Life is so much nicer when the sun shines

A lovely winter's day

I love this weather: cold (-3C) and sunny. Maya and I went for a long walk this morning.

Happy puppy

Ice

Looking for mice

Sunny day

Finally another post on this blog, the first one in 2016. Some photos of the beautiful nature in the Netherlands. Having a dog means you have to go for walks rain or shine. Rain has been the mayor theme this winter, but we had some sunny days too.

Our puppy is getting big

a lovely park, close to our house

Maya loves swimming, no matter how cold the water is

Life

I haven't been very active on this blog. In fact, I haven't written any posts since August. It is not like nothing has happened since then, it is just that I am not sure it is worth writing about.

I could fill this blog with lots of photos of our cute puppy, but that would probably be quite boring. OK, just one ;-)

Life is back to 'normal' now and we have all settled in and found a routine in our daily lives. School, university and work are all going well for my men. We are very happy with the choices we made for our boys' education. Simon is getting a lot of support from the counseling department and the special needs department and the school even has a weekly "Spectrum Lunch Group" for the children that are on the Autism spectrum. Simon loves it, he really likes spending time with peers that think alike. To feel normal and not the odd one out is doing him a world of good.

It has taken me more time to settle. I love having our puppy around, she keeps me company and all the walks we take keep me fit. I still miss the expat life, but I enjoy being closer to our family.

Yesterday I went to Naarden Vesting with my parents and my sister. It is a beautiful town and we walked all around it over the fortified walls. The weather was good so it was a lovely fall day.

Our puppy: Maya

Finally! That's what our boys said yesterday when we drove home with our puppy on their laps. We had promised them we would get a dog when we would move back to NL to stay.

I found an organisation via Facebook, ALAS Rescue Team, that brings dogs to NL from shelters in Spain. Those dogs would otherwise be euthanised. If you live in NL/Belgium/Germany and are looking for a dog, please check their web site or Facebook page!

So last night we picked up our 4.5 month old puppy from Rotterdam airport and I can assure you that she is the most adorable and cute puppy you have ever seen!!! ;-)

We named her Maya.

Straight from the travel crate into our arms

Finally!

When we arrived home, she didn't want to enter the house at first, but preferred to lay under the shrubs at our front door  

Early morning walk

Tired after walking and playing



She took all her toys outside to play

How a lovely afternoon at a scout's camp ended up in 4 hours at the ER

Our good friend Benjamin is at a scout's camp in the Netherlands at the moment and today was visitors day. Since Ben in from Ireland, his parents couldn't come to visit, so we did.

It was great to see Ben again and he was proud to show us around.

We had tea and potato cakes at the County Mayo camp site before we went to the obstacle course.

This is where things went wrong

Traction to pull bones in place

Chinese finger traps

He is smiling in the last photo, thanks to the morphine, but I can tell you it was very painful to have weights pulling at his broken wrist and then 3 doctors pulling as hard as they could to reposition the bone.
I guess it is safe to say he won't be eager to get into a bouncy castle any time soon again.

The Betuwe

Yesterday I visited a friend who lives in a beautiful part of the Netherlands, called De Betuwe. The area is famous for it's fruit. We had a great time. Thank you Nicole!

Canons to defend the old city of Buren.

Storks

With my friend Nicole

Lovely Cherries

"Bee-hotel, rooms available"

Raspberries

He was running the roost

Strawberries