Fall Break-Part One

This post is very tardy as I waited for Kelly to share all the great photos she took...she likes to take pics but getting them off her camera takes an act of Congress!

When Joanne, Mark & Joseph were here we did many trips around Brussels, including Ghent, Waterloo, The Netherlands (Delft, The Hague, and Amsterdam)  The cousins had some great bonding time.

 Here we are on St. Michael's Bridge...we thought about a boat ride but it looked cold in the open boats.  We liked watching this frat party boat dock and all the guys scramble to find a bathroom after many Belgian beers!  They were not quiet in their arrival!

World travellers in the main square in Ghent, right outside the church that holds the famous Altarpiece (we came home that night and Monuments Men was on tv-very appropriate)

We checked out this cute shop-I see people carrying its bags all the time- was a bit like Williams Sonoma-a kitchen store is always nice!

Louna warmed up to Joseph, the first day she wasn't sure about him, but they became good friends!

We checked out one of Greg's favorite pubs in downtown Brussels after a tour of the Grand Place!

 Here is a dress Katie would like to own- all made of fancy Belgian chocolate!

 You can choose your own flavor of chocolate mousse and your topping...Charlie the candyman could not even finish it!

 Getting ready to start the day...Joanne & Charlie coordinated their colors!

 Waterloo Battlefield, which is very close to our house...good climb to the top of the monument to the Dutch Prince who was wounded in the battle.  The lion was facing towards France as a warning, perhaps it should have been facing Germany instead?

Katie and Charlie decided to roll down the hill!

We then headed off on a road trip to Delft, the Hague and Amsterdam... stay tuned for the next post!

End of October Whirlwind!

Oct was fun and crazy for us.  We finally got our own dog...we adopted little Louna, a 3 year old sweetheart and she has charmed her way into all of our hearts.

Charlie is most delighted and says he now is never alone, always has a friend, and he likes to just talk to her!  He carries her whenever he can and she never seems to mind-amazing!

Living in Europe is great because she can go everywhere with us, on the tram, the train, into restaurants, this is good because Louna doesn't like to stay home alone!

We also had our Halloween party, not quite as big as last year, but the word had not got out in Brussels yet...next year-look out.  Even Kelly & Katie's friends that came had fun.  Here was the 2nd grade crowd's favorite costume of the night!

We traveled to Frankfurt, Germany to see Katie play soccer there, on the way we got to see the Barata family who are currently living in the Netherlands with the Coast Guard.  They are renting a very cool old house there...

We also stopped to visit a very cool castle in the town of Eppstein on the way home from Frankfurt.

 From the top of the castle...Greg & Katie being goofy.

Down the town street to the castle...could have been in some theme park-but its real!

Greg's sister Joanne and her family came to visit us for the kids fall break which was Halloween week. Stay tuned for an update on all of our adventures with them! (I have to sort through all the photos)