Walking Down Memory Lane

10/01/21

A slow morning unwound itself, landing on us all enjoying a breakfast together.

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Later on, we all walked the almost 3 or so km. into Doesburg together, desiring to go to ‘Ferry Snacks’ once again 😉

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Filling up on nasi balls and fries.

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And ice cream. 
Like, really filling up… to the point that even the thought of them right now, isn’t all that amazingly appealing. Meaning we did our job of filling up on what we could, while we could, rather well I suppose 🙈

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We meandered around town, popping into a couple shops, and simply enjoying the time together.

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Pictured here, you can see chestnuts lining the street.

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There are many of them around, and their dangerously spiked chestnuts, lay in loads upon the ground around them, piercing unassuming shoes now and again 🤪

It wouldn’t have been a trip into Doesburg on a chilly day, without having gotten hot chocolate from ‘De Waag’  😉🖤

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The pub/café/restaurant that lays claim to being the oldest in The Netherlands.

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It was just as delicious as we remembered, and we enjoyed it as we began our walk back towards the house.

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We took a different route home from the one John and Inge took.

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Mike deciding to show me the paths he used to walk, the soccer field he’d played on. The school that he once attended.

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The pond where he’d feed the ducks with scrap bread from the store.

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Where friends had lived, the house where he’d been born and lived his first few years in.

It really was a walk full of historical monuments and information 😉

Evening brought with it some preparations for the next day, as Mike and I would be taking the father-in-laws RV for a ‘ Tour de France ‘ minus the cycling and whatnot 🤪

Flavours From The Past

09/28/21

I can’t really recollect what happened this day… will you all be able to make it? Not knowing the details of a day of my life?! 🤪 

As far as I can recall, I was actually not feeling fantastic, aching and having some very bad headaches throughout the day.

So between unpacking, laundry, Lake tending, showering etc. the day passed by.
Mike had went out and purchased supplies to make supper during my and Lakes nap, as Inge was working that day and we had no plans for the evening. He purchased what we’d have typically gotten some random day for a meal back when we lived in Europe.

Four, breaded and seasoned pork schnitzel €5.00

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Pre – chopped and seasoned potato’s €0.89

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Bagged lettuce, tomato’s and mozzarella €3.00

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Garlic baguette €0.50

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Mike also did most of the preparations for dinner ☺️💗 

Because he’d been bound to the house for most of the day, aside from him grocery buying expedition, he ‘needed’ to get out 🤪
Thus, meaning he wanted me, to go out with him too 🙄🤪
I suppose I should be flattered but really he just can not relax in a space… where I prefer to become a part of a space 🤪🙈
We opted to go to a nearby restaurant to grab a drink while Oma and Lake went for an evening bike ride.

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Since I still felt a bit under the weather, I ordered a mint tea and Mike got a hot chocolate.

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You probably know by now that I don’t advise tea drinking, but if you do it, the way they do mint tea with the actual leaves/stems, is rather a nice way to partake of the tepid, slightly confused water style drink 😉

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09/29/21

Oma Inge had the day off of work, and when that would occur, she’d urge us to make use of her grandmotherly abilities of babysitting 😉
Zevenaar was the town we decided to go explore for a little while, as well as begin some of the purchasing of items we desired to take back with us.

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We began with fries and ice cream. Knowing we’d be regretting it if we didn’t take every opportunity we had, to indulge in those two simple pleasures 😉🤪

As we wandered along the street, a sign for a men’s clothing shop that was having a closing down sale, caught Mikes eye 🤓
He entered in casual attire and left with a new suit and dress shirt in hand 😅

Unplanned and mostly unneeded, but the joy on his face while he tried on suits, was nearly worth the price tag 😜🙈

Oma paraded Lake around while we where out. Biking, walking, visiting neighbours etc. keeping him (and herself😉) ever entertained ☺️

Lake’s great Oma and Opa were over when we returned and Opa was quickly interested to learn which shop Mike had gotten his suit from, so he too could go shopping the sale 😉🙈
Such a different genre of men then I am accustomed to having grown up around 😂
Where the very idea of suit shopping would cause great unease 🤪

09/30/21

We three, along with John and Inge, drove to Utrecht to do some exploration. 

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A place in line was found outside of Broodje Mario.

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A restaurant that’s been around since 1977.
A ‘ Broodje Mario’ sandwich was ordered, being made up of cheese, salami, chorizo and a kind of coleslaw mix.
John said he would go and get the same thing when he was growing up near there.

