We had a great visit with Jerry and Pete when they came to visit. They spoiled us with many wonderful treats from home, and we hope we showed them a wonderful time while they were here.
We took them to the Grand Place in Brussels, and took a bus tour around the city. It was great for us, too, because we got to see some things that we haven't seen yet. We took a weekend trip to Germany -- stopping in Cologne, Koblenz, Boppard, and St. Goar.
We saw the beautiful Cologne cathedral, and the kids had a great time playing in a fountain. We took a "train" (a bus dressed up as a train) around Cologne to see the sights. T.J. took the kids to the zoo, while Jerry and Pete took a overhead tram ride across the Rhine, and I indulged in some retail therapy. (And some Starbucks therapy, too!) We had some great pretzels, and got a takeaway lunch of sandwiches that was quite nice. We then drove from Cologne to Koblenz to spend the night. It was a long car ride as the kids were cranky and the GPS which we rely on almost exclusively in Europe to find our way did not pick up a signal until we pulled up to the hotel. TJ was pretty close to throwing it right into the Rhine. We had a nice stroll along the river and ate at a nice little restaurant on the bank of the Rhine, eating more traditional German food. Pete and T. J. enjoyed some German Beer. Not too cold, but still good.
We woke up the next morning and had a wonderful breakfast (bacon! scrambled eggs! so unusual in Europe!) and then drove to the nearby castle in Koblenz. The castle was more like a fortress perched way up high on the cliffs. It was an awesome view down below of Koblenz and where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet. Afterwards, we drove to Boppard for lunch and for a river cruise down the Rhine. It was just lovely, and the scenery was beautiful. We stopped off at St. Goar and were greeted by a local parade. The men and women were dressed in interesting outfits. The men had Green jackets on with lots of medals pinned on them. The parade ended in front of the local church where they all stopped to socialize (lots of German Beer appeared to be flowing) and enjoy local music. We wanted to go to see the castle at St. Goar but the kids both fell asleep in their strollers so we opted for a coffee and dessert on the main street.
We took a nice day trip to Ghent, and we showed them around the Stockel market. We got some wonderful food to grill -- it's great to sample all of these wonderful foods.
We really enjoyed having them here, and the kids are sure missing them now!
Joining the Club
The kids and I joned a swim club last week. The kids have a HUGE pool they can swim in (and it's nice and warm!) and love going there. There are a few families from Amelia's school that go there, which will be nice. They have a bouncy castle (on some days), a restaurant, a workout facility, a creche (day care), and a wonderful sauna. Oh, yes, and a spa and a salon, too. It's been a wonderful place for us to go.
Season Passes Everywhere
We just got back from a trip to the zoo this morning. I packed lunch for the kids, and we had a great time walking around for 2 hours. There are tons of playgrounds, and a great water toy for Jack (he is now soaked). We bought passes for the zoo, which isn't too far, and it's great that we can go whenever we want.
We also got passes for Technopolis (www.technopolis.be) that is a great hands-on science museum for kids (like the Magic House in St. Louis, but way bigger).
Transition Time
Our German neighbors (Amelia's playmates) just let us know that they're moving back to Germany in September. Amelia is really going to miss them -- and we will, too. Unfortunately, it's something we have to get used to, with being here. All the folks we meet are here for a short period of time, so just as soon as you find some good friends (for either us or the kids), someone gets transferred away. I don't know how you get used to the transitory nature of things here, but I guess we just enjoy every day as we can, and just go from there.
HOW Much?
Saw pancake syrup in the grocery store. A regular size bottle was 8 euros (over $10 ), and a small package of chocolate chips was 5 euros ($7). It's amazing how much those things are!!
Joe (T.J.'s nephew) will arrive on Monday for a visit. We're looking forward to taking him around and showing him the sights.
I'll be posting pictures from Jerry and Pete's trip shortly, so check back!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Sunday, July 8, 2007
July 4th -- Belgian Style
The Wednesday before July 4th, the kids and I met a friend at the American Women's Club for their July 4th picnic. We had a really nice time -- hamburgers and hotdogs (much better than anything locally!) and rice krispie treats and all sorts of things. The kids had a nice time playing with other kids, and I had a nice time getting out. We even picked up two new videos (Pooh Bear and Spot) that the Women's Club was giving away.
The whole family went to another July 4th celebration, but on Saturday the 7th, at the Brussels American School, which is located on a U.S. Department of Defense compound. At both July 4th celebrations, I was a little nervous about potential terrorist threats (especially when I heard that there was an evacuation of a U.S. military facility south of Brussels on July 4), but the lure of USDA beef was just too strong.
We had a great time at this party, too. Hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ pork sandwiches, Frito pie, country music, Cheetos (the real ORANGE ones), bomb pops and more. Yum! We ate far too much. Amelia got her face painted; Jack took a horse ride on a police horse. There were fireworks at dusk, too, but since dusk is 11 pm, we chose to miss that.
T.J. has been working lots of long hours lately, poor guy. He's really been working hard for us, and we really appreciate it, but we sure miss him! :)
Visiting the Windmills
Last weekend, we drove to the Netherlands to visit Kinderdijk (http://www.kinderdijk.nl/), which has a whole bunch of old windmills, all in a line.
