St Nicholas

St Nicholas....more parties and presents. We watched a magician who kept 'making' pigeons. I had a batman face and my very first tattooooooo. I sat on St Nicholas' lap and was very shy but still said thank you for my present of mechanico.
I am 1m18 tall and about 23.5 kg...I am one of the tallest in my class at school. I come back from school most days with a small cut somewhere on my leg, arm, face...I love to run around and have loads of energy. I am a big eater and love bread. I know my routine to go to sleep. No teeth are loose yet. I love to hear stories every night. I draw pictures most days at the guarderie and Max copied me...we draw batman, boats, laser guns, rainbows, pirates, sun, trees, houses....many different things.

winter holiday - Algarve

We went to the Algarve and had lots of fun...visiting the towns on the coast, playing with the sand and in the sea. I went driving a racing car (as well as papá). We looked at many appartments to see if to buy one (not yet...). Vovô and vovó came to visit us too...we visited Algarve old city centre and said goodbye to mamã who left earlier for work...I went back to the racing cars :-)

My birthday - I am 5 years old

Yes, yes, yes...it's time for presents and cakes and games and cards and phone calls...wow I am spoilt. I am now a big 5 years old. Mamã and papá bought me a football kickers/pool/hockey/tabel tennis game...I play nearly every day after school the football kickers. I can twist my wrist faster and faster every day and getting stronger and stronger...Mamã is learning with me and was worse than me to start with. For my party we played at an indoor adventure place with cake and crepes. In the morning, mamã and I made 50 small cakes for my school classroom - I ate at least 4 at school. In the evening we had a pirate cake too.
Here I am with Max and Christoph and then Anael

Halloween & Bon Fire Night

It was really cool....we went by boat across to Grandma and Ti'pah's house for dressing up and fire works :-)
Auntie Vicky, Uncle Keith and Lauren came to visit too. Look how scarey Lauren and I are -ohwhwhwhwhw (yes I am learning the letters and numbers at school but this is suppose to be a sound - I am good with the numbers and can count up to 60 and more....). We also went to see FIRE WORKS (Mamã's favourite thing and I like them too....) We also saw a big fire that was very nice and warm. I went on the 'dodgers' (bumping cars) with Papá and Lauren with her Papá. I also went 'fishing' for the ducks. It was loads of fun :-)

My castle room

You have seen my castle bed...now I have stories on my wall and also added a guard on my door under my name....I am learning the letters in all 3 languages. I am much better at my numebrs now...I can add up and I can count to 20, 30, 40. I emjoyed the Christmas calendar where I could see all the numbers to 24. I am better at numbers than with the letters. Sometimes I like to play a game of letter and word where we draw the word...like A for apple and draw an apple or first draw something and then I say the word and therefore letter.
Here is also a sunny picture in October in the park in Vilvoorde close to Drei Fontainen restaurant...yes we sat outside on the terrace in the sun.

Sports

I love to play football....here I am in our graden poised for the camera....Yes, I am left footed (and I write with my left hand). I play at 10.00 every Saturday with the St Pauls British Primary Football Club in Vossem for the outdoor season and Morsel for the indoor season. Papá is a coach - there are 4 coaches and about 20 children 4-5 years old. I have scored a few goals. I like the pirate game where we have to kick the balls onto the island where the coaches are...it's funny.
After football at 11.45 I go swimming...I have started to enjoy it again and am swimming without a float and starting proper arm strokes. We also practice walking on the bottom of the pool. After we have our lunch at our favourite restaurant and I draw, colour or watch "Archos" (kind of DVD player).

School First Day

Grandma and Ti'pah with Papá took me to my first day at School - I am now in the Troisiéme Maternele Classe (3rd Maternele Class) and my teachers are called Genevieve and Marielle.
Mamã came to the parents evening and saw all the following: The classroom is great - it is like a amphitheatre and then has 4 corners with different activities - one is a kitchen, another playarea of balls. We go into the cloakroom to hang our coats, put our rucksacks and change our shoes (when it is snowing). We have also an area upstairs with tables and chairs and we can look down over the amphitheatre. We even have a computer :-) and do exercises on the computer. Every Monday we go to the gym and we also spend an hour playing with our friends from the Primaire Classe (1st year - 6 years old). We also are told Monday an activity to complete by Friday and I am quite good on doing it without the end of week reminder.

Princess and Wedding

Here we are all very smart waiting from the Princess in her white dress. Wow...I followed her around all evening and night. Church wedding started 7 pm and I ate and partied until the bus home to our hotel in Madrid, Spain, at 3 am in the morning....I am in most wedding photos of the happy couple :-) I smiled all the time and was very well behaved. I had loads of fun...thank you Princess Tania and Rui for inviting me.

I am a Knight !

Grandma and Ti'pah came to vist end August.
I took them to show my profession...Knight of the Hardman Rodrigues Heraldry.
We first had to drive in the car vs use my motorbike as there were 5 people to take. The sun was very hot and there were loads of comrades and villagers and places to eat and things to see...
We watched jousting, fighting, a puppet show, I tried a few old games including jousting myself.
I also have a magnet puzzle world map now hanging on my castle bedroom wall - I know we live where the flag is and where portugal and england are, where Grandma and Ti'pah live and vovô and vovó live.

