diff --git a/examples/events/scatter_hover_transforms.py b/examples/events/scatter_hover_transforms.py
index 7f9fbb9ff..69ca4edd6 100644
--- a/examples/events/scatter_hover_transforms.py
+++ b/examples/events/scatter_hover_transforms.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 import pygfx
 
 # get the dataset
-dataset = fetch_california_housing()
+dataset = fetch_california_housing(n_retries=5, delay=20)
 X_full, y = dataset.data, dataset.target
 feature_names = dataset.feature_names
 
diff --git a/examples/machine_learning/covariance.py b/examples/machine_learning/covariance.py
index 84c5bf531..f51167dfe 100644
--- a/examples/machine_learning/covariance.py
+++ b/examples/machine_learning/covariance.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 from sklearn.preprocessing import StandardScaler
 
 # load faces dataset
-faces = datasets.fetch_olivetti_faces()
+faces = datasets.fetch_olivetti_faces(n_retries=5, delay=20)
 data = faces["data"]
 
 # sort the data so it's easier to understand the covariance matrix