The kids weren't too fascinated with the windmills, but they did have a great time rolling down a hill by the windmill. They have a wonderful bike path along the windmills, and I'd love to return with bike in tow!
Is it September Yet?
We have found a creche for Jack for September. Since he's too young for Amelia's school, we're going to put him in a creche just down the street. I think he'll have a great time playing with the other young kids.
Knee-High by 4th of July
I've been surprised by the lack of some produce, both in the grocery stores and in the markets: corn on cob, sweet potatoes, portabella mushrooms. I really miss them. The local corn is growing by leaps and bounds, so I'm hoping to have some fresh corn soon.
The whole family went to another July 4th celebration, but on Saturday the 7th, at the Brussels American School, which is located on a U.S. Department of Defense compound. At both July 4th celebrations, I was a little nervous about potential terrorist threats (especially when I heard that there was an evacuation of a U.S. military facility south of Brussels on July 4), but the lure of USDA beef was just too strong.
We had a great time at this party, too. Hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ pork sandwiches, Frito pie, country music, Cheetos (the real ORANGE ones), bomb pops and more. Yum! We ate far too much. Amelia got her face painted; Jack took a horse ride on a police horse. There were fireworks at dusk, too, but since dusk is 11 pm, we chose to miss that.
T.J. has been working lots of long hours lately, poor guy. He's really been working hard for us, and we really appreciate it, but we sure miss him! :)
Visiting the Windmills
Last weekend, we drove to the Netherlands to visit Kinderdijk (http://www.kinderdijk.nl/), which has a whole bunch of old windmills, all in a line.
The kids weren't too fascinated with the windmills, but they did have a great time rolling down a hill by the windmill. They have a wonderful bike path along the windmills, and I'd love to return with bike in tow!
Is it September Yet?
We have found a creche for Jack for September. Since he's too young for Amelia's school, we're going to put him in a creche just down the street. I think he'll have a great time playing with the other young kids.
Knee-High by 4th of July
I've been surprised by the lack of some produce, both in the grocery stores and in the markets: corn on cob, sweet potatoes, portabella mushrooms. I really miss them. The local corn is growing by leaps and bounds, so I'm hoping to have some fresh corn soon.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Where are the preservatives?
Everytime I think I have things figured out here...
I was getting some ingredients out for a marinade yesterday, and one of the ingredients was cider vinegar. I had bought some after we moved here, and I got it out. But I noticed that there was this white sludge at the top -- like a slimy moldy piece of goo. Immediately cursing at how quickly everything seems to spoil around here, I called good old mom to vent. She told me that it was probably something called "mother of vinegar" and that her grandmother had used it to make her own vinegar. Skeptical, I did some research on the internet, and sure enough, it was true (www.solutions.uiuc.edu/content.cfm?series=3&item=295&Parents=0%7C28). Not that I didn't believe my mom -- but this goo just looked too nasty to be there on purpose. So I filtered the needed vinegar through a coffee filter. I'll be using it tomorrow, so I'll let you know (if I never blog again, you'll know that mother of vinegar isn't a good thing).
I was nearly in my first accident today. I was driving down the street, not thinking about whether I was on a priority road or not. I drove by a street, and a car coming out to my right laid on the horn. Ooops. I was supposed to stop to let this car on the right pull out. Luckily, he was more used to the "priority on the right" rule than me (or, should I say, he was more used to people not paying attention to priority on the right), and we escaped unscathed. This time. It's really hard to get used to the idea that sometimes, the car on the right has the right to pull out in front of me.
The kids and I were out and about , trying to find a windmill. There's an old one not too far from our house, and we'd seen it from far away but I wanted to see what it was like up close (answer: abandoned, shut down, and fenced off). Another disappointment for the kids.
So then we went out to Baby 2000 to try to find more pacifiers for Jack. (I've decided I'm just going to overload his crib with pacifiers in the hopes that he can find them himself in the middle of the night.) Of course, they didn't have his Nuks. But before we discovered that, we spent time trying to find a parking spot. It was completely packed (everyone goes shopping on Saturday, since everything closes early during the week and is closed on Sunday) -- much like it would be on the day after Thanksgiving. A lot of stores also had "Sale" signs in the windows. There are sales only 2 times a year, and I guess now is the time (hmmmmmm....wonder if there is some shopping in my future).
For those who are curious, the greek food that I picked up at the market today was delicious beyond words.
My French lessons continue to go well -- I just had my third one. While I don't yet know a ton, I'm starting to recognize a little more (though not enough for conversations to make sense), and at least I'm learning more about the language. Whoever decided that nouns need to be either masculine or feminine have my eternal scorn. Really, why is that necessary? Although the cashier at the pet store says that learning English is way more difficult. Could be, but I have my doubts.
The prices for flights to Brussels are dropping to $540 (round trip from St. Louis) once you hit September, so if you're thinking of visiting, the fall is the time for you!
