Our family trip to La Garrotxa

This past weekend, Alexis surprised Jacques and I with a 3-day family get-away to La Garrotxa to go explore el Parc Natural de La Zona Volcanica. As the name implies, this park contains over 40 volcanic cones to explore, and is surrounded by acres of beautiful forests and many wonderful small villages. Being only 2 hours by car from Barcelona, this natural park was the perfect place for our little family to escape to for a weekend together! Luckily for us, since this past weekend was one of the busiest vacation weekends in Spain before Christmas, Alexis was able to find a great room on short-notice in a small rural house outside of Olot (the biggest town in La Garrotxa).

El Parc Natural de la Zona Volcanica

We missed the leaves changing colors...but the remaining ones were beautiful

We spent our 2 full days in La Garrotxa hiking and taking full advantage of all the nature, since Alexis, Jacques and I haven't been hiking since our trip to Montserrat with my sister, Becky, 2 months ago. The first day we decided to explore the 2 best-known volcanos in the park, Croscat and Santa Margarida. We weren't sure of how much hiking we would be able to do, using Jack as an excuse...even though in reality it's because Alexis and I haven't been that active in the past few months. Anyway, long story short...we quickly re-discovered how much we love hiking and being in the woods and ended up completing a 10 km (~4hr) round trip hike of the two volcanos and La Fageda d'en Jorda (a beautiful beech tree forest between the two volcanos).

Thanks for carrying me Papa!

Taking a much needed break from hiking! I think Mama missed Jacques

Unfortunately, we weren't sure how far we would go when we started the hike, so we only had the bare minimums for us (water and yummy manderines...Jack of course was equipped like a king). I was the one responsible for carrying the daypack...so I have only laziness to blame =p. Anyway, we ended up completing the hike around 3 and having a late picnic lunch at the base of the volcano. At the end I must admit that I did get a bit tired. Alexis was a wonderful husband though and offered to not only carry Jacques but the daypack as well. Thank goodness because otherwise I might still be sitting at the base of the Croscat volcano!

What a funny looking camel...one hump in front and the other in back

The next day we were equally ambitious, despite our sore legs from the hike the day before. We started the morning with a factory tour of our favorite yogurt brand, La Fageda. La Fageda is a small Catalan company which is well known for employing mostly mentally disabled persons...they make truely the best yogurt and chocolate pudding in town! Since this is by-far my favorite brand of dairy products, I was more than excited to be able to see where everything is produced. One of the best discoveries of the trip!

The milk producers of La Fageda

Following our factory tour, Alexis, Jacques and I attemped another loop-hike. This time we chose a much easier loop of 17 km (~5 hr) to see some of the other less explored volcanos in the park, such as the Can Tia and Traiter volcanos. This trail was by-far a much less traveled route than the one we did the day before (I never crossed so many people hiking in my life...or said buen dia that many times in a row), but half of the route was on an old paved road through the country-side. In the end, this route was fantastic...we got to see a lot of old Spanish country homes and countryside and we only passed one or two hikers and cars at the most. This time we were prepared, and were able to enjoy our picnic lunch on the volcano summit with Jacques. No low blood-sugar level for Marie...whoo...

A beautiful old Spanish farmhouse

Our last day in La Garrotxa was only a half day, so we took the opportunity to go explore two small villages, Castellfollit de la Roca and Besalu, one of which is famous for being built on a cliff and the other for a very impressive bridge that gives access into the old town (I'll let you guess which one is which). The day was perfect with just enough sunlight...

Hope nobody is afraid of heights!

