L'été 2026 - le retour en France

Voilà, bientôt on entame la dernière semaine de nos grandes vacances de cinq semaines ! Comme déjà plusieurs années nous retournons au côté Atlantique si apprécié par toute la famille (même l'année de 16 ans ?) . Lors de notre séjour, nous avons vandrouillés depuis la Bretagne jusqu'au Biarriz... et avons trouvé des perles rares, où nous sommes revenus cette année encore. 2 On trouve ici tous ce qu'on aime : la mer, les villages, le temps doux mais pas trop chaud, les gens authentiques, la beauté de la nature dans toutes ses formes.. 4 Peut-être pour moi, la plus importante, c'est la spontanéité de rhytme.. Ce matin, nous avons laissé les grandes faire leurs matinées et sommes partis avec le bébé faire un tour de vélo dans la ville. Que c'est paisible ! Les marais salantes, villages avec leurs petites maisonnettes en pierre blanche, le marche... Il y a un art de vivre qu'on trouve partout dans les petits villages... on prend le temps d'attendre le pain à la boulangerie, on cherche les légumineuses au marche, la poisson chez le Poissonnerie.. Oui, c'est très utile pour moi, une fille de campagne. que ce mode de vie existe toujours. Je ralentis et cela me fait du bien. Comment puisse-je aligner notre quotidien pour aligner à la tempo à moi ainsi que celui de la famille et les exigences du travail ? La vie à Bruxelles est frénétique. Si frénétique que cela nous a conduit tous à une epuisement.. J'essaie d'aborder l'idée de changement. Il vise à la retraite.. Comment faire, je pose la question essentielle en haut ?

Slowing down

"There is this silence" observes Elise. We are heading uphill the small ski slope of my village with my 15 and 12 year olds. This silence and slow tempo of living. Two words to describe my dear home town here in the middle of rural Finland. My nostalgie is almost too sweet: here, I had time to drink home-made lingonberry juice at the terrace to mark the first sunny spring day, watch hours of winter olympics with my dad as the temperatures were below -20 C and the afternoons seemed endless. Time still seems to slow down as I am enjoying Christmas and New year here with my own family with my ever-youthful parents. Such a welcomed contrast to our frenetic daily life at home.

L'enfer où Paradis?

Last full week of our long beautiful summer in France. Time has passed as sand drifting through my fingers, much too quickly. I try to hold on to the keep-sake moments in time: walks with Eliot on the beach trails in Pornic, Croisic and Noirmoutiers, shared meals with family inspired by the French cuisine, late afternoons in Croisic beach witnessing the joy of Eliot discovering the vast space, new textures, smells and salty tastes. He has been thrilled! As I write the post it is his 14 months birthday. Over the summer he has grown from a baby to a tiny (and quick!) little toddler. With his cute sideway walking, giggling, and communicating clearly his likes and dislikes he has captured the whole family under his charm😍 This summer will stay in my mind also through the shared moments with friends (new and old). Without exception, in every place we have encountered curiosity and kindness confirming the French can be indeed very warm and helpful people ready to compliment the children, consolate an unhappy one or simply smile with encouragement. I have enjoyed to witness the closeness of families of often three generations at the farmers markets carefully selecting the prime ingredients and later enjoying the lunches together around the long garden tables. I have enjoyed observing the "same" families in Sunday messe, dressed in their best, trying to keep the children calm during the ceremony. It has been comforting to see the struggles all of us parents carry in our efforts to raise our respective tribus to grow up civilised ones. What a relentless and definitely not always gratifying quest! Yesterday I asked what my children will remember most of this summer. Each of them mentioned the historical theme park Puy de Fou we visited the previous day. "Everybody" had been recommending the place and indeed, it was probably the most impressive theme park we have so far been. The list went on with fishing, games on the beach, catamaran camps and new friends. As my last long holiday before returning to work, we wanted to offer "the best summer" we could for our family. To keep my records positive, I hesitate to write about the inevitable travel fatigue, the disputes over ipads and the frustrations for various important and less important reasons. After two months of travelling, I am not sure we feel much more charged with energy for the fall either and the couple times can be counted with one hand fingers. Looking forward to find home , own bed and the good old routines!