I can't tell you all how much I would like Taco Bell right now. Isn't that a strange thing to miss? All this wonderful food, and I miss Tacos. My Starbucks withdrawal has abated a little bit, as I've discovered an instant cappuccino mix that is surprisingly awesome. I'm not one for rehydrating my coffee normally, but this is quite delicious.
Next weekend, we're going to a July 4th (belated) celebration at the Brussels American school, sponsored by the military. Real barbecue, kids' activities, and fireworks at dusk (which is 11 p.m.). We obviously won't make it to the fireworks, but it should be a nice time nonetheless.
Time to go study my French. Bon soiree!
I was getting some ingredients out for a marinade yesterday, and one of the ingredients was cider vinegar. I had bought some after we moved here, and I got it out. But I noticed that there was this white sludge at the top -- like a slimy moldy piece of goo. Immediately cursing at how quickly everything seems to spoil around here, I called good old mom to vent. She told me that it was probably something called "mother of vinegar" and that her grandmother had used it to make her own vinegar. Skeptical, I did some research on the internet, and sure enough, it was true (www.solutions.uiuc.edu/content.cfm?series=3&item=295&Parents=0%7C28). Not that I didn't believe my mom -- but this goo just looked too nasty to be there on purpose. So I filtered the needed vinegar through a coffee filter. I'll be using it tomorrow, so I'll let you know (if I never blog again, you'll know that mother of vinegar isn't a good thing).
I was nearly in my first accident today. I was driving down the street, not thinking about whether I was on a priority road or not. I drove by a street, and a car coming out to my right laid on the horn. Ooops. I was supposed to stop to let this car on the right pull out. Luckily, he was more used to the "priority on the right" rule than me (or, should I say, he was more used to people not paying attention to priority on the right), and we escaped unscathed. This time. It's really hard to get used to the idea that sometimes, the car on the right has the right to pull out in front of me.
The kids and I were out and about , trying to find a windmill. There's an old one not too far from our house, and we'd seen it from far away but I wanted to see what it was like up close (answer: abandoned, shut down, and fenced off). Another disappointment for the kids.
So then we went out to Baby 2000 to try to find more pacifiers for Jack. (I've decided I'm just going to overload his crib with pacifiers in the hopes that he can find them himself in the middle of the night.) Of course, they didn't have his Nuks. But before we discovered that, we spent time trying to find a parking spot. It was completely packed (everyone goes shopping on Saturday, since everything closes early during the week and is closed on Sunday) -- much like it would be on the day after Thanksgiving. A lot of stores also had "Sale" signs in the windows. There are sales only 2 times a year, and I guess now is the time (hmmmmmm....wonder if there is some shopping in my future).
For those who are curious, the greek food that I picked up at the market today was delicious beyond words.
My French lessons continue to go well -- I just had my third one. While I don't yet know a ton, I'm starting to recognize a little more (though not enough for conversations to make sense), and at least I'm learning more about the language. Whoever decided that nouns need to be either masculine or feminine have my eternal scorn. Really, why is that necessary? Although the cashier at the pet store says that learning English is way more difficult. Could be, but I have my doubts.
The prices for flights to Brussels are dropping to $540 (round trip from St. Louis) once you hit September, so if you're thinking of visiting, the fall is the time for you!
I can't tell you all how much I would like Taco Bell right now. Isn't that a strange thing to miss? All this wonderful food, and I miss Tacos. My Starbucks withdrawal has abated a little bit, as I've discovered an instant cappuccino mix that is surprisingly awesome. I'm not one for rehydrating my coffee normally, but this is quite delicious.
Next weekend, we're going to a July 4th (belated) celebration at the Brussels American school, sponsored by the military. Real barbecue, kids' activities, and fireworks at dusk (which is 11 p.m.). We obviously won't make it to the fireworks, but it should be a nice time nonetheless.
Time to go study my French. Bon soiree!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A World of Laughter, A World of Tears....
Another delay in blogging! It's been a busy end of the school year. Amelia finished school last Friday (after also coming down with the mystery fever last week -- luckily, hers lasted only 12 hours). She brought in a Pony cake to share with her friends for her birthday.
We headed out to Euro Disney on Saturday to celebrate Amelia's birthday. It took us about 3 hours to get there (it would've been shorter, but TomTom kept sending us in circles after a detour to McDonalds for lunch). We actually had to drag the children out of the McDonalds playground, assuring them that Disney Town (as Amelia called it) would be much more fun. TomTom (our GPS system) didn't know quite where our hotel, the Davy Crockett Ranch, was, and tried to take us to an empty field. Luckily, we backtracked and found some signs to the hotel and arrived without further incident.
We dropped off our stuff at our "log cabin" (honey, I really had a wonderful time, but I do have to giggle about this a little), which was really a little trailer decked out as a log cabin, placed in a "neighborhood" of other trailers. We had a nice full kitchen, a separate bedroom for the kids, and a bedroom for us. To our dismay, there was a bunk bed in the kids' bedroom, which the kids just adored. Both of them just wanted to go up, down, up, down. We ended up blocking the door with Jack's Pack-n-Play so that we didn't have to worry about either one of them leaping off the top bunk.