Since it was impossible to pick only a few pictures from our magical winter trip to La Garrotxa, we have uploaded a photo album with all of the pictures we loved from the trip. Just click on our family picture below to see the album! Enjoy!

our familly trip to la Garrotxa

For all of you who are curious, Jacques was an amazing baby for the whole trip, even though his whole schedule was upside down. Jacques normally loves to take naps in his crib, but he quickly learned that naptime is also to be enjoyed on his Papa's chest walking through the forest and in his stroller bouncing along on the old copplestone roads. Our biggest concern though was dinner-time, since breakfast was quickly eaten in the hotel and lunch was always picnics outside. Alexis and I tried to go to dinner early (8:00 or 8:30...early for Spain and normally just when the restaurants open) so Jack could be in his bed as early as possible. For the most part this worked out great, the night after our first hike he was too exhausted and slept through all of dinner and the night after that he was awake but happily taking in his surroundings. I must admit I was definitely a bit nervious...but the whole trip went great! Well I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Jacques was particularly smiley this trip...so its all the more reason to check them out!

Our Thanksgiving Celebration!

So as not to get everyone's hopes up too high, I'm letting everyone know now that unfortunately there are no pictures of giant turkeys, Jacques dressed like a pilgrim, or pumpkin pie/dessert eating extravaganzas. However, we did take the advantage of our Thanksgiving weekend to snap a few more photos of Jack...and we even managed to capture quite a few smiles as well!

We celebrated Thanksgiving the weekend after the actual holiday, and like most weekend mornings we began by bringing Jacques into our bedroom, when he woke up, for a little fun-time in pajamas! Now it's quite the exception for Jack to have both of his parents greet him in the morning, which means an extra dose of smiles for everyone. Check out Jacques in his new orange PJs playing with his Papa...

What's Jack smiling at???

It's his Papa!

Alexis and I both want to make sure that we keep celebrating both American and Belgian holidays as a family. However, since Jacques is still quite small this year, we decided to have a mini-Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday with our next-door neighbors. Alexis and I were in charge of making the feast...which is probably an inappropriate word since we prepared a small chicken (turkeys are a bit difficult to find here in BCN), mashed potatoes and grilled veggies, while the neighbors hosted the dinner in their apartment and brought dessert. This arrangement worked out perfectly since dinner-time in Spain is quite late, usually starts after 9, and Jacques is always fast asleep by then (in his make-shift bedroom in our living area). It was the first time Alexis and I got to try out our baby monitors, since our apartment is so small you can hear everything, and they worked great!! Fortunately, Jacques slept like a log the whole evening without one little peep. I'm glad he didn't feel left out of our Turkey day celebration.

As many of you know, Alexis is definitely the cook in the family, so while he was busy slaving away in the kitchen, I tried to find any excuse to stay out of it...and now Jacques is the best distraction ever. Luckily we pulled Alexis away from the kitchen long enough to snap a few great pictures of our happy baby.

Jacques loves to practice standing...although he wobbles all around

Jacques showing us just how nicely his shirt compliments his eyes

If you look closely, you'll see Jack's new favorite pasttime...drooling!

Finally some real smiles! Not for the camera...but at least for his Mama

It was really great to have Alexis hang out with me and Jack for most of the day; however, Papa was quite busy that day and had to find time to escape to his office to study as well. Fortunately, there is always time for breaks and Jacques likes to visit his Papa a bunch. Here is a picture of Jacques saying goodnight to his Papa just before naptime...Looks like Alexis might need a nap as well too!!!

A quick hug and kiss before naptime

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving celebration. It was a ton of fun to see our neighbors again, they are such a fun couple. It's funny because even though we live right next door to them, we hardly ever see or hear them. However, we always enjoy the times we manage to spend together! We are all looking forward to next year when Jacques can enjoy all the Thanksgiving meal treats as well!

Jack meets Olivia

Two weekends ago, Alexis, Jacques and I had the amazing opportunity to fly back to Belgium to meet his new cousin, and my beautiful goddaughter, Olivia! Olivia, the newest addition to the de Kerchove family, was born on November 3rd to Alexis's sister Natacha and Alexandre...so she was just a mere 2 and a half weeks old when we first got to meet her. I must admit that to me, Jacques is still my little baby. I know he has changed a LOT since he was first born, more than 3 months ago...not just in size (he has already doubled his birthweight!) but also in all the cool little things that he can do now that he couldn't do before. It was really amazing though to put Jacques next to Olivia (who had the same birth weight/height as Jacques) and see how much of a little man he has become already. If you don't believe me...check out the picture below!