Gratitude in my heart

It is difficult to believe a year has passed since I strolled the narrow streets of this idyllic French village with my new born. At the time, we were living truly tough moments with my little baby boy. At hardly 4-weeks we were already travelling, despite the health problems we both had. The nights were at the time long and days hazy with the fatigue. However the old town had something healing over us and offered a much-needed nurturing and peacefulness in to my heart. I recall sitting in the bench opposite to the pharmacy as my husband was relentlessly searching for yet another help for the white nights (probably the french equivalent to colic-relief!). The empatic looks of the elderly as they witnessed us in our vulnerability. I still feel my heart melting going back to those memories. I think this place will always stay special for us. The first destination for my amazingly cute little boy, already 13 months now! The baby year went quicker than ever before. I feel ever-grateful for having had the opportunity to share those days in full presence for my baby and my family. The long soothing walks to Stockel as my baby finally fell asleep. It was a tough year too. Many challenges to manage in the business of the daily routines of an XXL family. I am grateful for my husband's courage, perseverance and patience with it all. I am grateful for the siblings smiles and energy and helping littles hands in everything. I am grateful for having the clarity now on the next steps to take, balancing between the family, work and my own interest. I thought I had a dream, and during the year, after reflecting on the idea from all sides, concluded it was not my dream or the time was not yet right for that dream. I have achieved a role, a career to follow now, which is a great one, and will help to provide for our family. I hope it will offer the best we have in terms of our resources: whether in presence or financially. But mostly, I am grateful for the guidance I now receive in my path, making choices eminate from my heart and feeling great gratitude for all we have.

My baby boy turns 10 years !

Our wonderful first week of holidays was culminating yesterday to Elias's birthdays - full 10 years!! We all remember so well his 5th birthday in Sarzeau, our first summer to discover the Atlantique coast (where we have since returned every summer!). We had carefully planned the day well in advance. Thoughtfully selected gifts (kite, lego-set, underwater camera) brought from home, cake prepared the previous day (gâteau au yaourt au chocolat avec des m&m) and a superb programme planned for the day. We enjoyed the thrills of singing, enjoying the croissants and cake, and opening the gifts. He was so very happy about everything! The morning became a bit busy as the kids were registered for their very first regatta. What a great experience for them and sense of achievement to win their medals, bags of candy and receive applauds in the sun! At Elias's wish we had reserved the very first crêperie outing to celebrate his big day and we enjoyed delicious lunch in a small crêperie close to the château in the old town. The afternoon we spent at the "Grand plage" of a near-by village and Elias got to try his new kite. What a power in such a small kite as it almost blew him away! I believe his plan is to practice for kite surfing😊 In the evening we headed to the "marche nocturne" in the harbour. Elias was so pleased. He wanted to walk next to me, kept hugging me and repeating how perfect day it had been. My amazing baby boy. We had eyed an open air cinema for the late evening, but as it started to rain we promised to move it indoors home cinema party. And so we did, at 10pm still throwing a pyjama party with chips, kids bubbles, cake and watching together an episode of Survivals 🥰. We were all so tired and happy after such a day full of activities! A perfect birthday for a perfect little dear boy of ours ! All of us including baby Eliot slept deeply the night despite the thunder storm raging around us! Feeling very blessed having these wonderful little beings with us. Thank you.

Back to beautiful France

The first week of our 7 -week long summet holidays is behind! We are back to beautiful Pornic, our favorite place in France. The trip was long and the holiday house had reserved some unpleasent surprises (momified pizza in the oven, insects, d-u-s-t, and no wifi), but once these were sorted out with the landlord we dove surprisingly quickly to our holiday mode à la française! For children, this means long afternoons at the beach, where the big ones can walk by themselves, catamaran stages with new friends and evening walks in the old-town prized with a gaufre à la sucre or an ice-cream at the Fraiserie. For us, it means long walks to in the old town, popping-in to art galleries, visiting markets and attending the Sunday messe. For us, the city has all we can wish for: family friendly, safety, beautiful beach and walking trails, the castle and its old church, the markets..and the friendly people. The first night our friendly neighbour came to help us with unloading the car and tonight we were invited for "an apero" at his place. Every mornibg he has popped in to check if all is ok, bring a paper or little bouquet of flowers. This elderly man truly warms our heart by his interest to us the "foreigners" and brings a welcome balance to the dynamics of the kids when the tensions rise. Thank you Jean, thank you beautiful idyylic Pornic for welcoming us back. Perhaps we will find here our holiday haven we are secretly dreaming of.

