Settling in with school

8/17: Bob and I got the kids going with school work, then we took a walk to check out potential dinner spots. We stopped at the grocery, then home for a late lunch and more school work. Bob and I walked to a nearby Prosecco festival, then home for HH in the backyard garden and walk to the Copper Pig for a laidback pub dinner.

8/19: First Monday of school! The kids had their first teacher call - all went well - this online learning will be a journey. They technically started school last Thursday, and already did a fair amount of work through the weekend for things due today. Bob and I wondered if they would’ve had homework the first weekend if we were at home in traditional school? We hadn’t thought of it, but we thought ‘I wonder if they might actually learn more in this setting vs usual school?’ We’ll see!

Our days have started with family exercise, either Apple Fitness in the basement or a run outside. Then the kids start school at 9. We eat lunch together and enjoy ping pong during school breaks. This has been one of my favorite things about our current place - the large basement area for exercise and all of us enjoying a lot of ping pong!

Bob had a call with Dr. Kleopas, Dr. Gray, Dr. Sue Bruhn (the CEO of the CMTA), and a member of the FDA to review the gene therapy proposal that Dr. Gray had submitted. The FDA said that our path for gene therapy was approved with no additional steps required. This is a HUGE positive step! Sue called it a Home Run - she said she has never had a more positive meeting with the FDA! Now the steps that need to be taken to reach the goal of treating the first 8 patients is clear!

These have been some interesting days for us. The kids are doing their schoolwork for most of the day, and we had intentionally slowed our travel down for this (we are now in our friend's house for 2 weeks while they are coincidentally in CA for 2 weeks!). This means we’re not packing up our backpacks in the morning to spend the day out exploring, and returning in the evening to shower, sleep, and repeat. Without the hustle that we’ve become accustomed to, and with the kids in school, we have had extra time to look ahead in our trip timeline, and have also been evaluating the future trip as a whole.

Some of our questions these days:

Will online school be a good fit? Can the kids complete their work each day early enough for us to explore a bit in the afternoon? Or can they get their weeks work completed by Thursday so we can explore all day Friday? We have to leave the Schengen area for about 45 days before we could enter again for another 90 day stay. Where should we go? Turkey, Montenegro, Bosnia, Thailand?

Bob and I have enjoyed our walks discussing these questions, and I have felt an overwhelming feeling of confidence that we will make the best decisions for our family as more information from each day comes to us. That is how this trip has gone: Bob has planned our time/activities/travel so incredibly well so far, and as new information has come to us, we have tweaked and adjusted our future travel plans. We flexed and changed our plans when we learned more and more about the visa process, and when the kids started school.

8/21 - 8/25: I travelled back to Wisconsin for Alyssa and Thomas’s wedding. I sat in the middle seat, and ended up having a wonderful conversation with a woman next to me, which made the time pass quickly. We talked about a lot of real topics, including meditation and psychic mediums. One thing she said that I keep reminiscing about is: “what are you hoping she’ll tell you that you don’t already know?”

My parents picked me up at O’Hare, and I loved those hugs! I arrived home to a package from our friends Eric and Jodi Kyler waiting for me - it was a bracelet that I designed after Karl died that Jodi made for me (she’s a jeweler). I didn’t know it would be there, and that day (8/21) was Karl’s birthday. It was a wonderful moment to open the surprise package, with my parents, on Karl’s birthday.

It was a wonderful 4 days at my parent’s house - great family time and amazing weather that allowed me to exercise every morning and enjoy their beautiful flowers in their yard.

59 years of marriage ❤️

Bob and the kids did some exploring while I was gone.

Chinatown

Buckingham palace

Charcot likes the Palace!

Bob took Simone out for a daddy - daughter date

8/26: I arrived back in London at 0930 after sleeping on the flight (I moved into 2 empty seats so room to stretch out!) I easily took the tube to a bus to get back to the Sander’s house - this is one thing that I love about Europe - the awesome public transportation that makes it so easy to get around!

Bob and I enjoyed a coffee at a place Victoria recommended, and we went out to a local pub that specializes in Thai food!

Love this tiny car!

