Caroline, Dimitri, Camille, Brieuc and Hadrien Dupont

2012-01-22T19:10:00.000+01:00

Le defi de ce debut d'annee :-)

Chamonix-Zermatt, la Haute Route à skis par Stagexpe-TV

Good news from Maureen and Cedric :-)

2012-01-11T10:39:00.001+01:00

Max was born a couple of hours ago (on the 10/01/2012 for SF). He weighs 4000g, and he's 54cm tall. Everybody is doing great. More pictures soon.

With his size and weight he is not a real "Dupont" :-)

Les Dupont au WE sportif

2011-12-12T12:36:00.003+01:00

Si vous êtes tres attentifs vous pouvez voir

- Brieuc (super facile)

- Dimitri (deja plus dur)

- Hadrien (pour les pros :-))

http://www.rtbf.be/sport/video/detail_le-fair-play-au-kituro-rugby-schaerbeek?id=1470713

Londres Anniversaire - Brieuc

2011-11-27T21:19:00.000+01:00

It has been a long time but for Brieuc's birthday (which is in may) we crossed the Channel to see a Rugby game in the temple of the the game : Twickenham. Australia crushed the Barbarians and Brieuc loved every moment of it :-)

The day after we had some hours in the heart of London before going back - we will definitively need to coe back for more

Haute Provence + Masses this summer

2011-11-25T21:29:00.000+01:00

Les Masses

First Switzerland and then the south of France

Here are the holiday pictures of the summer - it is nice to see some sun at this moment of the year

World cup time

2011-09-09T18:26:00.001+02:00

For the next month it is rugby time :-)

Skiing at Easter

2011-06-14T10:41:00.000+02:00

As you can see the conjunction of Easter very late in the year and amazing temperature did not help for a great skiing experience. We thus decided to diversify our activities : hiking, swimming, egg hunt, trampoline, rugby ...

Paques 2011

Latest pictures

2011-06-14T10:15:00.001+02:00

Hello
as it has been quite a while ... and the competition with facebook is fierce here are some pictures for our faithful readers

Skiing in February

Rugby in May

Zoo in June

England in June

As I will order the pictures new ones will arrive so stay tuned

Randonnee Pt de Mandelon

2011-01-13T13:54:00.000+01:00

Hello to all, thanks to Geoffroy we have these gorgeous pictures of the last trip done
Here are the infos Pt de Mandelon

ski de rando - janvier 2011

Merry X-Mas and a Happy New year to all

2011-01-11T10:28:00.000+01:00

Merry X-Mas and a Happy New year to all
Last holiday pictures...

Matin Valaisan

Anniversaire Hadrien

2010-10-30T18:39:00.001+02:00

On a attendu romain et on a eu les gardes napoleoniennes

Anniversaire Hadrien

Mariage Catherine & Xavier

2010-10-25T20:38:00.002+02:00

Hello to all here are the Dupont's pictures of a superb wedding at a very wellknown place

Mariage Cath&Xavier

You can find the rest of the pictures at least a selection of them:
www.benjaminbrolet.com/client/mariage/catherine&xavier4septembre2010/

Brieuc a Boitsfort

2010-10-17T21:32:00.001+02:00

Match Boitsfort octobre 2010

Any given sunday :-)

2010-10-17T21:31:00.000+02:00

Veterans Boitsfort Kituro oct 2010

Anniversaire Hadrien

2010-10-11T20:15:00.001+02:00

Annif Hadrien Famille

Tournoi de Rugby - Celtic

2010-10-11T20:14:00.002+02:00

Rugby Tournoi Celtic

U2 Brussels 2010-09-22

2010-09-23T10:40:00.003+02:00

It is done

2010-09-13T09:17:00.001+02:00

After one week of wandering around in the alps we reached our goal and climbed on top of the Mont-Blanc. For those that have never been on top of a mountain the feeling is hard to describe (i will post some pictures as soon as i have them) for the rest you can imagine how we felt up there. You have the thrill of the climb mixed with the exhaustion... There will be a longer blog on this but now it is back to work

Back to school yesterday

2010-09-02T11:48:00.001+02:00

Allez sur www.twizz.be dans la partie "replay" calez vous sur 7h50 ce matin (jeudi 02/09) et appréciez la rentrée chez Dupont comme si vous y étiez ...

Cadeau de 10 ans - Amis

2010-07-28T12:23:00.000+02:00

Hello to all - here are the pictures of our 10 years wedding anniversary gift. It is good to have GOOD friends.

Thanks again to all the generous contributors

10 years ago

2010-07-08T11:24:00.000+02:00

Ten years ago I married a wonderful woman who still is my wife ... Caro je t'aime

Magnifiques dessins de Kroll sur BHV part 2

2010-04-30T16:20:00.000+02:00

Magnifiques dessins de Kroll sur BHV part 1

2010-04-30T16:14:00.001+02:00

Easter holiday photos

2010-04-20T12:30:00.002+02:00

Hello to all here some Easter holiday pictures
Enjoy

Paques 2010

Photos Galore

2010-04-10T17:18:00.000+02:00

Here as promised some pictures
February skiing

Carnaval Masses

10 years anniversary

Les Masses 10 Ans de mariage

Medal Harvest

2010-04-09T13:06:00.002+02:00

Just to tell you that the medal harvest this year for the ski classes has been quite nice

Hadrien : Snowli and Blue Prince
Brieuc: Red King
Camille : barely missed Black Princess

Home alone

2010-04-09T08:53:00.001+02:00

Hello for a week now wife and kids have abandonned me. I had to come back to work while they were enjoying the snowy hills of switzerland... but I will join them soon. Hadrien managed to get the chicken pox but it does not seem to hindeer him in his skiing.

What has been keeping us busy

2010-03-29T20:05:00.004+02:00

Hello laziness took over and now I just saw that the latest entry dates of 3 months

First welcome to Theo : Cedric & Maureen are now also proud parents of a little american. All info can be found here http://maureencedric.blogspot.com/. He has for sure some funky hairdo but is quite cute for a kid (of course ours looked better but every parent will tell you that :-))

In random order

We had quite some rugby experiences: Brieuc and his tournaments, Eric and his games, the six nations tournament (where the bad guys won...), Kituro almost in the playoffs
Hadrien has some artistical callings and decided to draw on his roomwalls... his uncle did the same at around the same age
We skied a lot a lot a lot: Brieuc and Camille are almost unstoppable on the slopes but Hadrien refuses to brake or turn (which is not easy when you know the alps)
I worked in the school for the "klusjesdag" which is a NL composite work and a good google exercise
Brieuc started his tennis career with a tournament where he reached semi-finals to my great amazement as I have not seen him play for a year and his progression is quite impressive
Camille is now playing recognizable piano and here also there is hope that one day she will be playing some very nice music
Scouting is now here second passion after school
Camille had a "climbing" birthday with her friend capucine. They had an afternoon of indoor climbing initiation and they loved it, she is already speaking about trips in Switzerland she will be doing when she is older
Weather was awful untill now in Belgium but it seems that the global warming finally touched our latitudes
Standard is playing 1/4 finals of Europa league, Anderlecht is normally this years champion so things are good at home...

