Slow living

warmth

Slow down... take the heat off... that's what our Oyes retreat is all about.
Glenis gave me this huge cooking pot as a present, I haven't actually used it yet, but the name on the box is so lovely "Slow cooker"
In this world of ours that just seems to spin faster and faster it can be really hard to slow down. But in Oyes it's easy.
We made our way down through the south of Belgium and the north of France Thursday morning after a quick breakfast and two fast washing machines at the house in Reet.
Once arrived in the mobile phone free house we paced down, Michel got fire wood and turned on the fire. After that we walked over to the neighbors for a chat, Madeleine was eager to see her friend as it had been a while.
Michel cooked dinner, Lili stayed over, and life was good.
Friday we went out to our favorite Japanese restaurant, Hoki Sushi, located in Epernay. They had the great idea of the "all you can eat" theme, but every item you order and do not eat will cost you an extra 2 euro. It makes the kids very conscious about their consumption.
After that we went to the cinema in Epernay, we saw Frankenweenie, a black and white, Tim Burton animated film about a boy who manages to wake his pet dog up from the dead. When other kids, and not only the right-minded ones start doing the same, that's when the trouble begins.
Saturday was really slow, went for a long walk, cooked the leg of lamb, the fire was going all day, as were the ironing beads. There was just no stopping Madeleine and after dinner the boys started too. Bead mania, but educational as well as they were making flags of countries of the world. First they ran out of red, which was challenging, leaving options as Argentine and Ireland, when the blue beads were all gone it got really hard.
Sunday we were supposed to drive by Brice and Sonja for a visit on the occasion of their daughter Lucy's birth, but Madeleine wasn't feeling well, so we had to cancel. She has been known to recover very quickly and that was also the case today, one sleep, vomit once, and she's ready again...

We were sad leaving because we knew it will be along time before we can go back... it will almost be time for the first leaves to come out by the end of January when we return.
Until then, goodbye, Frida

Homework

Sleepover/French lesson

 

Some of the flags she made

 

Bead madness, Argentina in the make

Love you

Louis is becoming quite the helper! 

Men's weekend 5-7 October

Did they have a good time. I think they did. I didn't hear many details, but I saw the broken glasses and the chair!? And understood that they had good fun; next year already booked

weekend 21-23 september

Just us... and the house, nothing special... I think, yes now I remember, lots of gardening on Saturday mostly on Michel's part as my elbow was hurting.
Had Mike and Glenis over for brunch on Saturday which was nice...

Summer holidays 2012

Have been neglecting my blog, shame on me.
The summer holidays have almost come to an end, this year they have been: relaxing, exhausting, fun, serious, busy, lazy, and the list goes on and on.
As for Oyes, we didn't spend as much time here as we would have liked to, but that's what happens when you want to travel all over ;) Prague and Amsterdam were magical and the kids had a fantastic two weeks with omma in the Faroes.
Back to Oyes: Two weeks in tranquility in the beginning of July. Weather was so so, but the friends who were here with us made up for that. First 4 days with 2 mamas (Tessa and I) plus 6 kids (Louis, Emil, Madeleine, Lander, Fien and Liam) we shopped in Pierry and did an excursion to the great castle in Versailles, very exciting.
Then on Thursday Michel flew in from Berlin, and Friday after Tessa had left, Koen, Jan, Linda, and Jolien joined us for a weekend.  Good laughs and the usual performances in the theater.
Sunday everyone left except me and my kids, relaxation through Thursday, Friday evening Michel came back and we stepped in the car and Saturday we were in Vranov for a week of FAMILY in the Czech republic :)

Now we are August, and back at the house, we've been working really hard in the garden today, it's impossible to keep up with these trees and plants.
As we got a new bed in Belgium, we moved our old bed to Oyes and Michel installed it in the downstairs bedroom for better nights.
Realizing that the holidays are almost over, we remain thankful for the beautiful days we have had, and look forward to weekends to come in our retreat. I promised the kids we could paint the play house, so that will be our September project.

Until next time. Au revoir!

Thank God for his long weekends... 26-28 May

The participants: Tim and Sander. Matthias, Jeff and Lukas. And us

The weather conditions: Perfect, 27 degrees, sunny

The mosquito's: In good condition, providing lots of trouble... citronella to the rescue.

The activities: Trampofootball, reading, barbecue, biking, music making, picnic, water war-game, sunbathing, theater, table tennis, darts, trimming the garden, baking etc

Beautiful children, relaxed parents, all in all a great, long weekend where everything was possible. The bees are back, to our great joy after not showing themselves last year.

