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Parc Paradisio |
  
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Deer Inc.? Early John
Deere? |
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Super thirsty - They drained that Ice Tea in seconds
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Inches
away from a Crane / Grue |
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A very early morning stroll through
Mons... |
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 Entrance
to Tom and Dave's old school?
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Going through some old photos
again...
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Some beautiful eyes |
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Give me
some of that real heat
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Old Brussels railroad
workers. Large photo inside Gare Centrale that has since been
defaced by someone. |
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Bruxelles - Midi |
Koksijde |
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Crumble, stop pulling!
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Nos Chiens
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Getting
tired
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Alexine on
the elastics.
She does
double-rolls now! |
Photo taken by Nicolas |
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Mont St. Aubert |
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Katapult, a brief
but intense ride.
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Lille Carnival |
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Marie trying out her newly repaired
finger
(operation was
successful) |
   
Lille Outdoor Market |
Nightmare material for
children
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The PJ Krew |
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Mons, early in the morning
(and still dark)
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Alexine's
circus show on 31st of August
She was amazing
as always.
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Alexine et
sa copine Sara-Lise |
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Belgium Coast |
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Popular bakery at the seaside |
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A day at
Calais France
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Foire du Midi - Bruxelles
Summer ritual dating back
some 100 years is Belgium's largest carnival.
Many rides both new and
old, yummy foods
all in Brussels colorful
Midi section. |
Be careful with the
little frog (lower-right portion of photo)...
He spits and got me while
I was taking photos...
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Allez! Come and break stuff with
baseballs! |
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Alexine enjoys the house of mirrors. |
The only way out of the
house of mirrors
(and not easy to find)
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Still sore and healing, I
skipped the scary rides this year. |
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Happy birthday Nicolas! |
Nicolas surgically removing
the frosting between the layers
of his cake.
The remainder of his cake was completely intact.
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Mr. Brown was kind enough to
take Alexine on a trip to Venice Italy while Nicolas was undergoing/recuperating
from his second surgery. I'm sure Alexine will never forget her visit to a
special part of the world. Thank you.
Here are some photos taken
by Mr. Brown.
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Plate
of spaghetti is bigger than Alexine! |
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 Zzzzzzzzzzz... |
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After second operation.
Nicolas enjoying a
Cécémel (nuclear powered choco-milk)
before heading home.
Believe me, he was
ready to go home!
Time will tell how well he can see (if at all) with his right eye. |
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Destruction of old wing
of hospital - Midi Brussels |
A frightened little boy
just before the second operation.
Nicolas had to be sedated
as he was nearly hysterical with fear. |
Painted ceiling of
post-surgery wakeup room.
Soothing sites and soft
music offset
the sounds of recovering
patients moaning, snoring... |
Cat in
window watching passer-bys |
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Statue of ancient doctor
(armed with scalpel)
in front of St. Pierre Hospital |
Parc Paradisio |
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rue Raoul Godfroid
(view from our
house) |
Beffroi as seen from rue
Godfroid
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Troll Beer from
(near) Mons
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Staring
contest between Goupa and Alexine
The first
person to
laugh or smile loses |
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Yippee, we found Nounou's old
caravan! |
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Happy 9th Birthday Alexine! |
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Windy |
Tram |
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Goodbye - MiniEurope |
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La Gare du Midi
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Tram ride through Brussels |
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Une Belle Porte de
Mons |
Gare Centrale - Bruxelles |
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Nounou's birthday -
Flowers from Therese
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Windows
rolled down. Come on daddy, faster!
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Seaside - June 2007 |
Off to the seaside!
Bertha is
thrilled to be coming with!
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and our last day at the seaside...
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Walking on
the beach one morning, I found the proverbial 'message in a bottle',
sealed with wax and all. While spending some time opening the
bottle and removing the letter, we wondered about the message inside;
Was it from someone stranded on an island? A treasure map?
We read the letter and were disappointed to find out that it was simply
from someone who threw it the ocean only a few days before and at about
the same place I found it. The writer of the message was obviously
hoping that his bottle would travel across the oceans but in reality, it
went only a few meters before returning to shore. |
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Veurne |
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Marie's Sand Balls |
Photo taken at 11:15 at night.
Summertime in Belgium =
sunset at 10:00PM and some daylight
until almost Midnight. By
4:00AM, the sun is already starting to come back. |
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Nicolas on the beach |
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Abandoned house
One of the few remaining homes directly on the beach,
waiting
to be
replaced by a condominium. A choice spot to walk
our dogs since
nobody cares if they use the yard as a bathroom.