Jacques with new cousin Olivia

Oliva is just a little darling...the whole time we were with her that weekend she was the perfect little angel. She hardly ever made a noice, and was quite content to be passed around to all her visitors (she even stayed happy next to Jacques!). It was so much fun to see and hold a newborn again, especially one that still holds themself like a "froggy". The best part of the weekend though was to see how calm and comfortable the new parents were with their new roles...they are naturals!

Olivia happily sleeping on her Maman's chest

And of course in the arms of her Papa as well

Our weekend, like most of the weekends we spend in Belgium, went by like a whirlwind. We were able to catch up with most of Alexis's friends while in town, and most of his family as well! It was really so great to see everyone again, and we were more than grateful that people were able to stop by during their busy weekends. For most of Alexis's friends, it had been at least 6 months if not longer since we had seen them last. Jacques managed surprisingly well...now that he's getting a bit older he starts to be more aware of all the people in a room, and at times can get a little overwhelmed (especially with tons of people talking together). But, he pulled through like a champion...and slept even better than normal at naptimes! Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures over the weekend, but below are a few that we found fun that we took while hanging out with the family. Since there were so many people around, we even managed to snap a family portrait as well...

Noa holding Jack

Jack just hanging out and listening

One of our few family portraits

All in all it was a great weekend. We were all so happy to be able to spend time with family again, and are really looking forward to the holidays which we will be spending with both the de Kerchove and Schreiber families. That's right, lots of plane travel for Jack coming up!! We'll let you all know how it goes...keep your fingers crossed!

Jacques is 3 months old

In celebration of Jacques 3 month birthday (a little early...but why not), Alexis and I wanted to share some more pictures of Jacques doing the things he loves best during the day.

1) Bath Time! Alexis and I try to share, as much as we can, all of the responsibilities of raising Jack. Since I do most of the feedings (as what comes from breastfeeding), Alexis is in charge of the nightly put-jack-to-bed ritual...which begins with bath time! Luckily for all of us, Jacques has really taken a liking to water and seems to always enjoy every moment. Of course, the most difficult thing for him, is that there comes a time that he has to leave the warm water! But, he quickly forgets about that with all the after bath songs and playing with Papa.

Jaques and his Papa

Jack with his Rubber Duckies

Check out those Big Blue Eyes

End of Bathtime Fun about to Begin

Time with Papa is always the Best Time

2) Discovering all the new fun things around him. Even though he still sleeps more than 18 hours a day (if not more!), he is always the most alert and attentive kid when awake. He loves to look at everything! One day, while having lunch on the terrace, he was mesmerized by a little fly that landed on his pants. While other times, he can look at our curtains or other fun, colorful objects in our apartment forever. Very cute.

What is Jacques watching so intently...his mobile, his Papa?

3) Discovering all of the new things that he can do. Jack really loves practicing sitting up, and recently he has taken to trying to stand up as well...sometimes the kid just won't bend his legs! Below you'll see Jack practicing his new profession as a trapeze artist (he uses his arms and everything). There is also a video of Jack showing us all how well he can hold up his head in the belly position. It takes him a little while to get there, but I'm sure everyone will be cheering him on until the finish. He is getting one step closer to crawling....when things will be sure to get interesting.

Jack Practicing his Balacing Act

Jacques learning how fun it is to play on his tummy

4) Bed Time! As funny as that sounds, Jacques really loves going to bed for the night (naps are definitely a different story). Once the clock hits 9:30, it's off to bed with Jack without a word of complaint. He also for the most part sleeps through the night, with just one feeding at 6am, until he wakes up officially at 9:00 the next morning. This new routine, which has been going on for the last few weeks is all thanks to his new favorite thing...his thumb! I am definitely taking advantage of sleeping now, because I know his schedule can change any day now, and the night-time feedings will return. But for now, Alexis and I are both thankful for the thumb.