At last but for sure not least ... we celebrated (in advance ) our 10 years of wedding anniversary in style in Switzerland. We spend 4 days without kids with 15 friends in the Chalet. There are not a lot of words to describe what we did and the fun we had but it included

ratrack jacking
night skiing slightly intoxicated
dinner with quite some more intoxication
great skiing without any queues
Sunshine
raclette, roesti, petite arvine, fendant, fondue, ...
Cabouli, Les Chottes

Pictures of all this will follow ...

For all parents who tried to take pictures of their kids

2010-01-29T16:45:00.001+01:00

Thanks to Bill Watterson

The barlouka race 2010

2010-01-04T22:25:00.005+01:00

Yes dear faithfull readers, my dad and I decided to have our first go in the magical world of skimountaineering races . We thus had a trial run and on the 2/1/2010 we took part in the barlouka race. Be reassured we did not rock the place but we both finished (probably even first belgians :-)). To all of you out there if you look for something to do in 2011 mark your calendar on the 01/01 as this is the date of the next barlouka race.

For the record the results can be found here: result.pdf

For the insiders Jornet Kilian is the current world champion and Miro Mireia is his female counterpart. So this explains the differences with the first ones :-)

Some excerpts from the press

Retour sur la Barlouka's Race avec Nicolas Combe - Promosport valais
Responsable de la relève du Swiss Team du CAS et 2e de la catégorie Senior 1 lors de la Barlouka's Race, Nicolas Combe livre ses impressions sur cette course.

Belle participation
"L'édition 2010 de la Barlouka's Race fut un gros succès, avec environ 250 participants, soit une centaine de plus qu'en 2009. Un beau succès tant sur le plan populaire que des élites avec la présence des Espagnols Mireia Miro et Kilian Jornet, les deux premiers vainqueurs de la 1re coupe du Monde à la Pilia. Des membres de l'équipe de France et du Swiss Team ont pris également le départ de cette course en compagnie de la plupart des meilleurs régionaux."

Le parcours
"Les températures étaient glaciales avec -10 degrés au départ et - 16 degrés à l'arrivée, au restaurant Mont-Rouge. Le parcours de 5 km pour 800 mètres de dénivelé comptait de nombreux faux plats sur chemins dont un très long de 2 km, proche de l'arrivée; un vrai paradis pour les spécialistes de... ski-de-fond. Ce nouveau tracé présentait de grosses différences avec celui del'an dernier qui empruntait directement la piste avec des pourcentages beaucoup plus élevés et un dénivelé plus grand."

La relève
"Les jeunes du Swiss Team ont obtenu d'excellents résultats. Une mention pour Alan Tissières, encore junior et qui établit à nouveau un chrono impressionnant (après celui de Verbier) finissant à une minute seulement du vainqueur, Kilian Jornet, à la 3e position scratch. Marcel Theux réalise également une belle performance en 7e position scratch et 3e espoir. Chez les juniors, derrière Alan, on retrouve les jeunes du centre régional, David Salamin 2e, Arthur Siggen, 4e et David Moulin, 5e, avec des chronos qui laissent présager de belles perspectives d'avenir."

Propos recueillis par Bernard Mayencourt

Brieuc's hero on the web

2010-01-04T14:53:00.005+01:00

Cinq vétérans belges aux Emirats Arabes Unis
Par - lundi 4 janvier 2010
En cette période pour le moins hivernale, certains s’en vont chercher le soleil. Ce fut indirectement le cas, début décembre, de cinq vétérans belges ayant participé au Dubaï Rugby Sevens.
Olivier Biernaux (Boitsfort RC), Eric De Patoul (Boitsfort RC), Paul Delvaux (Boitsfort RC), Philippe Tollet (La Hulpe) et Manu Descamps (RC Frameries) ont en effet rejoints à Dubaï dans les Emirats Arabes Unis à l’initiative de ce celui-ci, leur ami Jean Smets, ancien demi de mêlée international belge ayant longtemps évolué dans les rangs boitsfortois.

De gauche à droite (haut en bas) : Eric De Patoul, Olivier Biernaux, Paul Delvaux, Manu Descamps, Philippe Tollet et Jean Smets. (Photo D.R.)
Ensemble et formant une équipe avec l’aide de joueurs étrangers (4 Anglais, 3 Américains et 1 Néo-Zélandais) répondant au nom des Buccaneers, ils ont participé au Dubaï Rugby Sevens dans la catégorie International Veterans. Ce Seven est l’un des plus renommés au monde et réunit à travers les différentes catégories plus de 2.000 rugbymen de tous les horizons.
Après avoir visité Dubaï les premiers jours, ils rencontrèrent dans la poule A successivement l’équipe iranienne de Shahrdary Tabriz Club (victoire 24 à 8), le Luxembourg (défaite 10 à 26) et enfin les Christina Noble (défaite 0 à 36). A noter que cette équipe, future vainqueur du tournoi, est en grande partie constituée d’anciens internationaux chevronnés tels que Tim Horan et Austin Howley.
Versés ensuite dans la Plate, nos compatriotes gagnèrent contre le Watembezi Potbellies Kenya (victoire 22 à 7) et échouèrent aux portes de la finale contre l’équipe galloise de Sawnsea Old Boys (défaite 0 à 14).
Durant ce tournoi, les cinq vétérans belges assistèrent évidemment au tournoi pro et donc à la victoire finale de la Nouvelle-Zélande contre les Samoa.
Superbe expérience qu’ont vécu ces vétérans qui remercient encore une fois Jean pour cette initiative et son accueil durant toute cette semaine en espérant vivement repartir l’année prochaine. Et pourquoi pas cette fois-ci dans une équipe 100 % belge !
(Remerciements à Manu Descamps)

Happy new year

2010-01-04T10:30:00.003+01:00

Happy New Year to all of you ... from the hilly Dupont estate :-)

Brieuc au stade

2009-12-15T17:27:00.000+01:00

Hello a tous

Le 19/12 si vous regardez France 2 vers 16h30-17h (on ne sait pas quand est le debut de la transmission) vous risquez de voir monter Brieuc sur le terrain du stade roi Baudouin avec les joueurs du match de coupe d'Europe de Rugby ULSTER - Stade de France qui se joue en belgique.

En effet les poussins et mini-poussins du Kituro ont ete choisis pour accompagner les joueurs. Donc restez fidele au poste et ouvrez l'oeil et le bon ...

Bonne journee

Dimitri

PS: pour les depatoul ceci expliquera notre retard ce soir la :-)

Pour plus d'info : http://www.brusselslife.be/E/article/id/2371

A special message to Thierry "Hand"ry

2009-11-20T12:14:00.004+01:00

To the best supporter crowd in the world...

Side by side
We stand like brothers
One for all and all together
We will stay united through darker days
And we'll be unbeatable forever

Ireland, Ireland
Together standing tall
Shoulder to shoulder
We'll answer Ireland's call!

Come the day and come the hour
Some will live in song and story
We were born to follow our guiding star
And to meet our destiny with glory

Hearts of steel and heads unbowing
Vowing never to be broken
We will fight, until we can fight no more
Till our final requiem is spoken

Now the rest of the world knows why we have so much problems with french cockyness :-)

Les Masses - Autumn

2009-11-20T11:08:00.002+01:00

Hello we moved south east again for the school holidays and spend some days in Switzerland. As you can see the weather was not perfect but it was already almost winter. The kids had a blast sledding and building snowmen. The "strangers" on the pictures are the De Brouwer who already joined us this summer

Les Masses - Nov 2009

Brieuc's new passion

2009-11-20T11:00:00.002+01:00

Hello to all as some may know brieuc is becoming a Rugby addict. He started to play at the Kituro and loves every moment of it.

