The Daily Routine

My day to day life here in Delft has shifted a bit from the one I led back in Seattle. For example, instead of driving to work each day, I walk down the stairs, sometimes still in my pajamas, and begin the day eating breakfast with the boys. Instead of waking up to a horrid alarm clock, I wake up either by sunshine filling my room, or by the sounds of children clamoring about downstairs. I never drive, but am instead learning the laws of the road on bicycle. Instead of rushing from work to meetings, I participate in weekly "family meetings" at the dinner table. Instead of freely eating chocolate and sweets, I now hide in the utility closet to enjoy a bite of candy. Wait, no, I still did that at the preschool in Seattle. Instead of unwinding at the end of the day by watching something on Netflix, I spend the last 30 minutes of my day stretching. And instead of reading the entertainment section of The Huffington Post, my new guilty pleasure is studying the food section of Pintrest. An aside observation: Pintrest is kind of f-ed up (not that Huffington Post is guilt-free here). It's target audience is clearly middle class white women, and it mostly just juxtaposes images of women's bodies and how to get fit/loose weight fast techniques, with mouth-watering images of delectable desserts that you would only eat if you were feeling "bad". Unless, of course, you're on my 'custom' pintrest page, and then all you see is a page full of all things Star Wars with an occasional picture of a fisherman, or fatty recipe. What is pintrest trying to say about me? 

Anyway, everyday I find several recipes that I just have to try, and that's what we have for dinner that night.  I'm also experimenting with homemade facials. If the family has been in my room and seen banana peels, baking soda, and jars filled with olive oil-lemon juice-honey concoctions, then they've surely raised their eye brows.

Some people have asked us what our daily routine is like, and so far, this is what I can describe of my day (Wednesday-Friday):

Wake up early and join Alex and the kids for a breakfast of museli and yogurt (for me) and oatmeal (for the kids).

Say good bye to Alex and Jasper
as they set off on their bikes
to school and work.

Take Oliver to a park and play

You won't find much more grass than this in Delft

Caged soccer field for kids

Explore the happenings in the markt.
Today they were setting up for the
Marching Band Festival

Humor Oliver. He rode in
this helicopter for 30min
the other day

Eat lunch with this guy before
reading books and
 settling in for naptime

I'm not really sure what 
my face is doing here 
while we eat poffertjes

Spend quality time with
Annika while O naps

Have some free time to go out shopping for ingredients

Where I get my feta and sundried
tomatoes every week for Monday pizza nights

Snap pictures of
something quaint and Delft

Flower market

No day is complete
without a stop at
Albert Heijn
(grocery store)

Where we get our organic groceries

Mediate play and conflict resolution
with the boys

After dinner, I take a stroll
around Delft and pinch myself

After visiting with the parents, and stretching on the floor of my room, I close the door to my terrace, where I bid good night to the church's clock tower which always chimes every 15 minutes.