Ice Ice Baby

Mike took me over to the pond to see if the ice has completely melted yet. It hasn't. He made me walk on it. I probably look more nervous than I need to be as the depth of the water here was only about 2 inches.

My conclusion is that the solid form of water is better than the liquid form. But only marginally so.

Whenever you need a little break, rest your head on a chair.

Snow week!

We got snow again! All the Dutch people here are astounded. They are not used to snow at all; in fact Mike and Meredith's Dutch language class on Monday (the day the snow arrived) was canceled because the teacher could not drive out of her street! Plows are few and far between around here. Of course being from upstate NY, M&M didn't think much of driving in the snow but people here are petrified...

We had a ball in the field near our house. Snow is my favorite thing, ever, so I was in full doodle-looping mode. The horses on the other side of the river even thought it was fun to race me back and forth along the river!

Of course I had plenty of snow cookies on my feet when I was finished. It was tough to get them all off once we went inside. I spent a long time eating the bigger ones. Yum.

What was interesting is that this entire week the snow has stuck around. Normally it melts within a day or so. We are so lucky!

That war last night

New Years Eve in Holland = Firework Display Extravaganza

Last night was really interesting. We all went over to one of Mike's colleague's house for drinks and food (and a little bit of one-year-old baby licking by me!) and fun. While we were there, I heard and saw fireworks out the front window occasionally. We came home before midnight and around 11:50pm the craziness really began. Meredith and Mike decided that I could sleep upstairs in their room because of all the loud booming sounds coming from our neighbors. I really wasn't scared at all, but it sure was nice to be able to see the color changing sky out the window for about 30 minutes or so. Right at midnight I swear it was as if a war was going on out there! We all watched in amazement as the entire sky was pink, yellow, blue, orange in every direction! Impressive!
Today I've been investigating the remnants of last night.

Don't worry, these were already boomified.

Yep, this is the street right outside our house. Crazy, huh!

Who cleans up all this mess?

We wish you a fuzzy Christmas

To me Christmas means:
Trees... indoors!!
the amazing smell of turkey wafting from the oven
guests! lots of fun people to play with
extra long walks with the guests
snuggle time
presents!

Let's talk about the presents. Okay, I admit, I had a Christmas wish-list. It included a new collar, a bunch of bully sticks and a new ball.
Here I am opening up my first gift:

Don't you know it?! It was a collar!

Next, I looked through lots of other bags, but none of these was for me.


I did get the bully sticks!

And the new ball I was hoping for? Well... I had to share it, but I didn't mind a bit.

Boy, was I a lucky doodle!
Merry Christmas, every one!

Christmas Tree!

We got our Christmas Tree last weekend and it is finally decorated!

It was challenging because the Dutch normally wait until after Sinter Klaas (Dec 6th) to get their Christmas trees. Even though it was difficult, Mike didn't give up the search and managed to find one at a garden store. It had a root ball, but it was no problem to chop that off before bringing it home.

Mmmmm. Now it smells like Christmas!

IKEA Weekend

Mike and Meredith brought home lots of boxes yesterday.

Our new car was full to the brim!

Today I had to supervise Mike putting everything together.

It was exhausting, but at least now there is furniture in our living room.