Good night Jacques

A Few of Jack's Favorite Things

Since most of our family and friends don't have the opportunity to see Jacques on a daily basis, Alexis and I decided to take some videos of some of the things Jack likes to do best at 2 months old. Now don't worry, even though sleeping, eating and pooping are some of his most favorite activities right now...we decided to stick with some more fun, family-appropriate viewing material to start with! Below you will find videos of Jack flashing his new smile and making the hearts of everyone nearby melt (or at least his mom's!), Jack sneezing (since as you can hear in all of the videos he has caught a bit of a cold), and Jack enjoying his most favorite toy right now, he's mobile! Since he loves it sooo much, we decided to include 2 videos...one which shows what he is actually looking at and another showing just how much he can watch it. The little guy's attention span is amazing! He can watch his new mobile forever! (well at least 30 minutes or so...which seems to be forever in baby time). I hope you all enjoy!

Jacques Smiling

Jacques Sneezing

Jack's Mobile

Jack with his Mobile

A Wedding in Italy...

Our last vacation as a family of 2.5.

One of our very good friends from Yale, Piero, was getting married in Ceglie Messapica, a village in the south-west of Italy on the 18th of July, so Alexis and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity by having one last vacation together before the arrival of the little guy. Since neither of us have traveled through the south of Italy before, we decided to fly to Naples, rent a car, and take a week to explore the beautiful south. Even though I was 33 weeks pregnant at the time, and we weren't able to do everything that we would have liked to do (like climb to the top of the Vesuvius, one of the most active volcanoes in Europe), we still had a very amazing time...and of course ate tons of really good food. Alexis and I just hope Bean didn't get too many carbs on our little adventure...he's is guaranteed to be big enough already!

Considering that it is July in Italy, and that we didn't want to be stuck sleeping in the car (I kept having flashbacks to my spontaneous Bastille day weekend in Saint-Malo, where I spent 2 nights in a tiny car with 3 other guys) , we tried to organize this vacation a bit more than what we normally would have. In the end we were quite happy with all locations we chose to visit, the B&Bs we stayed in, and most importantly...the extra hours we gained by not having to look for hotels, but instead being able to enjoy a nice drink on a terrace before dinner. In the end we stayed in five towns before heading to Ceglie Messapica for the wedding: Naples, Pompei, Amalfi, Matera, and Bisceglie.

Our route through Italy

Naples: Since we were staying in the city where pizza originated, it only makes sense that Alexis and I spent most of our day eating and trying some of the fine Italian cuisine. We arrived in Naples on a Sunday, which meant that most stores were closed and the streets empty (except for the occasional stray tourist). After enjoying a delicious pizza during a long Sunday lunch, we took a few hours to explore Naples on foot before settling in the port at a terrace to watch the boats come and go, enjoy an aperatif, and then a few hours dinner. The day was relaxing and exactly what we needed after a long day of traveling.

Streets of Naples

Pompei: The next morning we slept in, with hopes of avoiding rush-hour traffic in Naples. Unfortunately for us, we didn't realize that every hour seems to be rush-hour, especially during a weekday. I must commend Alexis for his amazing driving skills, because what we learned is that there are no driving rules...or at least ones that are followed...in Naples. Stop signs and traffic lights are generally ignored and it's up to you to find your way across roads packed with cars. I must say that I am quite proud, because we safely got out of the city without even one scratch on our rental car (well not counting the numerous scratches that were already there...and now we know why!).

For the day we headed to the old Roman city of Pompei which is quite astounding. Much of the cities foundations and roads are still intact and just walking through the maze of old streets is really quite impressive to understand the magnitude of the old city. However, the city is probably most known for how it was destroyed and the magnificent views of the volcano in the near distance are a constant reminder of this. When the volcano did erupt all of those years ago, the people did not have time to evacuate, to this day there are still humans (adults, children and animals alike) preserved by the lava that covered their town and can be viewed at various (and often times hidden) locations within the old city.

