So, finally here I am with some pictures of my holiday in Italy this summer.
Sorry it took such a long time, but... the excuse everybody uses: no time!

I've got some problems with this website as well, can not seem to move pictures once I've uploaded them... so they're a little bit mixed. Sorry for that too!

Hereunder, the gang at the Da Vinci Museum at Vinci, the little town we were staying at. From left to right: Valérie (Marc's daughter, myself and Nadine and in front Arno, Axelle and Kris)
In Florence, we saw very beautiful architecture and of course the statue of David.
We had an incredible view at our pool, it was just lovely to relax there.
On our way to Vinci, we stayed one night in Milan....
The view from our house in Vinci was georgeous!
A visit to the tower of Pisa was of course also planned.
A small town close to where we lived... beautiful.... unfortunately I kind of forgot the name
We visited Florence, known for its big cathedral
We only did window shopping on this bridge over the "ARNO"... check the other picture to see what it looks like from the other side and also see Arno (Nadine's son) on the river Arno...

She's got the.... flue!

No no, don't be alarmed, it's not the MEXICAN version, just regular flue!
Saturday it started when we were at Kris and Nadine's for dinner. She got a headache!
So she got a painkiller, but on Sunday morning she still had this headache and was feeling very warm, she had a fever! Also a cough started to add, by Sunday evening she was sick as hell and on Monday not feeling any better.

Called the doctor for a house visit. That's a nice thing here, you do not have to move you sick child to the doctor's office, he comes to see you in your cosy home!

I guess he underestimated this virus a bit, because he only gave her a certificate for 2 days. Today she should be at school, but she's still batlling this virus, still has a fever, still is coughing.... so no school for her!

Went back to the doctor and got a new certificate, she'll be at home till the end of the week, should be free of fever by the weekend, otherwise we'll have to start up antibiotics!

I'm crossing fingers now that I'm not getting this virus! Let's say: I DO NOT WANT YOU STUPID VIRUS! Got too much work to finish, too much shopping to do for my party at Halloween, too much of everything so I can not afford to get sick right now!

As you can read, nothing exciting is going on right now... except that I'm surfing the net go find good deals on hotels and rental cars for next summer. If Marc and his daughters are coming along, I'm sure they're gonna want to see some nice things over there, not just sit at the pool and enjoy a lovely Nancy-made Margarita and enjoy Puska and Jana's cooking! (although we definitely do not want to skip that part either)

So if anybody has some good advise for me... please do not hesitate and skype me, mail me or post a comment.

Thanks! Love and big hugs from sunny but cold (now 1.5°C this morning) Belgium!

A new school

Since September 1, Axelle is going to a new school in a town nearby called Mechelen.
She's taking classes at Pitzemburg Atheneum. She picked the school because starting this grade, she immediately gets English too. Most of the time you do not get this in 7th grade.
She insisted on going to this school for that reason mostly.

Since September 1, we already had quite some excitement! There was a general bomb alert in all schools in Mechelen, so the police was everywhere! Nothing happened but safety measures were enormous!

Axelle enjoys going to school, but there is a lot of work, because testing is almost a daily thing! Tomorrow she has a French and another test... and on Monday she has Dutch....
Next week they are going on a field trip, for 3 days. They leave on Wednesday morning to come back on Friday evening, they are going to the Ardens, that's the southern part of Belgium.

They organise this trip to help them get to know each other and to give teachers also the opportunity to get to know their students.

I'm sure it's gonna be fun!

What can I say about me at this moment... nothing much... It's very busy at work, lots of trainings going on, lots of things to do and to check on. Time flies when you're having fun.
I'm having so much fun that on October 1, I'll be for 25 years working for this company, that does not make me any younger does it!

So I decided this calls for a celebration and in honour of my 25 years at the company, I'm organising a Halloween party.

Axelle is helping me out a great deal, since she's making some of the Halloween decorations together with my friend Marc (who's actually, I did not give away this information yet, an artist). So they are both making spiders to decorate the house.

Of course you'll hear more about this and see pictures about it as soon as the party is over...

That's it for now folks!

Big hug and kisses from an incredible warm and sunny Belgium....

