About letting go and holding very tight

When the kids grow up and are chosen to participate in an exchange project with school than,.... 

1. Firstly you grow by pride.

2. Secondly you shout from the rooftops how important it is to let them go and spread their wings.

3. Thirdly when they are all packed and ready to get in the airplane you just want to hold them tight and not let them go.

Dear Louka, enjoy this amazing experience and your time in the USA. The pictures we have received make us happy and show you are having a great time! The cooler temperatures and green environment seems a breath of fresh air after many hot school years out in the desert.

Dear Mrs K and dear Mrs A, thank you for embracing our girl as if she was your daughter and P thank you for being a great company and caring as a brother. Don't forget to send her back, we miss her!

Lebanon

Super excited we took the airplane to Lebanon. The clothes fitted perfectly and the atmosphere was excellent.

We initially doubted to register them to participate in the Lebanon gymnastics competition, but when Belgium was the victim of the terrorist attacks we realized you don't know your destiny.

The traffic in Beirout was a disaster, but once out of the car we really enjoyed the walks, the natural habitat, watching the beautiful old buildings and some stunning views.

We visited Byblos, cultural heritage unimaginable in the United Arab Emirates.

All the blue in the streets of Beirout draws the attention and the kids enjoy the hospitality of the Lebanese!

Lebanon, we will be back next year! You can be sure of that!

Sir Baniyas Island in pictures

A last post with sunny pictures; after this one we will return to the usual content of this blog.

Last Eid we went to Sir Baniyas Island, we already showed you a picture of that trip, nevertheless we took many more, and I finally found the time to select our favorites for you.

We had a great time spotting mammals and birds during a wildlife safari.

The kids had a great time playing, swimming, jumping, running, biking and looking for bones left behind after the hyena’s meal.

The girls showed off their gymnastics skills.

We took the time to take plenty of family pictures.

Hijab

Our sportive trip to India is already behind us. We fought our self to a reasonable 6^th place at the 2013 Asian Championships.

Just like in the previous edition of the Championship I was moved by the fighting spirit of the Iranian ladies team. We had to fight back strongly to defend our try line.

In addition the Iranian ladies team plays with long sleeves, long legs and Hijab, which makes it noteworthy more difficult to play in 32°C.

We got invited and agreed to go to Iran next spring to participate in a tournament. I am already looking forward to see those lovely girls back in Iran, within a couple of months to play our very first game in long sleeves and Hijab!

There was no time for sightseeing and the only taste of India was during a short walk. A busy road all of a sudden changed into a rural scenery, with horses carrying lambs followed by a herd of sheep.

In days long gone

October slipped by in a glimpse. It was super busy and there was not a lot of time left for social media; not for writing blogposts neither for reading your blogs. So it is time to achieve the right balance again and to make sure we do not have too much on our plate.

During Eid we did our best to do ‘nothing’, which still does not mean having a lie-in and read a book because that is out of the question with all five kids on school holidays.

We went to Sir Baniyas Island and enjoyed fully this well-deserved family vacation.

In 2009 we already visited the animal reserve. We took this picture.

Same spot but anno 2013.

We bumped into friends thanks to whom we now even have a version of the picture with all family members in it!

La douce France

Our trip to the Belgian coast was followed by a short stay ‘at home’. We had just enough time to wash the clothes before leaving for a three day trip to France.

I have a lot of delightful memories about my trips to the Bourgogne, more specifically the Morvan, as a guide on youth summer camps.

It was time to take my own kids and build their ‘Morvan Memories’.

We build water dams and played in the water.

We walked for hours and often we were obligated to climb.

We did some gymnastics.

Once and a while we needed a break and or something to eat.

We enjoyed nice sunsets although Omar still has to move around, he decided the sunset looks nicer when doing push ups.

We collected wood for a campfire.

We enjoyed the heat of the fire and the listening to ‘cool’ stories.

We did not brush our hair.

The flowers, butterflies and other creatures enjoyed the attention they got from the kids.

The brother-, sisterhood was very tight. 

We enjoyed fully during this trip and are already making vivid plans for our next trip to the Morvan.