Posted by Our family walked a whole THREE minutes to the nearest grocery store, LIDL, to get a few things we needed & walked back home with our goods. Walking around a foreign grocery with the boys was a mostly good experience (is shopping w/kids ever 100% good??). I did tell Caleb I might send him on his own to the grocery to pick up a couple of items if we need them. We’ll see if that happens.
We rewarded the boys’ grocery help with a bike ride to lunch @ Cafe Zuid. The cafe has a large outside patio dining area that is across from green-space with some pretty dated playground equipment – but the boys think it is awesome.
We have been so lucky with the weather so far. There has been some spotty rain but otherwise, we’re talking mid 70’s & oscillating between sunny & cloudy.
Post lunch we split up with errands. It has been so long since we’ve needed to buy things for a home (we’ve been in our Mt. P home for 9.5 years) & while the place we are renting is furnished, there are still some storage/organization/& small furniture needs. I spent some time in a small store getting a few kitchen items while the boys biked around the nearby plaza & Josh bought more important things like wine & such 😉
We are feeling more & more comfortable with our surrounding & finding what we need. Last night was also my first night of no kid waking up in the middle of the night so I’m calling it a huge win.
I spent some time in the city center doing a little retail therapy. Holy moly this small town girl felt the bigger city feels with all the stores, the pedestrian only streets, & larger crowds. I think I need a few more visits to really find my way :p
A few other notes:
- I’ll show the house once we get it a little more organized
- The cats are so chill here, I think they prefer the Dutch life
- I’ve not forgotten about triathlon/running; I’ve started running here with my bestie Melissa & hope to join a gym for weights. But I’m allowing myself to ease into the workout world & enjoy life right now.
- It feels SO GOOD to bike/walk everywhere right now. I realize we need a car for some things down the road (like tomorrow’s trip to IKEA!!!), but we may be able to get away with renting/borrowing. Either way, it takes longer to drive/park than to walk/bike places & I love it.
- One downer: the Olympics coverage here is MEH compared to the US style coverage. It shows mostly recaps or fast forwarded versions of the competitions. Hard to know how the US is even doing because it either covers mostly the British (on BBC channels) or the Dutch (in Dutch).
- We miss you all ❤
#travel
#moving
#expatlife
#netherl&s
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#familyadventure
#catsofinstagram
#expatcat
#maastricht
#goingdutch
Soujourns with Sarah 