Our happy place on Marco Island

Happy and healthy 2019 for everyone!

We keep the family tradition of getting together for Christmas high, so this year was our 6th time. Rainier stayed with us the whole time and Gauthier arrived on Thursday before Christmas and stayed until Saturday, the day we all left.
As usual, we had a smooth flight (2,5 hours) and arrival in Fort Myers. Then, we only had a 50' car drive to the island. The weather was a little colder than last year, between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius and we only had two days of rain.
The very first day of our vacation, we met with realtor Dawn Snyder to see some properties on different spots on the island and we have found our happy place. Stay tuned!

One immediately slows down its pace on an island. Walking and/or running on the beach, shelling, biking, reading and sun bathing are activities that relax you in no time.

This year, we went on a manatee tour with a guide that was just an average experience. Gauthier and I went paddle boarding for one hour, the boys went jet skiing the last day of the vacation but we all learned something new: how to make a gun safe and could also practice some shooting. Our instructor, an Irish man from Belfast had been in the British Army for 10 years and had been a cop for about 20 years. Safety was key and he took all the time he needed/wanted to explain us all about gun safety.

Christmas eve was a lot of fun, we all enjoyed the buffet in the famous JW Marriott hotel. The many Christmas decorations like the huge trees inside the hotel really brought us into a good mood.

Enjoy some family pics!

Washington DC (31 aug - 4 sept 2018)

If you want a more detailed version of the history of the capital, and see pictures of the whole family, please go to my article of August 2015. A lot has changed in just 3 years...

Program:

Friday, August 31st

Early flight with Dow shuttle at 7:30 am. Arrived in Philly around 9 am and 2 hours later, arrived in Washington DC. After lunch, we visited the National Cathedral, the second biggest cathedral in the VS. Actually, this one is very comparable with European cathedrals. We took an audio tour and walked around at our pace.  In the afternoon, around 4 pm, preparations were made for the funeral of senator Mc Cain. We smelled the many magnificent flower bouquets and saw the technicians everywhere making sure the right material was at the right spots.

Saturday, September 1st

The Holocaust museum from 11:45 until 2:15 pm left an everlasting impression on us. In the evening, we took the 4:30 pm boat tour on the Potomac River to Alexandria and walked around until 7:15 pm. The trolley on Kingstreet was full of shops and restaurants.

Sunday, September 2nd

Started our day around 9:30 am in Mont Vernon, Virginia, where we visited the Mansion of the first president of the US: Georges Washington.

In the evening, we took the Panoramic bus tour near Union Station.

Monday, September 3rd (Labor Day)

Biking in a city such as Washington is so much fun with Bike & Roll

Guided visit tour: American History through Music

Tuesday, September 4rd

Christiana Mall

Return to Midland in the afternoon.

Good times in Wilmington, Delaware

Since Serge has been working for DuPont as of April 2018, we have traveled several times to the Delaware State to explore the region. I must confess that the town Wilmington really speaks to my heart when it comes to good restaurants, very nice shops at the Christiana Mall, museums & gardens and even the landscape: a little hilly and green. And... last but not least: NO TAXES!

As we went multiple times, we got to see the different blooms of the flowers in the Longwood Gardens who have made a long life impression on me.

May 8-11

June 1-8

August 3-10

May

We went to the Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant) where we had a belated birthday dinner. We actually went to Grazi in Midland on the day of my birthday but the Melting Pot was also high on my list. 

I visited the Nemours Estate on my own while Serge was working. I was the only one taking the 1 pm tour and the lovely guide, Caroline, took me for another hour and focused on the French architecture which made me feel special.

The next day, I visited the Longwood Gardens for the first time.

June

I spent the first week of June in Wilmington where Serge was there for business and me for pleasure. 

We arrived on a Friday and decided to go walking on the boardwalks in Ocean City and Atlantic City, NJ. The weather was gorgeous.

It was nice to discover a few new states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

On Saturday, we visited the Naval Academy. The next day, we visited the Hagley Museum.

Program:

June 4: Winterthur

June 5: Mt Cuba (where I met a special friend Marian)

June 6: The Brandywine Museum of Art 

June 7: Delaware Art Museum 

June 8: Longwood gardens with Serge in the morning. We were lucky to be able to have seats (18 in total) on the executive flight home.

