What's missing from 2015 (June)

Flowers for Tosca who is about to play the part of a purple flower in the school recital (o4/06/2015)

Not crying, but rubbing her eyes because she is a flower that's going to fall asleep.

An uxpected visit to the Egyptian Museum of Turin (06/06/2015)

Auro with his maestra Ambra

Music Recital at the end of the first year of elementary school (10/06/2015)

Also Tosca's Movida classes ended up on a stage (10/06/2015)

After the last performance, me and the kids went to Belgium. Even before arriving at my dad's place, we stopped for our favourite kind of dinner. (11/06/2015)

Cousins with matching tattoos!

Lier

three days with my dad and 3 kids at Efteling

Hansel and Gretel were here...

What's missing from 2014 (August)

Visiting our old downstairs neighbour (when we were still living in Genoa city), while completely forgetting to be at home for the arrival of my father, my brother and his family....

Zita!

My babies

and the latest arrival: Liz!

Gymkhana in Gaiazza, for the first with 3 Belgian participants

Always winners!

Getting to know her uncle...

A reasonably good picture of me with my brother

July: summer break

In July, we truly started the summer holidays. We went to my in-laws in Cesenatico and took the kids to the beach. We also decided to give the kids a little push: we removed Tosca's diaper (during the day) and the training wheels of Auro's bicycle. 

When I left for Belgium some days later, Auro did not even want to try to ride his bicycle and Tosca did not look ready at all for being potty trained. I was almost happy to leave them in Cesenatico ;-)

Once in Belgium, I totally relaxed in a way you can not when there are kids in the house (not even when they are asleep). And then, when I was completely 'zen', I took a city trip to Rotterdam with my good friend Wendy. Three days of lazy shopping, undisturbed chatting and unworried relaxing in the pool and sauna of the hotel definitely did the trick!

After Rotterdam, me and my father packed the car and drove back to Genoa together. Some days later, we went to pick up Auro and Tosca and brought them home, where we spent the rest of July.

Cube house in Rotterdam

My beautiful niece in Belgium

My loud children in their swimming pool at home

My father insisted we'd have a barbecue

Dinner outside

One month into the potty training: number ones seem to be more or less under control ;-)

Two weeks in Belgium

Last Saturday, the kids and I returned from a two week stay in Belgium (while Remo was abroad for work). I had planned to post something during my stay, but, as I should have anticipated, I could not find one quiet and peaceful moment to do so. So, here is a short summary of the two weeks in Belgium.

We arrived in Charleroi airport on Saturday (20th) and two days later, on Monday, Auro already started going to the kindergarten he frequented last time we were in the country. He was, by the way, more than happy to see all his Belgian classmates again.

One day, Auro came home dressed like an Indian. The Indian name they gave him: "wild dinosaur"!

Auro and juf Els, one of his two kindergarten teachers

The first Wednesday, Auro stayed home from school, because I wanted to take him to the Zoo of Antwerp, one of the oldest animal parks in the world (1843). He never went and I thought it was time for him to see real elephants and real monkeys. We met up with my aunt, my cousin's wife and her son, Jonathan. Auro spent a lot of time exploring the zoo by himself (something he recently started doing wherever we go) and so I spent most of my time looking for him and, mostly in vain, telling him not to wander off. Tosca, on the other hand, was very excited to see all the live animals, but was more than anything else impressed by the man at the entrance dressed up like a lion. Anyway, except for the somewhat exuberantly priced ride on the zoo's merry-go-round, we had a great day!!

Auro and Tosca on a gorilla

the kids on the pricey carousel

Friday evening, we drove to Jandrain-Jandrenouillle, where my brother and his family live in their new home. Zita was more than excited to have her two cousins sleep in the room with her (actually she insisted on it), so it was late when they actually fell asleep, but the whispering and laughing we could hear from their room made it completely worth it ;-)

This is how you fit 3 kids in a bath tub!

So ready for breakfast!

Auro and Tosca taking over Zita's sand pit

On Sunday, we went to see more animals at a kids farm in Lier ('t struisvogelnest). My cousin and Jonathan joined us and soon we were eating pancakes while the children were jumping up and down an inflatable castle.

In Betekom, a village near my dad's house, there was a fair, so after the farm, while Tosca was napping, we went there with Jonathan. Three days later, we returned with Tosca and Zita. For Tosca it was the first time at a fair and she was completely overwhelmed by it. She didn't speak a word the whole time we were there, but it was more than clear that she loved it!

Flying high!

Making a turn to the right!

Back in time: January 2013

We started the new year in Belgium with a New Year's dinner with the whole family at my father's place. The kids discovered the fun of indoor playgrounds (They are immensely popular in Belgium!) and were over-excited outdoors as well with the heavy snowfall. 

One of the many reasons we went to Belgium this time, was because we wanted to send Auro to the kindergarten there. Equipped with a brand new backpack containing his mid-morning snack and his lunchbox, he started school on the morning of the 7th. Leaving him there that first morning, I had no idea he would like it so much. But, he really loved it and during the 3 weeks he was there, he never complained about having to get up early, made many new friends (he even managed to get a play date) and, like all the other kids, came home with the chickenpox (which didn't make him sick at all, so he just continued going to school).

Dinner on the first day of the year

Presents!!

Remo and Auro enjoying the indoor play ground in Leuven

Playground in Booischot

Lost and lots of snow...

Auro on his first (Belgian) school day

Tosca having breakfast

On my birthday, my husband sent me flowers from Japan. Tosca had to smell each and every one of them before I could put them in a vase ;)

One afternoon when Auro came back from school...

The kids and their cousin Zita in Jandrain-Jandrenouille (where my brother and his family have just moved into their new home)