Hello all,

Time for an other update from our backyard. The grass is now laid and the backyard looks done. Only some small details. Most of this happened in the the Pentecost weekend. The weather was very nice, over 25’C!  On friday we removed the last heaps of soil. On Saturday we leveled it completely and laid sods of grass in it. Suddenly, it was a green garden again, instead of a sandpit. Wonderful. We are reaching the end of the project. Now only the gates need to be build. I’m really looking forward to the end.

Last weekend David came to visit us. He was traveling to Brussels to prepare for his sabatical of next year and spent the weekend at our place to get rid of  the worst of his jetlag.  Of course we put him directly to work in our garden project. David and Selena brushed sand between the bricks of the terraces, while I did some more paving. In the evening we created an improvised campfire and roasted marshmellows. The next day we visited Maastricht and enjoyed the wonderful weather on the Our Dear Lady square. Monday morning we both left for Brussels. I took the plane to Stockholm, while David tried to find his way to the Vrije Unversiteit. Fortunately this time we could realy say “See you soon”

After the paving around the house, the rest of the garden was still a big mess. Now it was time to pave for the terraces in the back of the garden. I’d taken some days off this week. But unfortunately, the weather started to degrade and the forecast was for a lot of rain. So I put up two tents over the area where the terraces were planned and was able work on. It was actually very cozy with the sound of the rain on the roof of the tents:-)

Too bad. Christiaan needs glasses. His left eye has not fully developed. So he needs glasses to compensate and to improve this eye.
Fortunately he looks quite handsome with his glasses! And he is very proud of them: My own glasses, just like mom!

The garden project is progressing well. This weekend the terasses have been
layed. And the future lawn has been leveled.

Last weekend we visited Alton towers and London. Together with Ralph,
Judith, Arnaud and Esther, we flew from Dusseldorf to Manchester.
Near Manchester we visited the world renowned amusement park Alton Towers.
It has some pretty rough rides, but also a genuine castle, on which grounds
the park is build.
After Alton towers we drove to London, where we visited the Westminster
Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and a lot of other famous locations. It was a
great weekend. Thanks guys!