Official Introduction

This is who we are and what we're up to. "We" are me, my wonderful husband John, a delightful 4-year-old son Joran, and an angelic 4-month-old daughter Jasmijn.

We love that it's spring! The weather has been beautiful throughout Switzerland, and what a great area to enjoy spring and summer! We've been out in it, as the pictures reflect.

In general, we love the outdoors. I'm the one who loves gardening, but the whole family seems to get involved. Unfortunately, we don't have a real garden right now, so I've filled the front balcony with plants and Joran has recently covered the back balcony with mud and construction equipment.

We also love to travel, so living in Switzerland is perfect for now. With children, however, we choose a destination and often stick with what we know. Our favorite destinations are Disneyland, any castle with a forest surrounding, beaches... and of course, The Netherlands.

A little background on John. We met in Redmond, WA, but he's from Gouda, The Netherlands. He moved over with Microsoft, marketing. Games are his passion and he's so excited to have a career in the industry!

Joran loves gaming, too. And trucks, trains, guns and swords and other paraphernalia that his mother is still learning to appreciate, puzzles, jokes, tricking people.... And he loves his sister even though he would try to trick you and tell you that he's not her brother.

Jasmijn smiles and laughs a lot, sleeps well, and tries to keep an eye on her brother.

Finally, one of the biggest defining parts of our lives and lifestyle includes unschooling. In other words, we believe that learning is everywhere, opportunities abound, life is good, children are perfect in their way, deserving of all the respect we can offer them and teachers to us all.

Any questions?

Jolene (oh, sorry for the kind of thrown down way of this blog so far... I'm learning)