For the next few days, we were staying in Sellingen and mostly spending time with family. These days were pretty low key, so I’ll combine a few days into a single post. Thursday was spent mostly hanging out, and Friday was the first of the family reunions.
Thursday August 29th
Thursday was a pretty chill and relaxing day. We spent the day at Edwin’s and just hung out for the most part. I got up relatively late, a little after 9 o’clock, and everyone was gathered in the kitchen. The others had some breakfast, but I skipped it as I’ve been eating way too much on this trip. We hung out in the back garden for a little while and then we went for a short walk out to the island in back of Edwin’s place. The island is quite small, just a small area where the river has cut a chunk of the land off and separated it. Edwin brings his sheep out here sometimes to graze.
A flock of sheep (not Edwin’s) grazing n the fields next door.
Heading out to the “island”.
It’s also a great spot for the dogs because it’s cut off from the other side of the river, and they are able to run around freely in this area. It was a short outing, but we were able to wander and checked it out. Later the girls went into town to do some grocery shopping, and Edwin and I went for a short walk. The whole area around Edwin‘s place is a nature reserve, and so there are a lot of nice biking and hiking trails.
While we were there, Edwin had some guys working on replacing his driveway and main walk. They were using proper, period correct bricks, and installing it in the way it would have been done when the house was built. It was amazing to watch the guys work - quite the impressive skills. But it was so hot out, I felt bad for them.
The short walk was marked as 5 km and we’ve through the forest around Edwin‘s house , it was a nice short walk as the day was getting quite hot. Easily the hottest day of the trip so far. After going for the hike, we had some lunch, and then we decided to take a short drive and take Mackenzie to Germany.
Edwin’s house is less than 15 minutes from the German border, so it was pretty easy to make a day trip and add another country to the list for her. We drove to the town of Mebben, an historic little town that has some earthen fortifications, kind of like Bourtange, the town that we went to in the Netherlands the other day. To get there, I got to drive on the autobahn for the first time which was kind of fun! Sadly, the car really really doesn’t let you go all that fast, but it was still kind of fun.
The time itself wasn’t really all that spectacular, as the fortifications were nothing like the ones we saw the other day. That said, the little town centre was quite pretty with an old town hall that was a restaurant and so we had a drink in the centre of town before heading back. The rest of the day was quite relaxed, we hung out in the garden, had a drink and eventually had a late dinner. Edwin and I watched the Ajax soccer game in the evening and I called it a night fairly early.
Friday August 30th
Today was the first of our family reunion days. So it was a relatively quiet one spent at Edwin’s. Edwin had kindly organized a BBQ with members of his side of the family. So most of the day was spent getting ready for the event. Edwin had a lot organized, and we tried to help out where we could, getting food prepped, setting up the garden and the like. Thankfully, we had another beautiful day.
As the preparation were going pretty well, Edwin offered to take Mom and Mackenzie out for a ride on his motorcycle, which has a sidecar! It looked ike fun, and Mom and Mackenzie came back a bit wide-eyed, so who know what went down!
The family started to show up around 4 pm, with everyone having arrived by about 5. Anne was nice enough to have made the long trip from Lieden, and it was nice to see her again. Surprisingly, most of the family spoke a little bit of English, many being fully fluent. So that made things a bit easier. We had a lovely afternoon and evening. Edwin’s BBQ was amazing, and the salads Carolien made were fabulous.
Getting the smoker going, ready for the party!
The dogs were also keen to get the party started!
Hilda and Hilda
Aafje ter Steege, Warren, Mom, Anja Sauer, Edwin Sauer, Carolien Sauer, Hennie Keur, Mackenzie, Hilda Keur, Bas, Anne Sauer
Me, Carolien, Mackenzie, Anne and Mom.
We had a great visit that lasted until late into the evening. There was even a nice fire as the evening cooled off. Most of the family stayed over for the night as many had longish drives home.