Nature Helps

My head has been swirling lately, and to be honest the creativity has been temporarily sucked out of me.  Why?  My kindergartner (group 1) is having a hard time adjusting to full school days at her new school.  There are a lot of tears and stomach aches, and I don't mean just her.

As my husband took her to school this morning (trying anything to help), I wanted to just stay inside in my pajamas and give into the sadness.  But we all know that's not the answer.  So I turned to nature, it's beautiful, calming, refreshing, and above all it makes my dog happy.  And it's nice to see someone in the house happy. 

We went for a wonderfully long morning walk through farm land here in the middle of Eindhoven.  And I thought I'd share some of the pics I snapped along the way.

And if any of you have any tips on dealing with children & school separation anxiety please leave a comment!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #89

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Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #87

 

Been a while, thought I'd throw this one out there!

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Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

BBQ in the park

A couple weekends ago my husband arranged a bbq in the park.  For some reason the moms panicked, it sounded like more effort than it was worth.  Were we really going to drag our charcoal grill to the park?  Is a bbq in the public park allowed?  What happens when the kids need to pee?  Can we really keep the food and drinks cold that long?  What about dishes, blankets, etc?  We came up with an immediate lists of why not to have a bbq.

But then as the week passed and the weekend neared, I started to change my mind.  I realized how ridiculous we were being, and even if it was a huge effort it would be worth it.  Hey, we only live once (trying to think about this more often). 

And you know what, it turned out to be great.  The kids played and played.  The Dads cooked, the Moms relaxed on the blankets & soaked up the sun.  And we even spoiled ourselves by bringing along music, between the Surface & a guitar we were set!  After all was said and done, one family walked home & the other biked.  And us, we loaded all the bbq supplies in our SUV, left it for the night, and walked home ourselves.  It was a great day!

The point of this post - enjoy life & stop making everything such a big deal!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #86

 

Been a while, thought I'd throw this one out there!

Check my blog hop page for WW link-ups! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #85

 

Check my blog hop page for WW link-ups! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #84

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pop by my blog hop page! 

Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #80

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Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Snail Story

Do any of you have a snail or creature in your yard that has decided to make it officially their home?  Apparently we have a pet snail!  The snail decided to show its face about six months ago.  We were preparing our terrace for a bbq and when I lifted the cover on our picnic table there was a snail in a beautiful yellowish shell.  Immediately I grabbed my phone, snapped a pic, and ever since it has been one of my favorite Instagram pics.  Then a good few months went by before it turned up again, this time in one of our plant containers.  We accepted its presence and occasionally my husband would move it hoping to make it a little happier, maybe it would be more interested in the carrots than the weeds.  After my daughter saw the movie Turbo, her interest in the snail grew and we also decided to name it Turbo, just like the racing snail in the kids movie.  The other day my husband was clearing off the terrace to clean it with the high pressure hose when our daughter said, "hey, there's Turbo!"  Turns out my husband had stepped on it, but some how it survived (similar to the movie).  And yesterday before my husband went to play golf, he found the snail in his golf shoes which he often forgets outside.  And without telling me (I wasn't home) he placed the snail in a mug on the kitchen counter and left for golf.  When I returned home last night and started tidying up after putting our daughter to bed, I noticed the mug and tossed it in the sink not knowing there was a snail inside.  I didn't get around to clearing the sink until this morning (hey, it's weekend).  After loading the dishwasher I grabbed the wash cloth so I could finish up the dishes that didn't fit.  And when I lifted the cloth from where it was draped over the faucet I realized Turbo was hiding in the upper corner of the sink.  Naturally I freaked out and grabbed my camera again.  (Unfortunately the sink wasn't clean, so I will not be showing you those pics.)  Maybe other people dare touch snails and creatures, but not me.  I was going to leave the snail until my husband could deal with it (I was even starting to think he had set me up to see how long it would take me to clean out the sink, ha-ha!)  But when the snail decided to start creeping from one basin to another, I knew I had to do something about it.  Didn't want the little thing to get into any salt or sugar, or spread germs of course.  I have been holding on to some glass jars thinking about collecting bugs or worms for my daughter and now one had an official purpose!  It didn't take me long to collect different types of soil from containers on our terrace, but the real question was how to lure the snail.  (Keep in mind my 4yr old is watching everything.)  We hit up Google to see what snails eat, and luckily we had mushrooms in the fridge I didn't mind using.  After breaking one up and shoving into the small jar half full of soil we kept placing it in Turbo's path but again and again it avoided the jar.  Then finally it curiously crawled inside... YES!  Once it was safe inside I opened the door to outback and carried the jar & snail back out to the terrace.  My daughter was very impressed that we gave it a little house.  (Again, I took pics to share with everyone!)  I doubt the little snail will be in the jar the next time we check, hope my daughter is not too disappointed.  And then once we were back inside, I scrubbed the sink to no end and then hopped on my computer to share the story with you all!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Wordless Wednesday #79

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Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Fresh Veggies #2

I'm not so thrilled with the weather changing, but I am definitely happy that the autumn vegetables are back!  The first thing that crossed my mind when the chill hit the air was the road side veggie stand in Riethoven (Walik)!  Last year we stumbled upon a beautiful assortment of pumpkins and squashes, and I was eager to head back.  We took the risk of going a few weeks earlier than last year, but luckily the stand was up and running.  She didn't have as big of a selection yet, so I think we'll be taking the 1hr round trip again later in the month.  Besides the stunning, colorful display being perfect for a hobby photographer, the vegetables are actually delicious.  I don't cook the pumpkins though, as of yet we gave them to family and also displayed one in the living room (maybe we'll get around to carving it).  But I do cook the large squashes.  This year I picked up a butternut squash and a spaghetti squash to bake, and they were both soooo delicious!
 

