was pretty enough, and quintessentially Dutch, with windmills and dykes and polders (the areas of land inside canals), as you see here. Sprocket quite enjoyed his time in the back carrier, as he usually does. Me and my friend. A swan in…