Here are some pictures of the life on the pitch

Rugby Brieuc

He even participated in his first tournament (ok they did not win but had a lot of fun...)

Tournoi Rugby Buc

Birthday Hadrien

2009-11-20T10:57:00.002+01:00

Hello to all

Yes we have been quite busy lately and a little lazy too I have to admit.

Here are the pictures of Hadriens birthday , yes the little one turned 3 on 11/10.

With his friends & Family

Anniversaire Hadrien - amis

Anniversaire Hadrien - famille

On papou's boat

2009-09-12T15:16:00.002+02:00

During the last week of the children's holidays we spend a night on papou's boat. The sea was a little to rough for some sailing action but the kids loved it anyway... Here you can see them playing and almost causing a heart attack to Papou as they run around without their life vests

Nieuwpoort

Holidays Switzerland

2009-08-25T20:25:00.004+02:00

Hello to all. For all the faithfull readers here are some news.

The summer is almost over and a lot happened

- Miroslava took care of the kids in July

- Camille went to her second scout camp

- Brieuc went to Switzerland with his grand-parents

- The Pirmez joined us in CH for some great hiking and fun (Mont-Rouge; trotinettes, Essertse, via ferrata with Eric and Wendy...)

- The Debloudts joined us then also in CH for some other fun (Cow fights, Cabane de la Barma, Didaludic)

- Finally the De Brouwers joined us too for the last week (Night at the Ecoulaies, Cretes & Gouilles, Diner at the Cabouli, fun with the cousins ...)

Way to much to describe but the pictures will do the talking... there are about 1000 in total so if you are interested the best is to pass by at home :-)

Pictures with the Pirmez

Les Masses Aout 2009 - Pirmez

Pictures with the Debloudts

Les Masses Aout 2009 - Debloudts

Pictures with the debrouwers

Les Masses Aout 2009 - Debrouwer

Ardington Baptism Emma

2009-06-02T09:54:00.002+02:00

Hello to all last weekend we went to England to attend Emma's baptism. You can find the pictures here... Enjoy

WE en UK Ascension

Communion Camille - photos

2009-05-18T13:32:00.002+02:00

Hello this weekend Camille made a big step she had her first communion. It was a very nice ceremony and rounded up nicely at Marianne et Pierre's for the dinner afterwards. I will send you the pictures asap

Communion Camille

Belgian Hockey Play-offs

2009-05-11T20:26:00.002+02:00

Hello to all
This weekend we went to see a collegue of mine who was playing teh belgian women hockey playoffs in Waterloo. Unfortunately she lost but we had a great time with Brieuc, Cesar, Eric, Maelle and Camille.
Check out the pictures below

Hockey Play Off

WE 1st of May

2009-05-06T21:20:00.002+02:00

If you wondered what Camille and Hadrien were doing while we were in Switzerland here are the pictures (thanks Laetitia)

WE du 1 mai + spectacle danse Camille

PS: Now you will understand why Hadrien is dubbed "Captain Cutie" by his english uncle

Surprise surprise

2009-05-04T16:10:00.003+02:00

hello this weekend Caroline and I went to Switzerland for the surprise birthday weekend of Grand mamy. There were 27 persons that crowded les masses for 3 days. The program was quite simple

Friday: arrival of everybody and meeting grand mamy followed by a raclette
Saturday: small treck from Euseigne to Bramois following the river. We almost lost grand memy there as she fell and seriously bruised her nose, but amazingly nothing else. This was followed by a dinner in the restaurant les masses
Sunday: breakfast and then return home for everybody

As you imagine with 27 de Patouls meeting up the noise level reached some unbearable peaks but it was really great fun to have everybody together.

The kids had their own great weekend:

Camille: She stayed home with Laetitia as she had her dance and piano performance. Laetitia took her out BBQing so she was quite exhausted after all this
Brieuc: He went with the Pirmez and acted as their 5th child. He spend 3 days in the countryside and was even more exhausted than Camille
Hadrien: He was spoiled rotten at mamitas and was in great form upon return. He is really growing a lot those days ... he is not the little baby anymore for sure

If i get pictures I will post them as I did not took any myself...

Hadrien first day of School

2009-04-20T21:39:00.001+02:00

Another first Hadrien went to the "big" school for the first time today... Until now all went perfectly well so we will wait and see

Easter Holidays - Update

2009-04-20T21:13:00.004+02:00

Back from Switzerland here are the latest news. The 2 older ones have spend two weeks skiing like champions. The first week the whole Jamar family joined us: Gaelle, Rory & Emma flew over from England; Papou & Mamita came with Laetitia. As usual in Wallis the weather was gorgeous, and as there were tons of snow the conditions were quite amazing for this time of the year.

Camille and Brieuc got each 2 new medals and start to be quite strong on their skis. Brieuc is making enormous progress (he would not ski at X-mas) and Camille is polishing up her style. She is prime contender for a spot on the belgian slalom team for 2018... she won her first slalom gold medal last week. We also took them on some off-piste runs (Leytegon) which is quite amazing for a 4,5 year old... so you can imagine that the parents are quite proud :-) .

We also had the chance to meet up with our Swiss friends Marc & Christina and their kids and Cecile and Stefan surprised us with a flash visit also.

Maelle was baby-sitting the little monster who is becoming a natural wanderer. He was walking for about an hour a day with her to get his sweets in the shop in les Collons.

I will post the pictures as soon as I have found my cable for my camera ... so keep watching

Here are the pictures

Paques 2009

Welcome Aymeric

2009-04-06T22:08:00.002+02:00

Hello just a quick but very important one... I have become uncle. Bruno and Gaelle have a little (?) baby boy called Aymeric. He joined the club of the cousins today, and mother and child are doing very well. Next post will be about our Easter holidays in switzerland... keep watching.

Les masses - carnaval

2009-03-02T19:46:00.002+01:00

Hello to all quite some time has passed but here are some new pictures. We have spent a marvelous time skiing in Switzerland with the Hertoghes. Teh kids had a blast and all ended up with a new medal to hang around their neck. Hadrien and Adele have been pampered by Maelle which was a great help. In short this is to be reorganized asap. 5 weeks to wait and teh kids are back in the mountains. Enjoy the pictures

Les Masses

X-Mas & New Year in the mountains

2009-01-08T20:51:00.004+01:00

Merry X-Mas and a happy new year to all our faithful readers... This year after the family X-Mas marathon we took the direction of Switzerland in order to profit from the Chalet. And I have to say we were not set back. The space, the location, the view everything is perfect... We really cannot wait to get back there in February with the Hertoogh's. As you can see we almost had the perfect week, except on the 31st of December we had clear blue skies and sunshine.
Camille is becoming a master skier and Brieuc has decided to finally attack the slopes, thanks to Cedric & maureen or Eric for motivating him as he waited for the last day to finally ski. Hadrien was adorable when his family was away and was showing his feisty little character when we were with him...
Enjoy the pictures

ChemoNoel2008

Movies thanks to Eric:

From Brieuc Ski

PS: to all Nintendo DS owners ... DO NOT BUY Professor Layton and the curious village you will loose some sleep

Saint Nicolas

2008-11-30T19:33:00.001+01:00

Hello with a little advance teh great Saint came to Arinso & Boehringer. Here are some pictures.
Enjoy
NorthgateArinso:

Saint-Nicolas Arinso

Boehringer

Saint-Nicolas BIng

Hospital Camille - Activities others

2008-11-29T19:39:00.000+01:00

Hello as you know Camille spend some time in the Hospital last week. As you can see in the pictures in teh end she was quite at ease with the treatment.

