Happy to be home!

We arrived back in the US and were appreciating everything we missed about our wonderful country.

I know there is a ton of bad press out there but when you go away for 5 years and return you gain a ton of perspective on all the good!

Here is a quick list:

• We went right on red at a stoplight!
• Shopped for everything we needed quickly & easily, Charlie over the moon happy about 72 cent Gatorade
• Used a bathroom in a store without having to pay for it.
• Had a hotel breakfast where everything was portable/take away.  (not a long sit down affair)
• Went to a pizza/sub place for dinner and it had all our favorites on the menu.
• Giant cars & trucks & minivans everywhere and large parking spaces to go with them.
• Everything you could ever want, even saw purple play sand in the garden section!  

After we arrived we caught up with our friends and Charlie adores their son, so he could have stayed forever.

However, we had to get over to Navy for Parent's Weekend.  Kelly is doing great and it was fun to have her show us all around.

Her room at home NEVER looked like that!!

My favorite was when she took us over to the E Course and showed Charlie how to do the rope crossing.  I can't seem to find those pictures though!

We stayed with Nancy and Richard and saw their newly renovated house in Annapolis, what a gorgeous spot they have to call home!

Louna's new best buddies!

 Louna learns to enjoy America too, we went for ice cream and the place had a sign that said, be sure to ask for a dog sundae..so Charlie asked and she loved it!

 The place did not disappoint!

Annapolis was such a beautiful town that really embraces its "Mids".  Everywhere we went random people would speak to Kelly and tell her to keep up the good work.  The entire main street in Annapolis is lined with Navy and US flags-so incredible!

A Navy flag is flying behind Kelly in the photo & all down Main Street!

We had a few other short visits on our way North, but finally arrived in Maine to see the new house.  We are all excited for its potential, but somewhat daunted by the time it will take to get it where we want it to be.  However, Rome wasn't built in a day...so we will have to be patient!

I've decided to start a new blog about what its like to live in "Vacationland" as the license plates say up here.  If you'd like to follow it be sure to email me at elainehughes3@gmail.com so I can send you the login details!

Thanks for being loyal readers for all our years of adventures!

Farewell Sweet Brussels!

Our move went well and Charlie got caught up in the packing...so much so he packed himself..

He even sat next to me on the couch in his box!  

For those of you wondering...the island went out the same way it came in! 

With six sets of strong arms!

Same with the rest of our stuff, back out the windows and down the elevator lift.  Our neighbor was not amused with where the movers parked the truck and let them know about it!  

We will miss the most beautiful square in Europe...the wonderful smell of waffles wherever you go...

Walking in dog heaven known as Woluwe Park,

We will not miss men in red pants (very popular look here), smokers- especially on outdoor patios at restaurants, driving on narrow streets in a wide American minivan, grocery stores not being open after 8pm or on Sundays!

From the hotel breakfast this morning!

We will soon see Kelly and hear all about what she has been up to this summer, here is a recent picture of her with a few classmates.  Thanks to everyone who has written to her or spoiled her with care packages, she is feeling the love!

We will never forget all the wonderful friends we have made here or the incredible places we have gotten to visit.  We are blessed & lucky to have had such a wonderful adventure!

The flurry of fun before the chaos!

I have been so behind in my updates!  We were honored to go say farewell to our friends the Baratas as Dave finished up his tour as the Commanding Officer at Activities Europe.  We drove to the Netherlands and got to attend his Change of Command ceremony.  We are so happy that we got to share our time with them the past few years!

A very appropriate table decoration.

Dave gave a great speech and the girls (Caroline & Annie) stole the show when they sang the National Anthem to kick off the ceremony!

Awesome Barata Family!

We managed to get a quick trip in to Luxembourg, Greg had gone down for the 4th of July activities and got to see Buzz Aldrin.  Charlie and I tagged along.  (Katie was off in Paris with her friend making the most of her European summer! Thanks to Bob and Lorrie for hosting them!)

Buzz!

Luxembourg is a banking capital and as a result Charlie was happy to find many fancy cars to look at...here are a few...

We loved exploring the cool old walls of the city.

 We also liked getting to stay in a fancy hotel.

Charlie's favorite thing about the hotel was that it had a bum washer/dryer and toilet seat heater.  He kept going in to play with it all! Here are the options for those of you that might be curious about the contraption!  I do have some photos of Charlie that I'm saving to bribe him with one day!