I can't help but show you pictures from our stop at the self-service veggie stand (but I'm saving my favorite shot for a Wordless Wednesday)!
 

Wordless Wednesday #68

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Wordless Wednesday #66

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Wordless Wednesday #60

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Wordless Wednesday #58

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Picnic in the Park

A definite perk of being a stay-at-home mom, spontaneous picnics!  The weather has warmed up, it's in the 70's (20's) and everyone is out in their t-shirts & shorts.  My tot has been asking for a while to go on a picnic and since Friday's are our free day, I thought - why not.  When it's nice weather we tend to eat out on our terrace anyway, so packing up lunch and taking it around the corner to the park was no effort at all.  

Lunch boxes full of sandwiches & pizza - check!

Clear blue skies & warm weather - check!

Shoes kicked off and tot running free - check!

Left over bread for the ducks - check!

We were only missing two things (well beings), my husband & the dog.  I guess I'll just have to plan a picnic in the weekend, too!

Wordless Wednesday #54

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Losing My Mind

The other day I actually questioned my own sanity... those who know me are probably chuckling, my sanity is generally questionable, ha-ha!  In the parking lot of our apartment building there is a patch of dirt & grass, and a huge tree, this has become my dog's 3rd toilet.  #1 is a dog toilet in the neighborhood for speedy walks, and #2 is a strip of grass about ten minutes from where I live.  Bathroom #3 is used between walks, it's just not always possible to run her to allotted dog toilets.  Anyway, back on subject, in this patch of grass & dirt occasionally flowers pop up, it's spring, it's normal.  But then the flowers disappeared, not so normal.  The first time I noticed the flowers were gone, I thought the wind possibly blew them away or maybe they just fell off, it happens.  (I'm not always fully awake when my dog goes to toilet #3.)  Then the flowers magically came back (magic, yeah).  I convinced myself it's spring they're constantly renewing themselves.  And then they all disappeared again.  For a brief moment I thought I was possibly losing my mind, seeing things, who knows.  I knew at that moment I was going to have to start paying attention, my head is quite busy and focusing takes more effort than for others (if you haven't noticed).  It took me all of two days to see the process happen again and again, and then it dawned on me... deep in the swirling of my brain I remembered science class.  And there are plenty of flowers that open and shut throughout the day, dumb*#!  I snapped some pics so I could look the flower up and of course show it to you, turns out it is a Star of Bethlehem.  That's one less unsolved phenomenon in my life, ha-ha!

Center Parcs

As promised, I'm finally getting around to telling you all about our weekend getaway to Center Parcs.  Center Parcs is a huge franchise with parks in multiple countries, but we decided to go with one close to home.  Within 30 minutes from our house lies Center Parcs - De Kempervennen, who knew you could go on vacation so close to home, ha-ha!  But I must admit, I felt worlds away from Eindhoven and when we returned home we all felt relaxed and rejuvenated.  Center Parcs offers cottages you can rent for the weekend or longer, and within the park they offer more activities than I could even start to list.  You can also visit the park for the day, if you're not interested in staying in one of the cottages.  Since we were going with two families we went ahead and rented one of the larger cottages, and this one was even equipped with things for the kids, like a bunk bed and toys.  The cottages are all located in the woods and once you've unloaded your car you're required to take it to a parking lot on the outskirts of the park, which means it's quiet and you walk everywhere.  Besides the cottage being located in the quiet of the woods, ours was also situated next to a pond.  All we had to do was open the door to the terrace and we could walk down to the duck filled pond, and considering we all brought our dogs they too were ecstatic.  You can make the trip as expensive or affordable as you like, you can request every package they offer (even grocery or meal delivery) or you can bring things from home.  Since we weren't travelling far we loaded our cars up with every amenity you can imagine, anything to make the stay more comfortable.  We brought a lot of food but we also were sure to eat at a couple of the restaurants while we were there.  Besides treating ourselves to everything from bbq to pizza, we also made sure to try out a handful of the offered activities.  In the course of the weekend, we swam at the large indoor tropical pool, the kids played at 4 different playgrounds, played midget golf, the guys played basketball, went to a petting zoo, the kids play in one of the many lakes, and even sat lakeside in the sand for lunch and drinks watching people wakeboard & waterski.  There were many more things we wanted to do, but there just wasn't enough time, we'll save things like the swan-shaped pedal boats and the white-water slide for the next trip.  You can even rent bikes, go indoor snow skiing, or play tennis is you like, oh yeah, and instead of the normal cottage I think you can also rent a houseboat.  They really have it all!  Some highlights for me, the underwater disposable camera I brought and the hopefully great shots I took at the pool and on the water slides (still have to get it developed) and the afternoon on the water I felt like I was back in Florida just minus the excruciating heat.  (Wish I could give you more pics but I don't like posting too many pics of my family & friends on my blog.)  A big thanks to the hubby for making this possible! 
 

And of course to all you mother's out there, especially mine, Happy Mother's Day!

Weekend Getaway

I would like to be sitting down telling you all about our great weekend getaway to Center Parcs (De Kempervennen) but instead I am busy unpacking, doing laundry, and preparing for our nieces to visit.  I hope to squeeze in a post before Wordless Wednesday but not sure if my agenda will allow that.  If not, you'll hear from me by the end of the week!