Summer

We've been back a week now and Europe seems like a distant memory. Summer has hit us hard. Our yard was in terrible condition, it's super hot outside and the mosquitoes are out to kill us. Seriously, Tommy looks like he has chicken pox with all the bites he's gotten, even with bug spray on. Anybody have any ideas? Anyway, here are some or our saving graces...

A much belated birthday gift, the 3-in-1 smart trike, which I think deserves the toy of the year award. Tommy loves riding it, and Rachel loves pushing him around in it.
Target pool for 50% off

Frozen Gogurts, Rachel's absolute FAVORITE snack, and Tommy has taken a liking to them as well.
Here's a new face from Tommy, I love it!
The pool. With Rachel's dance lessons and our "program member" card we get access to the YMCA pool 5 times...which will quickly run out.


One thing I love about summer is the fireflies, sitting out on the porch swing talking to Jake and watching them twinkle the yard.

Herway Talent

My little artistHer favorite thing to draw is people, or princesses rather, if you notice the dresses. If she has color, the blue one is Cinderella, yellow is Belle, and so on. She makes sure to draw wings on Tinkerbelle and a fin on Ariel. She also does a really good family portrait. She also likes drawing the sun and mountains.
This is Lightning Mcqueen
I was pretty impressed and I said to Jake, I should teach her how to write her name. She says, "I know how to write my name." She proceeds to do an R then an A, something else and then an l. Wow! She then continues to write MOM, DAD, TOM, Rachel Vanbrederode (it's the one above her name) and AVA (up top). I was in disbelief as I have not taught her how to do any of it. I'm so proud.
And Tommy? Will he take after his namesake in music?

Who knows, but he's sure got the beat down. I know I've posted a similar video, but it's just too cute.

The rest of our trip

We enjoyed sticking around Brussels and doing some local things. We took a walk to the bakery every morning to get the most delicious pastries. Rachel got a chocolate doughnut every time. They were amazing though, as well as everything else we tried.A family picnic at La Hulpe castle
We had a baguette sandwich and lots of candy and chocolate that is only found here in Europe. (Why does Europe have the most delicious everything?) Then we climbed up and down the stairs, and up and down again, and played an interesting version of soccer, which was a lot of fun.
Tommy can kick the ball, he can even run and stand on his own...but still can't walk. Crazy boy.
He loves BYU football, can you tell?
We went to a reenactment of the battle of Waterloo, which was pretty cool.
It was a great vacation. I wasn't anxious to leave at all. Jake was a little sentimental in the end thinking it may be our last visit. We'll see.

Heaven

Also known as Lake Como Italy. I honestly don't think there is a more beautiful place. The mountains, the lake, the colorful buildings...combine it with the best food in the world and a perfect climate. Heaven! This is the view from our room in Bellagio. You don't get any better!!!We found this local pizzeria that had the most AMAZING pizza I have ever tasted. My tastebuds were in shock. We shared one pizza for 6.50 euro and couldn't even finish it. We tried other restaurants to repeat this experience with no success. The other pizzas were good, but when you've had the best...
Down in the town of Bellgio
Same view as our room, and once again, an AMAZING breakfast
Menaggio, town across the lake, which we had fun exploring.
Varenna, where we hiked and hiked and hiked. Each town is so unique. I think I could spend forever here.Swimming in the lake was quite the experience. I don't know how to describe it, the water was just sooo soft.
GELATO! It's what we came for. I thought it would be fun to tally how many gustis (scoops) we could eat during our stay. In 48 hours I had 14 scoops. Jake had 21!

(And Citta's in Sandy has got it)

When we first arrived I noticed I had one bar of battery life left on my camera. It's a miracle we were able to take all the pictures we wanted, including this last shot. We brought books to read but couldn't bring ourselves to do it because we didn't want to take our eyes off of this incredible view. It's going to be hard to top this vacation.

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The "beach"

Last Saturday we got an absolutely gorgeous day...one of those days that just feels like Saturday. Fresh, relaxed, sunny yet cool. We took advantage of it by going to a nearby lake with a beach. Rachel was beside herself with this idea too. Despite forgetting toys we had a GREAT time splashing in the freezing water, building sandcastles, relaxing and just enjoying each other.

Good job Tommy

"That's what Jack does"

Gotta love it!

Daddy's room

Rachel loves "rooms." So one day during Jake's residency we spent a night at his hotel in downtown Brussels. Rachel was giddy and overwhelmed with excitement...it was a late night. The next day we spent some time at the pool and watched cartoons in French. Rachie didn't seem to mind. And Tommy, well, what else do you do when stuck in a room for 4 hours.Rachel thinks the building across the way is her "work." We all really enjoyed people watching.