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New Sport - Buoy
Tossing |
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photos from Plopsaland, an amusement
park at the seaside.
Formerly MeliParc. |
Mommy and Nicolas putting out
fires
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My K3 Princess |
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Alexine was carefully
obeying all the traffic rules but the
whole time was getting
cutoff and rear-ended by other rude drivers
(especially the mean
little kid in the background of this photo).
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Alexine
discovers the thrills of roller-coasters |
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Ducasse 2007 |
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Watching fireworks Tuesday night
This guy seemed a bit drunk |
Within a few minutes, the police came and made him come
down. |
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Photo taken from 3rd floor of
McDonalds. Best view of the dragon fight I have experienced in many
years of the Ducasse. (also, air conditioning, food, restrooms, & not too
crowded)
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Doudou Fuel |
Longtime organizer of the
Ducasse
Always visible during 'Le
Combat'
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St. George out of costume
His job - slayer of dragons
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Elio di Rupo - Political
big wheel in our part of Belgium |
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All that beer has to go
somewhere
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 Shisha Bar
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Election time in Belgium
Which socialist should we
vote for?
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1622 - Theusies
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 Attention!
-- Pool sharks
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Horse in a
downtown store
(Doubles
as a lamp)
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Trolls busy making troll
beer in Mons |
Seriously
big old bread oven
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Ordinary
Pizza Hut pizza but with Grimbergen cheese! (tradtional supreme pizza in
the background and of course some good Belgian beer). |
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Burning rubbish |
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Touch my belly |
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Don't feed the animals... |
Tragic plane crash in the
jungles of Belgium |
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Kids nervously watching a
clown do his tricks... |
Kids keeping a close eye
on this clown (never trust a clown)
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Sir Ouy of Lille
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Du Poulet Rôti?
Non Merci...
Greasy roast chicken for sale on a
rather dirty street in a not so nice part of Mons (Night shops, adult
book stores). Does not seem very appealing. |
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Walking through the old
monk's cemetary |
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Circus Turtles
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Accès Interdit
Spécimens Dangereux
(some nasty little
critters inside this room...) |
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Une source d'eau |
L'Abbay Cambron
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Violent end to a nice GSM.
Nounou's GSM (also
a chew toy for Zaza)
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The phone eater - but also likes ice
cream... |
Nicolas enjoying a cola flavored granita (slurpee) |
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Meme/Nounou
Marie
Beautiful
Mother's Day Flowers from Therese |
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Bienvenue!
More ghostly ghost trains
of St. Ghislain |
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Train on the right used to
be pretty fast in its day at 180Kmh. Still faster than most modern
regular trains in Belgium (160Kmh) |
The train is late
again
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Mr. Happy Feet! |
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BBQ Trains of St. Ghislain |
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Parliament -
Brussels
Meeting on
global climate change
Dark glass
booths are for the various interpreters. |
Kids participating
in Parliament session.
Nicolas
preparing to comment. |
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Hail the mighty
Euro! |
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Alexine and best friend
Sara
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Early
artwork by Marie Brown
Blown up
to mural size and a bit weathered but still on display after many years
at the Ursulines School in Mons
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Didn't
know peacocks came in white
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Large and LOUD Japanese Gong
at
Parc Paradisio
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Cooling off at
Parc Paradisio |
Keep your fingers
out of the parrot cage. |
Wobbly foot bridge |
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Secrets between brother and
sister |
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New China Restaurant
Marie and I have been
coming here for over 10 years. |
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April 21-22
Trip to Disneyland Paris
with Goupa and Spring
(thank you
Mr. Brown)
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15th Anniversary
of Disneyland Paris |
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Balloon Ride over Disney - 100 meters
high
I was not
comfortable but Alexine loved it.
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Dinner at Mickey Cafe.
We get to meet the chef.
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Alexine in the reflection
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End of the visit - Starting to get
tired
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Kids sleeping on the way
home |
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Teaching
Nicolas to 'skip rocks' |
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Bertha with freshly painted nails |
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Boy at Chimay 2005
Still fiddling with old photos
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Nicolas
and friend |
+25o -
Getting Warmer |
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Future circus performer
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Seaside - 9 April |
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Alexine trying out
her new camera |
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L'Ecole
de Cirque
We've been trying to find a
way of utilizing Alexine's gift of physical strength and grace.
