Autumn holidays

As you may know by now, my favorite time of the year has arrived: the last three months, October, November and December. These months have always had something magical for me. As a child I loved autumn and the autumn holidays. I then went to the Overvecht garden center with my mother and grandmother to watch the Christmas show. Nowadays I especially enjoy walking in nature. I love seeing how the trees change color and how the forest prepares for winter. 🌰🍂🍁

Start of the autumn holidays

Our autumn holidays started on October 24. Our eldest son, Anakin, is already at school and had two study days to start the holiday. On Thursday he went to visit his grandparents. On Friday I had decided to go to the Christmas show at Vechtweelde, a garden center near here. This time I only went with the youngest, Obi, because Anakin didn't want to come because Grandma wasn't coming. Well, he's reaching that age now... He stayed home and had a great time with the Nintendo Switch, while my husband was working from home.

In the evening Anakin went to a Halloween event near here with my husband. They did a scavenger hunt, explored a maze, and made their own pumpkins.🎃 An incredibly fun experience!

Halloween fun

Saturday October 26 was Halloween in our neighborhood. Anakin was dressed as Harry Potter, I had a Slytherin costume on, and Obi was a cute little pumpkin. We collected quite a bit of candy while trick-or-treating.

That day we also got the nice idea to have breakfast at Van der Valk Apeldoorn the next morning and then go to the Veluwe. Unfortunately we didn't have the best night: Anakin had nightmares and Obi was often awake due to painful blisters in his mouth, which turned out to be hand, mouth and foot disease. So there I was, at 5am, downstairs with a crying Obi. Despite the short night, we decided to go to the Veluwe, although we canceled breakfast.

An autumn walk on the Veluwe

We drove to the Loenense waterfall, a beautiful place for a walk. We had also been here in May 2022, but there was no water in the waterfall then. This time the water was flowing, which made it extra special. We also visited the small waterfall on the other side, which was definitely worth it. The fall colors in the forest were enchanting, and the weather cooperated too. Anakin and I collected pine cones and leaves for a school project. Unfortunately, Obi wasn't feeling very fit, so after about two hours we decided to go back home, where we could sleep for a few more hours.

Walking tips in the area

If you like walking like us and live in the Utrecht area or would like to walk there, I can recommend this website of Utrechts Landschap: https://www.utrechtslandschap.nl/over-ons/natuurgebieden-en-erfgoed-kaart. Here you will find hiking areas that we also visit regularly. With small children and a buggy it is useful to see which paths are passable, and this site helps us with that.

The rest of the autumn holidays

On Monday, Anakin went grocery shopping. Later that day we received a call from the daycare center saying we had to pick up Obi; he was just really not feeling well and didn't know what to do with himself. Fortunately, he is now his cheerful self again, the blisters have almost disappeared, and after three bad nights we finally slept well again.

The rest of the holiday passed quickly. We visited Monkey Town with a friend and her children, and on other days they spent time with grandparents. On October 31, Anakin was allowed to open his present: the Lego Luigi's Mansion lab and Ghost Sucker. He was completely surprised!

Together with my mother we also visited the Intratuin Duiven Christmas show. It was quite busy, but as always beautifully set up, this time partly in a Harry Potter theme. The children were amazed.

On to the next holiday

And now school is starting again and we are looking forward to the next holiday: the Christmas holidays! 🎄