Hopital Camille

At the same time we went to an old toys exhibit with the Hertoogh's. The kids just loved to see teh old trains, cars and planes.

Exposition Vieux Jouets

Project a la Dilbert...

2008-11-19T17:46:00.002+01:00

For all of you that work in project mode you will recognize a deep truth in here

Great book

2008-11-17T20:18:00.004+01:00

Hello to all. For all big readers out there, the brother of a friend has just published a great book. It is called "les sirenes d'Alexandrie" by François Weerts. I really recommend it to all of you as it is a great reading.
Some comments:

A travers les tribulations d’un jeune journaliste bruxellois encombré d’un héritage peu habituel – un hôtel de passe ! – "Les Sirènes d’Alexandrie" met à jour les heures noires de la collaboration belge mais aussi les dissensions qui opposent aujourd’hui Flamands et Wallons. Un premier roman noir où secrets de famille et bourrasques de l’Histoire tissent une intrigue palpitante. Par un jeune auteur à suivre. www.bibliosurf.com

1984, Bruxelles est en pleine mutation architecturale. Dans le quartier où des filles s'exposent en vitrine, Antoine Daillez vient d'hériter de L'Alexandrie, lieu de plaisirs dont les pintes de bière ne sont pas seules responsables. Mais drames et incidents se multiplient autour de ce bar qui semble susciter bien des convoitises. La vieille Mémé Tartine, locataire si gentille avec les travailleuses du quartier, est retrouvée assassinée. Des skinheads aux ordres d'un parti d'extrême droite flamand s'attaquent à l'établissement, à sa patronne et à l'une des filles. La sauvegarde de la morale n'est certainement pas leur motivation. Pas plus que la protection offerte par Monaco, le caïd du quartier, ne doit avoir pour but la défense du petit commerce... Pour essayer de comprendre, Antoine doit fouiller la jeunesse de son grand-père, aidé par Martial Chaidron, inspecteur de la brigade des mœurs, et Piotr Bogdanovitch, historien de son état. Les secrets découverts datent du temps de l'Occupation, quand se jouait un jeu trouble, dont l'un des acteurs n'était pourtant qu'un homme ordinaire, avec ses raisons, ses faiblesses, ses failles - pas forcément politiques. Les Sirènes d'Alexandrie s'inscrivent dans la meilleure tradition du roman noir. Celle qui sait dire, avec son lot de violence et d'amour, un destin personnel sur fond social urbain où misères et espoirs, qu'ils soient communs ou individuels, sont bien souvent balayés par le vent de l'Histoire. www.amazon.fr

Enjoy as usual you can place also your orders at the librairie des tanneurs ask for Laetitia...

Good news about Camille

2008-11-17T20:13:00.003+01:00

Voila Camille is back at home. She is a little tired but for the rest she is doing fine. We keep our fingers crossed that all is finally over. Thanks for all the messages and the support it was very greatly appreciated.

Stress full days (& Nights)

2008-11-13T17:12:00.002+01:00

Hello to all. These have been some stressfull days. As you maybe heard Camille was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. She seems to be quite alright but needs to stay at the hospital for 8-10 days under supervision. This means that Caroline & I need to take shifts watching her: Caro does the days I am responsible for the nights.
The 2 brothers seem to be doing perfectly well and thus we hope that all will be over very soon.

Latest news

2008-11-11T19:37:00.003+01:00

yes it has been quite a while but due to work, laziness and other good excuses I haven't taken the time to update the blog. So here are the latest pictures of our activities
First the kids started their tennis lessons, as you can see they are quite enthousiastic

Tennis Enfants

Then we had Hadrien's birthday. As Laetitia and Gaelle were working we did it at the Tanneurs. Here are the pictures

Anniversaire Hadrien

The kids also went to the Woluwe Shopping Center to a ride exhibit. They stayed there for 2 hours with Caroline and papou

Maneges

Then we spend 2 days in Paris alone with Camille. Brieuc stayed at his friends Cesar and Hadrien at Mamita & Papou's. The first day was spend visiting Paris and the second day at Eurodisney. I will put some comments in the pictures later

Paris-Disneyland

Enjoy

Arinso Family Day

2008-09-28T19:48:00.000+02:00

Arinso Family Day

Day without Cars

2008-09-21T19:50:00.000+02:00

Hello as usual for the day without cars teh weatehr was nice in Brussels. We drove around with the bike and enjoyed the different activities. Traditionally this ends at the Tanneurs with a little food and drink. As you will see Hadrien enjoyed it

Journee sans voiture

Willem

2008-09-01T21:22:00.002+02:00

Another Summer tradition. our yealy visit to see the Poly's in France. It was as always grezat fun to see how Sidney and Collin grow. It was a pity that laura had to study. Laura we wish you all the best for your exams... as you can see the kids are doing fine ;-)

Willem

Swimming at the Laurent's

2008-09-01T21:20:00.001+02:00

In order to finish of the holidays in a splash, Caroline & jean-Yves invited us over to have a swim at Carolines parents. As you can see Brieuc was in his element as usual when it involves a swimming pool.

Piscine Jonniaux

Kids Sailing

2008-09-01T21:15:00.001+02:00

Hello another holiday update. Now that Caroline has gotten back her camera here are teh pictures of the 3 of them sailing this summer. Camille is ready to follow the commodores footsteps... for brieuc we are not quite so sure yet

Galaejoline

thank you ... Miroslava

2008-09-01T21:08:00.002+02:00

Hello to all, in our holiday stories I totally forgot to thank one of the key players of this summer... Miroslava. She came the whole month of July to help us take care of the kids. The kids had a great time and she was quite tired at the end of her day ;-). Big thanks from all of us