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As the sandwich was shared, it didn’t do much to dent the hunger and not much farther along, some loempia’s were purchased and then a little further, a five guys burger 🤪 The two previous foods were much better than the burger 😬

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It wasn’t the nicest of days weather wise, being overcast and a bit windy, but we walked in and out of enough stores and down enough streets, to stay decently comfortable.

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We walked past the building John’s father had grown up in and it was interesting to see a couple of the places the generation(s) pre Mike, had experienced ☺️

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A drink and snack were gotten before we walked back to the vehicle and drove back in the direction of the house.

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I got another mint test, but as my unwell feeling had left, so had my enjoyment of said tea 🙈


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I snoozed a little during the drive to our next quick stop at John’s brothers office to say a quick hello, to combat the car sickness that taunts me all around Europe.

863F09D2-73D3-4501-9B82-C1F16B6C3C47Once we got back home, Inge mixed us up a salad for dinner and Mike went out to eat and watch a Vitesse soccer game with his cousin. He’d said I was welcome to go with them, but I respectfully declined 😜
Lake was tired from the day out, so he went to bed decently and I used that opportunity to chat with the sister back home 💗

Mission: Accomplished


I slacked in keeping up the day to day journaling whilst on the trip, due to usually just wanting to go right to sleep, whenever bedtime finally came around 😅 And typically being too busy during the days, to post.

But in doing so, I now have no posts written up in advance and have to rely on photos to stoke the embers of memory, which saddens me because I know I have forgotten potentially interesting details. So from now on, it’s all just out of recollection and not from recent happenings.

Forgive me if the details are lacking 😉

09/27/21

The children were in school, so Judith had the morning to go out with us ☺️
We went to Coffee Brew Krefeld.

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A modern/earthy little breakfast spot with tasty drinks and a menu filled with healthy, yet intriguing breakfast options.
Mike went for what was possibly their only non-healthy option 🤪

It sounded good to me too, but I didn’t want to just get two of the same dishes, so Judith and I went for smoothie bowl style dishes. 

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All of us got specialty drinks which were very tasty and the presentation of it all, made it all the more enjoyable 😉

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From there, we headed into town to do some shopping. 

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Judith making it her mission to find me some clothing stores after our failed shopping in Arnhem 🤪 
And she didn’t disappoint!

In the first store, C&A, she and Mike took off, loading their arms with clothing for me and then ushering me to the change room 🤪

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I left with 5 skirts, one costing a whopping €2.99!😅 
Redeeming the shopping aspect of the trip 😉👌🏻 

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I also ended up purchasing a slightly dressier winter coat from Vera Moda. 
So then I decided the shopping excursion must end 🤪

Actually our time for being out before the kids got back home from school was up as well, so it was timely 😉 
Mike made us all some poffertjes for an afternoon bite to eat, and once we’d enjoyed those and packed up, we began our journey back to Doesburg.

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Not before some photos could be taken with each other though 😊

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(Elaine had quickly changed into the same outfit as me when she’d gotten back from school, so it was no coincidence 😉)

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Since Lake still wasn’t feeling 100%, we decided to stop in and see Oma at her pharmacy job for some advice 😉

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It was also raining pretty good so we stuck around to give her a ride home from work, rather than have her bike home. The delay due to traffic jams, which we are so not accustomed to anymore, and then the little wait for Oma, put Lake over the edge as far as being in the car is concerned. Oma held ‘Luca’  in Lake’s view and that appeased him until we got back and it was Opa’s turn to help get him back into a happier frame of mind 😉

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Savouring – The Snuggles, The Food, The Family Time

09/26/21

Lake and I had church from the couch on this specific Sunday.

He slept in until 10:30 and was back down for a large nap only an hour and a half later, after only having laid on the floor, or me, during his awake time between. Refusing any food or drink, aside from coffee 🤪

I can’t lie and say I didn’t actually sort of like the snuggles and calmness 🙈
It truly was the first time in his first year of life (aside from the baby days when he didn’t really have any say 🤪) that he willingly clung to me, and wanted to continue doing so 💗

The rest of the family that had attended church, returned with lunch from another Greek restaurant that we had on our ‘to eat’ list 😉

We decided that it did have the better meat compared to the first Greek restaurant we’d went to.
Looks aside 🤪 Why does it seem like some of the tastiest foods, look the least appealing?
So, if you’re ever in the area, make a point to go to ‘Grill Am Bahnhof’ and order Gyros, you can thank us later.

