Yay, our first booking is in! We’re thrilled, absolutely thrilled 🙂 …and secretly feeling a bit stressed too. Now those first apartments really need to be ready by September 10th. We’re on track, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but we want everything to be perfect, so there’s still plenty of work to do.
Almost Time to Swim
After months of physically demanding work (mostly for Alexander), the focus recently shifted to finishing touches and making everything look great. Painting (a lot of painting), laying floors, wiring electricity, assembling cabinets, building outdoor kitchens and verandas—we’re becoming jacks of all trades, you could say! 😉 Seeing those dilapidated spaces transform into the beautiful rooms we envisioned brings us so much satisfaction.
A major project we’re currently tackling is building the swimming pool. The bags of cement can’t arrive fast enough, and the “sand man” (who delivers sand and gravel in his small truck) knows the way to our house with his eyes closed by now. This coming week, we’ll still be busy with the pool and the terrace, and wow, what a difference it makes!
Summer Fun and a New School Year
The past six weeks were also all about the kids’ summer vacation. Very different, of course, from previous years, when we’d go on vacation, work around it, and the kids would spend time with grandparents and others. We were a bit apprehensive about how it would go. It felt like we’d have to split ourselves in two—giving the kids attention and doing fun things while also feeling the pull of the renovation, where we needed to push hard to get everything done on time. But it actually went better than expected.
Sure, there were moments of juggling both, but the kids played happily, swam a lot, and kept busy with us, each other, and new friends. Thankfully, there are also activities organized for kids spending their summer on Bonaire, which they really enjoyed. This week, they started the new school year with Mr. Bob and Ms. Renske—exciting, but they’re looking forward to it!
Pushing Through
For us, it’s a little more pushing through, but the end (and the real new beginning) is finally in sight. The stress is slowly easing up (especially as we see bookings increasing :-)), and we’re getting closer to the moment we can start doing what we came here for! We’re almost ready to welcome our first guests!