The kids saw a snake like reptile in the garden, a hazel worm. 

Madeleine was ill for half a day, woke up with a fever at 10 o'clock, mute and white, went back to sleep and woke up at 2 o'clock, completely recovered, it was impressive! 

Posing ;)

Pic-nic by the grape vines

breakfast

7 kids in the trampo

Lukas

front to back: Emil, Sander, Jeff, Louis, Matthias

Madness away from the madness 17-20 May

Just the five of us, escaping everyday madness, in favor of rural fake blood and brocante madness :)

Two Brocantes. First the one in Villevenard on Thursday on our bikes before heading home for a take away pizza from Vik' pizza in Sezanne :) Mike and Glenis joined us for a nice chat on New Zealand and Oyes.

We finally tried out Glenis' fake blood recipe which Louis has been talking about since Halloween... it's made primarily with maple syrup, a lot of fun for our theatrical kids :) 

Saturday we were at the neighbors' watching football, Madeleine had a sleep-over at Lili's.

Sunday after breakfast at our lovely neighbors' again :) we headed to the Brocante in Soizy... we bought all kind of stuff... got a little bit carried away, but it is so much fun when you feel like you get a bargain every time :) ... 3 chairs, a mirror, a large frame, a huge lamp, 10 plates even silver cutlery... I bought it of these two elderly people who explained to me that it had come from Switzerland and it was a wedding present from 53 years ago... it has their initials in it... I promised to take good care of it and got it for 20 euro... life is funny sometimes.

fake blood

the favorite game

Ouch

Bloody Madeleine

Roses are out

Michel has got a new toy :)

Waypers and Duponts 2-6 May

Way overdue this blog, but it has been quite hectic around here.

We had a very nice weekend with Stefan and Marije and their kids. They came on Wednesday and we left Reet as the school bell rang on Friday afternoon. 

Coming to Oyes to freshly cooked dinner on Friday night was a pleasant experience :)

Saturday we went shopping in Leclerc in Sezanne, the 10 of us. Marije and Stefan are big on the local French products, so they wanted a bit of this and that. 

Stefan cooked a very nice dinner for adults only and we chatted away about old times in Amsterdam and the kids and everything and nothing. 

Sunday we went to Epernay for a Champagne cellar visit, we went for the Mercier cellars, which I have seen before, but they are good with the children because you drive, rather than walk through them.

All in all, a weekend to cherish, in the sign of long lasting friendship. Thank you Waypers :)

Cruising

Cool mama's

It actually hailed at one point and we did have a leak in Madeleine's room! need to keep an eye on that.

Easter - omma - painting - new oven

This was the second Easter holiday we spent in Oyes, it is the perfect Easter spot for us, spring in the country, flowers and trees in bloom, temperatures steadily rising to comfortable heights.

This year omma, the one and only, joined us, after she'd spent a manic week in Paris with a school class from the Faroes. 

We mostly relaxed, omma is the best story teller, to the children's intense joy she told endless stories at the fireplace. We cooked, baked, walked and cycled, all in the sign of family closeness.

The big plan this time around was the painting jobs that were absolutely needed in the house. We managed to paint the window in Madeleine's room and the front door. Looks very good now :) Still a few jobs left to do, but we have time.

The new oven arrived just before we left, we went through a lot of trouble getting it delivered, French internet shopping - a bad experience. But anyway, Michel installed it and what a revolution :)  It was immediately put into use, as we had Mike and Glenis over for dinner. 

On Easter we stayed true to tradition and went on a chocolate egg hunt. 

We decided to make it a bit special and drove down to the castle of Réveillon where they organized a happening for children. It was a lot of fun; after hunting for Easter eggs in the castle garden the kids were treated to a pony ride, face paint, and egg decoration in the salons of the chateau. 

Lastly we enjoyed the "salon du thee" with croissants and other delicious treats :) A good day out!

Thankful for yet another fortnight of happiness and beauty, we find ourselves back at home. Reloaded and ready and happy to ahead with school, work, tennis, play. The boys jumped on their bikes this morning to see friends, good for them! 

Take care you all, now I am going to work on another blog, a special rent-out blog, because we are ready to rent out the house :) Check it out on :

www.champagneforrent.blogspot.com

Omma and Madeleine heading for the post box

A game of Molki in the garden

Table tennis

Nice and warm

5 cubic metres of wood stacked, a good job for strong boys and girls

rhubarb-strawberry jam and caramel

The door, before repainted

Tulips

daddy's girl

Easter egg hunt at the chateau

Dora, the only inhabitant at 1 rue de l'eglise

Our view on French politics :)