The first month of 2025 has already passed by. This month we are back to our usual routine after all the chaos of December. Of course, I am curious about what 2025 will bring. A major event is my personal milestone. This year marks my 50th birthday. That’s something. I still feel reasonably young, but that feeling doesn’t seem to match up with my biological age. A strange sensation. Fortunately, I have a few more months to enjoy myself before I reach this milestone.

We start the year with renewal. Both children received a beautiful display cabinet, to place their trinkets in. Ana has purchased a new Dyson. With the new Dyson v12 vacuum cleaner, even the children are now enthusiastic about cleaning the floors. While the novelty might wear off soon, I must admit that using a green laser to find dust gives an entirely new dimension to vacuuming.

I also started something new this month: a trip with ‘the guys’ to Don Chuleton. Here, together we devoured an enormous portion of meat, accompanied by a delicious bottle of wine. As far as I’m concerned, we have a new tradition.

This month Alan celebrated his ninth birthday! He is growing up lightning fast. We had a few celebrations and Alan received a huge amount of cool gifts. He got a new tablet, a semi professional metal detector, a bike, various football accessories, and quite a lot of cash. We celebrated his birthday twice, first with a barbecue in the center of the island with family and friends, and the next day playing a laser-game with his schoolmates.

I suffered this December because I made the mistake to take part in the Bestial race. It resulted in a couple of painful days, but I will try and remember it as being a spirit building exercise.

Right before Christmas we got a taste of the real Christmas spirit because we went ice skating. Half an hour on the ice and afterwards a massive amount of rain made me feel like I was almost at the north pole, well, maybe not exactly, but it for sure did not resemble a tropical island. Ice skating was fun. I was amazed I managed to stay on my feet but I did.

We ended this month visiting family in Madrid. During our stay we also visited Mago Pop (Wizard Pop). My kids had seen his performance before, but for me it was the first time, and even being quite skeptical about magic I was pretty amazed.

Yet another month has passed, October went by in a flash and it was mostly a quiet month with only a few events. I made a new version of the cocopot with mini-orchid. We also had a nice barbecue and saw the comet fly by.

Once again we travelled to the center of the island. This time we did not go camping, but we went for a once in a lifetime experience. See the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) pass by. First we had a bbq, and then we want to a nice viewpoint to stare at the sky. It took a few hours but end the end we were all very happy. We found the comet.

I made a second video and I think it turned out a little bit better than the previous one. The only issue I had was still pretty massive, because the end of the video, and basically the entire purpose of the video was in the dark, and I could not film that correctly. A black screen was the result. Oh well, there is improvement visible, so I can only hope next time will be even better. As the night turned darker and darker we did all get to see the comet. First with binoculars, and later even with the naked eye, so that made the trip extra fun.

In addition to the main feature, the (sadly failed on video) quest for the comet, I also created a ‘behind the scenes’ with some very typical social events.

We had an easy start of the month. Alex went with his godfather on a city trip to explore Bilbao. A great adventure and a perfect opportunity for Alex and his godfather to strengthen their relationship. It also provided a couple of days of serenity at home. Spending time with only Alan meant there were no more daily/constant fights and it allowed us to get some quality time with Alan.

Alex had a blast with his godfather in Bilbao. They stayed at a very nice hotel, visited museums, the football stadium and even went to a restaurant (Ola) with a Michelin star!

Alan also had a good first week because he spend three days camping with his friends in the south of the island. They had a nice apartment with a pool, the beach nearby and they had lots of fun in the Holiday World attraction park.

Both kids should be ready and fully relaxed to start the new school season. With the new school year the ‘old’ routine also started working again. School days were all similar, weekends similar. Maybe it is boring, but at the same time it is a very easy routine to follow. Soccer, tennis, (still no) English, Bandama, La Laja, a weekend camping trip, birthdays, etc. Once again our routine where everything everyday is almost the same as always.

The month started easy for me, while the kids were celebrating their holidays in Torrevieja and later in London I was back home, working. The second week of the month it all started for me. My official holiday finally started and I went to the Netherlands with the kids. We spend two weeks there staying with grandma Nel. We did all the usual stuff. Playing with Grandma, beach, lake, bitterballen, frikandellen, Alex’ birthday, niece, nephew, uncle and aunt, friends. Avifauna, the juliana toren, a kid oriented attraction park, the flower corso on the boulevard of Noordwijk. De kinderboerderij, an illegal trip at 22 meters from the ground. BBQ’s, Indonesian food. A soft-ice sprint, Gijs and the list goes on.

For me it was a very nice holiday, and for the kids it was again a big contrast with their partyweeks with around 40 neighborhood kids in Torrevieja, or their week of discovery in Londen, but still they were happy with their Holland adventure.

July is a strange month. The first week I had a small holiday. The kids were also free, so we did quite a lot of activities. Ana had to work the first week, but later she took off almost one month. Ana and the children have gone to Torrevieja for the holidays, and I stayed behind to work. We don’t have enough vacation days to go on holiday together. Ana spends all her days with the children in July and part of August, and then I do the same in August, so that together we just have enough to bridge the vacation period of the children.

Besides my work, I no longer have to attend to all the extra activities of the children. Alex had monday: music, tuesday: English, wednesday: tennis, thursday: English, and friday: tennis again. Alan had monday: football, tuesday: English, wednesday: football, thursday: English, and friday: football. Together, Ana and I could just manage it, but it was all very tightly planned. It’s a relief not to have that this month; suddenly I actually have free time. It feels as if I’m the one who is celebrating a holiday.

A month off gave me plenty of time to get things done. I still had to go to work, but with the afternoons free I was able to get lots of things done. My health got a big boost because I went to run almost every day between 6 and 8km. I worked on hobbies like the coco insect hotel. I invested time in my future by finishing a couple of iPhone apps that I started years ago, but never had time to complete. I did a big spring cleaning, and renewed my wardrobe. It left me in a much better emotional state. Just the results expected from a vacation.

Ana and the kids were at the beach for three weeks. They had an experience similar to the movie ‘Groundhog day‘. All their days were similar. Wake up, breakfast, beach, swimming pool to clean off the sand. Lunch. A couple of hours relaxing, Swimming pool again, shower, diner, playtime with all the kids in the same holiday park; the same kids they see every year, and finally sleep. The exact same day over and over again, but in contrary to the movie the kids probably hope it would never end.

The highlight of the month was at the end, but we also started the month pretty nice with a healthy dose of creativity. We made a couple of beautiful coco-orchids. One for each kid, and they turned out spectacular!

The kids started their summer break! First they will spend two weeks near home where they will spend one week doing a canoe course. The weather during the canoe course was not the best, and a couple of days there was even a bit of rain.

It was also a month filled with birthdays. First Ana, than me. This time my birthday is extra special. It will be my last birthday in my 40’s. Next year I will start with my fifties. Time is going so fast! To celebrate I planned a weekend in Tenerife, where Ana and I will visit the concert of Ed Sheeran! First we will fly to Tenerife, where we will arrive pretty early. After arriving we will go and check out our hotel and leave our bags. Get some food and relax a bit, then we can go to the concert. After the concert we spend the night in the hotel, and the next morning we have to wake up quite early to fly back home.