My baby turns 15!

I still have difficulties in realizing (or accepting?)that my baby girl is 15! We have just cleared the house from a bunch of beautiful, rosy and noisy (!) teen-age girls. In they came with their wonderful girl energy, setting the table full of goodies, hanging the pink guirland and 15 balloons for perfect photoshoots and indulging with the piece-of-art cake my daughter had baked her-self. We had worked on the background with my hussy husband for the success of her afternoon by doing the carefully selected shoppings, clearing the livingroom and organizing activities for the little siblings. We were both impressed by the joy and spontaneity of this international group of young women. The few Finnish girls invited seemed to be as well 😁 Looking at my girl with her friends I realized she is really more european than finnish or estonian which is reflected by her group: her friends were mostly French-speaking, a collection of intelligent and fun persons from the various school classes, swimming team and so forth. It was so wonderful to see her happy surrounded by her friends! The celebration started already last WE when I took her to a surprise pampering trip to Helsinki. We stayed at her god-mother who arranged everything a girl can hope for: from shopping to indoor skydiving and home made chocolate mousse cake! Admittedly, turning 15 festivities were spectacular and set the standards high for turning 18..Happy birthday our love!

Downhill with the little lost croackroch

I seriously should keep my "happiness highs" to myself, as every time I verbalise them it seems I am paying heavily.. 12-hours into my husband having departed for a 4-day business trip abroad the following events started to unfold: a crockrauch-like insect found in the staircase creating havoc among the sensitives (including especially myself), a clogged toilet, the babysitter whom I had interviewed carefully weeks ahead cancelled 1 h prior starting her 4day pest, ladybird invasion in the kids bedroom (what's with the insects??) and the cherry on the cake as I was almost breathing normally while showering my little ones at 8 pm..head lices (really)..!! As a result, the next 3 hours or so I was running between stairs pouring or rinsing one of the four heads (my sons were saved, but not myself) and breastfeeding the baby who of course woke up as something clearly interesting was taking place. Followed by the change of bedding of the four beds, vacuuming the ladybirds, unclogging the toilet, spraying vinagre on humid areas in the house and sterilising hair items, I started the washing marathon of bed sheets, coats, doudous.. Clearly, just "hanging out" by myself with our 5 kids including a baby with the "normal" school week routines of picnic preps, schoolbus runs, activities and doctor appointments and what not would have been utterly deadly boring. Bring it on for the spring NY business trip, mama can take it 😂

The ordinary extraordinary weekend

Just when you start questioning the concept of limitless energy, one single weekend can make a transformation. I have been poured with love and inspiration unexpected in the past 48h that I feel almost overwhelmed..My teenager unconsciously caressing my hair in the morning while waiting for the school bus, my 9-year old son waking at the dawn to prepare the family a Sunday breakfast with a special attention to Mom's seating with all my favorite trimmings, my number 2 hugging me spontaneusly of happiness as I found her lost school book or the hairdresser quoting my 6-year old for her "Favorite Princess" being Mom.. Even without the white nights, these moments bring tears to my eyes and fill my heart with joy and love beyond words. They are my fuel. Furthermore, our community, which we have perceived for so.. uninclusive, finally opened its arms.. This weekend we joined our neigbours for helping at the community garden, to plant fruit trees, bake bread, donate clothes..and I realise the shift away from the "expectant receiver" (too harsh expression but difficult to find a better one) to an "actor" makes all the dramatic difference. And without the expectation - the universe pours all back 10-fold.. I feel blessed and grateful for us being part.