We quickly unloaded, and headed out to the park. We got to the park around 2 -- it was PACKED. We walked around a little and headed to Fantasyland and through the castle. Everything had long lines, but Amelia really wanted to ride on Dumbo. The sign said it was just a 30-minute wait. I wish. It ended up being a 60-minute wait. Lots of tired, cranky, hungry toddlers in line. T.J. and Jack ended up walking around while we were waiting, and they saw a live Pooh Bear show. We finally got to ride, and while Amelia had a great time, it was over much too soon. We walked around more but were unable to find anything with short lines. Since the kids hadn't had afternoon naps, we had an early dinner at a steakhouse (again, not very good meat) and an early bedtime -- for all of us. At dinner, I was trying to entertain Jack, and he swiped at me, knocking my contact out. We frantically searched the floor for it (needle in a haystack), and luckily finally found it on the highchair seat.
The kids conked out with no trouble. Amelia, thankfully, fell asleep on the lower bunk, and Jack was relegated to the living room (no room for the Pack-n-Play in Mia's room), right under the only TV. T.J. and I commiserated that on yet another hotel stay, the only one who had a TV in their room was Jack. We were so looking forward to some English TV (even if it was going to be mostly Disney programming). But without anything else to do, I headed off to bed while T.J. went for a walk around the hotel grounds to find out what the Indian drumming was all about.
We woke up Sunday morning starving and in search of breakfast. We walked over to the hotel restaurant, only to find it closed. I mentioned that the hotel employee had pointed breakfast out on the map, and it was supposedly at the end of our street (although we hadn't seen anything that even remotely looked like a breakfast place). So off we walked, and sure enough, there was a little ... kiosk? ... where they were distributing bags of food. So we got our allotment of a giant baguette, bag of croissants, box of milk, 3 juice boxes of OJ, box of condiments, and are two packages of instant coffee. It was pretty funny. Our visions of bacon-filled buffets were shattered, but it was still a pretty tasty breakfast (especially because they included Nutella). It was hard not having coffee (we couldn't bear to make the instant stuff), but we ate at the picnic table outside of our cabin, and it was really pretty nice.
We headed off to the park early on Sunday, as it opened at 8 (2 hours early) for Disney hotel residents. The lines were MUCH better, and we got to ride the carousel and the Mad Hatters Teacups without waiting at all. We all headed over to It's A Small World to ride. But that ride didn't open till 10. Amelia and I waited in line (again) for a 1/2 hour, until they announced that the ride wasn't opening because of technical problems. We went off in search of T.J. and Jack but couldn't find them. We eventually went to see the Pooh Bear live show and had a really nice time. We eventually found the boys, who had gone in search for us and had been able to ride It's a Small World.
We had a quick lunch at the park, then headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon there. We went swimming (luckily T.J. could wear regular swim trunks, but there was a sign saying no topless swimming). It was a little chilly, but the kids had fun. There was a big waterslide, and T.J. and I both went down it. Perhaps a little juvenile, but it really was a lot of fun! We also saw the animals, played on the playground and saw Mickey Mouse. There were even reindeer on the property, plus some TeePees for the kids to play in. I headed to the store on the grounds, which had Disney goodies as well as groceries, and I quickly snagged coffee and filters for the next morning. Amelia conned me into a baby Simba stuffed animal, while T.J. picked up a Pooh Bear for Jack. A good buffet dinner, and another early bedtime.
Monday morning brought another bag of breakfast and checkout from the hotel. We finally got to ride It's a Small World (twice) and the carousel again.
Jack had downed two huge sippy cups of juice before leaving for the park, which is nothing new. I was holding him in line for It's a Small World, and when we got to our turn and I put him in the boat, I noticed the whole side of my shirt was wet (always a great feeling first thing in the morning). His pants (and onesie), needless to say, were drenched. So while Amelia and Jack and I rode the ride for the second time, T.J. went to a shop to purchase an (overpriced) Disney t-shirt and sweatpants.
We had lunch at Mickey's Cafe, where several of the Disney characters came through (unfortunately, they weren't very recognizable by Amelia -- several from Robin Hood and Pinocchio, which she hasn't seen. They brought her a cake and pumped their Happy Birthday song over the loudspeakers. She really enjoyed it, and even Jack didn't mind all the characters coming by.
The kids are definitely learning how to push each other's buttons. The kids had one sippy cup to share in the car one afternoon, and Jack had it. Amelia started whining and crying and pleading for Jack to give her the cup. Jack didn't really want it, but he didn't want to hand it over easy, either. So he held the cup to his lips and emphatically went "Mmmmmmmm. Mmmmmmm." Which made Amelia only cry louder. It was pretty funny, although as a parent, I probably shouldn't say that.
Post-Vacation Fun
Jack continues to learn new words. His latest phrase is "Oh, man" courtesy of Swiper the Fox. It's pretty funny. His new name for Amelia is "nyah-nyah" and he just adores her (but still likes to torment her).
It's been a cool summer so far. We've even had to get the fleece pajamas back out and turn on the heat in the bedrooms at night. Highs in the days have been in the low 60s, with more cloudy/drizzly days than I'd like. I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. There are so many big playgrounds at the zoo, that they were more interested in playing than seeing the animals. We got a year pass for the zoo (at 16 euros for me, 11 for Amelia, and 4 for parking, it adds up quickly).
