Thank you!

Today I got my first 40th birthday card from my beloved almost family and it brought me to tears.
So nice!

A social misfit?

Just back from school.
Maarten’s teacher wanted to discuss his school readiness.
I wasn’t worried because I know how well he can read or write letters, count to “million”, how creative he is and usually very well behaved, especially at school.
But there is something the teacher pointed out, something what’s not really new to me; his social and emotional development.
The CLB lady, who took the school readiness test last week, suggested checking him with the use of a brain scan.
We know our son is special but does he need to be "stamped"?
No, we are not going to follow her advice.
Not yet.

"Uncertainty and expectation are the joys of life." (William Congreve)

Since March 17! every day I live in a hope ‘today I will hear more’.
Awful, awful, awful!

They say 'No news is good news'.
How long until we know?!
This uncertainty is killing me.

Happy birthday, dear Robby!

60 jaar ATCC

Opendeur @ Gavere

Broken clock

It’s nothing new that Maarten likes to get up way too early. Therefore, he is told he can’t get out of bed until he sees his clock says “7”.

Even we’ve changed the battery the clock continues running ahead every morning.

Guess why?!

You've got to speak Flemish!

Can a preschool teacher forbid two children playing only because they speak English together?
Seemingly that's the case here in Flanders.
So glad she "allowed" them to meet up for a playdate outside of school!


Avonturen in de achtertuin
Helaas was er vandaag geen muziekschool. Maar gelukkig kwam Ramiz op bezoek bij Maarten.
Een tuin met geheime plekjes waar niemand je kan vinden. Met dikke boomstammen en struiken met reusachtige bladeren. Een tuin waar je avonturen kan beleven en nog dromen.
Groetjes van piraat Filou.
(door Rob)

Happy mom's day out

Op plattelandsklas (2 - 4 Mei)

De K3-tjes gaan op plattelandsklas naar ’t Bakkershof in Merelbeke, een mooie hoeve in een grote weide aan de rand van de bossen. Schapen, geiten, konijnen, eenden, kippen, duiven, ganzen, paarden, ezels, varkens, koeien, lama’s zorgen iedere dag voor heel wat leven op de boerderij.
De stallen omgebouwd tot slaapkamers kommen direct uit op het erf en zo kun je ‘s ochtends meteen helpen: samen met de boer brood en koeken bakken, gaan rijden met de huifkar die voortgetrokken wordt door paarden, een tocht met de pony’s maken, de dieren verzorgen, ravotten in de schuur tussen de strobalen, bezoekje brengen aan een imker en een geitenboerderij... kortom drie dagen plezier op én rond het boerenerf!

Rondleiding en verkenning van de boerderij.


Bezoek geitenboerderij met natuurwandeling in de omgeving.


Bezoek aan de imker.


Huifkartocht.


Ponyrit.


Bezoek bij juf Nele.


Koeken bakken.


Dieren voederen.


Werken op de boederij, stal schoonmaken!


Natuurwandeling naar het bos met gids.


(foto's door juf Lea)

Grags and pits in Viroinval

I wonder why a two hours drive here in the Benelux always seems to take much longer than a similar trip in California.
However, we always need to drive a little further if we want to see more than the flat woodless Flemish landscape.
Finally we reached the village of Nismes, a quite touristic village with tempting restaurants, cafes and irresistible ice cream signs.

I found it remarkable that Rob doesn’t remember our romantic weekend spent in this area some 10 years ago.
Only when approaching the rocky pits he seemed to remember our past visit here.



This region is rich with dramatic rock formations, called “Fondry des Chiens”. The penetrating water eroded deep chasms in the limestone during the last two million years. This is the only area in Belgium where one can admire this geological curiosity. No need to say, how exciting this dizziness invoking pits were for Maarten. Exciting, but dangerous!

Several times we were seriously lost. Using “that” old guide book, I’ve mentioned before, shouldn’t be any problem because today we also brought our GPS! But! With low battery!!!

Thanks to a friendly local we found our way at last. He also drew our attention to the green rose chafer, a beautiful metallic beetle that can be observed feeding from flowers of hawthorn especially during this month.
So at last we were glad we didn’t miss this green beauty. Without getting lost we wouldn’t meet and speak this man and we would never have known.
Maarten is crazy about insects since ever therefore looking for the beetles along the trail made this trip even more fun.

Maarten also caught one may bug. I remember their abundance during the summer evenings back in my childhood. But Rob claimed he has never seen this kind of insect before. And he is probably right. I’ve learned that in The Netherlands and Belgium those species are no longer as common as before.

A steep path took us to the 60 meters high cliff of the Roche aux Faucons. From the rock we had a splendid view over the Viroin valley. Deep down there was the river we had to cross.




Climbing on all fours and sliding again, luckily it stayed dry the previous weeks so no muddy shoes today.

Through nettles and thick brush we were looking for a place to cross the river. I thought we were the first ones this season that were walking this wild meadow when I stepped into something unpleasant soft and sticky with a disgusting smell. Soooo nasty and so gross! I was very tempted to toss my shoe.


As there was no bridge over the river we had to strip off our shoes and socks, roll up our pants and get into the icy water. The only one who really enjoyed that was Maarten. The stones in the river hurt our feet and the water was pretty deep at places. Oh yes, my buttocks also got wet.



We dried quickly and put socks and shoes back on and set off again.
Then suddenly the nearby overgrown railroad track came to the life. The seasonally run steam train was just passing by with a loud choo choo!


After climbing along an old stone quarry we got lost in the woods. It was too late to finish the entire planned trip, so we took a shortcut following a clearly marked path.




I have to admit these 5 kilometers were not really amusing, meaning we walked over well maintained forest paths, therefore not much adventure and a little boring for our little hiker.




Luckily there were still many hawthorn shrubs along the trail.