School events

Even though mum's french is poor we have some discussion and then we go to join the school events in the evening....this time it was quiz night and I had fun sitting with my friends...surrounded by girls my parents noted....and they sat and met some new parents....in fact it became the foreign table but came 3rd in the competition with not one national Belgium on the team - the quiz was varied on topics of music (yep including old french and Belgium groups), famous faces, maths, history, riddles...and we ate Thai food which was enjoyed more by the parents that the kids, certainly not me except the rice and stew that came at 9.30pm :-)

We also went to see ~The Brick~ exhibition...included The Scream, T-Rex (made of +80,000 pieces) 

Champagne, anyone?

We visited our relatives Papá's Tio, Tia with Vitor and Rafael in Reims. We picked mamá from the Thalys train just back from the US and drove straight for a lovely dinner. The next  day we went to visit Mercier champagne caves before driving home and stopping to visit the largest fort in Europe in Sedan.We arrived on the day of a bicycle/run competition which was fun to be surrounded by. Beautiful weekend.

Portugal carnival week

We went to Portugal for the school holiday to catch up with everyone..went to the cinema to see Lego film with Tio and Rodrigo, visited the family in Vale Cambra for dinner and slept the night before going to Óbidos and then being joined by Tia, Tio, R, R and then grandparents. We of course did some more works in the house like lights, unpacked and set-up the dining room etc...well Papá and the adults...I played Wii, football, made loads of noise etc :-). We dressed up, me as a pirate, and we joined the Carnival procession in Torres Vedras.

Molenheide

I could take a friend with me so Anael joined us for an afternoon of fun at Molenheide where we played mini-golf and then played in the kids fun park. The mini-golf was cool and designed as a mine and last few holes passed through the world of dinosaurs with the last hole No. 18 having a roaring T-Rex. We then played on rigging, pirate castle, football, inflatable climbing wall/slide, up and down a lift etc...On the way home we ate my favourite: popcorn...we made it last by eating every km for 74 km home :-)

Sport - Handball

and we are off with the weekend tournaments for handball. Here we are having just won today's Sunday tournament. I love handball....and luckily the rules are not all enforced so it's a fast and messy game :-) I am already shooting, play goalie, play defense and attack so trying everything. Ken is our coach and Patricia our organizer.

Brugges

Brugges - one of our favourite cities in Belgium which many other tourists agree with. We had a wonderful afternoon meeting Miguel and Felisa and the kids for yummy lunch and a walk to burn some of the calories. We also visited Jacobs ? Hospital Museum.

Ice scultures and View

To end the two weeks holiday, we visited the ice sculture in Brussels (and yes Brussels not Brugges) - it was comics, bob and bobette, hulk, captain america, thor, marsupilami, smurfs, tintin and captain haddock, asterix and obelix...and at the end was the icey cold slide which me and papá took. Afterwards we went up the skyliner lift and spinning viewpoint to see Brussels at night with a great view of the palace....saw the atomium in the distance and the grand place with it's light show, although I was more interested to read my bob et bobette comic book.

New Year - Welcome 2014 - Brussels

We spent New Year back in Belgium. We ate massive burger with chips, my favourite food, at the Comics Cafe in Sablon, then to see the lightshow in Grand Place, crepe with chocolate in a cafe' but even I was defeated from the big burger and then watched the fireworks at midnight. I was straight to sleep within 30 secs of getting back into the car. New Year's Day we went for a bicycle ride, for some reason I now need to walk up any small slight hill...After we had yummy lunch at Jenn and Philippe's with Florian and Audrey. Best wishes for 2014!

Happy Christmas - England

and yes here I am with my Tintin new hairstyle - well it lasted until the next day when I always have a wonderful slept hairdo all over the place. We spent Christmas with Grandma and Ti'pah. We did loads of things and had a great time, well fed as always and got loads of presents. We saw an excellent Pantomime of Jack and the Beanstalk with Paul Morris as Dame Trotter, superbly funny and I shouted at the top of my lungs, joining in. We met A. Vicky, U. Keith and Lauren at Disraeli's special Christmas decorated house at Hughenden, I saw Father Christmas' helper and with my mamã's hint talked of I need to use my ears to listen and not my mouth...We saw A.Vicky, U. Keith and Lauren again at Grandma's and Ti'pah's a week later with Sally, John and his dad - what a lovely time we had including making bouncy balls :-)
I watched Harry Potter 6 and 7 - lucky me - and went for walks to the playground, wave at the trains, shopping, cinema to see Frozen in 3D. We also went for a very soggy walk along the Thames in Henley. I got new boots, shoes, coat in the sales - well my parents bought them when they got more clothes for themselves :-)

St Nicholas

The morning welcome on 6th December - chocolate - do you like my old man's face expression?

