Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Belgium and Germany

During the children's school break, we decided to go to
Belgium and Germany.

Our first night was spent in Brussels, where we enjoyed a
Belgium Waffles and some Churros.

Cathedral St. Michel

The next day we went to Brugge. I love the feel of this
city.

There in Brugge, we visited a chocolate factory to see where
authentic Belgium Chocolates are made. 

Such cute morsels of chocolate!

They look almost good enough to eat!

Chocolate sculptures in the back ground.  We had a wonderful
time at the museum, and were able to meet up with Tammy and Larry and their
two sons, Riley and Brady.
Brugge city center

Brugge city center

If you can't tell from most of the pictures, we had quite
a bit of rain. The rain did not deter us in any way-thank goodness
for umbrellas and good children!

The kids did like exploring, but they loved coming back
to a warm hotel room and the Ipad.

A lovely stroll through the rainy streets of Brussels.

My handsome Carson on a cobblestone road in
downtown Brussels.

Daniel and the kids in the middle square of Brussels.

After Brussels, we drove through the Netherlands stopping there for lunch at
a Burger King :), and then continued on to Cologne, Germany.  Our
first stop was der Koelner-Dom

Much to our children's delight, we visited the zoo in Cologne
 the next day.

The zoo did not disappoint.  They even had a little monkey
friend who played with them through the window.  Also, at this
zoo they had raccoons, as one of the animals to visit. 

We stayed at an apartment while we were in Germany,
and Owen loved this little spot.  The perfect size for
him to have a little hideout.

While in Germany we visited Bonn, the birthplace
of Beethoven.  Beethoven used to teach children
that lived in the house that is behind us. 
We are not exactly sure why these statues of heads were
in front of the church, but the children and Daniel wanted
a picture to remember it.

One cannot go to Germany without eating an authentic street
vendor Bratwurst! They were delicious, and I want
 another one just thinking about it.

Here we are in the city center in Bonn enjoying
some hot chocolate and yummy waffles!

In front of the home where Beethoven was born.

Doeners done the right way! They have doener shops throughout
France, but they are just not as good as what you find in
Germany.  We were there in Germany for three days, and we had a doener a day.
I hear the keep the doctor away.

 Foreshadowing of future events ;)
On the way back home, we made a pleasant detour to a tiny town
in Belgium which we thought was Luxembourg at first, but we caught on
and realized it was not Luxembourg.

It was a great stop with one of the funnest
parks we have yet to come across here in Europe.
Zip line, humongous slide, a crazy fun teeter-totter, and
more. 



We later drove through Luxembourg, Luxembourg making
our total of 5 countries (including France) visited in 5 days. France,
Belgium,Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg! We had a blast, and
created fun family memories.

Monday, January 7, 2013

More visitors and Halloween

 The month of October was very busy for us with lots
of fun visitors. Art and Jeanette were able to spend
a couple of days with us.  The kids enjoyed
having new, but yet familiar, people to play with.
 Jackie and Carson playing dress-up. 
 Owen had to get in on the fun of dressing
up as well.
 We had a little Halloween celebration, and 
here is the cake the kids helped me decorate.
 The Sunday before Halloween, I dressed
Kylee up Halloween style. Being here in 
France, Kylee was the only way to have
a little Halloween flare.

 In October we and another family went
to a farm to pick fruits and vegetables and get ourselves
some pumpkins to carve.



 On our way to Disneyland Paris for Halloween.
Carson is our batman!
 Kylee is our cat woman!
 Lori was another fun visitor that we had in October
as well. The kids loved having her around. 
She and Jackie got to do a lot of fun exploring here
in France and in Spain!
 Halloween hasn't completely caught on here in France,
so we and a few others throughout Disneyland were 
sporting some sort of costume. 





 The cutest Elmo you ever did see!
 Jackie and Lori got their faces painted! Kylee
is not sure what to think...
 Spending Halloween at Disneyland was a lot of fun.
The kids got a little treat from Mickey, and then because
they don't really do trick or treating, we took the 
kids to store to pick out any sweet treat they wanted.
Carson got suckers, Kylee picked out cotton candy, and I had to have
American candy on this American holiday, so I picked up some twixs :)
I kinda like not having a bunch of leftover candy laying around!

We hope everyone had a great Halloween, and
that you ate some candy for us.