I've bought rain cover for nearly every stroller we have (double jogging, Sit-n-Stand, and single umbrella), and I've used them ALL! We were going to go to the market this morning, but hesitated when I saw it raining a little. I decided to go anyway and put the kids in the double jogger with the rain cover. It was actually quite pleasant -- the rain was next to nothing, and pushing them in the jogger is so much easier than pushing them in any of our other strollers. We got some tasty treats at the market (spanikopita, feta-stuffed marinated red peppers, baklava, petite strawberries). It was such a nice way to spend the morning.
We headed out to Euro Disney on Saturday to celebrate Amelia's birthday. It took us about 3 hours to get there (it would've been shorter, but TomTom kept sending us in circles after a detour to McDonalds for lunch). We actually had to drag the children out of the McDonalds playground, assuring them that Disney Town (as Amelia called it) would be much more fun. TomTom (our GPS system) didn't know quite where our hotel, the Davy Crockett Ranch, was, and tried to take us to an empty field. Luckily, we backtracked and found some signs to the hotel and arrived without further incident.
We dropped off our stuff at our "log cabin" (honey, I really had a wonderful time, but I do have to giggle about this a little), which was really a little trailer decked out as a log cabin, placed in a "neighborhood" of other trailers. We had a nice full kitchen, a separate bedroom for the kids, and a bedroom for us. To our dismay, there was a bunk bed in the kids' bedroom, which the kids just adored. Both of them just wanted to go up, down, up, down. We ended up blocking the door with Jack's Pack-n-Play so that we didn't have to worry about either one of them leaping off the top bunk.
We quickly unloaded, and headed out to the park. We got to the park around 2 -- it was PACKED. We walked around a little and headed to Fantasyland and through the castle. Everything had long lines, but Amelia really wanted to ride on Dumbo. The sign said it was just a 30-minute wait. I wish. It ended up being a 60-minute wait. Lots of tired, cranky, hungry toddlers in line. T.J. and Jack ended up walking around while we were waiting, and they saw a live Pooh Bear show. We finally got to ride, and while Amelia had a great time, it was over much too soon. We walked around more but were unable to find anything with short lines. Since the kids hadn't had afternoon naps, we had an early dinner at a steakhouse (again, not very good meat) and an early bedtime -- for all of us. At dinner, I was trying to entertain Jack, and he swiped at me, knocking my contact out. We frantically searched the floor for it (needle in a haystack), and luckily finally found it on the highchair seat.
The kids conked out with no trouble. Amelia, thankfully, fell asleep on the lower bunk, and Jack was relegated to the living room (no room for the Pack-n-Play in Mia's room), right under the only TV. T.J. and I commiserated that on yet another hotel stay, the only one who had a TV in their room was Jack. We were so looking forward to some English TV (even if it was going to be mostly Disney programming). But without anything else to do, I headed off to bed while T.J. went for a walk around the hotel grounds to find out what the Indian drumming was all about.
We woke up Sunday morning starving and in search of breakfast. We walked over to the hotel restaurant, only to find it closed. I mentioned that the hotel employee had pointed breakfast out on the map, and it was supposedly at the end of our street (although we hadn't seen anything that even remotely looked like a breakfast place). So off we walked, and sure enough, there was a little ... kiosk? ... where they were distributing bags of food. So we got our allotment of a giant baguette, bag of croissants, box of milk, 3 juice boxes of OJ, box of condiments, and are two packages of instant coffee. It was pretty funny. Our visions of bacon-filled buffets were shattered, but it was still a pretty tasty breakfast (especially because they included Nutella). It was hard not having coffee (we couldn't bear to make the instant stuff), but we ate at the picnic table outside of our cabin, and it was really pretty nice.
We headed off to the park early on Sunday, as it opened at 8 (2 hours early) for Disney hotel residents. The lines were MUCH better, and we got to ride the carousel and the Mad Hatters Teacups without waiting at all. We all headed over to It's A Small World to ride. But that ride didn't open till 10. Amelia and I waited in line (again) for a 1/2 hour, until they announced that the ride wasn't opening because of technical problems. We went off in search of T.J. and Jack but couldn't find them. We eventually went to see the Pooh Bear live show and had a really nice time. We eventually found the boys, who had gone in search for us and had been able to ride It's a Small World.
We had a quick lunch at the park, then headed back to the hotel to spend the afternoon there. We went swimming (luckily T.J. could wear regular swim trunks, but there was a sign saying no topless swimming). It was a little chilly, but the kids had fun. There was a big waterslide, and T.J. and I both went down it. Perhaps a little juvenile, but it really was a lot of fun! We also saw the animals, played on the playground and saw Mickey Mouse. There were even reindeer on the property, plus some TeePees for the kids to play in. I headed to the store on the grounds, which had Disney goodies as well as groceries, and I quickly snagged coffee and filters for the next morning. Amelia conned me into a baby Simba stuffed animal, while T.J. picked up a Pooh Bear for Jack. A good buffet dinner, and another early bedtime.