A Day in Pompei

Amalfi: The Sorrento and Amalfi coasts are beautiful and reminded us a lot of our drive down Route 1 in California. The roads are small and windy, but offer amazing views of the water and cliffs...really breath-taking. We would recommend this drive to anyone (well you'll have to ask Alexis since he did all of the driving!). Our only one frustration was not being able to stop enough to take in the amazing view...the small roads hardly allow for two cars to pass each other, much less pulling over to the side.

The B&B we found for this night can be described only as magical. It was an old renovated castle build into the cliffs, with each room offering amazing views onto the Mediterranean Sea. Each room gave the impression that you were alone in paradise. ..which was definitely amplified when we were able to take advantage of the sea for a nice night and morning swim from a private sea access.

Our amazing view

Matera: Alexis and I must admit that we had no clue what we were in for when we headed towards the old-town of Matera. Like our other locations previously, we put the address of our B&B into our GPS and more-or-less blindly followed it. All was good until we arrived in Matera, where we were faced with never-ending pedestrian streets, with our B&B still a km or two away. Eventually we decided to park the car and explore on foot...and quickly discovered the true source of our problem. We arrived on the edge of town and looked over on the city. We were greeted by an amazing view of small windy streets and beautiful white houses built into the cliff...which looked more like a maze than a city. We knew somewhere in that maze was our B&B, and equipped with the google map I had printed out from earlier we were able to find it after several false starts and wrong roads. We spent the rest of the day exploring the wonderful old city and all the little surprises it has to offer.

The Matera Maze

Bisceglie: This is a very small town to the north of Bari. We must admit that we originally chose to stay here because we had plans to pick up Vincent, one of our friends from the Bari airport early the next morning. Unfortunately, his flight got cancelled and he never made it to Italy... The town, even though small, was quite charming with lots of things to discover. We took the opportunity of being next to the water again to visit the beach. Alexis ended up swimming while I dosed on the rocks on the shore. It was perfectly relaxing and exactly what we needed after driving a few days across Italy with temperatures of more than 100 during the day. Like most of the other B&Bs we stayed in, our room was in the apartment/house of the B&B owner. This is one of the charming things about Italy, because unlike hotels, it provides a glimpse into what the apartments are really like in these old cities...and more often than not, they are quite beautiful and unexpected.

Bisceglie and the country-side

And now the wedding: Piero's and Simona's wedding was very beautiful, and we both felt so lucky to be able to share this special day with them. Even though in the end only a few Yalies were able to make the journey, Alexis and I had such a great day catching up with old friends, but also getting to know all the amazing friends that Piero and Simona have from all over the world. Everyone was so great and so full of food. Apparently it is traditional in Italian weddings to start with a buffet of appetizers (in this case mostly seafood and fresh mozzarella typical from the region), followed by a 3 course meal, then by a desert buffet, and finally by the cake... We ended up dancing for helping digestion (which is not include in the Italian tradition, we don't know why) and were very surprised when it was suddenly 3 in the morning and time to go back to our trulli, the local stone house we were staying in (it looks like a little cone, almost like a Smurf house - It is made of very thick stone walls to protect it from the heat outside). Since we could never adequately describe the day, we have posted some pictures from the wedding so you can see for yourself.

The Yalies

Our small vacation in Italy was really spectacular, and we definitely enjoyed every day of our adventure and are looking forward to our next chance to visit this beautiful country. Bean has been great and we think he enjoyed the food as much as we did...