Vienna

2008-08-18T20:53:00.003+02:00

Hello as promised here is the account of our trip to Vienna. All pictures are already uploaded so you can focus on the text ;-)
It all started on Wednesday morning with a flight to Schwechat (Vienna's airport). It was Brieuc's an Hadrien's first flight so it was quite interesting. We had to feed Hadrien all teh time in order for him to stay almost calm. Once in Vienna we were greeted by the normal "Summer" you would expect, sun and temperatures around 30°C. As the family was hungry we went to eat some typical holiday food : McDonalds (the kids just love it). We then went to drop off all our stuff at the hotel and thenwent back to have a stroll downtown (Graben, Stefansdom, Kärnter Strasse...). The kids just wanted to go to the playground so this is where we ended up. Cedric and Maureen flew in from San Francisco that evening, just ask Cedric about his new friend the taxi-man ...
Next day it was time to do some real visiting as the family was finally complete. It was time to visit Schönbrunn and in order to keep the kids interested we went to the Zoo next door. If you like animals you shouldnot miss it as it is really an amazing zoo with quite some impressive surroundings. In the evening my parents invited their friends to have dinner and we had quite some fun recollecting some memories (the "delicatessen", the opel ascona, holidays on the Neusiedlersee...)
Next day we visited our old appartment and played around in the parc just outside of it. It is amazing to see how little things have changed and how small all things become compared to how they were in your memories. The kids small and tall had fun on the slides on the playground. We then headed back downtown to visit the other imperial palace the Hofburg and his treasure. The kids needed their playground dosis and so we went back there while the parents visited the Belvedere. In the evening Dorothea met us at the Heuriger. She was one of our Nannies when we were young (I do not remember exactly when she was taking care of us). Later that evening we went to see a concert in the Musikverein (probably one of the best concert halls in the world), sadly it was the B-team performing a Mozart medley, on the other hand the B-team of the Wiener Philharmoniker is still outstanding when it concerns playing some classical music.
On the next day we saw our Nanny Frau Roihs. She took care of us as of my 1st year so she had a handfull. She still is in love with me calling me her Schatzilein. I always knew the woman had a lot of taste. Again in the evening we went to see an operette "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss in the Schloss Theater of Schönbrunn. It was incredibly hot but the perfoamnce was really good.
Then it was already our last day. We decided to meet up with Tania and Alex and their beautiful daughters in order to spend some time on a lake side. It was fun to see how the kids quickly bonded even if they would not all speak the others language. We spend the after noon at 100 tage sommer right outside of Vienna. It was fun to have some time to chat as of I never left...
In the evening I organised a class reunion with quite some people calling in; Nikolaus, Carolina, Patsi, Domino, Mauki & husband, Koko & Elodie, Petra, Natalie, Dominik and Rafaela... It was really nice to have some time together and see that we still had great fun together... I really hope we can go back to Vienna on a more regular basis to be able to do this again
The flight back was less amusing as we had to wake up at 4:30 AM. Hadrien made friends with the stewardess which was amazing with him, he charmed her like a pro and spend quite some time on her lap and in her arms...which was a relief to us. Once arrived of course part of our luggage was missing but it was no real problem. We tokk the day to pack and the left off to join Mamita and papou at the seaside but this is another story...

Planckendael

2008-08-17T15:44:00.002+02:00

Yesterday the whole family went to Planckendael in order to enjoy the nice weather. Hadrien was overcome with joy as soon as he saw an animal... As a bonus when we saw the lions the pretty impressive lion roared to show his discontent.

Planckendael

As you noticed some of the animals we saw are teh same as teh ones Maureen and Cedric saw in live in Tanzania... check out their blog for the amazing Safari pictures here

Brieuc, you can call him Eddy

2008-08-17T15:42:00.001+02:00

Hello to all, great news Brieuc can ride his bike without stabilisators
The proof in images right here:

Brieuc cyling

Holiday Pictures - New Pictures

2008-08-16T21:33:00.003+02:00

Hello here are some pictures of the holidays that we spent this summer.
First we headed to Vienna to celebrate my dad's 60th anniversary. It was great fun to get back to our roots with the whole family. Cedric and Maureen flew in from San Francisco, Bruno and Gaelle were there too, we came with the whole bunch and of course MamyClaude and PapyFranz were there. I will post some details on this later but at least so you have the pictures...

Vienne 2008

Then we went to the seaside in Belgium, were we coped with the typical belgian weather... 1 day of real sun during our whole stay (10 days). Pictures are posted here also

Saint Idesbald August 2008

Camille - camp news

2008-07-28T12:24:00.002+02:00

Hello Camille just came back from her first camp and she just loved it. It was way to short for her and she did not really miss us ... (have kids they said, they will cherish you all your life). She was dirty as you can imagine and quite sleep deprived which are always very good signs when you come back from camp.
She was even nominated "Balladin a l'honneur" for the camp... As soon as there are pictures somewhere I will post them or link them through

Funny Belgium

2008-07-16T13:39:00.002+02:00

While we are still without a governement ... it has been more than a year. And people fight about if the soil is flemish or not... an amazing town in the north of belgium. It seems that when there are no language problems the question of the soil property is not such a big issue ;-)
Read the amazing story of the town of Baarle-Hertog
Thanks to BoingBoing

Pictures of Camille's year at the baladins

2008-07-07T19:26:00.001+02:00

Hello If you ever wondered what it is to be at the baladins... here is the answer
Link here

It has been quite some time

2008-07-07T12:02:00.005+02:00

Hello as I just saw the last entry in the blog was a happy birthday to Brieuc ... I have not been very persistent those last weeks so now it is time to catch up.

First of all some important birthdays that came up

- Colin, Bruno, Mamita, Gaelle, Rory, Sybille etc... (I probably have forgotten some please apologize) To all I have not greated personnally here is the time to do so.

Beginning of June Katie spend 2 weeks in our home. She is a student from Georgia Tech that had a summer program in Europe and she spend 2 weeks in Brussels before leaving for Paris and Berlin. The kids were quite fond of her and did not leave her any rest, and she willingfully complied.

We had some waterleakeage on our roof after some great downfalls and this is currently between teh insurances. Otherwise at home not many changes, some new cabinets will come in our future room after the summer.

School was finished end of June and so Brieuc and Camille are now staying at home with under surveillance. HAdrien is still going some days to the daycare before joining them.

We have spend a weekend in Lubbeke with Wendy & Fred. We all had a great time as the weather was perfect. We had the time to swim , hike around and for the rest just relax and think about nothing. The dinners were underlined with the usual Chicco music and the discussions would take us late into the night, in short thanks again for the invitation.

Lubbeke

During the month of June Caroline has won the right to drive on month a Fiat 500 (new model) and we fell in love with this car. We ponder the fact to buy it at the end of the year (depending on the conditions). It is really a blast to drive, especially downtown.

We are all pretty excited as this summer we are doing a family trip with all the descendance of PapyFranz & MamyClaude to Vienna. The excuse for this are the 60th aniversary of PapyFranz and the fact that Maureen and Gaelle never saw Vienna. I will post pictures on our return. After this we will be on the belgian coast for another 10 days in Saint Idesbald.

For all that lived on another planet those days

- Spain won the European Cup in Soccer

- Nadal just won wimbledon

- Massa is trying to start a career in ice skating after trying to be a F1 driver

- Belgium still has no government that is working and maybe we will not exist as such by the end of the month...

Melsbroek

Last Thursday I went to Werchter with Northgate arinso. We had a great time listening to Mika, Lenny Kravitz, REM, Chemical Brothers... I came home at 4AM and the following day was a struggle, but I made it.

I will post some pictures of all the above mentioned events so check out for updates

Happy Birthday Brieuc !!

2008-05-25T20:34:00.002+02:00

Hello this weekend was Brieuc's birthday weekend. It all started on Friday at school where he had a little celebration in class. On Saturday the Family and godfather came over for cake and biscuits. Sunday it was the turn of Brieuc's friends to celebrate. As usual he was spoiled but had a great fun especially since the weathe was nice and we could use the terrass.
The pictures can be found here:

Anniversaire Brieuc

Anniversaire Brieuc - Amis

Caro & Camille visiting Emma in Ardington

2008-05-19T19:24:00.001+02:00

Some pictures of Caroline's trip to Ardington...

Emma Mai 2008

Lot's of news... Emma Update

2008-05-13T20:13:00.006+02:00

Hello here we are again, it was quite some time but we were very busy
First a list of all family events that happened lately:

Bruno & Gaelle got married on the 3rd of May
Emma was born on the 10th of May. For those living on Mars Emma is the first cousin of the kids. She is the daughter of Gaelle & Rory
Cedric's birthday was on the 9th
Brieuc's birthday is coming up on the 24th of May he cannot wait anymore.