Monday morning brought another bag of breakfast and checkout from the hotel. We finally got to ride It's a Small World (twice) and the carousel again.
Jack had downed two huge sippy cups of juice before leaving for the park, which is nothing new. I was holding him in line for It's a Small World, and when we got to our turn and I put him in the boat, I noticed the whole side of my shirt was wet (always a great feeling first thing in the morning). His pants (and onesie), needless to say, were drenched. So while Amelia and Jack and I rode the ride for the second time, T.J. went to a shop to purchase an (overpriced) Disney t-shirt and sweatpants.
We had lunch at Mickey's Cafe, where several of the Disney characters came through (unfortunately, they weren't very recognizable by Amelia -- several from Robin Hood and Pinocchio, which she hasn't seen. They brought her a cake and pumped their Happy Birthday song over the loudspeakers. She really enjoyed it, and even Jack didn't mind all the characters coming by.
The kids are definitely learning how to push each other's buttons. The kids had one sippy cup to share in the car one afternoon, and Jack had it. Amelia started whining and crying and pleading for Jack to give her the cup. Jack didn't really want it, but he didn't want to hand it over easy, either. So he held the cup to his lips and emphatically went "Mmmmmmmm. Mmmmmmm." Which made Amelia only cry louder. It was pretty funny, although as a parent, I probably shouldn't say that.
Post-Vacation Fun
Jack continues to learn new words. His latest phrase is "Oh, man" courtesy of Swiper the Fox. It's pretty funny. His new name for Amelia is "nyah-nyah" and he just adores her (but still likes to torment her).
It's been a cool summer so far. We've even had to get the fleece pajamas back out and turn on the heat in the bedrooms at night. Highs in the days have been in the low 60s, with more cloudy/drizzly days than I'd like. I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. There are so many big playgrounds at the zoo, that they were more interested in playing than seeing the animals. We got a year pass for the zoo (at 16 euros for me, 11 for Amelia, and 4 for parking, it adds up quickly).
I've bought rain cover for nearly every stroller we have (double jogging, Sit-n-Stand, and single umbrella), and I've used them ALL! We were going to go to the market this morning, but hesitated when I saw it raining a little. I decided to go anyway and put the kids in the double jogger with the rain cover. It was actually quite pleasant -- the rain was next to nothing, and pushing them in the jogger is so much easier than pushing them in any of our other strollers. We got some tasty treats at the market (spanikopita, feta-stuffed marinated red peppers, baklava, petite strawberries). It was such a nice way to spend the morning.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
French Lessons, Scooters and Brocantes
It's been a while since I've posted, so I'll try to recall where we've left off....
Health Report
Everyone is healthy and happy. Jack's fever had no other ill effects, and Amelia didn't complain about her ear again after her first dose of medicine. And with school wrapping up (it ends June 22), I hope the illnesses will cease, too.
Junk is Junk the World Over
I was able to decipher the free weekly newspaper enough to determine that there was a festival of some sort going on in Ste. Alix last Saturday, with another happening in Kraainem (next commune over) on Sunday.
We woke up on Saturday to rain, but knowing that there was a flea market (known as "brocante" in French, I learned), I headed out at 7 am on my bicycle to go to the bakery and check out the sale. It was raining pretty hard, and people were trying to keep their things dry with blankets, but I still managed to score a My Little Pony Celebration Castle, as well as a Dumbo floor puzzle. It looked like it was mostly junk at the sale, but it was hard to tell.
So after we ate our chocolate bread, I headed back up to the sale, Amelia in tow. We walked around the square, but didn't really find anything. Until Amelia somehow spied a Dora three-wheeled scooter peeking from underneath a blanket. The owner of the scooter, and the other stuff, was nowhere to be found. But Amelia was smitten, and she insisted on waiting for the seller to return. So we sat, and sat, and sat. But I think the seller lived in the apartment building next to the pile of stuff and just didn't want to come out in the rain. Finally, she gave up on the scooter and dejectedly came back home (side note: She's now getting a Tigger scooter for her birthday).
Later that day, after the rain cleared, we went back up to the square. They now had all sorts of bouncy houses set up, as well as a carousel. So we rode lots of rides, and then got some "barba de papa" -- cotton candy. A big mistake to get cotton candy in wet weather. The stuff disintegrated pretty quickly while still on the stick and started blowing off in the wind.
The kids had a great time, and we returned once again later in the afternoon after naps. Now there were pony rides and a magician. Much fun was had by all.
On Sunday, we went to a church festival in Kraainem that was an English-speaking congregation. Hooray for the english speakers! Again, they had another flea market (I got some great puzzles and a ton of mindless novels for reading). They had purchased some REAL hamburgers and hotdogs (plus Wonder Bread rolls!) from the military base. They were the best burgers and dogs we've had here! They had face painting, and pony rides, and games for the kids. Another great time.
Other Stuff
I started my French lessons today. The kids didn't behave all that well -- I was hoping they would nap, but they were only quiet for the first half of my lesson -- but my teacher is very used to interruptions. She seemed pleased at what I already knew (thanks to Krista's and Troy's gift of French CDs), and I really enjoyed it.