The photo of me on my motorbike is in front of my favourite restaurant...lunch after swimming on the Saturday...chicken, apple sauce, salad, chips and ice cream....in Stokkel.

Efteling Amusement Park

No swimming....so off we went to Efteling in Holland....old children's stories amusement park and with loads of new fun rides. I enjoyed the chair carousel, spinning tea cups and water rafting - we all got wet especially me and papá - we walked off the ride trying to widen our legs to stop our jeans sticking to our legs....we laughed and laughed. I even went on a toboggan with papá - i did not cry from fear but I could not see too much outside. I ate a very very large ice cream and got to keep the 'Efteling head' cup and I got a jedi sword...."Power be with you" (and reminds me of the video where I was one of the 'children' of Yoda in Star Wars film. We stayed until the place closed at 12.00 pm and I told mamã and papá I would fall asleep immediately when I got in the car....15 seconds later I was asleep :-)

Back from Porto

Mamã and papá left Sunday 4 pm after the local party in "Amial" Vale Cambra with the family....we had big lunch in the back of Bivó's house. Here I am eating home made ice cream cake from vovó. Do you like my short, teenager haircut?
Mamã and papá stayed in Burgos on the way home by car. After a week vovô took me home by plane. I bought and brought a present for mamã and papá - 2 flowers for mamã and a tie for papá. Whenever I ask for presents from mamã and papá, I remind them I brought them presents :-)
With vovô we visited Gert, Maira and new arrival Tobias. We went to the 'beach party' along the canal in Brussels and I disco danced while the adults had a drink and then I went 'bungy jmping' for the first time - yeeeepeeee, so much fun and exhausting.

Rodrigo's Christening and Beach

Sun and sun....some wind....but loads of fun even in the cold Porto sea. I built sand castles and went walking in the rocks and played loads with my cousin Rodrigo. I even got my first Porto football clothes and I think I look very cool. I prefer the clothes to watching a full game at the stadium. I enjoyed Rodrigo's christening and thought it was very funny when he got water on his head....he did not cry and was very well behaved.
Mamã, papá and I went to Viagem Medieval de Feira (Medieval Voyage) and we had loads of fun....I got a knight's cross painted on my face, i played many different medieval games, we climbed upto the castle, we ate medieval cooked pork, we went for a walk in the magic woods and joined the fairies and wizard.

Drive to Porto

We went by car to Porto for holidays....1200 km each way. I joined mamã and papá in the car to Porto and they drove back alone leaving me at the local party in Vale Cambra for another exciting one week's holiday. I am a very good passenger in the car...I played, talked and played "I spy with my little eye something beginning with white, blue, green, red....inside and outside the car" - we had lots of fun and laughter playing this game. Papá did most of the driving...he preferred to drive at his pace versus mamã :-) We stopped in Versailles but there were so many people we could not visit the Chateau. In Niot we stopped to see the castle and try to look for dinner restaurant but it was sooooooo quiet that we could not find a place open so we drove onto Saintes where we would sleep....we found a good meat restaurant. We went for a beautiful long walk around 9pm in Saintes through the old and new city visiting the roman artefacts...a lovely way to wind down after the long drive. The next day we drove via Basque country and to Chavres on Portuguese side for dinner in the fort castle....great yummy meal. We walked around again at night to see another castle and arrived in Porto around 11pm....kisses to all and then to sleeeeeeeeeep in a proper bed (Tia's old bedroom). Wow.

Summer 2010

In June and July....wow it was very warm....I enjoyed ALL three swimming pools in our garden from the small pink fish from our holidays in Greece last year...to my pirate ship (here playing with Florian) and our luxurious lie-back swimming pool. I love to play although I am not ready to jump into big deep swimming pools without some type of float to help. Anyway enjoy these warm summery pictures.

I went to England to stay with Grandma and Ti'pah for a week when mamã went to America. Mamã and papá went on the motorbike and watched the World Cup Final in centre of Brussels - Spain vs Germany - Spain won....:-)

Last day in the second Maternelle and time to say goodbye to my teacher Geraldine who has been my teacher for my first 2 years. Here I am in the classroom and you can see some of our activities behind my head. Summer will now begin....and I am off to meet Grandma and Ti'pah with mamã and papá in Calais on Saturday. I had two days of 'stage' and then we drove to Calais. We took Grandma and Ti'pah out for lunch by the fort of Calais...I saw fresh mussels and other fish coming out of the boat and being sold. We had a yummy lunch with very decorative plates. Then I was ready to go and excited to go on the big boat with Grandma and Ti'pah to England for 10 days. I got a new green car on the boat. Mamã went to USA and had to run across New York airport to get home on a different flight to spend the weekend with Papá.
I saw Lauren at Grandma and Ti'pah's house and had loads of fun playing different games and going to new swings/slides at the park near the house. Grandma took me back to Brussels by the train...she was very kind. I was so excited to see my mamã when we arrived :-).

My castle bed

I have a new special bed and it is my castle...I am very happy with my new home - I sleep on top and I play underneath. I peer through the 'walls' for my bedtime stories and I can close my fortress walls to keep other people out :-)

I am also learning to write letters and words. I copy but I can already count and write 0-9 without any help (taught by my grandma). Here I am writing "dog, cat, leaf, water" with my mamã while papá is on an aeroplane to Dammam...