We also had St Nicholas visiting the football ground where I practise Wednesday and play matches Sunday. We had a goodie bag and a new training tracksuit plus drinks and crisps as the usual after match celebration (or commiseration).

St Nicholas - at work

Happy St Nicholas to you all. I got a tiger painted face and my gift from St Nicholas was a real badminton set with proper rackets and a net for us to use in the garden. I am now ready for next year's good weather :-) I am also showing off my tattoo here - do I realise what it is of?

Birthday - my party :-)

And yes I had a party - of course I want the presents...not that my parents are pleased I say this. I did also enjoy driving around on the cars outside at Planetkids with my friends. Luckily it was not raining. I drove round and around and stopped to get some petrol and then carried on again. Mid point, we went inside for cake - chocolat one and not bad. We took a refreshment break and then back to playing, this time up and down on the play area inside :-) To end we gave Mr Men/Mrs Women books, sweets and balloons. I made sure we got some extra books and could keep the 'leftovers'. I now have more than 20 of these books :-) Thank you for coming and for the lovely gifts.

School Photo

Yes it's school photo time - and this year the men had to pose like this :-) My mamã and papá made sure I did not wear the same shirt two years in a row (well, technically it would have then been 3 years in a row).

London - the cool pictures

On the Saturday straight after karate, we went to train station and on Eurostar to London. What a wonderful 3 days trip. We went to Madame Tussaud, where I could do my best Michael Jackson impersonations and this time even in front of him, put my foot and hands next to famous people's foot and handprints, do the "Bolt" stand, sit next to Hermione from Harry Potter etc... etc...Even stood next to the Queen with mamã and next to Barack Obama with papá. After we met Grandma and Ti'pah, celebrated again with candles and cake before a dinner in local pub. The Sunday we went for a lovely walk along the Thames and up The Shard for the fantastic view over the city and beyond. Although I still remain frightened of heights taking the lift to 68th floor and then walking out and further up was not tooooo bad. I enjoyed the viewing binoculars more than looking through the actual glass. After we made our way across London via Covent Garden and saw a great entertainer in gold sitting on an invisible seat + an entertainer in british boxer shorts (only) with juggling acts. We met Uncle Jose, Chandni and Vivaan in St Pancras for lunch after a rather long walk around trying to find it but i worked it out from the multiple maps and looking at the shops to find out where we were :-) Then onto a train to go north to see the Making of Harry Potter - the highlight - I loved it. So much to see, learn, understand, read. It was cool for me and my parents. I even went broomstick flying and tried my hand at using a wand to cast spells. With a warm chocolate in our tummies enjoyed the bus, car and street outside before going to see the mechanical mechanisms for the dementors, griffith (?) etc... So cool. The Monday we walked along the front and had a mexican lunch back via convent garden and to Eurostar home.

My 8th Birthday

What a great 8th birthday. Jenn, Florian, Audrey and their Grandma came to celebrate with us on the Friday night. I had Star Wars birthday cake (deco only, my mamã would add) and home made cakes by me and mamã (with at least 5 power cuts for 40 small cakes made for school over a 4 hour period - aaahhhhh ! Although we got very efficient moving down to the fuse box).

Portugal

We spent the school holiday in Portugal visiting all the family, playing with Rodrigo and Renata, going for walks, visiting the Porto stadium and new museum (loved again the videos of football, my mamã and papá were happy to see the trophy they saw when Porto won the Champions League) and spending time in Obidós with vovô and vovó and more on the Sunday for a big lunch and then with Tia, Tio, Rodrigo and Renata for a few days including Halloween :-) We played football and went to the park and watched the sunset at the coast (while mamã went climbing the medieval walls :-)). We had a big seafood lunch at Peniche....yep not my favourite as polvo (octopus) still makes me sick. However, I made my way reluctantly through a very tastey fish (I was not going to show it was good and complained a bit but ate all I was given). We walked along the fort in Peniche and saw where the prison cells use to be. We had a great time at the local town Halloween party. I was very well dressed my my "Scream" outfit and was happy to walk around looking dazed and scarey. Mamã and papá enjoyed the babysitting and watched a film and went late night shopping from 10 to midnight. The house works continued and we could sit in our new kitchen. I slept in my room and throughout the week more and more things appeared and got put up or fixed with the helping hands of our big family. THANK YOU, OBRIGADO. I love our new house.