Bye Amsterdam 😢 Hello London

 8/15: Our final day in Amsterdam - we have loved this city! The kids started their first day of school work for their online experience at Boulder Universal (BU). While they got acquainted with the online platform, Bob and I went on a final bike ride and bought a few souvenirs. We came home to have lunch together before returning our bikes, taking a canal tour, and enjoying pizza for dinner (another winner pick by me! 14/14? Ha!)

The morning scene - breakfast and computers

Lovely afternoon for a canal tour

Seven bridges

Love this!

We got a kick out of the tiny cars and creative parking

Quinn wants to drive!

Also love these bikes for kiddos and groceries!

Leaving our apartment

Final pic

 8/16: Travel day! It was raining in the morning so no walk for Bob and me. We walked to the bus, then took a train to the airport. Flight to London Luton, then tram to train to tube and a walk to the Sanders home. Whoosh!

St. Pancras station in London

We got settled into the Sander’s home making beds and unpacking. Our dinner consisted of Bob walking to the local convenience store for chips and salsa and Subway sandwiches for the kiddos. We said hello to Millie (the golden doodle), the 2 cats, and the fish in the pond out back. Shower and goodnight!

A mouse and windmills

 8/14: The ‘day’ kind of started at about midnight when Quinn came upstairs to our bedroom to tell us he was hearing noises in the kitchen (right next to his bedroom). He said he looked around and the Cheerios were knocked over - he thought it could be a mouse. Ewwwww!

Being the strong, independent woman that I am, I asked Bob if he could please go check it out (I can deal with spiders - not so well with other critters). Bob looked around a bit, didn’t see anything too out of the ordinary, and helped Quinn to settle in on the couch upstairs.

When we went into the kitchen in the morning, we discovered that our new loaf of bread on the counter had indeed been enjoyed in the dark. Gross. Our Airbnb hosts had mentioned in the welcome material to avoid leaving food on the counter as it can attract mice. However, the reason we had food on the counter was because the sole cabinet they recommended we store food in was completely jammed with their own stuff.

It wasn’t too big of a mess - Bob cleaned up the counter, we tossed the bread, and we got ready to bike to our tour bus for the day. It had been raining, and we were a bit concerned about biking and getting caught in a downpour, but we decided to go for it. Fortunately, it didn’t rain and we arrived to our bus no problem. We set off for a tour of a few smaller Dutch towns. We saw beautiful windmills, tasted cheese at a local factory, and saw a reenactment of an old cheese market.

Quinn representing Holland with his orange shirt

Charcot likes windmills :-)

Windmills are used to grind (spices), cut (wood), and pump (water)

Shortly after these photos we ended up in a downpour. We got thoroughly soaked before we could make it back to the bus; Simone and I had wet feet for the rest of the day - a feeling I haven’t had for a very long time! It was made better, though, as Bob had recommended we each bring an extra pair of socks in case it rained (so smart!:-)

The cheese shop is named after Simone!

Our cheese making “teacher” - he gave a shout out to the top cheese making location - WI!!

Quinn was chosen to get a free souvenir

They carved his name into it

Some huge clogs!

Re-enactment of the old cheese market

We were tempted to buy one of these cheese balls, but it would make our checked bag too heavy!

Bringing the cheese from the port to the market

It says ‘Edam’ on the boat 

After the tour we went to the rooftop swing downtown at the A’DAM lookout. Bob and I were hoping the kids could do this on their own, but one adult needed to go up with them. He decided to go along with them, while I stayed on the ground level to blog a bit. They had fun! And Bob got a little queasy…

Ahhh! Hold on!

We got the kids settled at home with showers and dinner, then Bob and I biked to a spot we had walked past many times. It was a great patio for a beer.

These miniature cars are hilarious!

We rode to a nearby tapas restaurant (Dos) that had great reviews on Trip Advisor. We sat at the corner of the bar (Bob’s favorite) and enjoyed a cocktail, asparagus, filet, shrimp, and sardines. Cappuccino and caramel flan for dessert.

I have really lucked out so far on my restaurant picks! The reviews on Trip Advisor have been very helpful, and with each new great experience my family has said, "you're 8/8, 9/9, etc, Mom!" I'm enjoying it while it lasts! :-)