We have recently wrapped up swimming and basketball. Kelly finished her season as a swim captain and got to take a lap around the pool with her fellow senior teammates during the last meet in Leuven.
Katie's basketball team got to travel to Vienna for the final tournament and the came home champions. This was a big shock as they struggled most of the season.
We had a fun time going to the airport to greet the champions! Kelly helped me make the sign!
Charlie's team also finished, I survived my first season as a boys basketball coach, was a very different experience than my days coaching Katie's team!
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This picture more accurately reflects what it was like to run a practice with this crew! Especially that one kid is breakdancing on the left!
Our buddies the Baratas came to watch Charlie's game and we snuck to the open gym to play a Hughes vs. Barata match. We are sad to report that they beat us fair & square....and they now get to keep their adorable dog Bella!
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We had a few people over to celebrate St. Patrick's Day but it was pretty mellow since it was a Sunday!
In between sporting events on Saturday Greg and I did manage to sneak in a cool brewery tour in Mechelen. We loved our guide and it was a really neat old place.
They had us climb to the rooftop of the brewery to the open vat where they used to cool the beer. The views were amazing, especially of this church next door!
Here is a closer picture of the top of the church, it was really a striking statue!
Our guide told a great story about this piece of equipment, and how it was in use pre WWII, it is basically a big filter that cools the beer. However, it is made of copper and he said that the Germans were looking for copper everywhere in Belgium so that they could use it to make bullets. He speculated that they could have used this thing to make a ton of bullets to shoot at soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, so he claimed that this thing turned the tide at D-Day. He did a much better job of telling it than I did!
They also make whiskey and store it in the brewery. I learned that whiskey evaporates in the process, so they had this really cool sign on the wall, saying that the angels get all that evaporates!
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| Whiskey barrels, they even made a whiskey beer which we bought a bottle of to take home. Greg was a fan! |
Our tour ended in a tasting room with big long tables and we sat with our group, it was a really nice bunch we liked hearing where everyone was from. The beer was excellent too, this place wins awards for its Golden Carolus beer and now we know why!
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| Time to go catch up with the kids who were shopping in the town center! |
We walked around the town square of Mechelen a bit before we headed home, it was another cool Belgian city with lots of great character!
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| It is recommended to climb to the top of this bell tower, we saved that for another day! |
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| Another elaborate town hall! |
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| I just think the buildings look neat, these are in the main square. |
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| I liked this elaborate signpost...so much that I took it from all angles... |
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| One final view with the Neuhaus chocolate shop in the background! |
Now on to another busy spring, track for Kelly, lacrosse for Katie and baseball for Charlie!
From Club Paradise!