September Craze

So the one concrete difference in managing life with five kids is undeniable: I have less time. Less time translates in no time for private dinners with my husband, meeting friends, starting a jogging routine not to even dream about reading or having the mind space for creative writing! This is even more evident in this particular month of September which represents new beginnings in so many forms: 1st grade primary school for nb 4, 1st secondary for nb 2, B-tests for number 1, organisation of the baptism for nb 5. Not to mention the re-launch of activities, playdates and birthdays following the long summer break. How do we manage then with my husband? New distribution of tasks. We had four parents meetings to attend during the week of preparing for the bapteme - for the first time in 12 years I delegated this honoir to my husband (and he did well!). I took on the visits to the pediatre, ONE, baby massages, coordination with support teachers, supervising homework and organising the bapteme:accomodation, menus, contacts with the church, gifts, clothes etc. And caring for the little man who is (rightly) hungry 10 times per day. Regardless of the (mind me bragging) well-established planning for the start of the school year I have been out of breath in most days without even -as mentioned earlier- glanzing over my running shoes. On the other hand, I have got to spend wonderful nights and early mornings getting to know this new wonderful person who chose to join our family. His smile enlightens all of us and brings instant joy to our days. Fortunately the children are oblivious to the above craziness of parents and are seemingly happy to find their friends, hobbies and school routines. The favorite moment of my day is to have all my kids around the table for their gouter, to hear their enthousiasm over their day reporting of any incidents during the bus trip, mishaps of friends (or teachers!) or illnesses.. If I could bottle these little exclusive moments! The baby is often present feeding during these moments, however my mind, presence and attention is with my other kids. With these early morning thoughts I leave September behind on to welcome smooth tender October 🥰

In the baby bubble

We have the first month at home with our adorable new baby boy. Sweet days and long nights❤️ How could I have forgotten the joys of congested breasts, nightly colics, but also the magic moments of admiring my new baby!!The siblings have been completely mesmerised by this little bundle and volunteering to help with the nappies change, bathing or holding him in their arms. It is heartwarming to see the proudness of my number 4 in her new role of big sister. All of them are kissing him on passing or running to get the tute on the slightest demand of the baby. My husband is assuring the functioning of the family: managing the kids drives, groceries and what not. I recognize it is tough on him, and I am greatly appreciative for his efforts. To keep him operational, I take care of the busy night shift with frequent wakes with the baby. In consequence, admittedly my biggest achievements in most days reduce to taking my shower,going for a walk, preparing lunch and snacks for the kids. And caring for the baby and napping ! I have even put away my task list for the moment. With the fifth baby I am finally gentler towards myself than in the previous post-partum periods. Prioritising rest to be fit for the family has become my guiding principle. I feel ever grateful to have yet again the opportunity to experience the uncomparable magic of motherhood 😍

Zeeland in May celebrations

Wonderful week in Zeeland😍 Only 1.5h drive and we were welcomed with sun, beaches and a cute holiday house in a quaint neighbourhood. Our previous visit to the area dated a while ago and I had not realized how child friendly the Dutch can be. Free play grounds or Provincial domaines with great facilities; restaurants had kid menus, boxes and activities to keep them busy while waiting. Every day we visited a new attraction: Mini Mundo, Tropical zoo, Marine museum..With my husband we enjoyed the visits to the capital Middebourgh, Vliessingen and beach resort Domburg all with plenty of pedestrian streets in the old center to stroll on. The kids were obviously thrilled and considered this one of the best holidays ever (auts, and only with 1/10 of our caribbean holiday budget😊 ) Today, on Mother's day, I was pampered with hand-made cards, love poems, drawings and hand-made berry pavlova cake..Mommy's heart is spilling over of gratitude ❤️

