Bring a Kid to Work Day...

Ashlynn was happy that she didn’t have to visit Jimmy’s office alone as several of her friends have fathers that work at the agency as well. She was also lucky that the dads worked together to try to keep the day interesting. Here they are on the roof.

Ashlynn’s favorite part of the day was actually the coffee breaks, but she also enjoyed using the microphones in the conference room and the session with the bullet-proof vests.

The kids ran around so they could see how heavy the gear is. Of course, it also made for a good photo op.

Kati’s First Birthday...

Jimmy and I took Kati to a festival at the farm next to the Voorschoten train station. There were various vendors with food and crafts. I bought a cool purse made out of recycled bicycle tires. Kati wasn’t too crazy about the slide.

Ashlynn gave Kati her birthday present: a treat dispenser. Kati quickly figured out how to lift up the flaps with her nose to get to the treats.

After buying a lot of dog supplies, the pet store gave us a free doggy sugar-free carrot muffin mix that Ashlynn saved to cook for Kati’s birthday.

Another Low Bridge...

I met the canoe along the Vliet just as they were about to enter the smaller canal in our neighborhood.

I stood on the final bridge to capture how they have to lie down to clear it. You can now see why I’m not a big can of canoeing from our house.

Plant Shopping in Voorschoten...

Rather than needing to rent a Greenwheels car to go to the gardening center, Jimmy was really happy to discover that he could go plant shopping by canoe from our new house. I met him, Ashlynn and Kati in the village to help pick out plants and take photos.

They laid down the plants in anticipation of going under some low bridges.

I was relieved not to be in the canoe with them when I saw just how low this bridge was.

Death of the Travel Bug Hotel...

I was really confused when we got a few emails that said there was a fence on top of the travel bug hotel that Jimmy built with the girls a few years ago. So I stopped by our old house and saw that the emails were right. Apparently the new renters have three dogs and needed a fence built. Clearly whoever was hired wasn’t smart enough to confirm that the ground was solid because a portion of the fence sits on top of the lid to the cache.

Our Little Social Butterfly...

Ashlynn has definitely become quite the social butterfly since moving to our new neighborhood. She regularly organizes groups to take Kati for walks and occasionally has her friends around for a junk food feeding frenzy.

 The girls have gotten into doing crafts lately.

Ashlynn and Lucy like to cook together. Often them make cookies or cakes at each other’s houses, but this time Mika and Sophie joined in to make homemade cheddar goldfish at our house, which were delicious.

New High Ropes Course...

Our final half term break in May was spent at home so that Veronica could continue studying for her exams. Ashlynn spent the break hanging out with her school friends in our neighborhood. On Friday Lucy and her mom organized a session at the new Climbing Adventure Park at Vlietland, which was built over a swamp.

Ashlynn and Sophie were among the girls that had no fear. Others were very cautious, but still managed to complete the whole course, just at a slower pace.

While Helen and I stayed on the ground, Jimmy took a half-day off work so he could scamper across the obstacles. He was really impressed with the fancy single carabiner system that ensured that your harness was always connected. We enjoyed getting to meet the park designer.

The girls agreed that this was a great park. It had four levels with the top at 36 feet (11 meters) and 49 elements, the hardest being the tires according to the girls.