Good morning followers, here is the obligatory photographic report of our family trip to Charente-Maritime. You really didn't think you would escape, did you?

The port of La Tremblade, the town where we stayed

Queen for a day, crowned by Wolf

Tyl taking a nap. We all slept a lot, we were in dire need for some rest.

Naughty toddler!

The beach of Royan. The old sailing ship on the horizon was a visitor of the Tour de France for sailing boats. How they get over the Alps is a mystery to me. (For Daphne: beach with blue-white striped tents)

Gunner Wolf at battle stations. This picture was taken in Brouage, a fortified town not far from our camping. The whole region is littered with forts that were meant to protect the French navy from those English bastards.

Going to the loo was a communal affair for the 18th century French soldier.

View towards the sea, which used to be much closer in the olden days. But this whole bay region is sanding up.

A face ravished by cookies and mosquito bites

So, that's all for the good weather pictures. The next day it started raining until the morning of the very last day of our summer holidays...

Wolf, very tired after climbing 290 steps of the bell tower of the church of Marennes. But he did get up there and back down all on his own, he just needed a couple of minutes to sit down and rest.

Tyl on the big bed of our hotel room in Orleans, where we staid for a night on our way to Charentes Maritime.

'Your plate, you will finish
Cause you'll eat your spinach
Says dad to his firstborn son'

Thanks to Andy for sharing the link.

These guys go through three bows per concert. I mean look at the thing at the end of their number!

I've lost my mobile phone. Again.

I had it for four years, after loosing the previous one somewhere in the Congolese jungle. This time, I lost it on a Belgian train, or possibly on the bus. Doesn't matter, there's more chance of me finding back the old one in the rainforests of the Congo after four years.

So if I don't call you, or answer your call, this time I've got a good excuse.

In an attempt to become even more beautiful than she is today, Mrs.B has braces. These days, braces don't carry the stigma they used to have. They even come in fashionable colours, I mean those small rubber bands that just used to be white. You can get all kinds of flashy colours. Mrs.B selected green rubber bands.

'How do you like them', she asked.

'You look like you've eaten spinach', I replied.

Hell never hath a fury like a woman scourned...

My youngest son butted me in the head a couple of days nights ago. I've heard about kids mistreating their parents, but Tyl really starts at an early age.

I was gently snoring the plaster from the ceiling sleeping when he woke up and demanded to be fed. So Mrs.B got out of bed and made him a bottle. When he'd finished it, she sat him next to my pillow. Ever the funny type, he reached for my nose to give it a good pinch, but being the amateur-sitter that he still is, he lost his balance and BAM! He butted me right on the forehead, just above my left eye.

I can asure you that I was right awake, although I was still seeing stars so you can imagine my confusion. Amazingly, Tyl didn't feel a thing (or he was just too knocked out to start crying). I, on the other hand, can still feel the bump four days later.