Monday, July 26, 2010

More Cheesy Felix

Felix loves to dance. So when he started dancing last Thursday, we grabbed the camera to show you his moves. Of course, when the boy saw the camera, there was no more dancing. Just looking at the camera and saying, "cheeeese!"

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Adelaide Miyoko Mailloux


We have a new niece and cousin!!! Aunty Panda & Aunty Rox gave birth to Adelaide Miyoko Mailloux today, July 22, 2010! 7 pounds 4 ounces!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Watering the Garden

The weather has been really warm and dry for the last few days, which of course means we need to really take care of those plants! The kids love helping to water the garden.
Felix thinks the grass, especially, is in need of some extra water.

Evie is a little better at making sure the other plants get water, too.

Felix has the littlest little watering can, which means it needs to be refilled quite often!

Anxiously awaiting another full can,

She takes her job very seriously.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sunday Family Day

Aunty pushing Evie at the playground.

Felix & Papa

Peek-a-boo!

Climbing on the playground.

We all walked to the city center to see Mama at work.

Evie's riding on Rachel's vouwfiets (foldable bike).

Love that girl!

Dinner at Shabu Shabu - all-you-can eat sushi.

Here's that cheese smile again.

Felix trying out chopsticks, and doing pretty well!

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Cheeeese Smile

Felix has now mastered the art of the cheese smile. It started last week when he picked up Evie's camera and pretended to take pictures while saying, "cheeeeeeeeeeeese." Now, when we pick the camera he says cheese. He's turning into quite the little ham. Taking after his sister?

Evie and Felix sharing a chair at breakfast.

He's also big enough now to eat his banana "like a monkey."

Cheeeeeese!

Evie and Felix sharing a seat outside.

And some more cheese moments:


Friday, July 16, 2010

Evie the Butterfly

We dropped Evie off at the creche and picked up a beautiful butterfly!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Ballorig

Normally Evie has gymnastics on Thursdays. Being school vacation, however, there is none this week. So this morning Liz took Evie, Felix, and Finn to Ballorig, an indoor play paradise for kids one to twelve years. Think McDonalds Play Land but then 100 times bigger. We got there shortly after they opened, which meant that there were very few other children to start with. Felix was even able to go explore the big kid area (with Liz!). Evie and Finn were off in no time exploring and climbing and jumping and running. It was awesome. Liz had fun being a kid again, too, with Felix! Hence, there are more pictures of Felix than anyone else. By the time we left it was starting to get really busy and we were getting hungry. We had our lunch in the tram on the way home.
Finn & Evie in the tram to Ballorig.

Finn

Evie

Felix

He was climbing up everywhere!

And of course he got to enjoy another favorite pastime of his - pushing buttons.

This was his face after another kid jumped into the ball bath.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

The Kids' Vacation

In the days leading up to our Brussels vacation, we also got the clear impression that kids were ready for a little vacation from us. Evie was literally counting down the nights-sleep until she would go to Opa & Oma's house. They loved being there where they got to go to the playground, the petting zoo, and play in the pool. Oma Oma was there too. Evie is already asking when she can go back.






Brussels - Day 4

On our last day in Brussels we decided to skip the hotel breakfast. We checked out and searched for a brunch of sorts for our last vacation meal. It was hot, and we had our luggage with us, we hadn't had any coffee or food, and just about every place only offered up a breakfast of bread and coffee. We were getting kind of irritated until we found a nice cafe in the Passage where we had a fabulous breakfast - exactly what we wanted!
We had to take some pictures of the bikes we rode - and since we had Waldo with us again, why not put him in the picture!



At the train station we again had some fun with the cardboard Waldo.


As to be expected, we had a great time on our vacation to Brussels. The biggest lesson we learned, however, is that we both need to work on our French! Technically Brussels is supposed to be bilingual - French and Dutch. In reality, it's just French. It makes it really confusing because we don't know what to speak. We ended up having conversations partly in French, Dutch, and English. We found this postcard that felt very familiar.

Brussels - Day 3

We started our day by trying out the bicycles Brussels had to offer. They are positioned all over the city and for a small fee you can take one and deposit it elsewhere. They worked really well and it was a great change of scenery. Unfortunately the first leg we took was almost completely uphill and it was already hot by the time we left the hotel, but it was still enjoyable.
We took a glass elevator down from the place where our bikes were to the street of the Jewish Museum of Belgium.

Doesn't he look great?

A very typical looking intersection in Brussels.

Where's Homeless Waldo?

Before lunch we went to the Museum of Costume and Lace. They had a fabulously beautiful collection of clothes from the sixties. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed. We also went to the Museum of Belgium Brewery. Pictures were allowed, but there wasn't much to photograph.

After lunch we grabbed the bikes again and went to the Natural History Museum. We were disappointed to find out that it wasn't air conditioned as we had hoped.
Notice the old dinosaur in the foreground and the old people in the background.

One of these things is not like the other.