More fun in Bethany Beach

I have a hard time uploading pics to the blog, so I am behind a bit, still trying to blog about Bethany Beach, while I am already a week in Pine Knoll shores of the Outer Banks.

But hopefully I can catch up before leaving to NYC on Sunday!

Our 2 weeks here in Bethany Beach were wonderful. We met a few of my friends here and they spent some time with us, which was a welcome surprise and so fun! Thanks to my house swapping friends Lloyd and Andrea who allowed us to do that. We are grateful for that!!

The area is famous for the all you can eat crab dinners, the wonderful board walks and super beaches, so we fully enjoyed all this while we could!

We also went to Splash Mountain a water park where they have the big slides and all the water fun you can imagine. All the kids had so much fun!!











Dirk came the last 2 days of our stay in Bethany Beach and we enjoyed an evening at the boardwalk and the rides with daddy, and a huge all you can eat crab feast! The girls had so much fun showing Dirk what we all did and they made sure daddy had the same fun, so we went in one of the rides (the gravitron) with the girls and came out both very nauseous!!

When we went again for the crab feast JJ first wanted a dozen clams and a dozen mussels before she started feasting on the crabs, this girl can eat seafood!!







Goodbye to our house swapping host Lloyd. Thank You for the wonderful time we had in your beautiful home!!



Bethany Beach was a fun time, we truly enjoyed our time here!!
Up to the next destination!

The Outer Banks...

More of that later..
Mireille xx

Photo shoot in Philly

When I realized that by coming to Bethany Beach for the summer and I was so close to Philladelphia I knew I wanted to make an appointment with my blogging friend Kate and fellow adoptive mom from Max & Mimi photography.

So I went to Philly for the day and Kate took some gorgeous pictures of the girls, she had it planned out completely. The dresses, the hats, the locations, it was all planned accordingly to her ideas. And the outcome is gorgeous!! Soon I will get the CD with the originals, but these below I just took myself with my own camera in between her shots, so these are nothing compared to hers, but I just give you an idea what the end result will be.

Aren't these hats just FABULOUS? What a great prop!!





This picture reminds me of my wedding announcement in '96, Dirk and me stood around a tree like this... great memory!



Lia, Kate's beautiful and cute daughter was also in a few shots and we loved hanging out with her. She is such a sweet girl!
The girls hit it off immediately, so fun to see them together!!



Thank You Kate and Jim for the wonderful day we had together!!
A great memory, and from blogging friends we became REAL friends :-)

And if you are in the neighborhood of Phiily, book a shoot with Kate, you won't regret it!! You will have the most fabulous images to keep for life!! I am glad I did it!! You can find her here on her website or on Facebook under Max & Mimi Photography.

How is your summer so far??
Love, M xx

Happy 4th July!!

A bit late this post, but anyway; Happy 4th July everyone!!

Hope you all had a good one!!

We celebrated not only 4th July but also my friend Valerie's Birthday, so double the fun!!

We had a day at the beach, watched a bit of the parade in town and in the evening we had a FAB all you can eat Maryland style Crabs!! Oh how I missed that!! It was so so good!!

We also did a photo shoot as a remembrance to our good times together and for Val's Bday! Here some fun shots.





Happy Birthday Valerie!! Great to see you guys again!! So much fun!!



This year we celebrated in Bethany Beach, here the totum pole which marks the start of Bethany Beach. A fun day, however no fireworks due to the rain :-( And the day after we missed it too....


At night we had all you can eat Crab Feast at the Blue Crab, so YUMMY!!





Another grand day here in the USA!!

What did you do at 4th July??
Mireille xx

Fun at Bethany Beach

After a week in Ridgefield we headed to Delaware, where I did a house swap with a wonderful family who were in our house last year during the World Cup Soccer. The house is beautiful and very close to Bethany Beach, a great beach town with a board walk. So we will have some great days here!!

The first days we were here my friend Marion with her boys Max & Sam were here. And then another friend of me Jen with her daughter Ruby came as well, so we had 1 day together on the beach. We and the kids had a blast!!

The twins jumping the waves with Ruby.

Ruby 'riding the waves' like a real pro! So cute!!

Mom & daughter enjoying the water.

Bethany Beach.

My sweet girls having the time of their life!

