Les vacances
Not easy to sum up an eventful holidays in a couple of pictures or a couple or words. Yes I'll give it my best shot and will publish some of them too ;-)
This was my first long holiday with Erik in the South of France and one he certainly needed hard after the 8 month process leading to the refinancing of VNU. I can't deny that I needed some rest too event though I had already had a break in May and July. An ugly divorce is even more draining than I could have ever imagined it...and that's from someone who usually prepares for the worst. Anyway, we needed these long sunny warm restful days. And we got some: days on the boat with my parents when we just laid down on the deck, swam, snorkeled and read in a beautiful bay away from the buzzing coast. Days on the beach. Just the 3 of us. Nice lunch with a good bottle of chilled rose, pretty walk to a quiet bay not yet quite know to tourists and afternoon in the sea. And days or evenings at my parents' house where we enjoyed the pool, the drinks in the early evening when the temperature comes down and you lay back on a chair fresh from a shower and the dinners on the terrace.
We also got some less quiet days when we went to Marineland for instance, which involved facing a two hour drive each way, braving the crowd on a very very hot day, juggling 2 families and feeling sorry things had to be bad with my brother. I planned my holiday during his to give a chance to Chloe and Margot to see each other since we all live far away from one another, to enjoy some rare family time with every one around and to introduce Erik to my brother and Delphine. But past dissapointments and lack of communication got to us and a small incident exploded into a big argument, making the last days of the holiday uneasy after the stress and sadness of it all settled down. A shame.
Luck would have it that Erik's brother and family (who live in Hong Kong) were staying at friends 30 km away from where my parents live. This was also a rare opportunity for his family to enjoy a few days together and Erik and Arjan invited their parents to spend a holiday in the South of France too. We organized to meet up for a day between Port Grimaud and Saint Tropez, a day at the hotel (very nice lunch followed by day at the pool) and met up in Marineland. Erik, Chloe and I also took Erik's parents to Port Cros and Erik and Arjan played golf. Last but not least, we had a couple of very relaxed and fun dinners in la Mole where Jamie and Christine, Arjan's friends, have a house on the hills in the wood, where the moon shines bright, the shooting stars light up the sky, everything is comfortably chaotic and where power petanque happens between running kids.
In those days Chloe got to play with Julia and Sophie (Erik's nieces), I got to know every one better and especially Ellen, Arjan's wife, whom I found very easy to get on with, and Erik enjoyed spending some quality time with his family. These times were made even more special by the fact that everyone realized they were rare and therefore precious moments to spend together and thoroughly enjoy and yet no one tried too hard and there was no pressure felt or applied to do things together, have intense conversations or make the outmost of it. We, I, simply enjoyed the moments.
Well, that was it for my best shot, now the shots:
Maman & Margot Chloe & Margot Erik & Chloe at the pool
Captain Chloe
From the boat
Us at the beach
Marineland
Family Hoekstra
At Jamie and Christine's in La Mole
And other pictures I just like ;-)