We were quite lazy on the pictures so we wait for the official pictures from the wedding and Emma, once we have our hands on them we will post them rest assured.
Emma Pictures

Emma Mitchell

Wedding pictures
Some can be found here

Mariage Civil de Bruno et Gaelle

Other pictures are posted there on facebook: Facebook pictures Jean-Bernard
For once Belgium is the region of Europe with the best weather. It has been 10 glorious days with temperatures above 26°C here in Brussels. And the topping of the cake was that it included 2 long weekends (1st of May and 12th of May). Hadrien is having more and more tantrums he really has is own feisty character. Brieuc is living his life as it comes... he is really enjoying life as it comes. Camille is happy as always as she is going to school and in the weekends going scouting... she would not want it otherwise. Camille had her first 2 day camp and is just waiting to have more to come this summer. Brieuc is really helpless when she is not round it is very cute...
Keep reding as soon as some pictures are coming I will post them
Ciao

Summer in the city

2008-05-11T19:27:00.000+02:00

Belgium as it was the hottest city in Europe, global warming has also some good sides ;-)

diner sur la terrasse

Playing around with the "americans"

2008-05-02T19:29:00.000+02:00

As you can see the kids are having fun...

4 mai, lendemain du mariage de Bruno et Gaelle

Louis VL visiting

2008-04-26T19:21:00.000+02:00

Hello some pictures of Louis playing with the kids in our hangmat
As you can see Louis has quite a crush on Camille...

Dans le hamac avec Louis

The boys on the terrass

2008-04-18T20:06:00.000+02:00

While Camille is on her scouting camp, the boys are practicing their soccer skills on the terrass

les garcons

What kept us busy...

2008-04-06T15:40:00.002+02:00

Hello to all , I know it is already quite some time since you heard from us but time is scarce for the moment. Since our ski vacations we stayed in Belgium... to our great tregret because the weather is really awfull since then.
We went to see a Rugby match of the ne hero of Brieuc, his great-uncle Eric. Pictures can be found by clicking on the lik below.

Rugby Boitsfort

I made a trip to Iceland with ARINSO. And the only thing I can say is that it is a wonderfull country. I do not yet have all the pictures from everybody to give you a nice overview but this will follow. Our 3 day trip brought us to : Reykyavik (day & night) and then a trip to the Geysers, Golden Circle (waterfall) and glaciers. Some snowscooting and Icecaving which were both firsts for me. I will post the pictures asap

Otherwise we decided to spend the first week of the easter holidays on the coast... big mistake it was freezing. We even had some snow. The kids loved it but it is quite frustrating as the second week was much better.

Paques 2008

As you see the easter bunny did not miss the fact that we were at the sea...

The last WE I went with the two big ones to the Natural History Museum here in Brussels. As you will see there is quite an extraordinary display of Dinosaurs. The other exhibits are quite nice too but you are not allowed to use flashes when taking pictures so the qulity is not really teh best.

Musee des Sciences Naturelles

The second week of the kids holidays Maelle came everymorning to babysit the 3 monsters. She really did a very nice job teh kids really loved her...
This weekend I worked in the house in our laundry room pictures will follow

Hadrien is walking

2008-02-25T09:39:00.003+01:00

Hello, yesterday to our great surprise Hadrien decided to walk tonight. We wait for confirmation today ;-)

Knokke with the Jamar's

2008-02-20T09:29:00.001+01:00

Hello to all. This WE we were in Knokke for a family get together of the Jamar's. The weather was gorgeous but very very cold. Thanks again to Papou and Mamita for this time together.

WE à la mer Jamar

Carnaval - Les collons - Update

2008-02-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

Hello a small post just to give you the link to the pictures... I will add some text later

Les Collons Carnaval

As promised here is an account of our ski trip. It all started on Friday as we had to leave Hadrien at his grand-parents. He really did not seem to mind... as he knows he will be pampered. I loaded the car on Friday night and set the alarm clock to 3AM...
We finally managed to leave at 4AM. The road was quite uneventful until Switzerland, between Basel and Bern we had the usual car overload. I still do not quite understand the Swiss: there are no accidents or raodwork but there are still some traffic jams anyway. We finally arrived around 2PM in the Collons and there luck struck as we had a parking spot right in front of the appartment. After checkin in we went to visit the Ackermans that live right down the road.
Sunday was our first ski day and it took some time before Camille found back all her skills, Brieuc decided that the straight path is the nicest and thus he is quite dangerous on skis. Monday morning was their first ski lesson of te week and it is quite a blessing to be able to ski 3 hours without having to worry about a loose cannon ;-). The week had the same rhythm until friday: Morning skiing with Wendy, Fred, sometimes PapyFranz & MamyClaude as well as Bruno, Eric, Maelle and Camille and in the afternoon Brieuc was still willing to ski for another hour and then started to be too tired. Camille on the other hand has been bitten by the skibug and can ski for 6-7 hours in a row wihtout any problem. She now masters Veysonnaz and the piste de l'Ours (yes I know you have to know the Collons but many of our faithful readers do ;-)) without any problem all alone.
On tuesday everybody went to the Leytegeon the off-piste of the Collons domain in the morning and the descent was glorious: perfect weather, fresh snow... what does a skier wants more.
Thursday Bruno, Wendy, Maelle and I left to ski in Verbier and were able to have a go at the Mont-Fort and the Tortin while Caroline and Fred took care of the kids. Thanks again to them to leave us a day "off". It is then I found out I am getting old, I was totally exhausted trying to follow Wendy, Bruno and Maelle.
Every evening a trip to the swimming pool was mandatory. Brieuc is still a complete nut as soon as he approaches water. He impressed quite a lot Camille and Maelle that had to cope with his crazyness...
Saturday was our last day skiing and as we had no lessons in the morning we skied all day with the kids. We managed to leave "les Collons" around 2PM and arrived in Brussels at 11PM which is quite a good time with the kids.
I hereby want to thank Camille and Maelle for their patience with the kids. It was really nice to see them get along that well. Brieuc found a new friend in the person of Eric, they maybe even will go to see a rugby game together... Brieuc is a huge fan.
For the rest on thursday night it was fondue night at the apparment with the 4 Ack's, 3 de Patouls, Bruno, PapyFranz and MamyClaude as well as us 4. We also went sledding which cost a nose to Brieuc that crashed into Antoine, but they enjoyed it otherwise...
As we see how the kids love the ski and the mountains we really await PapyFranz's chalet for next season. I probably forgot a lot of stuff but we really had a great time there and especially the fact that the cousins and Ack's were there was a blast for them.

Happy Birthday Camille

2008-01-23T09:55:00.000+01:00

Yes it is this time of the year again. Our big girl is turning 6 today... It is then you realize that time really flies

Holiday Activities - Update

2008-01-09T07:51:00.000+01:00

Hello
First of all a Happy New Year to all our faithful readers. I still wonder what our audience is ;-)
So here are some pictures about what we did during those holidays
First there were the X-mas(es)

22/12 : Jamar's
23/12: Dupont Louis (all the descendants of my fathers father...)
24/12: de Patou)
25/12: Foie-Gras diner at home (Parents were invite)
26/12: nothing related to X-mas but the kids (Camille & Brieuc) went to see the dinosaur exhibit with the children of Maureen's sister - Pictures here.
27/12: Dupont Franz (all descendants of my father)

As you can see this was already quite a feat to survice this ;-). Otherwise the kids were of course spoiled rotten again...
In order ot keep the kids busy I want to bike in the "Parc de Tervueren" you will find some pictures here.