Easter à la Maltaise

I look at the beautiful azur-blue Mediterranian sea. My four mermaids are playing in the sand and dipping in the sea. Another relaxed afternoon at the beach near St. Thomas' Bay and our holiday appartment. It is simply too tempting not to enjoy the sun and sea, especially in these early days of spring. I feel the joy is twice as strong after the long rainy winter months just behind. Malta has taken us by a positive surprise. The sun, affordability and plethora of activities (for both parents and kids) for a full week. It took us a few days to dwelve into the Island's relaxed atmosphere. Well, by relaxed I mean when not behind the wheel. My husband has had a chance to practice "the other side" of the brain while navigating in the left-side Easter traffic. After a few days we got hang of it, although feel still uncertain on where to look when crossing the street. People are reserved, but polite. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of our holidays has been the excursions. And we have covered a lot in a week! Kids' highlight was the village of Popeye which was originally built for the Disney musical of the same name starring Robin Williams. The village has since turned into a thematic parc for families with several shows that kept us enterteined the whole morning. The setting is really beautiful, as it built in the Bay between rocky falaises with amazing views. The close-by historical Mdina is a wortwhile visit, however be sure to check the wheather forecast as we were welcomed with a glacial wind accompanied with zaharienne sand storm! Rarely have we appreciated so much to find refuge in a restaurant with an open fire and indulging with the local desserts - simply a perfect afternoon pause. Among my own favorite was the day trip to the Cozo island. We took the car on the ferry and enjoyed the nature and calmness of the island contrasting nicely with the business of the main Island. Our final day in Malta will stay in our memories while admiring the near by lagoons and villages on a half-day cruise. My youngest ones were very brave and dipped again in the 17 degrees celcius sea! The winter coats are definitely thrown out now😁 The cherry on the cake - all flights took place and were on time..yey!

Paris with my Girl

Thank you my dear teen for the delightful and long-waited weekend in Paris! 6h45 on Saturday we started our marathon weekend and 23hoo on Sunday we returned. I am again amazed by how much one can experience in such a short period of time: shopping, high end vintage market (with entry fee?!), Dior show, musical comedie, not to forget the bitter taste of the most expensive capuccino (9 eur..). Thanks to my teen, I got to discover whole new face of Paris! It was so refreshing not to have to visit and line any of the usual suspect tourist attractions either. The program and itineries were planned for and partly by our girls, it was their weekend. What did I observe? How well dressed the Parisians (even with babies) still undeniably are. The mom breastfeeding her baby in the middle of the restaurant while eating raw minced meat (I am not sure it is harmful, but it did make me an impression). Preparations for the Olympic games in June were full on - restaurations of parcs and interestingly the tourist tax had increased 4-fold since the beginning of the year. Finally, the Parisians can, regardless of what is said, be nicesh (=treat tourists well) and fortunately we had a chance to interact with several of them. The biggest source of joy for me, however, was of course to spend some private time with my girl❤️ Thank you love.

Carnaval & Ski

This is a holiday to my liking for a change. I have my morning coffee and sunny snowy slopes in front. The kids already left for ski with my husband and my aquagym is waiting. No extensive planning, my daily program includes meditation, walks, aquagym, reading and journaling. It took a few days to get to the relaxed mode though. Those disturbing thoughts about work and the rest are persistant, but finally give in and fade away in the breathtaking beauty of the mountains. The kids enjoy as well. They are so proud of their ski achievements, draw their ski itineries, areas needing of improvement, and funny stories heard in the ski cabins. Perhaps my ado is the least enthousiast about her class with much younger kids and I do understand her. Fortunately our good friends are here and the big girls were treated with a late movie night. Last night makes my heart warm, a traditional raclette evening at our friends appartement to celebrate the Valentine's day, new jobs, babies, friendship..I had forgotten how resourcing those discussions and sharings are for us bringing meaningfulness and joy. Thank you dear friends, we are grateful to have you❤️ p.s almost already forgotten that our car broke down after 200 km on our way here and is safe back home in a garage..no journey without an adventure for us!