Max and the girls, having fun!

The waves are much wilder here than what we are used to in Connecticut, so much fun!

Wow, a big one knocked them over!

Sam is loving it all!!

Run, another one is coming our way!

Jumping over them is so much fun!

What a great day!!

I had to be careful with my camera, the waves were so wild it would knock us over so fast, so I had to stay in the shallow waters while photographing the kids.

The beaches of Delaware are so amazing! Had no clue about them, another great town here in the neighborhood is Rehoboth Beach, very fun to hang out as well!! A bit more to do, a bigger boardwalk, but also more crowded. But gorgeous beach homes for rent!

We are having a good time here!
More to come...
Mireille xx

'Hanging with friends'

The BEST part of going back to the United States is that we get 'to hang with' friends! I just LOVE seeing all our old buddies but also making some new friends along the way... isn't that just the greatest??!!

YES it IS!!

So I met up with my good old DUTCH buddies Marion, Suzy and Gonneke and we went out for dinner. Just talking Dutch was the best... we could share secrets outside on the patio and nobody around us could understand us... and we had some saucy talks.. and laughed and laughed and the people around us were looking at us, but didn't have a clue what we were talking about!

FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

Isn't that what vacation is all about??!! Having fun!!

Suzy, me, Gonneke & Marion. My good old Dutch buddies! All traveled around the world and ended up in Ridgefield!

Then another surprise invitation, which was so fun! Bob and Val where we were staying have some friends in their street who moved to Ridgefield just about the time when we left Ridgefield and since then they are hanging out with each other.

Well, the week we were there the Welby family invited us all for an impromptu dinner. These moments I cherish, because most of the times these kind of spontaneous invites are the BEST!!

And this one was GREAT!!

We had a wonderful evening with Allan and his wife Sandra, 2 of their kids Adam & Adriana who baby sits the Liu girls all the time and tonight kept all the girls busy with bead work and other crafts while the adults hung out and had a FAB dinner!!

SO NICE!!





Look at these sweet faces, aren't they the cutest!!



What a few great evenings we had in Ridgefield, but our time is over there and we are now in Bethany Beach, Delaware.
More to come!

Isn't summer just the best?
Love, M xx

Concert in the Park & Birthday cake

Since I was just 1 week in Ridgefield and there are so many friends I wanted to see we decided to meet all on Tuesday evening at the concert in the park that is a weekly event in the summer.

So much fun to hang out with all my 'old' buddies!! It is so much fun to be in Ridgefield in the summer :-)

Everybody brings chairs, blankets, some food and drinks and meet here on Tuesdays.

While the moms & dads enjoy some drinks the kids are off to play at the playground.



My good friends Liz, Suzy, me and Val. And Emmy and Jasmine having fun with cake.

Me, Alex, Liz and Val.

Alex, Patsy, Liz and me again, having fun in the park.

Anna & JJ. Wow, after seeing all the kids after 2 years they have grown so big!

Mia & JJ.

Ella, Anna & JJ.

It was also Emmy & Ella's 9th Birthday that day, so back at home we celebrated with 2 different cakes and cupcakes!

Best buddies Emmy & Jasmine and a red velvet cake.

And also best buddies Ella & Juliet with double chocolate cake. Each had their favorite :-)

And big sister Mia with the twins, so good to see each other again. It was as if we had never left!!

What a fun day, seeing all my friends again! We clicked all immediately again and had such a good time!!
We definitely need to stay in touch!!

Friends are precious!!
Mireille xx

Fun at Compo Beach

It was the last week of school, so the Liu girls stayed home for a day and we went to the lovely beach at Compo in Westport. It was not vacation yet, so not busy and we had a great day!


Here Emmy, Jasmine, Ella, Juliet and Mia as "Charlies Angels" posing with their water guns :-)

The view on the beach to the left and right, not that many people yet.





Time for a snack...


Apparantly it was mating time for the horse shoe crabs and there were so many of them in the shallow waters. The girls loved watching them.



Jasmine and Emmy found one nearby.



And a little boy found a dead one, it smelled like hell!! But he loved showing it to everybody :-)



Our first week in Ridgefield and we are having already so much fun!!
So great to see JJ & Jezz' best friends!!

More to follow :-)
M xx