Parc de Tervueren

On another day I actually visited the museum with the two big ones. But I have to say their love for African masks quickly vanished. They had to see the stuffed animals... Sorry for the picture quality but it was no flash allowed and the kids would not stay in place...

Musee d'Afrique

On the 29th we decided to join Cedric & maureen's friends at the sea and spend a day there. As you can see it is not the bahamas but the kids were really happy to spend time with their aunt and uncle that are living "very far away". You will also notice that whatever the weather on the belgian sea-coast there are some long lasting traditions for the kids: the "cuistax" (the funny go-karts).

Mer Reveillon

For new year eve we spent the evening at the Michaux our kids safely under the guard of grand mamy (yes my grandmother is still baby sitting to the great joy of all kids). We really had a good time there and were quite happy not to be burdened by the monsters ;-)
Here are some last pictures we took one evening... as you can see they can be very cute when they want it to.

Holiday Fun

PS: if you think Brieuc has a funny nose on the pictures it is because he fell on it and had to go to the hospital where he starts to be famous...

November - December 2007

2007-12-17T10:58:00.000+01:00

News update. This is a very due for a very long time. But this is a very busy time of the year if you have kids. So what has been keeping us busy

The kids had their "grootoudersfeest" (GrandParents party). Camille and Brieuc were performing on stage
Grootoudersfeest
Sinterklaas events (Saint Nicolas): The kids have been spoiled rotten by Boehringer and Arinso. I cannot even tell you what they all got but there will be pictures soon below.
St Nicolas Boehringer
StNicolas - Bing

StNicolas - Arinso
PapyFranz has been giving us a very nice gift as we became share holder of a winery in Lussac (www.lion-perruchon.com). Lussac is a satellite of St-Emilion which are pretty nice wines in general. We are really waiting for the first dividends next year (36 bottles of wine ;-)).
It has been also a very cultural month lately. I went to see "Cravate Club" with the Roundtable. Afterwards we had a nice little Mojito with Luis and Eddy...
We also had to chance to see Calogero in Forest National and Hooverphonic at the Sap Lounge. As much as the first one was exceptional, I was kind of disappointed by the performance of our belgian flagship group. But anyway I just found out we should do this more often as there is a hue difference between listening to the music at home and live...
I also organised the OpenHR get together. This was a huge success we managed to bring in 33 people from the old beloved OpenHR group, some even came from quite far (Sophie, Miguel, Sebstien, Marc, Yannick, Francois... thanks for driving all over). We went to the Chelsea (www.chelsea.be) wine bar and we had a great time. It was really good to have a chat and see where everybody went too... Freek took some pictures that can be found here link.
On Friday we had the big "Michaux" fiesta. As usual it was grand... As there were people there we haven't seen in year there was a lot of chatting to do to catch up.

Other stuff done, buy X-mas trees (yes there are 2 this year in the house), run around to find X-mas gifts fo everybody (which is not done yet but almost...)
I probably have forgotten stuff but at least we caught up. Pictures will be uploaded ASAP

Hadrien clapping...

2007-12-12T22:27:00.000+01:00

Hadrien applaudit

Hilarious ... but sad at the same time

2007-11-21T21:04:00.000+01:00

When reality meets fiction. This is 3 years old... (sorry for the non-french speaking).
We are really not far away...

Hadrien

2007-11-17T14:46:00.001+01:00

Some Pictures of the little one

Hadrien

Home Sweet Home

2007-11-17T14:36:00.000+01:00

Hello for all of you who haven't got the time to come by and check out the works. Here are the pictures.

Fin Travaux

Otherwise what is keeping us busy lately

Camille is scoutig almost every weekend
Dancing lessons
Circus
Finishing the works in the house (the results are seen hereabove...)

Until the end of December no WE is free anymore. One one hand it is really nice on the other it is really not ideal to relax...
Enjoy and hello to all our faithful readers

The real Cannonballer

2007-10-19T17:24:00.000+02:00

A crazy story about a nutty driver. Coast to coast in little more than 31 hours. I really want to see his car... Watch out do not do this at home (Thanks Wired)

Belgolax

2007-10-14T10:18:00.000+02:00

Brieuc at school

2007-10-12T09:30:00.000+02:00

For all of you who were wondering if Brieuc liked school... no doubt is possible.

Brieuc Angelus

Play time

2007-10-11T20:16:00.001+02:00

Coffre

Happy Birthday Hadrien

2007-10-11T10:08:00.000+02:00

Hello today is Hadriens first birthday... yes it has been a year already. We will post pictures from the different activities soon.
As you will see in the pictures below Hadrien is finally fully mobile. He is the only one of our kids that has understood how to use arms and legs at the same time... Sometimes you regret that he is not as lazy as his siblings.

Anniversaire Hadrien - Tanneurs

Anniversaire Hadrien

Weekend in the Ardennes

2007-09-24T20:35:00.000+02:00

Hello here are some pictures tken alreay some time ago while spending the weekend in the Ardennes

Chevron

(Very) Busy weekend - Pctures

2007-09-24T08:30:00.000+02:00

Hello this weekend went by in quite a rush. It all started on Friday night as we were invited by Vero & Brice to have a wine tasting evening. It was really great fun but I have to admit at the end making a clear distiction between the wines got harder and harder. There we also met the parents of Penelope (she was in Camille's class last year) and Cesar (in Brieuc's class this year) and had quite a good time with them.
Saturday morning was the dance lesson marathon (9h30 - 11h30!!!) as now Camille and Brieuc are taking them. Brieuc is really enjoying himself there ... But to add some little spice I had to include in this matinee some errands as Caroline was celebrating her birthday at home this year. (Boooh to all of you that have forgotten ;-)) It was thus cheese & wine time. After getting over this morning, we needed to clean up the house, dress the tables, prepare the plates etc... but to my great surprise we managed to do this in time without getting on each others nerves. Brieuc and Camille were blackmailed in to following our rules by menacing them to be unallowed at the party, this meaning to be unable to eat some chips. And it worked ... ok it is not our proudest moment as parents but if you have kids you will understand.
By eight the first people arrived and we had a very nice evening at home. Laurent, as kind as he always is, even had a little thought for me by spraying the wall with red wine so that I could repaint this part thinking of him ;-). We took the opportunity of this party to combine house warming and birthday party and people were quite impressed by the changes... Which is always nice when you just finish renovation.
After 6 hours of sleep on Sunday morning we had to pack-up everybody on the bikes as it was "Sunday without cars" in Brussels and Camille had to attend her first "baladins" reunion. It is useless to say that she had a "super" time there (dixit Camille). It was fun to see that a lot of the current leader generation at the 58eme are our old wolf-cubs (yes time flies). Caro and Hadrien then headed back home, while Brieuc and I left for the city center. As the weathergods were kind we had some excellent time for biking 24°C and sunshine. Brieuc headed straight for the farm installed on the place des palais, where he wanted to see the cows. He even rode on a poney to my great amazement. After seeing the cows, sheeps, pigs, Donkeys etc... Brieuc decided it was time to leave for the tanneurs to see Laetitia. There we met Momo & Nath with their little Elise. We joined them on the way back to the place des palais again and we left for the place Jourdan and some fries for Brieuc and me. After a short nap in front of Australia vs. Fidji (Rugby) we left to pick up Camille.
Then it was one straight rush for bed: bath, dinner, brushing the teeth and bed...
I think I was sleeping at 21h30...
I will post the pictures very soon so keep posted
Here the pictures as usual