Arctic New Year

Wonderful beginning, horrid ending. The only unelegant way to describe this year's adventure to the North. We often get admirable nods from our surroundings when describing our traditional journey up North: two flights to Estonia, few days stay visiting the family, early departure to catch a 2h ferry ride over to Helsinki, short tram ride to the central train station followed by a 5,5h/6h train ride up North. This is one-way journey. And then there is the return. With four young kids it is an exhausting trip when following the plan, and this year we had the luck hiding taking our return trip to a whole new level. I conclude, today, every journey - short or long - involving air/train transport may become an ordeal. But not to jump events, I share the events as they unfolded in front of us. To stay within budget (or "to create family traditions at home" as presented to the kids), we had opted to stay home for Christmas and go greet out families up North only for the New Year. We flew to Tallinn via Riga and arrived to beautiful white Tallinn on time. Our appartment downtown was spacious and warm. As if ordered for children, it had snowed just a few days earlier. The kids got to enjoy sleigh rides with the grand-parents and us an adult-only dinner. Few days flew by quickly and it was time to say good buy to Estonia and take the ferry over to Helsinki followed by the longuish train journey up to the North. I had looked up the wheather forecast for our stay in Finland, but prayed it was only a forecast: we were going to experience a record cold wheather! After the springy +10 degrees celsius back home, we thought the first day felt already extreme as the temperature decended to - 15 C. I reminded wearing layers is of essence in these conditions. Fortunately, we jumped on the opportunity to ski and truly enjoyed the magic scenery of icy lake and snow covered forest. I had forgotten how beautiful the sun set here was - at 14h30 ! We whole heartidly enjoyed the loving welcome of the grand-parents. In the next days, records were beaten: -25 C, -32,5 C and on our day of departure --34,5 C. So what do you do to keep kids active indoors in those temperatures? We visited the new communal swimming pool, played board games, read, and watched cartoons. A 20-minute brisk walk to the lake ended in tears however, as even with "mom's layers" one cannot really protect from that extreme coldness. I am writing this entry on a plane in Oslo heading to Frankfurt with three unplanned hotel/air bnb/hotel nights behind. It is Saturday - we were supposed to be back home on Thursday evening. We had to change our train from the North (1st extra night in Helsinki), our first flight was postponed to Friday (2nd night in Helsinki, in a different place), and the connecting flight from Oslo was cancelled on Friday (3rd night in an airport hotel in Oslo). Oh, and did I tell, we have all been sick with the noro-virus during the return journey? Meditating on "landing home safe" has become part of my recent morning yoga routines. Perhaps we will arrive home by Monday? Did somebody dare say it is not about reaching the destination, but the journey?

The epic rentrée 2023

Evening of a very very very long day. Why does the start of the school year have to be so maniac? Is it like this everywhere or just here? I consider myself a seasoned organiser and my signature strengths shine of anticipating everything as much as I can before the summer break. Yet, the past week has been completely ridicilous and parent undermining race of preparations, reviewing of material lists, ordering books, trips to the bookshop of missing items and an embarassing number of A*orders. Add to this the arcaec system some organisations still have in place to register kids to after-school activities, such as the community swimming pool - where I queued along with other brave fellow parents in about 40 degrees celsius for 2 sweaty hours to get my youngest for her class. EVERYthing in their process was manual: one (1) person was managing the registrations, payment cash only, update of attendance list manually by another 1 person (her only task), manual filling of papers. I forgot the paper ticket we had to take (manually) to keep order of arrivals. Blind me. No wonder I slept in this morning, the First day of school! Oh we made it to the school well on time (vanity mom would have just wanted to make the first impressions with her hair washed). It was a huge day for my youngest, who changed school and language section. She was so excited and brave. The teacher seemed nice and the new girl friends as well. 5 year olds are adorable. I hope she will find her place and happimess there. I felt a pinch in my heart thinking she will likely pass her baccalaureat with many of these little angels. My baby is out in the big world now! Her siblings were as excited to meet their friends and happy faces hopped into the car in the afternoon. The heatwave continues with +32 celsius and the best place to spend the afternoon after an intense morning was of course the pool..Ode to that! Bravo babies, bravo mama (a bit papa) for having succeeded another 1st Big day!