Charlie mastered all the settings before we left!

 Our next excitement was the start of the Tour de France, this year it started in Brussels, which is only the second time in the race history that it has started in Brussels.  The last time was during the Worlds Fair almost 60 years ago.  It came through our neighborhood on the first day and also the second day which was team time trials.

Day one they had a crazy high speed parade about an hour before the racers whizzed by.  The high speed parade was very scary for a parent because the floats & cars were throwing out prizes, candy, etc. which is very exciting for a nine year old boy, however they were doing this at about 30 MPH with no barricades or anything to stop a kid from running out.  They were going so fast I thought for sure the racers were right behind them, but we had plenty of time before the blur, so they could have slowed down to spare all the parents the worry!

Here are a few parade vehicles...

Lottery is popular no matter where you live!

The second day was the team time trials, so it was better for spectators, every few minutes a different team would ride by...we watched a few then decided we would head for home.  We learned we really don't appreciate bicycle racing!

Katie rocking her new Hawaiian shirt from her Paris shopping trip!

We also had a few visitors stop by before we packed up the house...first a cousins weekend, we had Peggy on her way back from China and Greg's other cousin Rosemary and her kids coming home from a foreign exchange year abroad in Germany.

Katie was happy to be their Belgian tour guide!  We liked hearing about all the cool things they had been up to the past year.  They also played some good card games...

Our final visitors were our buddies from South Africa, the McGuire family.  They brought along their newest member, Hank, and Charlie was smitten with his new little buddy.  It was fun to see him being a caring big boy.

We did get to a brewery tour at the Antwerp City Brewery called DeKonnick, I had this one on my list for awhile.  What was great about it was it was fun for kids and they also had some funny signs and great tasting of course!

Hank, Charlie & Ella

Charlie looks forward to Hank visiting us again when he can, "really talk".

One final picture of Kelly during plebe summer we have been scanning the photos that they post...We have gotten to talk to her twice now and she sounds good, she says its hard but she is surviving!  She loves all the letters and treats that everyone has sent to her-thanks!

Our former purple princess now wearing cammo pants & combat boots!!

Now the joys of an international move!

Midshipman 4/c Hughes

Kelly started a very exciting adventure as a plebe or 4/c at the US Naval Academy.  Dad flew back with her and they got to visit with family, go house-hunting up in Maine.

Fitting with the flag in the background-thanks Papa!

They caught a few minor league baseball games, stayed with Greg's awesome cousin and her family and then Induction Day ("I"Day) was here.  Kelly was dreading it, but also ready to just get going with it after thinking about it and preparing for so long.

This will be our new hometown team-Portland Sea Dogs!

She found out in March that she was accepted.  However, she had been planning for this for a very long time. She recently got a letter in the mail from her awesome middle school teachers, they saved the letters this entire time, then mailed them to the kids at graduation.  In her letter to herself she talked all about going to an Academy.  (thanks great Galvin teachers Amy Sweeney & Liz Doucette)

 Our friend from Brussels was at the Academy right before I Day and he picked this up in the store and brought one back...has all the names-somewhere around 1000!

So cool!

 The Navy takes some pictures and posts them, after you scroll through them all you might get lucky and find a few of your Mid...here is Kelly saluting on the first day.

Here she is picking up all of her gear...they gave them trolleys to wheel everything around on.

 After taking the Oath, Greg gets to see her for a few minutes..

Proud Dad!

Here is the great class of 2023!  Again this one was taken by the Navy.

After they said farewell, they formed up and they all march into the hall and they close the big door.  I guess they don't walk out the door again until they graduate!  Greg said everything was very impressive and he was kind of thinking maybe he should have considered Navy all those years ago!  He also had a lonely ride back to the airport the next day, he missed his travelling buddy!

Kelly can't have any communication with us except for a few phone calls, we look forward to talking to her this Sunday.  We have been trying to write her lots of letters as mail means so much that first summer.

We have been adjusting to our quieter, emptier house, Katie doesn't know what to do with her own floor and not having anyone "borrow" some of her clothes or makeup, but she is also missing her gossip buddy!  Charlie has been shedding some tears for his big sister on occasion, Kelly said, "I didn't know he cared!"   I have been reflecting on how fast 18 years really does go and I am happy that we did make the most of it...now I have to remember that with the other two.

So the only way to close is what we have been told as new parents...Go Navy Beat Army!