Lake stayed asleep until after lunch, which is always a nice treat 🙈 Once he awoke and seen the kids, he really perked up and seemed to be doing better ☺️

We went for a little visit to some family/friends from church later that afternoon and then popped in to say hello to some more family after that 😅 Mike has no shortage of family, friends and friends like family and so on and so forth, so if we ever had ‘spare’ time, it wasn’t hard to fill 🤪

Originally we’d planned to go back to John and Inge’s that evening, but after learning they’d both be working, we figured we’d might as well stay another night at the sisters, if she’d have us 😉

Once the children were all in bed, we were treated to an evening spread of veggies, sausages and bread with a feta/tomato dip 👌🏼

Untimely Unwellness

09/25/21

Saturday morning began with a family breakfast ☺️🍞🥐🧀🥓

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Afterwords, Mike went to the barber, Tim, our nephew going with for some guy time 😎 They returned with churros 🤪

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During their time away, Lake was entertained by aunty and uncle, and I got to relax.

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Writing and being served coffee 😉

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Judith and I went for a 6 km walk, knowing the rest of our day probably wouldn’t hold much movement, as we were headed to a garden party 🤓

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Walking a new route with a new companion (no offence to my regulars 😉) surely makes the walk go by quicker 😅

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Lake had been fading in the health category for a couple of days, but it was really showing up this day.

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Snuggling with us after his nap instead of jumping up and wanting to be taken out of the room to play, and then slowly becoming more and more clingy as the day went on.
By the time we got to the garden party, he only wanted to be held and didn’t want to play, or eat anything aside from watermelon. All out of the ordinary for him 🤪

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We partook of all the food items available, enjoying the variety of goodies 😉

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We eventually took Lake for a walk in the covered wagon supplied by our hosts, to try to get him to sleep. It worked… for a few minutes.

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He then just lounged in it, as he was gazed up and wheeled around…

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making it really seemed like a pretty luxury accommodation for a special occupant 🤪

Dinner was served, and we happily indulged in that as well, of course, as we’re no strangers to accepting food 😉

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After that, we took Lake inside where it was a cooler and less strenuous for our arms, as we could sit on a big comfy couch with him.  Mike went back out to mingle after Lake settled a bit, and I stayed until he fell asleep… and then I actually fell asleep for 20 minutes too 😅

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I felt bad once I awoke, as they’d put a note in the doorway to be quiet because there was a baby sleeping…but it wasn’t just a baby 🙈

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The guys went to play a game of soccer late that evening, after the party ended. So Lake and I were taken home to go to bed. 
He threw up before bed, and the poor little guy was very warm and having a hard time getting comfortable. 
Making for a pretty restless night, with many wakings due to his cough and phlegm, causing many paci losses and hasty replacements 🤪😞

It was a little disappointing that the day Lake had his first real bought of ‘cuddle inducing, don’t put me down, and comfort me’ sickness happened during a day that held beautiful weather and multiple people I know a bit better than some, and could have really visited with, but that’s life 😉

 

Young At Heart…If Not In Our Senses


09/24/21

Oma Inge took Lake for a bike ride, so that I could have a child free morning to get myself and our things together, as we were once again bound for Germany for the weekend.

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Before heading there though, we were stopping in at a cousin’s home.

And before getting to the cousin’s home, we stopped at one of the few Starbucks scattered across The Netherlands.

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I was so looking forward to a coffee like I’d have at home annnnd they messed it up because I forgot they don’t do cream here 🙄 It’s milk or nothing, so instead they tried a cloud foam on top, and it just turned out to be a very strong, mostly black iced coffee, which had a weird flavour once the foam settled. Needless to say, it was disappointing 🙈

Being served traditional and delicious Norwegian waffles made by our cousins Norwegian wife, lifted my spirits 🤪  (yes it is probably somewhat obvious that she’d be Norwegian, but just in case there was a question as to why the waffles would be ‘authentic’ I thought I’d clarify 😜 ).

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After we’d eaten, we headed to go bowling. 

Which turned into mini golf, some air hockey, and a roller coaster simulator… as well as some bowling 🤪
The glow golf was a bit over stimulating at times and I felt horrible that Lake had to come along on the roller coaster simulator, but he hardly complained and really was a little champ 😉💗👍🏻

We had fun being kids though and truly enjoyed our afternoon together ☺️
Even though all of the noise, dim and or flashing lights, really made us feel a little old, once we excited out into the now, seemingly ‘serene’ out of doors 🤪

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Sadly, Lake had begun to feel a little under the weather the day before and thus, he was pretty subdued for all the above activities, and this is how he sadly looked during the remaining drive to Aunties.

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Judith’s was gotten to nearer bedtime than not, so once the kids had gotten in their hellos, it was also time for them to say goodnight, and we adults followed not long after.

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