August

We spent the first 3 days in Washington before traveling to Wilmington.

Program:

Aug 4: National Gallery of Art

Aug 5: Newseum

Aug 6: Newseum

Aug 7: Delaware Contemporary

Aug 8: Read House and gardens with Marian

Aug 9: Nemours Estate with Serge and the Longwood gardens in the evening with Marian (his boss)

Aug 10: Shopping for some shoes in DSW 

Chicago: family visit - July 6-8

We all were very excited to visit Gauthier, especially my mom and Rob since they had not seen his apartment yet. He lives on the 50th floor and the views are to kill...

He has two roommates with whom he gets along very well. They go out and travel together. As a matter of fact, they are at the biggest electronic music festival in Belgium now, Tomorrowland.

Friday afternoon was filled with soccer. We were all looking forward to see the soccer game of Belgium against Brazil in the semi-finals of the World Cup. What an atmosphere... we couldn't be happier with a win: 2-1... we felt lucky and grateful! We also watched the game of England.
That evening,  we took the water taxi for a good hour and did some sightseeing.

On the sunny Saturday afternoon, we enjoyed a bike ride along the Lakefront trail. at night, we took the water taxi for a good hour and did some sightseeing. 

The day after, Serge and I went for an early morning swim in the outdoor pool. The Jacuzzi was a nice feature to enjoy as well, especially with the spendid view in the background.

Afterwards, we had a short walk through Millennium Park to visit the Bean (again... don't really know how many times I have seen it). In the afternoon, we enjoyed playing pétanque inside the Optima building.

That weekend ended with a nice dinner in the P.F. Chang with our youngest son Rainier. Here are some pics from our amazing family trip:

Leave Only Footprints...

To the most clean and beautiful beaches I have ever seen...

Panama City beach is known for having the World's most beautiful beaches. There is a reason why they deserve to be called that way:

"Leave no trace" ordinance was issued in 2012 and basically means that anything you bring to the beach with you should also leave the beach with you between 7 pm and 7 am. These items include but are not limited to tents, chairs, toys, umbrellas and coolers. This ordinance is currently in effect and is active year-round.

Some pics heal, while others can hurt!

This morning, my cousin Katia posted a picture  on FB of exactly a year ago and I must say that it has a healing effect on my soul.  We were enjoying each others company at her place and just having fun taking silly pictures. But... there was one thing out of balance... my mental health. This picture was actually taken in the midst of my depression and if you would have told people, they would never have believed it... But don't judge people by just looking at the outside, try to look into their heart and listen carefully to what they are saying.

I so vividly remember how much I failed just enjoying life in general.  I had lost my inner peace and felt nervous all the time. My body was hurting because of the many panic attacks and anxiety. That day, and many others after that...we had such good talks about life in general, about all the changes that we all go through at a certain age and how to cope with them. They both were good listeners who tried to understand my feelings and why I found myself in a deep hole. The thing is that you realize all those things but you can not change them, you are blocked, paralyzed, … there are so many verbs I want to add but basically, you are unable to change and that is the scary part of it because it feels like you are going to be stuck in there forever...
But... you are not... all you need to heal is time. Time to accept, time to see things differently, time to think, time to digest mentally.

I am  so happy to say that I feel balanced now, I have found myself again and I have accepted the fact that we need to move on with our lives and we can not look back too often. Maybe that is what I was doing too much, not really living in the present, refusing to enjoy the little things in life... 

Thank you both for listening, for trying to understand me, for supporting me, for spending time with me, for your ever lasting healing effect on my soul, for sharing your inner thoughts with me, for so many other things, … 

Pier Park

Na het melden van een lek in onze badkamer deze morgen, en met enige vertraging dan toch vertrokken richting Pier Park. Het was maar een kwartiertje rijden vanuit onze condo, maar we stonden voor het grootste deel in de file.

Pier Park is een groot shopping center in Panama City. In de buurt is er ook een cinema en een reuzerad (bijna operationeel).

Deze namiddag lekker op het strand wat gelezen. Ik ben dan eindelijk aan mijn tweede boek begonnen (Michel Bussi - Sang famille). De zelfgemaakte spaghetti deze avond viel bij ons beiden enorm in de smaak.