She did not enjoy activities like ballet or gymnastics but we think we found a perfect outlet - Circus School! Alexine now
attends the Circus School of Honnelles in a little village near the
French border. She absolutely loves it and will be attending every
Wednesday learning how to do trapeze, juggle, ride a unicycle, etc. |
6 April 2007 |
Congratulations
from the proud great-grandparents |
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Tired circus
performer
She fell
asleep shortly after leaving Honnelles
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Loading up on
some bonne chance |
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Nicolas and his homiez
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Bertha - Photo taken by Alexine
using her new camera. |
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Floating... |
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Rook takes pawn |
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Fun in Lille
31 March 2007 |
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Wow! First
a Pizza Hut in Mons
and now Domino's!! |
Easter egg hunt -
Sirault |
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Escargot to go |
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Le Pass
(Le Pass'erelle)
Old coal mine, now the
Parc d'Aventures Scientifiques |
Angry coal miners
Vintage
photo
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Red Stainless Steel
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Legal Tender |
Yummy Squirrel Beer
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My tired boy.
Tired, sweaty,
fed-up and ready to go home.
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Old photo
of the boy in Mons
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Leaving California
August 2004
(Playing with old photos)
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Goodbye house.
We left for airport after this photo was taken.
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Last visit to our old
church
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Saying goodbye to friends
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Downtown Santa Rosa
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Springtime in Brussels
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Choose your language
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Ducasse 2004
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Dr. Alexine performing an autopsy
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BIG Whale
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CSI - Brussels
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Grillz
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Bruxelles Midi
Photo taken from train
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Bruxelles - De Brouckere
Photo taken from hot air balloon
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Waffle Face
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Downtown
Lille
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Rooftops of Lille |
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Marie's Birthday!
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Hell freezes over!
Grizou and Bertha
sleeping
in the same spot!!
(hasn't happened since)
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Meteor shower
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Can you
help me find my
contact lens?
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Hurray!
Bouglione Circus
is back in town!
That is Marie buying the
tickets.
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Circus |
Circus |
Boy and sparkly toy |
Juggler at circus |
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Atomium
Restoration
Before
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During
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After
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Mons |
Mons |
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Le Ropieur
- Playing with old photos
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Belgian Coast
Picture taken from apartment
we normally use. |
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NICOLAS! Stop playing
with that bomb!! |
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Business end of an F16
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Dépêche toi! Le
Metro arrive!
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Give a hand to
the
balloon pilot! |
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Gare Centrale
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Marie's favorite
snack -
Burnt popcorn!
This batch was
extra-charred (not for squeamish eyes). |
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Watching the
cougars at the Lille Zoo |
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Stained-Glass Toilette
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Unhappy Ladybug and
AA Pilot |
Lille France |
Auntie
Denise and the kids
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Eh alors! |
Old Sabena Jet |
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Marie and
Claude François
(Yes, he is still alive!)
Marie does
his makeup
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Raoul Godfroid |
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Beloeil Castle |
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Castle Malt Factory |
Since 1868 and still
operating and supplying malt to the beer industry. Strong scent of
malt surrounds the area. |
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 Left
Building |
 Right
Building |
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Péruwelz - people
line up to fill their bottles with the good
water.
My kids
splash themselves with it. |
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La Chandeleur
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JUMP!
Tang's playgroup
at Sirault |
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85th Brussels Auto Expo
The largest car
exposition I have ever visited. We spent most of the day there and
did not see everything (including entire rooms). Alexine was
fascinated by the utility trucks!
21 January |
This is only one enormous
room of many! |
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Test Drive |
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Born to be wild |
Alexine in new Alfa Romeo Spider
Special sentimental value for me as my father drove an
Alfa Spider for many years
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Cooling off with an ice cream
(Refrigerated Truck) |
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New Mini Cooper Cabriolet |
Blue rocks |
Alexine's favorite part of the show was
the camionettes |
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Citroën concept car |
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Ford Focus ST (Video)
Daddy
drools over this car...
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Parc d'Enghien |
16th Century Crypt
The old church above it is long gone...
St. Denis |
St. Denis |
St. Denis |
Waffle House
Waffle place in Brussels |
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Flower shop in Mons |
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Mannekin Boy
Nicolas was not tall enough, so Alexine is holding him while I took the
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Heavy Duty Waffles
1000 Calories a piece!
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Parc Park Metro Station |
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Choco Masks |
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Climbing Santas |
Bruxelles - Midi
Koksijde
Mont St. Aubert
Alexine enjoys the house of mirrors.
Happy birthday Nicolas!
Zzzzzzzzzzz...
Yippee, we found Nounou's old
caravan!
Happy 9th Birthday Alexine!
Tram
Marie's Sand Balls
Abandoned house
Alexine
discovers the thrills of roller-coasters
