vineri, 18 mai 2012

This Moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. {from www.soulemama.com}


marți, 15 mai 2012

Lago di Garda. Sea Life.

It seems like forever since we came back from our holiday in Italy, but the kids are still talking about Gardaland and Sea Life. Why it was such a hit?
It's easy to say! There is no aquarium in Bucharest, you can only see some plastic fishes at the Natural History Museum (recently and successfully renovated). To be fair, I have to say there are some sort of small aquariums at Zoo, but as far as I remember, they are the same kind of aquariums you can see in a pet-shop.


The Gardaland's Sea Life is a beautiful and modern aquarium building, with a sailing vessel in front of it, surrounded by a small lake with colorful creatures inside.



They have a glass tunnel, where you can admire all those beautiful and interesting species... the kids were sitting there the whole morning.


The space is beautiful decorated, with sinking boats, pots and multicolor water herbs.


We could admire a large diversity of creatures, each of them in its own environment.








Outside the aquarium is a retro photo booth, where for a coin you can have you own pirate reward photography.


Radu is proudly waving his flag and the sword...


... his favorites toys yet.


Mara's trophy from the souvenir's shop was this cute dolphin, I think this was one of the most productive trip when we are talking about toys for kids. 
 
We had a reward system for eating vegetables, winning points and converting them in toys shopping. Bogdan invented it and I was very happy with such arrangement, because I knew we would buy some toys anyway. 
They even saved some points for home!

The kids were full of questions, and I hope we satisfied well their curiosity!

The next stop: Verona by rain!

luni, 14 mai 2012

Stop Dreaming

Sunday morning, while we were sleeping, Sebi went out to take some pictures of Campulung Muscel. This is one of them:


Isn't this place amazing? Is the house we spent our weekend!

duminică, 13 mai 2012

Smell the Flowers Weekend

Two years ago, we attended to a beautiful wedding in the area of Campulung Muscel, and during our stay there we visited the construction site of the future home of our friend photographer, Sebastian Enache. At the time, it was just a concrete building on the top of a hill, surrounded by trees and flowers, we could just guess from his stories how it will be. He passionately told us where it will be the living room, the bedrooms and the photo studio, but he never mentioned the guest house part. We watched and saw only a bunch of iron and bricks, at the time.

We knew they finished the house last year and gave up the crazy life in Bucharest for a more quiet one in province of Arges, moved in and increased their beautiful family with their fifth member, Miruna. But, last week, after a long time, we talked for a matter of business and he invited us for the weekend, together with my brother. 

We arrived on Friday evening, very late, but the lights on the terrace were lit and the beers cold. All the kids were awake, and we counted 7 kids from 1 to 11 years old. 

So, if you have kids (or not) and you want to relax a weekend (or more), you have to know that I already booked 2 weeks in August, so hurry up!


We woke up early in the morning and we had a look at the terrace: from up there you can see the whole city and the forest. I took the kids and we went down for a coffee and the breakfast.

Next step: an expedition.

Only one child is missing, and that one is Miruna, but that just because he started to walk only three weeks ago.

Alexandra has shown us how to climb a tree.

After such trip, we went downtown for lunch and ice-cream. Lunch for eight, with appetizers, soups, fresh trout and pasta: 50 Euro.


In the garden, Sebi has build a tent of branches and leaves, the kids spent hours there, it was such a release for us, because it was safe and we could see them from the porch above!

Mariuca, Sebi's biggest daughter, is a 7 YO singer and dancer, she won several competitions in Romania, and we often hear her performing at the radio!


The boys, Radu and Vlad, are close as age, so they made good friends and kept us entertained with all their funny faces.


A riding competition took place, but none won...

 ... because Radu fell down on the wooden deck, with no injuries, though.

Inspired, Bogdan and my brother did the same...

... I laughed so much, I don't really remember who won, neither if it was a winner or a looser. 

Sebi had some fun either, I hope he wasn't jealous for not competing, he was the only one taking pictures.


They are such a beautiful family: my brother, Alina, my sis-in-law, and Alexandra, my niece.


Runa helped us with the kids, she watched them in the forest, replacing us. She is growing up so fast, sometimes I look at her and I can't believe she is my daughter. We use to borrow between us our shoes and clothes, when all these happen?

Mariuca tried Bogdan's camera, she seems to handle it quiet well, you can tell her father is a famous photographer (not kidding, he shoots for Elle, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Avantaje - you name the magazine, he is there).


Miruna eats radishes with her four teeth, she likes any food on the table!


The kids were playing all the time, with scooters, bicycles, balloons, cars and then stopped to admire the view for a while.
 

Runa was cooking grass for dinner with the kids...


... then did her homework, because she knew is gonna have a hard week ahead.

Oana, our amazing host, mother of three, breastfeeding, maintaining harmony and running the house. 


Marian, my brother, prepared the dinner: barbecue is his specialty. Always.


The wooden deck was the main stage of all actions around the house: playing, eating, singing, sunbathing...


Mariuca was singing and dancing for the kids, she is an incredible performer!

 

Miruna - no word needed.

And now, some pictures of the house, Sebi is awaiting any queries at eu@sebastianenache.com, and he'll be thrilled to receive you together with his amazingly beautiful family and fresh vegetables from the local market.




See you there, and if you are passionate about photography, I'll tell you more about the photo-tours he'll organize soon!

vineri, 4 mai 2012

Lago di Garda. Gardaland. #2

The day we went to Gardaland was a bright sunny day, we chose it by checking accuweather.com, because "the rain in"... well, Italy, was mainly in the plain during our holiday. Eight days of ten was raining, that means 80 per cent from our holiday we had a dark sky with some short moments of sun and warmer weather, but not warm enough for a t-shirt... 
But we've been together and this is what it counts, isn't it?
As I promised yesterday, there are more pictures from Gardaland, because I wasn't able to choose fewer. Stay tuned for Sea Life coming soon!
























I'm wishing you a fabulous weekend, my friends!