I was pleased to find some blackout material at IKEA today. I bought a bunch, and it completely blocks the light in the bedroom windows. A big hooray -- as you can see from the picture below, taken at 10 pm -- as the light really comes in early and stays late.
I ordered a cake for Amelia to take to school next week -- they are doing a My Little Pony cake for her. I'm excited to see how it looks.
Things are still going well for us. We're learning more every day here (especially about which pastries we favor) and have found a wonderful pizzeria that we can ride our bikes to. We're getting ready for Jerry and Pete's visit in July (they, also, will be thrilled that I found blackout material).
Jack is starting to use words (of course, they're fairly unintelligible to others). Our favorite is when we open his door in the morning and he covers his eyes and says "biiii" (for "bright"). He has about 30 words, and is starting to drop his signs for words (he just started saying "dog" and is starting to try "amelia" although it sounds nothing like her name).
I just bought Amelia a jumprope today, which she is boggled by. And I also got them toy tennis rackets, which they have been trying to bonk each other with. They just love being outside, and with the mild weather, it's been a treat.
More later. There's another kids festival this weekend in Auderghem, which I don't think is too far away. Ponies, ponies, everywhere!
Health Report
Everyone is healthy and happy. Jack's fever had no other ill effects, and Amelia didn't complain about her ear again after her first dose of medicine. And with school wrapping up (it ends June 22), I hope the illnesses will cease, too.
Junk is Junk the World Over
I was able to decipher the free weekly newspaper enough to determine that there was a festival of some sort going on in Ste. Alix last Saturday, with another happening in Kraainem (next commune over) on Sunday.
We woke up on Saturday to rain, but knowing that there was a flea market (known as "brocante" in French, I learned), I headed out at 7 am on my bicycle to go to the bakery and check out the sale. It was raining pretty hard, and people were trying to keep their things dry with blankets, but I still managed to score a My Little Pony Celebration Castle, as well as a Dumbo floor puzzle. It looked like it was mostly junk at the sale, but it was hard to tell.
So after we ate our chocolate bread, I headed back up to the sale, Amelia in tow. We walked around the square, but didn't really find anything. Until Amelia somehow spied a Dora three-wheeled scooter peeking from underneath a blanket. The owner of the scooter, and the other stuff, was nowhere to be found. But Amelia was smitten, and she insisted on waiting for the seller to return. So we sat, and sat, and sat. But I think the seller lived in the apartment building next to the pile of stuff and just didn't want to come out in the rain. Finally, she gave up on the scooter and dejectedly came back home (side note: She's now getting a Tigger scooter for her birthday).
Later that day, after the rain cleared, we went back up to the square. They now had all sorts of bouncy houses set up, as well as a carousel. So we rode lots of rides, and then got some "barba de papa" -- cotton candy. A big mistake to get cotton candy in wet weather. The stuff disintegrated pretty quickly while still on the stick and started blowing off in the wind.
The kids had a great time, and we returned once again later in the afternoon after naps. Now there were pony rides and a magician. Much fun was had by all.
On Sunday, we went to a church festival in Kraainem that was an English-speaking congregation. Hooray for the english speakers! Again, they had another flea market (I got some great puzzles and a ton of mindless novels for reading). They had purchased some REAL hamburgers and hotdogs (plus Wonder Bread rolls!) from the military base. They were the best burgers and dogs we've had here! They had face painting, and pony rides, and games for the kids. Another great time.
Other Stuff
I started my French lessons today. The kids didn't behave all that well -- I was hoping they would nap, but they were only quiet for the first half of my lesson -- but my teacher is very used to interruptions. She seemed pleased at what I already knew (thanks to Krista's and Troy's gift of French CDs), and I really enjoyed it.
I was pleased to find some blackout material at IKEA today. I bought a bunch, and it completely blocks the light in the bedroom windows. A big hooray -- as you can see from the picture below, taken at 10 pm -- as the light really comes in early and stays late.
I ordered a cake for Amelia to take to school next week -- they are doing a My Little Pony cake for her. I'm excited to see how it looks.
Things are still going well for us. We're learning more every day here (especially about which pastries we favor) and have found a wonderful pizzeria that we can ride our bikes to. We're getting ready for Jerry and Pete's visit in July (they, also, will be thrilled that I found blackout material).
Jack is starting to use words (of course, they're fairly unintelligible to others). Our favorite is when we open his door in the morning and he covers his eyes and says "biiii" (for "bright"). He has about 30 words, and is starting to drop his signs for words (he just started saying "dog" and is starting to try "amelia" although it sounds nothing like her name).
I just bought Amelia a jumprope today, which she is boggled by. And I also got them toy tennis rackets, which they have been trying to bonk each other with. They just love being outside, and with the mild weather, it's been a treat.
More later. There's another kids festival this weekend in Auderghem, which I don't think is too far away. Ponies, ponies, everywhere!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Ghent and The Fever of Unknown Origin
Road Trip to Ghent
We decided to make a road trip on Saturday, so we headed off to Ghent, which was about 45 minutes away, just outside of Brugge (which is a great tourist destination).