Ski in Valter 2000

We finally decided to go ski in the Pyrenees. 2 weeks ago we went to Nicolas and Alice's house for celebrating Reyes (Epifany) eating a great homemade almond paste cake. Nicolas is one of our work colleague. He is french and moved from Paris at the same time as us with his wife, Alice, and 3 years old daughter, Garance. At that Cake party we decided on skiing this weekend... and good for us, nicolas organised everything. He booked an apartment in Trigura de Dalt, a little village pearched in the mountain, not to far fromValter 2000, the ski resort we planned skiing to.
We left BCN on friday night after work, and got there around 9.00pm after 2.5h drive in sneaky roads between BCN and the pyrenees. We had not clue what the landscape looked like when we got there and were really curious to see what the view from the apartment was after having climbed so much on the tiniest raods ever up to 1500 m wherw was the village. The apartment was nice. Nicolas and his family had been there already for an hour and had starting cooking a dinner. We then decided to go to bed early so that we could wake up at 8 and be early in Valter 2000. Alice, Garance and Marie had decided that they rather liked exploring the village than coming skiing and let us, nicolas and me go explore the ski slopes by ourselves. I did not know how Nicolas was Snowboarding and really did not know what to expect. He turned out to be great, loving exploring off pist between the trees.
















We woke up and finalaly realize how amazing the view was in front of us. We had a whole valley surrounded by flat top snowy mountains whole around, looking a little like Vermont (if you replace the maple trees with pine trees - there I guess due to the altitude). We got there after a quick breakfast in the apartment and toke the road to the resort. We were one of the first there which help me avoiding to much line to rend my skies. I did not expect what they gave me in that type of fast-food ski renting store. they were 1.5 m skies that looked really ridiculous next to my 2-m high (or I looked ridiculous standing next to them). I worried a Little not to be able to stand on the slope, not having enought grip (too much weight for not enought lenght of ski blade) but it turned out alright. They felt a little like what we call in french "patinettes" which are really short skies used for fun skiing and jumping; they are kind of unstable. But anyway, we had a great time. The snow was perfect, and the weather even better, and there were really not too many people. The resort is small but we still managed to find 1 or 2 good off-pists between trees following a little river. It was nice exercise and fun to not really know where we would get at the end (even if there was no real chance of getting lost). Nicolas and me had lunch and toke a little nap bellow few trees on the side a pist for Lunch and joined back the girls at the end of the day around 6pm.
















Marie, Alice and Garance had had as much fun as us. They walked around and found great slopes for sleding. It was a first time for Garance who did not really know how to brake at the biggest fear of marie and alice seeing her speeding up towards the cliffs. Luckily the 4 year old little girl stopped naturally on a flat little surface right before the steaper part of the mountain. Hearing that, Nicolas decided that he wanted to experience that fun, and we decided then to cancel ski the next day and keep company to the ladies. It was a sage decision since both of us were really tired and wanted to take advantage of our sunday morning for sleeping. We went then to Camprodon, the main little town down the valley to return Nicolas board and buy some more dried meet. The Place is really well know for its dried ham, and sausages and bought then some for the next day lunch. It was feezing out and were happy to go back to the apartment for dinner. That night, Alice and Marie made us great dinner, Duck confit and veggies. It was great, really delicious. Nicolas opened up then one of his good bottle of wine that he brought back from France. We were not expecting them to treat us so well and really appreciated it.

The Next day, after a grasse matinee and amazing breakfast with Nutela in the morning sun, we went walk around in the village and play in the snow with Garance. That was a lot of fun. The lanscape is so amazing, we could have stayed there for ever. Garance was getting better at sleding, and we did too. We had then lunch outside on the terrace and relaxed there few more hours before heading back to barcelona. Marie and me decided that we had to do this type of little weekend more often realizing how many great place there are around BCN.


I also told her that one of the most amazing thing that I saw in Valter 2000 were the amount of snowshoers going up in a line to the summits of the mountains around and passing their day walking from one to the other. There were almost as many of them as they were skiers; like little ants very far away we could see them all around us on the top of the circle of summits that was surrounding us. It seems that the pyrenees are more accessible to this type of freestyle excursion than the alps. We totally have to explore this option our next trip.

This ends up our weekend. We start a new week tomorrow, and I start school on Tuesday with an intensive week. We will see what that gives, but I am definitely happy to have taken fully advantage of the weekend before suffocating in a classroom.