Our Son

May 14, 2015

Olivier climbing trees at Kew Gardens.

I will break fairness rules as this picture deserves a post of its own. Anyway, as Chiara reminds us regularly, life is unfair as Olivier as three persons to read him stories while she only has two – and there is nothing we can do about it (if you were wondering how hard life was on her …)

So this picture is special – it is rare enough to capture a natural smile in action with a perfect light and a good camera at hand. We are bringing our heavy lenses less and less so getting some results when we do is a relief, the stars aligned for this moment.
Obviously even more important is the action itself, seeing Olivier taking some risk and exploring on his own (we were far, it’s taken at 160mm and cropped) is great. It has not really been in his character so far and seeing him enjoying himself in this challenge is new and refreshing. Final reason is his hair – the more I look at it the more I realize how well deserved was the hair cut he got few days after this !

He will probably remember this day for the scratches on his belly when he fell down, we will remember it with this picture.

Easter Paradise

May 6, 2015

Sugar Beach Resort – One of those Sunset which makes you realize how lucky you are.

Olivier still think we were in Martinique … but it was pretty far. It has only been 1 month since we are back at work, but it feel much much farther away, so being late with a few pictures is a good reminder of the fantastic 12 days we had with the Samberger’s family in this little paradise, Mauritius.

Needless to say Olivier and Chiara were all over, were nothing but swimming gear, light dresses for almost two weeks. Between excursions and chilling out in the hotel they enjoyed every moment of it. We did as well.

We bought a Panasonic TG3 for the trip – which was meant to allow us to lend it to children (it’s resistant), bring it to the beach and take underwater pictures. As you can see below, the quality was under par – and it also came out wet inside from the trip …. so we returned it. It won’t be difficult to find out which pictures are taken with our Canon 5D Mk III vs the compact Panasonic. Unfair comparison obviously.

Lunch with a view – holidays

Swimming pool inside swimming pool. Apologies more than slightly retouched HDR picture – but otherwise it was all black

Postcard picture of the trip. This was the “adult-only” pool of the resort, so we were mostly sneaking in at night to the delight of Chiara to do something forbidden.

One of our trip was at a local park where we could feed animals – a first for Chiara

The very classic Pamplemousses Botanical Garden

Slightly different perspective of the otherwise very classic Pamplemousses Botanical Garden

Our digger at night, give a boy a tool and you get a hole.

On the few days where the kids do as they want … they stayed the whole day in the pool. This one was taken under heavy-rain.

Amateur photographer Niko is taking control for this pretty well captured family shot !

Try to guess who loves the rain and who does not.

Icecream in pool – paradise.

Our diver in action

This is the view from our room, a big change from London no ?

Olivier likes turtoises. Most kids do. They move more slowly than them, so they feel safe. This one was even safer as it was sleeping …

On our bats watching excursion, Chiara had the choice to be lifted above the river, or cross it and wet her shoes. She did not hesitate a lot.

On our bats watching excursion, Chiara had the choice to be carried on my back above the river, or cross it and wet her walking boots. She did not hesitate long.

Black river gorges national park … or bats valley at sunset.

Stavenger

March 22, 2015

Saturday morning, just after landing, on the local beach – our two city kids are happy.

There isn’t many short-haul flights from London where the destination is not obvious – Stavenger is one. The regular flight from London is mostly used for people on business to work on the North sea oil industry, so here we are in the south-west of Norway for 40 hours of family fun.

The main known attraction in the area is Lysefjord fjord located few hours from Stavanger. It is best known for Preikestolen pulpit rock – big rock overlooking the fjord. Unfortunately the hike would have been too much for Olivier, so we stayed on the beach and went for a local tour on the scenic road – taking ferries for the great amusement of Chiara and Olivier.

Before jumping back on the plane – the Oil museum was quite a hit as well !

Summary with a few images …

6 years ago – we used to do this – now we have to let the youngsters

Until this day – Chiara has been swimming in all the waters she encountered – but the 5 degres of the North Sea in March proved a step too high (good for me too as I didn’t have to join her). This picture was taken after 10mins of her playing in the water, she couldn’t feel her feet.