The real Last

We have been on at least a few "last" trip to Brussels.  They kept crying wolf...but this time it was for reals.  Jake's dad is officially retired and moved out.  It made the last few days really bitter sweet.

Jake served his mission with Jeremy who lives in England.  He and his family made a special trip over to spend a day with us.  We were touched that they would make the effort.  The kids had a great time playing together during the spurts of sunshine between downpours.  Rachel and their Lilly are now pen pals.

One last trip to Leuven

Last Domus night

Last time downtown

 Our last night was quite an emotional one.  Tommy had the hardest time.  We told him we would probably be back (knowing us) but he says it won't be the same without Pop and Grammie.  (Sigh) True.

 Last bakery run

 We were 5th of the 6 kids to visit.  We overlapped with the Portugals for a few hours, so these cousins got to play.

 Greenland

 Watching the fireworks from Newark airport on the Fourth of July.  We were SO tired!

Germany

This little road trip to Bonn, Germany was a definite highlight.  

Pop spent a number of years in Bonn when he was about Rachel's age.  The experience he had living overseas brought him and his family back to settle in Belgium for the next 30 years.  So this is where it all began, and here we are now.  World travelers.  We have all caught the bug.

German pretzels

 House where Beethoven was born

 We stopped in this church and thought we stepped into heaven.  They were playing something of Beethoven and it was beautiful!

 Rachel is sometimes uncooperative with smiling for pictures.

The pink crib in Greece was hard to beat, but a pack-n-play with your own zippered entrance?  Pretty cool.

We had a great time staying in this hotel!

Bike ride along the Rheine

Pretty awesome scenery!

 The breakfast had rave reviews and we had high expectations!  It was as good as they said it was!

Taking a car ferry across the river

Drachenfels Castle

 My kids LOVED exploring this place, especially finding the hidden staircases leading to the top, or to the bottom where all the fun stuff was.

 Puppets!  Tommy made a great discovery.  They could have spent all day playing and dressing up

Even the gift shop was hard to pull them out of

We took a cable car up to the old Drachenfels

 An incredible view

 You may wonder where Tommy gets his climbing from...

These two were troopers about sharing the umbrella stroller when both sets of legs were tired of walking

There are few things that Jake opens his wallet willingly for :)