Summer 2023 - Bretagne

Our stay in Bretagne was a success. The holiday home was fully equipped with a big garden and games for the kids, a 5 min. walk from the beautiful long sandy beach, lined by a pedestrian and biking trail, water sports centre and the village. As we discovered, the village had quite an active cultural program and a hightlight of the week was an open air cinema with my big girls at the beach (the movie was called "The Cow" and we followed the walking journey of an algerian man and his cow Jacqueline from Marseille to Paris - no where else than in Bretagne 🤣). It was nice to walk home in the dark only led by the stars and moonlight (and a few mosquitos!). Another taste of Bretagne was the long-waited village party "Fest Noz" where we witnessed the locals' love for line dancing, apple cidre and galettes! (unfortunately my youngest really hated the whole concept and so we had to leave early and very civilised). What else shall I share from our two weeks in Bretagne? We tempted again some watersports and spent an afternoon practicing catamaran. This is more of the dream of my husband, but as we are all good sports we rented two boats with an instructor. The wheather was lovely, the guide very good and we were quite proud of ourselves as he assured us we could next time go out by ourselves. I would like to offer more of the seaside activities to my kids, perhaps a half-day camp next summer if they are still into it? My heart stayed in the pretty medieval villages Bretagne has plenty of: Rochefort-sur-Terre, Roche-Bernard, Pont -Aven, as well as bigger cities of Vannes and Lorient. Strolling in the cobble-stoned streets, visiting art galleries or artisanal workshops, the castles most of them had..a very nice outing for a day. I also recalled our mishabs of last summer and was sure to reserve the table ahead in the tiniest villages, where it gets very busy at lunch breaks. 6 weeks abroad are almost behind. We wanted to offer our kids a summer full of adventure and open their eyes to discover different parts of the world. I asked my kids what they recall from this summers adventures and the answers were quite unanimous: beaches and first hotel in the Dominican republic (it was fab), spending time with their aunty in Mexico and snorkelling in the many cenotes. From Bretagne - the 350m/ 40 height triolienne we did in the Nautical center of Eric Tabary (truly terryifying), galettes (of course) and the ultimates: learning fishing for my son and ... shopping in Lorient's Zara for my girls (sniif). Thank you courageous little travellers for your resilience, it was not always easy and I think we are all already looking forward to tucking into our own dear beds. Part of the beauty of travelling is to return home..

Summer 2023 - A day in Bretagne

There isn't a more perfect day for me than morning yoga at the terrace with my gymnast girl, a good brisk family walk along the littoral enjoying the seaside scenery, choosing the ideal beach house for us (with quite different architectural tastes) and discovering an oyster/moule seller by a tiny seaside harbour. At the house, we studied carefully with my eldest the Marmiton receipy and prepared a delicious lunch "Moules à la Marinieres" with some green salad, baguette and camembert for dessert. My husband appeared to have an ecstatic experience while enjoying his oysters with some white wine. "J'aime beaucoup!"declared my youngest. I could not agree more. Namaste.

Summer 2023 - Vallée de la Loire

It feels heart warming to be back in Europe. The memories were still very vivid from our amazing summer 2020 and 2022 tours along the Atlantic Coast and hence the whole family had a mutual wish to spend the last leg of our summer vacations in France. Following two days of maniac washing and re-packing we headed our way to beloved France. We had chosen quite randomly two houses in small coastal villages in Bretagne. To break the 750 km route we decided to stop in Vallée de la Loire and visit a few castles. The lesser known Ferbre Saint Aubin, the famous Chambord and - from recommendation of an elderly local lady while buying our morning croissants at the village boulangerie - the Cheverney castle. It is difficult to summon concisely the experience and emotions visiting the French castles and their grandiose gardens trigger. Whereas their beauty and architecture makes you awe, they unavoidably make one also wonder the never-ending egocentrism of their concepteurs - Francois I in the case of Chambord. We booked tickets to an impressive and entertaining horse show/act and admired the talet and acrobatic skills of the riders while learning a bit of French history. I thanked once again for the fluency of my kids French as they are able to enjoy the French culture to the fullest. A small confession, the Cheverney castle won my heart with the beautiful decor and furniture and charming Orangerie in the gardens. The family's (who lives in one of the wings) creativity and attention is visible everywhere. We even got to cross over an item in my imaginery "bucket list" and taste and buy a few bottles of the local white wine. (For the past 14 years I have happened to be every time visiting a cave either pregnant or breast-feeding!). We did experience an almost-crises over our lunch plans as we forgot for a moment we were indeed in France, where you have to follow The choreography if you wish to be fed conveniently. Still recovering from jetlag our appetite was not in synch with the French cuisine (restaurants clise by 2 pm) and so we actually had to settle to some baguette and cheese at the village park (kids were obviously super happy). By sunset we drove the last strech to the coast and arrived to our cute beach house and home-to-be for the week to come.