The morning was filled with moving some boxes and other stuff out of the way, hanging up a some frames safely (so they don’t fall down with the slightest touch),… Going outside was out of the question because it looked like it would rain any minute. And Zeb wouldn’t have enjoyed it anyway.

Eventually he fell asleep, slept for3 hours and woke up a new person. Even the weather looked good all of the sudden. So we ate and packed a few things to head outside. Off to the lake just by the edge of our area.

Doesn’t it look wonderful ? Behind me kids were jumping in the water. I think Milla and Zeb wanted as well, but I didn’t bring towels. We walked around the whole lake, looked for places where we could swim. Which means almost everywhere. Maybe next weekend or so, because the water is still warm there.

Eventually, the weather turned on us.  But a forest means loads of trees to hide under. And it cleared again before we left it. I think the kids loved it. Loads of exploring to do in the future. It just feels fantastic to have a place like this within walking distance from the house.

See for yourself: View Larger Map

But moving boxes from one place to another is only half the way. Now we have to get everything out of the boxes and find places to put it all. Decorate the place. Thousands of things left to do. Remodel the kitchen to fit the new fridge and freezer we bought on Sunday. Both of them are standing in the hallway at the moment. But that means I have to fix the bookshelf first, so we can get all the books up. So we have space to move the boxes from the hallway into the living-room, so I can get some space for the old fridge/freezer and some shelves from the kitchen….. pppfff….. weekend project I think they way it looks like now.

And that is only one small item on the list of things to do. Hopefully I find the camera soon so we can start taking some pictures of our progress….

Off to the next item on the list.

4Years, you say. Yes, it’s been that long since we starting talking about it and actually started looking for real. We almost bought some houses before. Meaning that we signed a contract, but ripped it after we had an inspection done. We also bought a piece of land 2,5 years ago. We never got around to build something on it we really liked. Or was affordable. So we sold that one as well after year. So we had to start all over again.

But now we did it. So we have been packing all our stuff into boxes again the last couple of weeks. This is how the living room looks like now:

Not that easy for the kids, because we have boxes up to the ceiling in every room now. And they are not allowed to open anything, let alone touch anything with the risk of getting everything on their head. But we raised them well, they listened (so far).

So we have a very busy weekend ahead of us now. Tomorrow we are just having a look at the house, take the kids there after daycare. And then I’ll drop them off in the evening at Linda’s parents. Saturday and Sunday is moving everything and hopefully getting as much as possible out of the boxes again.

So if it’s quite here for a few days, you know why…

So when the weather finally clears up, and with coffee and some cake in our stomachs, we needed a walk.

So when that happens to be next to a lake…. I have the evidence (me standing in the water):

Then the kids do stuff like this:

Because it still is warm in the air, even though you don’t see the sun.

So all in all, a very good day with very hungry and tired kids.

Just sitting outside, letting the kids do their thing. Or things, because they do loads of stuff. Non-stop. Like duracell bunnies. But to keep that high intensity, they need sugar. Loads of it. And in different forms. The preferred one is ice-cream:

That gives the adults some time to eat something. Even if it’s only like 30 seconds. That’s what they need to “eat” an ice-cream. And as a result, they will get hyper again:

OK, we missed some World Cup games (like Switzerland beating Spain……how????), but it didn’t feel that important. Hey, in case you haven’t noticed: kids are just way more fun. And they will not always be kids….

More days like this I would say.

We signed papers on Tuesday last week already and kept it kind of secret for a few days to land on our feet (we were sky-high). So now we are moving in sometime in August. Luckily when we moved from our big flat to the current smaller flat, we couldn’t get everything out of their boxes, so half of our stuff is still boxed up in the attic. That will make moving a bit easier.

Fact about the house, you ask ? Well, it’s something like this:

• size: 180m2 (1940 sq. feet)
• 4 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• 3 floors + attic that needs isolating and decorating
• the forest with a lake to swim in is about 1 km away (0.6 miles)
• closest beach to go swimming is about 2.2 km away (1.4 miles)

But mind you that the forest has been my mountainbiking playground for the last 10 years, so I know my way around there. And there are a few running tracks. One of them is provided with lights for the dark winter days. And they told me that if there is enough snow, they make tracks for cross country skiing. Maybe time to start with that as well, cause I think the kids will probably get interested in that coming winter now they are old enough.

As they say: “A whole new chapter is about to begin.”

View Larger Map

And then we had to get up before 07:00, because we had to be at the hospital by 08:00 with Zeb to take some X-rays. So I am not feeling too energetic. Probably will go to bed after we put the kids to bed and try to get a few more hours of sleep. Processing the videos and photos will have a to wait a bit. Even though I think we have a few nice shots to show. More about that in the next posts.

But what to do when you are at home and you have to make some food ?? I know their favorite is salmon. Take Milla, give her salmon with cooked rice and peas. She could eat that every day of the week for the rest of her life and still not complain. Zeb needs a bit more variation. He grows tired of the same food too often. But yesterday he was in the mood for some salmon. But being a Belgian and having a need for french fries every so often, I decided to make some. No, we don’t have a frying pan at home to deep fry them. And to be honest, the last time I was in Belgium and ate some fries like that, I almost threw up. Too much fat…. not used to that anymore.

So this is the Swedish way: just peel the potatoes, slice them and put the oven on 200 C. In go the fries and get them out when they start turning light brown. Serve with salmon and peas…..:o)