In memory of Grandpa Grossen

Here's a little excerpt from my journal today:
"A few hours ago I received a phone call from my dad telling me that my grandpa was in the last day of his life. Then I received another phone call...he's gone. Although it was expected, especially with his fast decline in the past couple of weeks, it is still hard. I will miss him and all his quarkiness. I last saw him when I was out in Utah in March, just a few months ago. He looked good, he was his good ol' self. We ate at one of his typical restaurants. Rachel sat between him and Linda and she had a great time! I'm glad I was able to see him then and I knew it could have quite possibly been the last time. It was sad to hear how much he suffered with chemotherapy to his final moments. I'm happy to think of the grand reunion of my grandmother, Mary Ada, after 15 years. It's wonderful to have the perspective and knowledge of the gospel. I have fun memories of Snicklefritzgleek stories, going through his safe of jewelry, his tickles that really hurt, his drawers and cupboards of candy, the way he wiggled his fingers by his mouth talking of something delicious, his love of books, lladro, garbage trinkets that "we could have", a good deal. I'll always remember his laugh, how we all used to give him such a hard time about everything. I remember how he helped me study for the AP history exam. I still failed. Sorry Grandpa, I wish I had the same love of history as you. One thing I loved most about him was how proud he was of me. I remember him at my Nutcracker performances, how choked up he got on my wedding day. He got teary eyed again when I had Rachel, saying how precious she was and how precious little children are. I'm so proud of him! For finding happiness again after my grandma died, dealing with the struggles of his second wife and the divorce, and for finding another wonderful woman, and most importantly, becoming worthy again to go through the temple. I'll be so happy to see him again. I'm here in Belgium for another week and a half and the funeral is on Wednesday. I am really really sad to miss it. I love my grandpa and am grateful for the life he lived, and that I could be a part of it."

I wish I could be with my family right now during this time, so let this be a hug to all of you-dad, brother, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, as you think of all the fun memories of Grandpa and how much we'll miss him.

This is a picture of us with him last October

Rain, rain go away

I feel like Eeyore. The rain has followed us from Charlotte, Disney World, the Caribbean, and now Brussels. When will we ever get summer?  Honestly, I'm getting really tired of it.

At least Rachel doesn't seem to mind.  When she saw it was raining the next thing we know she's coming down the stair wearing this
Jake isn't the crazy one here. It really is chilly.
I can't believe already a week has gone by. We had a crazy time getting over here. Believe it or not, RAINstorms in New Jersey delayed our Charlotte flight an hour. We booked it to our Brussels flight missing it by seconds. It's so aggravating to see your plane still hooked to the gate and also learning that it too was delayed...on the runway. We were rerouted to go to Frankfurt, with a 4 hour layover. Tommy didn't sleep, which means neither did I.  At least I got to enjoy a quiet dinner and the most delicious berry tart cake for my birthday. 

a Tervuren tree

Tommy is so close to walking, but he is too attached to our fingers.  Supposedly he took some of his first steps, but I wasn't there, so I'm not counting it.

We've been able to catch up with Jake a few times while he's been at school

Tommy likes to have frites with his ketchup

And more RAIN...

at Villers Abbey, just 30 minutes away

I didn't bring a jacket for Tommy.  All the ones he has are up in the attic and probably too small anyway.  So poor Tommy has had to wear an oversized girl jacket. 

A glimpse of sunshine now and then
Jake and I will be taking a small getaway to Lake Como, Italy for a few days next week.  I looked up the weather there...sunny!  90 degrees even.  So summer here I come (cross my fingers)

Our Disney Cruise

We had the time of our lives! We spent our first day at Magic Kingdom and it poured on us most the day. Tommy loved Small World and Rachel still went on Dumbo despite the pool in the bottom of it. The "big boat" was magical for all of us. Even Jake is now converted to Disney, his dream and how it "all started with a mouse," went through bankruptcy and other struggles to become all that it is today. Rachel enjoyed seeing all the princesses, having a tea party with Alice, storytime with Belle and breakfast with all the characters.

The first island we went to was Tortola. The babies were miserable with the rocky sand and the cold water but it was beautiful and the snorkeling and caves were a lot of fun. The next island was St. Thomas. I think it was all our favorite. Soft sand, warm clear blue water, breathtakingly beautiful and INCREDIBLE snorkeling. The third place we went was Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. We had a sting ray excursion and turns our I'm terrified of sting rays. One brushed up against my leg, and you probably thought I was going to die. I freaked out. I did have Jake piggy back me out into the water so that I could at least swim above them. It then poured on us again and we weren't able to fully enjoy all the island had to offer.

The cruise had some fabulous shows and some even more fabulous food. A couple of my favorites were the the cream of mango soup and the s'more cake. One thing I don't like about cruises is how wasteful it is. I thought I wasted a lot of food with what my kids don't eat. Yikes. At least they make 500,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water every day.

We had so much fun. But Tommy was glad to have his 3 hour nap in his crib when we got home and sleep his usual 12+ hours at night. Rachel says her friends missed her. Even though we just barely unpacked and finished the laundry we're packing again tonight to leave for Brussels tomorrow. Jake has a week of school over there and we had enough sky miles to go with him. We're really excited.

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