Gnomes, Wild Horses & Sunshine

If you ever scrolled through this little blog of mine, this will come to no suprise to you: I love nature! I love discovering new places and just being in awe by how beautiful this little globe of us can be. I have a pretty complicated and rushed life, but this really helps me wind down and realize what's really important in life. We headed out to our favorite spot last weekend and we were accompanied by my mom and brother. A little family outing. And since I have the compulsive need to take pictures of everything, I have plenty shots of this day to share with you!

Now how cute is this? I always get so excited when I discover little things like this in the woods. It's a little step and a door carved into the bottom of a tree. It looks a little gnome house. I obviously have no idea who was responsible for this, but I think it's absolutely genius! It definitely delivered a smile on my face when I stumbled across it.

We often encouter wild horses on this trail, so I should be used to it by now. But I just can't help myself. I still find it so special to see these beautiful animals roam around in their own habitat. No fences, no owners....just nature. 

My little monkey swinging among the trees and playing with her favorite uncle.  Never mind her little bum peeking out of her skirt. 

How gorgeous is this? Nature as far as the eye (or in this case the camera on my Iphone) can see. I work in (and for) a city that is always crowded, busy and full of traffic. So this is really a very welcome change of scenery. Love it!

But being outside all day sure can make a gal hungry. So I indulged in the most disgustingly delicious pancake ever. It's a mandarin, cointreau, sugar, chocolate, whipped cream and vanilla ice cream pancake. It was awsome, but I don't think it justified the regret I felt afterwards. So yeah, I'll just be eating salads for the rest of the week! Haha!

Too much nature for you? Don't worry! I'm going on another city trip this weekend, so I'll be back next week with pictures of the concrete jungle... and possibly a shopping haul! :)

Spring has sprung!

I am not much of a winter person. So when the first signs of spring start to show I get really, really excited. Because I make pretty long hours at work, winter always makes me feel like a zombie. I go to work when it's dark and I get home when it's dark. And not experiencing any daylight just does something to a person. So I love the days getting longer and being able to spend more time outdoors with my family. Enjoying nature and being active is just something that makes me feel alive and happy. And that beats zombie every single time! So we jumped at the opportunity to enjoy the first signs of spring. Here are some of my favorite shots of the day! 

So, are you just as excited about spring as I am?

Local Traditions and Festivities!

In two weeks from now we'll be celebration a typical local holiday. We celebrate the birthday of a Catholic bishop that comes to visit us with his helpers and brings gifts for all the children. He usually arrives by boat a couple of weeks in advance to get everyone in the right spirit for the actual holiday. This was today. 

This is a holiday I grew up with and one that holds many dear memories to me. We always celebrated this holiday with the entire family and I remember feeling so excited and loved as a child. But it is also a harsh reminder that not everyone is still around to celebrate it with me this year. Especially my dad. He passed away before Charlotte was born and it hurt that he's not around to celebrate the holidays with us. But I do know I am very blessed that Charlotte is here and that I can share this holiday with her and make new memories with our little family. I love her so much and I'm so incredibly thankful fthat I am able to share this with her. 

Charlotte found a great viewing point on daddies shoulders. She got really excited about all the dancing and the music as the parade passed by. It was very crowded in the streets, but she handled the event like a pro. She even recieved candy from of the helpers. So she was just chilling and stuffing away her sweets. She had a great time, so that automatically means we all had a great time.

After standing outside in the cold for a while we decided to head indoors for a warm cup of coffee. There were alot of kids there, so it was impossible to keep Charlotte at our table. She went off playing with the other children and got treated to some spiced biscuits and candy by yet another helper. She got so excited about it that she ran back to our table to show us what she just got. 

Yes, she was really excited about getting candy from a stranger... we'll probably need to do something about that in the future. But not now, not yet. We're just enjoying the festivities and love being able to share this with our precious little angel. Do you have any special local traditions?

Vacation Part Deux!

Since we had to postpone our vacation due to Charlotte's health scare, we had to wait a little longer for our much needed second break. But vacation was finally here! We spend a sweet little holiday in France, a holidaypark in Aisne called le lac d'ailette to be exact. I had lots of activities planned, such as seeing the Eiffel Tower and visiting Disneyland Paris, but since Charlotte was still recovering and we were all pretty exhausted from the whole experience. we decided to just have a chilled and laidback vacation instead. We hung out at the lake, went swimming, went for walks and went out to dinner. We stayed at the park most of the time and just did some light local sightseeing. It was absolutely fine though. We had to cutest little cottage and the park was absolutely gorgeous! Here are some of our favorite holiday shots!

I actually liked it so much there, that I'm seriously considering going back there next year. And maybe then we can actually go see the Eiffel Tower and visit Disneyland Paris. Who knows! :) Did you have a fun vacation? 

Kisses!