Just a couple of days ago Alex and Alan both made a nice cozy habitat for a couple of snails we found outside our home in the mini garden we have. Alex has lots of snails (around 10) and Alan only wanted one, and later added a few more so he had three. For two weeks the kids have been feeding the happy snail cucumber (their favorite), tomato, lettuce.

To avoid damaging the snails whenever that are picked up (as little as possible) the kids wash their hands, to clean any salt and dirt from their hands. After handling the snails they again clean their hands to avoid whatever may occur after touching a snail. They have even cleaned some of the snails a couple of times by holding them gently under slow running lukewarm water. Basically the snails seem to have their own private heaven.

The are happy and it shows. After two weeks both snail farm are already crowded with lots of little snail eggs!

Last month our dinner date fell in the sand. Literally. The fine dust was the topic of the evening and we did not discuss anythings else. This month should have been better, but no, it was even worse. We’re locked in our home and are unable to do anything at all.

The corona virus is here. An actual pandemic. The entire world seems infected. It seems like the virus is everywhere. Such a small bug with such a big effect. Yesterday we got the announcement that the schools will all be closed for two weeks. The hospital where Ana works in suddenly a place of stress. At my work the option to work from home suddenly seems to be valid. Supermarkets are partly empty and people are hamstering. It is a strange time.

Last weekend was spend inside because the entire island was covered by a strange yellow thick fog. The fog was not made out of water, but existed out of sand. The sand came all the way from the Sahara desert and was/is being blown over the island. Slowly everything here is being covered by a thin layer of yellow/orange sand. It looks pretty nice, but the same layer of sant in our lungs is probably not the best thing, so we spend the weekend inside with all the doors and windows closed. The one time we were outside it was like being in a ghost town. No cars, almost no people and the people that were outside were wearing mouthcaps.

“Ollie Ongeluk” is on of the main characters in the Dutch animated series “Helden van de stad”, Heroes of the city. Alan is a big fan and he especially likes the character Ollie. Ollie is a very unlucky character. He walks around with his leg in a cast, his arm in a cast and his beak has a big bandaid. Almost every episode het gets into trouble and he accumelates more harm. He will fall over banana peels, fall into fountains, cause fires and just generally cause lots of trouble.

Alan is a fan, and it looks like Ollies bad luck is rubbing off on Alan. Suddenly Alan is going through a period of increased unluckiness. He fell on the street and needed two stitches on his forehead and during playtime at school he fell and bit his tongue. Now he is walking around with a blue inflated tongue. Poor guy. Lets hope his unluckiness is over.

Getting a new toy is always great. This time it is not only a toy, it is a new hobby at the same time. Sinterklaas/santa claus/the three kings/myself gave me a micro tool. A Dremel that can be used for drilling, filing, cutting and sanding. Just good simple fun, messing about with a small powerfull motor. My first project will probably be an egg. Blowing out a normal chicken egg and using the drill to make it into a piece of art.

It has been silent for a couple of months. Not so very strange with two kids and the holidays. We went from one activity to another and it left me little time for my hobbies, like this blog. A shame really, but it is what it is.

Since the beginning of out holidays I’ve stopped writing. We first visited Holland for a few weeks, and had a really great time. During our time in the Netherlands the kids even spoke a little Dutch together, which made me very happy and even a bit proud. In Holland we did all the regular stuff. Spend time with family and friends, eat some smoked eel, visit the beach, the lake and my city, Leiden. All in all a good time.

After Holland we went to Torrevieja. Almost a month of beach, swimming pool, sun and relaxation. The nights were spend with our kids playing with a huge group of other kids, all in the closed area with the holiday houses. Alex also celebrated his birthday here with lots of activities and lots of presents.

Now we are again home, for quite some time already and we have gotten back in our normal routines. Boring and easy, and that is also quite good.

We are coming over! For two weeks we will be visiting Holland and we are expecting some nice weather. We hope to see everyone we know when we are over. Our flight arrives tomorrow morning at 00:15 so we’ll probably start off tired, but that won’t stop us to get the party started :)

Blowing a mega huge soap bubble is quite an impressive sight. I used to think that the ingredients for such a bubble were a bit mythical. Stuff that was hard to find, but I found out it is really not that hard. In fact, it is quite simple. You need to mix normal soap used for cleaning the dishes, some water, a bit of sugar and the magic ingredient, cheap beer. Mix it all up and with a special contraption of two sticks and some rope you can make your own huge bubbles.