1iere réunion Baladins Camille

Journée sans voitures

L'atelier des chefs

2007-09-13T20:29:00.000+02:00

Hello yesterday evening we spend a great time celebrating Goerics birthday. His parent organized him a "surprise" to which they invited us and the usual gang of friends... We had an evening of cooking lessons at l'atelier des chefs. I have to say it was quite an experience and we had a great time; how many times in your life will you learn to prepare lobsters? At least now I know ;-).
The idea behind this is you spend one to two hours preparing a dinner and than you spend the rest of the evening eating... the concept is maybe not very new but the place is and the team there is very nice. So if you look for a special event check it out
There I had again the proof that the world is incredibly small as Goerics sister is currently dating a friend of one of my friends from the Lycee Francais de Vienne... it is really amazing.

Latest News

2007-09-13T20:05:00.000+02:00

Hello as it has been quite some while i will try to give an update on all what has been keeping us busy

Hadrien: He is our little M. Happy; always smiling and never crying (yes I have to say it is quite amazing). If he could eat a little more in order to put on some size and weight we would be even happier. He is showin some attemps at crawling which we are absolutly not used to... I really think he will break the walking record barrier of Camille (16 month, Ok this is not a worldrecord per se but at the Dupont's they are quit slow in this matter)
Brieuc: His lip is fine now he has been stiched and you can barely see where his lip was split open. He started school in his new school (the one of camille) and is quite at ease there. It is still a little but tough in the mornings but it will go away soon. He is very exited about anything involving a ball, especially soccer. He is trying to transform his playroom in an indoor soccer arena which is not well accepted by his parents
Camille: She is back in her favourite element school. And she is already complaining that the homework is too easy and learning to read/write 3 words in 2 weeks must be a joke. She alos now has an agenda of a prime-minister to keep her busy: Music lessons, ballet lessons, scouting, ... you name it she probably does it. Just for this we are quite thankfull that Caroline only works partime
Caroline: She is definitively convinced that her boss must be the most comprehensive in the universe, which by hearing his reactions must be quite close to the truth... For the rest she is suffering for a while back pain and will undergo a scanner to find out what is wrong as all other forms of diagnosis could not make out what is wrong. Once this out of the way it will be a great relief for everybody. Otherwise the kids keep her quite busy so her afternoons are almost less relaxing than before...
Dimitri: Still working quite a lot and running around between clients but what the heck as long as you can keep up it will not kill you. I still have to finish some stuff in the works at home (some paintjobs etc...) but we are celebrating Caroline's birthday in our new "aisle". The happy few invited will be able to see the changes first hand.

Other points
- Belgium still does not have a governement (we voted June 10th...)
- Our soccer team is still comatose
- It is the Belgian GP this weekend, but I will not be able to attend
- France lost his first Rugby game in "their" WorldCup ;-)
- Bruno is getting married on the 3rd of June
- other important announcements will follow...

Happy Birthday to
- Bon Papa: September 13th
- Mum: September 2nd (to bad if you forgot... she will remember)
- Caroline: September 22nd
all others: Goeric, Charles, Biou, Marie-Caroline, Chouppy ... and I surely have forgotten some

Medic Report

2007-08-19T15:33:00.000+02:00

Hello just to tell you Brieuc now looks quite like Cassius Clay after a serious beating (ok it did not happen a lot but so you will get the hint). Saturday he fell at Ines & Biou's on the stone steps and had to be stiched on the upper lip... Some things never change, as boys will be boys
On the other hand Hadrien seems to be on the verge to become the super athlete of the family... he tries to stand up on the age of 10 months... For those who do not remember Camille walked at the age of 16,5 month and Brieuc when he was 19months old (maybe his broken leg delayed his walking a bit ;-)).

Summer in the mountain

2007-08-16T16:38:00.000+02:00

Hello to all our faithfull readers. Here is a little holiday update. We left you right after coming back from Gaelle's wedding. What happened since:
1) I finished Harry Potter thus I know who dies and who not ;-)
2) Caroline went with the kids to the Jonniaux at the seaside. Camille and Brieuc they had quite a lot of fun with Antoine and Thomas. I will add some pictures here (click on the picture as usual).

Knokke - Jonniaux

Your servant had to work his butt of of course in order to keep the food on the plate ;-)
3) After this we left for Switzerland, les Collons to be precise. Caroline only experienced the montains once in the summer and it was not her best holiday so she was quite sceptic to start with.
And I have to say we were quite lucky. On our first or second day there we went Fred & Wendy and their kids Basile and Antoine, and they greatly helped out to change Caroline's mind concerning the mountain in the summer. All this due to a totally crappy national day in Switzerland, if you want the whole story you will have to come by or give a call to Caroline. We also met Fred & Wendy's friends Manu & Hadrien with their kids Victor and Sybille as well as Vero & Brice with Leopoldine. Each of them was present a week and it was a very nice distraction meeting all those new faces.
The four kids had a blast playing together, and the little tree-house and the swimming pool of the appratment certainly helped out quite a lot. Ok the weather was almost perfect 5 days of rain/snow out of 15 (the rest was 25°C) is not bad for the Mountains...
We hiked around there with the whole bunch and I have to admit that Camille is really good at it, she can walk for hours (she will tell you it is due to her new hiking boots which she is quite proud of). For Brieuc it depends a lot on his mood, sometimes he can walk for hours some times he just refuses and needs to be carried. Hadrien needed a moving troller, as soon as we stopped he had to get out and eat otherwise he would be quite difficult, but at least he slept during the nights not as in the Crosets this Easter (see a previous post).
We thus went to the Grande Dixence, Grande Bisse de Vex, Bisse d'Heremence, Up to Thyon 2000, Grimentz, St-Luc, Chandolin... during the rains we visited the Chagall exhibit of the fondation Pierre Gianadda, played some card games etc...
Now I have to say that we have something with floodings as after the UK (cfr Gaelles wedding pictures) they had some major floodings in Switzerland during our stay... to the great joy of Veronique who we tried to convince that summer in the mountains is nice while it was snowing outside in August (she was craving for sun). Yes you read well, it snowed and we have pictures to prove it. You will see this in the pictures following the usual link. And 2 days later it was 26°C again.
Voila this is it for our summer holidays... next post will be on the move at home I suppose.

Les Collons

Gaelle's Wedding

2007-07-23T21:39:00.000+02:00

Hello as you can see we survived the floods. I will post all pictures here just pick whatever you like... They said yes and we all had a marvelous time. Thanks again to our perfect hosts the Beck's... We really will try to come back more often (with the sun this time we hope ;-))
I will give a more detailed report of our adventures as there were quite a few in a future post
Enjoy the pictures :
Ardington July 2007

Ardington 2007

Walking around with the kids

Promenade Enfants

Saturday Morning

Mariage Gaelle - Avant

Wedding:

Mariage Gaelle Rory