Our cousins join us in Brusson

On our second day, Nico and his girls, Giorgia and Camilla, joined us in Brusson for a delicious polenta lunch and a hike. We had a lovely time together and in the top picture, you can see our new hiking boots which we bought from a shop in town that had a great, end-of-season sale! We drove back to Turin where the mountains are in the distance.

Beautiful Brusson

The boys and I took two trains and a bus to stay a night in the beautiful mountain village of Brusson, in Val D'Ayas about 2 hours from Torino to do a bit of hiking and to enjoy the fresh air. We had a glorious time! And the boys got their first ever pair of hiking boots! We stayed at La Luge d'Antan which was very quaint and had a spa too. Very relaxing after a day of hiking!

Our Time in Turin...

means being with cousins and practising English and Italian, finding the best gelato, prosciutto, farinata and other incredible food, and making time for our own HS lessons!

So far it's a tie for gelato at Venchis, Tosca and Rei and Micki's for farinata!

Good Giggles in Brussels

I wanted to post a few more photos of our fun day in Brussels. Frites, waffles, Leffe, good giggles and perfect weather...c'etait chouette and we look forward to a full week up there after Turin!

New HS friends in Singapore

Becoming part of the HS community in Singapore has made living there so much more fun! We have new friends from Singapore, India, New Zealand, America and beyond. Together we do fun activities like disco parties, track and field, sailing, skate boarding, Scouts, badminton, co-op lessons, movies, day trips and more. While we are away on our extended vacation, Papa has already been invited to dinner at one of the families in our group. Although we miss everyone, we are fortunate to have the opportunity to catch up with family and friends in Italy, Belgium and Canada! The moms get groovy at Burtons disco party!

At the Skate park near Tampines mall with our American friends, Ronin, Cache and their mom, Kristie. (not in photo) These are friends from school.

At the Diary of a Wimpy Kid part two movie with Quinn and Logan.

At the track with Burton, Caleb and Yohann.

Coming home after a beach day at St. Johns Island off the coast of Singapore with Burton and his family.

Breezy Days in Europe

The three of us have enjoyed a week now in Europe. We had a lovely day in Brussels when we left our bags for Canada at Lisas home near the Grande Place. We went to the Sablon for breakfast at Marcolini and the Pain Quotidien and sat on the cobblestones of Victor Hugos favourite square in the world to eat our chocolates! We later went into a resto on that big square for beer and juice drinks...yes, we are still gluten-free but who can avoid one Leffe for old times sake?

We arrived at 8am and left Brussels at around 7pm that very night. We had planned to spend the day with our Australian friend, Tasha, but I was unable to contact her phone number or reach her by email. As she and her family are moving back to Oz, I guess her phone was disconnected. I am still waiting to find out what happened...tant pis.

Nico picked us up in Turin that night and we have spent several days catching up with lots of cousins. Flavio and Jus wedding on Sunday was really lovely and we appreciate how the grooms mom made sure there was lots for us to eat! Yes, it is all about the eating here!! The boys and I also took a train and bus to Brusson to enjoy some hiking and to check out this gorgeous part of Piedmont. Nico and the girls joined us the following day for polenta and a hike.

The Grande Place!

Here we are at the beautiful Grande Place again! How fortunate that we are able to stay right behind the buildings you see behind these two boys! We have spent the morning visiting our favourite haunts: waffles, Marcolini chocolate shop, Pain Quotidien for lemon and raspberry tartes, pain au chocolat and croissant, the Grasshopper toy shop and of course, the Grande Place to touch the copper frog which is no longer there to be rubbed for good luck. Oh well! Now we are off to get some frites and then later, we'll head to the airport for our flight to Turin. It is sunny and mild and we are grateful to have Lisa's flat on Rue du Midi to call home when we return from Italy for our week in the heart of Europe.