Just life and bits and bobs...

Nothing too dramatic to report over here.... Life seems to have settled into a somewhat chaotic rhythm of sorts. It is possible that we have finally reached something of an equilibrium.  In case anyone had not noticed, the World Cup has just started and this country has gone football mad. From some reports, Belgium may in fact have something of a underdog chance. Their first game is tonight so we will try and watch it!

So what has been happening in the Ponky clan..? Well since C's birthday, we have had Mother's Day, my birthday and Father's Day (which oddly seems to be a different weekend to the southern hemisphere and america). The older two have been watching Masterchef and feel convinced that they are destined for reality TV greatness. Any attempts at actual cooking are greatly encouraged in this household :)...although the day that they decided they wanted to prepare a complete 3 course meal for dinner when hubby was working late and it was a school night, was what I would call stressful rather than entertaining... Dishes everywhere, hungry preschoolers crying, homework left undone.. you get the idea. 

Summer is here, although the winter pyjamas have not been put away quite yet. It is nice to not be covered head to toe in sweat (a la Brisbane) so I suspect that I will really enjoy this european summer.We have discovered a few more parks and visited some castles and seen the spring flowers. And just this last weekend, a FunFair has been set up directly outside our apartment. How great is that?!!! And there is no loud music so it is not disruptive.  And no crowds, and no queues for anything, most of the rides are not full. Best FunFair we have ever been to- sure beats the Ekka and Easter Shows.   

Here are the highlights....

Hanging out in cafes. 

Castles and flower shows- Groot Bijarden

 Special visits from our friend - what better to do than visit more castles?!! This time in Ghent.



Princess S on her throne!

Followed by more food and drink




















Huizingen domain- a spectacular park with outdoor swimming pools, hydroslides, animals, boating, restaurants and massive childrens playground.  A fantastic day out for the family - thanks mum for introducing us to this place :)!

 And a random castle

Also a quick trip out to Antwerpen for my birthday and we discovered this fantastic venue - playgrounds galore and all with outdoor eating for the grown ups. 

Some Belgian cuisine :) and beer - I am gradually learning to appreciate it

As far as school goes, the older two are mid-exams. Yep they are doing a full week of exams in french. It's pretty rough but I talked to the principal and she said they just need to show improvement from when they arrived. Normally the system here is very quick to repeat students which is quite an outdated concept in education. Little miss S has suddenly started talking french at home, and she's quite the character. She has a natural beautiful accent that is cute beyond words. Even D at 3.5 years is starting to say a few things. He has settled in well to the kindy class and is quite the Mr popular with the other girls.  We were looking at old videos of the older two when we had arrived in Australia and they were laughing about their accents back then.  They had both developed a bit of an aussi twang  living there and this seems to be disappearing now. Soon they will be back to pronouncing "france" "dance"and "chance" the proper way ;).

Here is D about to board the bus on his end of year school excursion - 4 classes, 80 kids and 2 teachers per class. It was a 40 minute bus ride to a zoo/circus - no parent helpers. 1 teacher per 10 children ages 3-4 years old. Maybe it's a good thing there aren't any parent helps, it just sounds stressful to me! But they managed to bring them all home in one piece and all had a wonderful time! 

This is C at her end of year school concert.  They had to wear traditional costumes of their home countries. Of course, bringing along Maori costumes was not high on my list of priorities when we packed to move here. So I had to improvise. Goodness knows what you would do for Australia???!!! All the other costumes were extremely decorative and elaborate and beautiful. Dressing as a kangaroo would not have gone down well!! 

I should also mention that with the arrival of summer, we also have loooooooooooong days! It is still light at 10pm, and broad daylight at 8pm. Makes bedtimes tricky and confusing but the blackout curtains at least give an "illusion" that it is evening time...!
Next stop is our trip to italy. To say we are looking forward to this is an understatement. Hubby needs a well deserved break from his work grind, and I have been wanting to visit Italy for years. I, once upon a time, enrolled in a beginner italian class, so I will have to try out some basic phrases over there. The plan is to eat, swim, eat, drink some wine, oh and do a bit of sightseeing as well. We have booked a villa attached to vineyard and olive groves. I will be stocking up with the local olive oil and wines! Put your orders in now! (But only if you come to pick up from us in Belgium hehehe). 

Until next time - a bientot!