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!

Georgia - Ski

Eleven years we did not ski (indoor slopes do not count!).

This year we were all ready and packed for a trip to Gudauri in Georgia.

Great snow, great views, great teachers (we highly recommend SkiGudauri skischool).

Usually around -8C, but mostly sunny so still way less colder then we expected so we played for hours outside and made various kinds of snowmen and even a Burj Khalifa.

We love the snow to jump, throw, fight and almost dissappear... 

Curly hear and a helmet is definitely a back 'NJET'.

Globetrotter

Since she was 6 years old she wants to travel independantly to Belgium to visit her family during the Christmas holidays. We tried to postpone it a little but meanwhile Louka is 9 (just not 10 years old) and she flew all alone from Abu Dhabi to Brussels this week.

As proud as punch she arrived with a suitcase filled with homemade present at her grandparents place.

Her hand luggage was stuffed in a newly made backpack. 

She herself choose the fabrics and we brainstormed together about the pattern. She picked ‘toile cirée’ from Petit Pan in various colors.

We decided to make a backpack with a single shoulder/waist strap.

Inside there is place for her passport, some reading books/magazines, the official-flight-paperwork can be stowed away seperatly, her home keys are on a sling inside the bag, and there is a small zippered pouch to store some money.

The Ipod Touch, her early Christmas present, can be stowed away in a tiny little pouch on the front side of the shoulder strap.

For the occasion she borrows my headphones.

A bottle of water is within arm’s reach and there is some storage space in the front flap as well.

She is well armed against the cold, as ‘Sinterklaas’ brought a lovely thick jumper earlier this month. Hopefully it doesn’t rain too much as we didn’t buy a raincoat.

The journey passed off quietly. No tears, at least not from Louka, all the more from her brothers who were scared something would happen to their sister.

How cute is that?!

Enjoy yourself and see you soon big sister!

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.