Happy New Year!

4 years have passed, the story goes on.
Our lovely summer retreat has had a serious make-over. It's already been two years since Vlasy and Nico spent three months onsite, refurbishing the house and building the pool house.
The old shed got a new floor, a kitchen, bathroom and sauna, and so in summer, forms the perfect addition to the pool.
The old farm house got a new roof structure on the street side, new bathrooms and paint. Great.

About us, 4 years later and oh so many centimeters, probably more than a meter in child growth.
Its January, we are here just the five of us, or should I say all five of us, which is becoming more and more of an exception as the boys are growing into young men.
A good reason to enjoy our stay even more :) 5 days of togetherness.
Denis has been around to install the Tesla wall connector, O yeah we have an electric car now. A bit of a new experience, racing to Oyes from Reet in 3 and a half hours is not going to happen anymore, now we need to stop and charge at least once on our way.

I regret the long pause in my messages on this blog, my New Years Resolution for 2017, one message every time I visit!

Happy new year to one and all!
Frida

Time travel - here's to friendship!

Handball team reunion in Oyes, 8-13 May 2013

Pictures copyright Brynhild

1998 Champions

Table tennis 

15 years back in time, that's were I've been these last 5 days. It was all right there, the singing as loud as you can, just because we felt like it, tears down my cheeks from laughing so hard at the jokes, the talks sometimes in groups sometimes one to one. Well everything except the hard training program that coach Sophus used to have ready for us at any given time and did we miss it... naaaah...

It was amazing to realize how well we know each other, even though some of us had hardly seen each other since the end of the nineties when everything was handball and handball was everything or so we thought. Great to see the girls, but "girls" doesn't do them justice anymore, each and everyone of them strong women. They have stayed true to themselves and yet they have grown so much. Each gone in different directions, letting life do what life does, give you perspective and richness in many ways; Yes it is good to grow older.

All of us left to right. Herborg, Lotte, Frida, Jensia, Beinta, Hanna, Jórun, Ann, Brynhild

They left me with a lump in my throat, wish they could have stayed longer, but oh so happy that this trip took place. We did well! In 1998 but better in 2013!

Sacre coeur

The highs:

Shopping at Leclerc all nine of us

Shopping

Brocante at Villevenard, baby Sofus got his highly needed car seat

Biking with Jórun and Brynhild

Long champagne lunch in the garden

Champagne house Mercier in Epernay

Paris of course, magical as always

Dinner at "Relais Champennois" in Sézannes

Table tennis championship (Congratulations Lotte, damn it)

Little Sofus and every smile he gave us

etc etc

I'm gonna miss my girls!

Skál!

Dear omma left town

And took Madeleine with her, the two girls I love the most in the world, the one who gave birth to me, and the one I gave birth to.
Off they went to the Faroes where Madeleine this morning engaged in the adventure of Faroese education for three weeks. So exiting. We of course miss them very much already, so as soon as she got home from school this afternoon I was on the phone to the islands... "Hello mamma, everything is fine, my new friend is very tall, I have to go and help my cousin build his new lego we can talk again when you get here in nine days"... so you see, she is very comfortable in omma's care :) bless them

Michel is working hard in the garden, we got an offer from Mr Gardener, I guess when he realized how much garden labour is actually worth he is more motivated. Myself I've been having a bit of an off day, got sick in the car on the way home from Paris last night, and have yet to shake the nausea completely off me.

yesterday in Paris was really great by the way, we walked and walked, the boys were so good and know they know Montmartre, Place de la Madeleine, have seen the Eiffel tower from different angles, been squeezed in the Metro, shopped the Champs Elysees. The day was ended at Ruth and Romains apartment in the 19th arrondissement. A great day out!

Love, especially to you mamma! Come back soon!
Frida

Easter in Oyes

We are relaxing in Oyes after yet another hectic period in Reet, nothing special just the usual everyday hectic, Michel abroad, Frida fighting the traffic jams and the kids busy with their school and numerous sporting activities, and the nice parties from time to time to completely waste us :)
The route was good for my mother and me, because we left early at two, just before the rest of Belgium went on the road, Michel had one more hour of traffic jam on his way with the kids, but all in all nothing to worry about.
Arrived in our little house a feast awaited us. My sister Solrun was here with her family and dinner was very tasty, they had been here since Wednesday evening.
Solrun and Lars left this morning.
Today was Easter so we did the yearly castle egg hunt at Chateau de Reveillon, this year Mike and Glenis joined us with their girls.
Yesterday the gardener was here, to talk about some upco,ming works related to the swimming pool installation. He already took out all the bamboo, which was a big job. I'll post pictures later.

Louis, Emil, Madeleine, Bergur, Simun

Family

Dinner

Bergur with his company car

Winter holidays

were well spent in Oyes.
 and the kids stayed for 5 days, Michel came on Friday accompanied by Julien.
We chilled out in front of the fire place. Lili and Glenis came over for Valentines dinner. Well soup only.
We went to our favorite Japanese restaurant in Epernay, had a day out in Reims, talked about garden and swimming pool, played with the neighbors' Saint Bernhard puppy...
Will make sure I take some nice pictures next time.
Which will probably be at Easter when omma is joining us :)
so long

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 :)