Trip to Italy

Yes we're back... already a good week, but have been so busy that I did not find the time to write about the trip we took to Italy.
We, that's: Kris (Axelle's godfather, Nadine (his wife) and their son Arno, Axelle, Marc (my boyfriend), Valérie (his daughter) and me.
Beginning of the year we rented an apartment in a farm in Tuscany (close to the village Vinci) and on July 16 we finally could go there and discover it all. Vinci is the childhood town of Leonardo da Vinci...
We went with two cars and took it very relaxed! We only drove to Colmar the first day, which is really not so far, but we were only supposed to arrive on Saturday, July 18 in the afternoon in our apartment, so we had a lot of time to travel. This was the "No stress express".
At Colmar, Nadine found us a nice bed & breakfast for hardly no money... We paid 135 EUR for 7 persons, breakfast included! Try to do better?!
When we arrived in Colmar the sun was still out and we decided to go for a swim in the pool. Hunger took us to the centre, where we had a nice little dinner on a market place. An evening walk through town before we went back to our bed & breakfast and the holidays had started!
During the night a thunder storm came over and that kind of decided about the weather we would have next day. The whole drive through Switzerland was in pouring rain! No sun to be seen... more than one hour wait at the Goddard tunnel... do I need to mention we were happy to arrive in Milan, where the sun was shining and making it possible for us to go discover the city and find a restaurant for our dinner. We could sit outside, the only negative thing was we got visitors at our table: mosquitos!
Next day we moved further on to Vinci, drove for a few more hours and stopped in Lucca. Nice little town, where we had a late lunch before arriving at our final destination, Streda at Vinci. The farm was located on top of a hill, with a splendid view. The swimming pool soon was discovered by our youngest ones... it was located at the edge of the hill, which made it spectacular to be in and outside the pool area!
On Sunday we decided to stay home, so the kids could fully (and also the adults of course) enjoy the pool... temperatures were definitely rising (up to 38°C) and so the water was very refreshing.
On Monday, we took the cars to go to Pisa. Road works and traffic slowed us down, but finally we arrived at destination and we were very very lucky to find 2 parking spots in the same street. Pisa was very busy!
Of course we had to see the famous leaning tower... but before we arrived there, Nadine tripped over something and fell hard on her knees. We managed to continue our visit, but by the end of it, she was in a lot of pain and needed to take painkillers and ice her knee.
So we decided to stay home again on Tuesday, to give the knee some rest and also to give the kids the opportunity to enjoy the pool.
On Wednesday we did just a little trip, only like 15 kilometers from where we stayed was a beautiful little town called San Miniato. We visited the Rocca of San Miniato, but Nadine did not go up all those stairs and I went up but not to the top of the tower. Axelle was very nice and she stayed with Nadine the whole time we were up there!
Next day we took the local train to Florence. I think it must have been the heat that day, but I was not feeling well and had the impression I would faint. The train was very packed, but lucky I got hold of a seat! After like 30 minutes we arrived in Florence, where Nadine guided us through the city (she'd been there before). We took a nice walk through the center and saw the famous cathedral (il duomo) and other very nice ancient buildings, fountains and statues.
On Friday, Nadine and Kris took a little trip by themselves, while we stayed home to enjoy one last time the beautiful weather and the pool.
Indeed, on Saturday we had to drive back and got delayed by traffic jams. We stopped close to Milan, where we had a rendez-vous with Alain, who was taking Axelle to Croatia. So Axelle went from one holiday next to another. Actually, she's still on holiday with her dad... by now the're in Paris, visiting a friend from the US who is now living in Paris.
She'll be back home later this week...
We had, again, a very long wait at the Goddard tunnel and at the Swiss boarder. So once we got through the tunnel, we decided to get us a place to sleep and so we stayed one night in Switzerland.
On Sunday we continued the trip and around 5.30 pm we arrived at Kris' parents who offered us a very nice dinner. Thanks!

I will... I promise, post pictures of this very nice trip. But, first I have to be home to do this...
This short post was written during my lunch break at work!

Ciao

6th grade graduation at DE REGENBOOG (the rainbow) school

After what has been a very difficult school year, with a lot of catching up for Axelle, yesterday it all ended well.

YES, OUR "little" (actually not that little considering that she is outgrowing me!) GIRL DID IT…. She obtained her certificate to go to the next school, a certificate without any restrictions which means that she can choose whatever school she wants…

We celebrated, with an official ceremony, the graduation of our 6th graders (this is kind of the same as the graduation of the 5th graders we had last year in Coeur d’Alene in Marina del Rey!).

In September she started the new school year with 2 years of catching up for Dutch (since she had not had grammar for 2 years), 1 year of French (grammar and vocabulary), and also math since the level of math seems to be a bit higher over here too. Poor thing… it was a lot to ask to a 10 year old who still likes to play a lot and have fun.

With the help of Hannelore, her private math teacher, we saw a real difference in her results. Actually also with Dutch… practice seems to help a lot.

But, who knows me, also knows that I’m the worrying kind and that I only believe the achievement when I actually see it… so no need to tell that I was stressed out this entire school year.

Needless to say that when the ceremony was over I had a good glass (and more than one) of white wine to celebrate this hard work!

Here are already some pictures…


Today we’re having a bbq for my dad’s 75th birthday. I was up like an early bird this morning, since the little birdies were making a lot of noise in the garden and kept me from sleeping. But I guess that was OK, in this way I started early preparing for the party.

To all the kids around the world: I’m sure you deserved your holidays! ENJOY!!!

Picture 1: Part of the 6th graders.
Picture 2: Lore (Axelle's best girlfriend and Axelle)
Picture 3: Axelle getting her certificate we so much hoped for!