"Last" pictures

With everything on our "to-do" list checked off we were able to spend our last few days relaxing in Jake's "home," Brussels. It could very well have been our very last few days as well. Of course, that's what we said last June too. We'll see.

A tractor we found at the end of the farmer's field behind Jake's house.Tommy's heaven
I don't know what it is, but I just love furrows!!
A pond found in the forest
Tervuren park
"I'm having a lot of fun here!" Chasing ducks and playing with Daddy
The "ramps" in the forest, also behind Jake's house.
Jake speaks very fondly of his childhood and I'm so glad that we can sort of relive some of his greatest memories.

Our flight home was loooong. It started with the flight being delayed 2 hours, which caused us to miss our connecting flight and we barely missed the next flight out. Once again we watched a plane pull away from the gate. Luckily there was one left at 6:30pm (which was 12:30AM Brussels time). The kids hadn't slept a wink, but oddly enough we had no major meltdowns. It was actually quite interesting to watch them get their 4th and 5th winds. They were still running around with a ton of energy. We make it on the plane and the pilot says, "We're in line for take off and it looks like we're number...(long pause)...25. I kept waiting for him to chuckle. But at least the kids had just fallen asleep on the taxi out.

It's good to be back in Charlotte. It's SO green!!! We went outside to play on the swing set at noon and we were completely in the shade. Although we were up at 4:45 this morning I think we're over the worst of jet lag. It's always harder coming this way. And once again it has been interesting how much energy they have. When Rachel was really young I gave her Benedryl for a rash. For most kids it makes them drowsy, for Rachel it made her hyperactive. Well, sleep deprivation has the same effect.

We're now back to reality...selling the house, finding a place to live, etc. I'm trying to enjoy the last of it here as well.

Germany

Anita, my mother-in-law was so kind to watch the kids so Jake and I could take a short getaway. We considered cities like Venice and Prague but decided to do roadtrip to Germany to do castle stay on the Rheine river. It's a good thing we did because the airports ended up being closed due to the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

This is the room we stayed in
We arrived Wednesday afternoon and had some time to kill before our Rheine river cruise to see some more castles. We walked to the train tracks and flattened some Euros. We were acting like kids...we had a lot of fun doing that.
This is a view of our hotel from the river. Castle Liebenstein.


We made a 30 minute stop in a small town called St. Goar.
A highlight was browsing the local Christmas shop filled with nutcrackers, pyramids, cuckoo clocks, etc. It was very tempting to buy something!

This is the view from our castle

The castle had a really fun dining area. We came back from our river cruise and we noticed a candle lit table the was "reserved." It was for us! We had the most AMAZING food. I've never been too fond of German food but this was out of this world. Jake got a delicious pork spaetzel (type of pasta) with a mushroom sauce and Claus (the owner of the hotel/restaurant) recommend me the "Lady of the Castle" meal. It was fantastic! Pork medallions with pineapple, white asparagus with some kind of yellow sauce on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Turns out we were the "Kings children" as Claus put it. We were the only guests that night. I love off season!!

The town of Bacharach

France

I love how I've been to France a handful of times and there are still places like these that I've never heard of before. There's so much to explore and discover over here. I'll never get enough.

This place is called Etratat. Gorgeous!!! Rachel was little disappointed about the "rocky" beach and it was freezing, but other than that we loved it!

And here is a small port town called Honfleur. Amazing! Who knew?
Here's Tommy eating a crepe and unwilling to let go of his motorcycles. Such a funny little dude!
Our restful Sabbath at our "castle" hotel. Rachel was indeed in heaven.
Mont St. Michel. Don't know much about it other than that it's an amazing island. We raced there to watch the tide come in but supposedly "it wasn't that good." Still, a major highlight of the trip.
And Normandy, which I have heard of and have done before. I came on my first trip to Europe with my dad almost nine years ago. But I never saw these holes in the ground. Wow. It became so much more real!


It was a fantastic weekend getaway. We traveled quite a bit in the car. I felt a little bad for Tommy because there was no way for him to really know how long a car ride it would be every time we put him in his car seat...20 minutes...5 hours. They were both good troopers for the most part though. We also really enjoyed the beautiful countryside scenery and amazing little French towns of stone. Tommy loved seeing all the tractors, cows, chickens, sheep, horses, etc.

To-"Eat" list checked off

We haven't wasted any time (or should I say any meal)...

Frites. Pitas. Godiva hot chocolate. Check. Check. Check.Fanta. Check.Gaufres. Check.
Bakery pastries. Check.
Italian pizza. Check.
Domus spaghetti and uits meiter. Check. Check.
And of course Belgium chocolate and candy. Check. Check.
We've also fit in baguette sandwiches, speculos ice cream and delicious salad with goat cheese dressing. And of course lots of bread! Taste bud overload!! We're loving it. Tummy ache? Yes, that too :)

Brussels!

Just a few pictures of our trip thus far.

Our flight was uneventful, which was a good thing. The kids slept pretty good and jet lag hasn't been bad at all. Yesterday Tommy slept from 8pm to 11am!! I'll take it. The kids have been happy enough to play at Grammie's house with all the "new" toys.

This is in front of the house Jake grew up in. The tree is in full bloom. We really lucked out, it's gorgeous!Every time we've come to Brussels and go to Kineopolis (the movie theater) we always regret not bringing our camera to take a picture of this, the Atomium. Well, we finally got it!Yesterday we took a little outing to Port de Hal. A Chateau/Park near downtown Brussels. It was funny to take the kids on the metro and then the park. A little foreshadow of our future. It was a challenge enough to make sure Rachel sat down before the train started moving again. Then, when we got to the park the kids run off into different directions. Rachel runs straight to the "castle" and Tommy heads to the truck with the lawn mower. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage.
They had a rather amazing playground...

Great to be 28

Cause there's still two good years before 30 right? It's sure a lot of candles though. It melted the whipped cream pretty fast.Mmmm...strawberry shortcake.