We had a really nice time. There was a lot to see -- a castle from the 1100s and several other very old churches and buildings. It was a beautiful city -- we got to do another horse and carriage ride to see the sights of town. There are several canals through town, and we could've done a boat ride, too, but decided to save that for next time. The town was much less crowded than Brugge, and from an "old building" perspective, I liked Ghent a lot more. From a shopping and takeaway coffee perspective, Brugge wins.
They were selling these little candies called "The Nose of Ghent." And they were little candy cones (vaguely resembling noses, I suppose). They were purple and I guess supposed to be multifruit flavor (if you're using your imagination). They were kinda like really soft jelly beans -- a soft outer layer (but firm enough to keep the shape) and a soft, chewy inner center. Super sugary, which meant the kids loved them.
It was a great way to spend the day. (And the sugar buzz didn't keep them from crashing immediately in the car.)
The Mysterious Fever
You know us -- never a dull moment. Jack was a fitful sleeper Saturday night but usually consoled by the pacifier. Around 3 when I came in for the millionth time, he stood up to get out of bed, so I picked him up and he obviously had a fever (who knows for how long). We dosed him up with Motrin and finally got him back in bed after he started to cool off a little.
Sunday wasn't fun. His fever continued and just went up and up and wouldn't respond to anything -- even my Motrin/Tylenol rotation. Finally around 3, with his temp by ear at at least 104, T.J. and I decided to call in medical reinforcements. The doctor isn't available on the weekend, but I had remembered that in the weekly free newspaper, there was a listing of the pharmacies open on the weekend/after hours (remember, only one pharmacy per town is open after 7 and on Sundays. And since towns are big, you just can't drive around looking for it). It also has a list for emergency doctors. I called, and they said they would have a doctor at the house within 1-2 hours for only 60 euros (our regular doctor visits are 40, and the ER is 50, so it's well worth it to have someone come by!! Much better than spending the day in the ER.).
At this point, Amelia started complaining that her ear hurt, and was really starting to get worked up. I thought at first that she was just trying to get some attention, since Jack had been getting the lion's share. But when she started clutching her ear and crying, I figured it might be the real deal.
I left to quickly drop some dessert off at a friend's house down the street (we had been looking forward to attending a barbecue that afternoon at a new friend's house -- and a schoolmate's of Amelia's). As I was filling them in on our absence, they told me how their daughter, the week before, had the same mysterious fever -- 24 hours of a super-high fever with no other symptoms, and no medication would bring it down. But just as mysteriously and as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. And they said they knew of other children in the class who had the same thing.
Relieved to know that this was going around -- and knowing a little bit about what I was dealing with -- I headed home. The doctor had already arrived (wow, that was fast!) and prescribed alternating Paracetamol and ibuprofen for Jack. Amelia did indeed have the beginnings of an ear infection (good girl for telling us!), so she got some antibiotics. (Thank goodness we had the doctor come by, or else we would've had a terrible night with her!) She also gave me a prescription for antibiotic eye drops (more pinkeye!) and for antibiotics for Jack in case he came down with something like an ear infection.
Amelia and I headed out to the pharmacy to fill all the prescriptions, and on the drive there, she started screaming hysterically because her ear hurt. I felt so bad for her.
We got home, dosed everyone up with their respective medications, and Amelia took a 15-minute nap. Upon awakening, she was as good as new, and we haven't had any complaints about her ear since.
Jack and T.J. stayed at home, with Jack's fever remaining high until around midnight, and Amelia and I went to the party for a little bit. We had a nice time, but I'm not sure that T.J. had the same enjoyable evening.
It's now Tuesday, and Jack's fever did break Sunday night, but then returned around noon yesterday. It went back up to 103 (so at least not as bad as before), but he was as cheerful as ever. He hasn't slept well at all, but as of this morning, he's cool again. He made it through today without any fever, so I think we've beaten that. Hooray.
So now if we can just keep the pinkeye at bay, we're set. Certainly that can't go on forever....
We decided to make a road trip on Saturday, so we headed off to Ghent, which was about 45 minutes away, just outside of Brugge (which is a great tourist destination).
We had a really nice time. There was a lot to see -- a castle from the 1100s and several other very old churches and buildings. It was a beautiful city -- we got to do another horse and carriage ride to see the sights of town. There are several canals through town, and we could've done a boat ride, too, but decided to save that for next time. The town was much less crowded than Brugge, and from an "old building" perspective, I liked Ghent a lot more. From a shopping and takeaway coffee perspective, Brugge wins.
They were selling these little candies called "The Nose of Ghent." And they were little candy cones (vaguely resembling noses, I suppose). They were purple and I guess supposed to be multifruit flavor (if you're using your imagination). They were kinda like really soft jelly beans -- a soft outer layer (but firm enough to keep the shape) and a soft, chewy inner center. Super sugary, which meant the kids loved them.
It was a great way to spend the day. (And the sugar buzz didn't keep them from crashing immediately in the car.)
The Mysterious Fever
You know us -- never a dull moment. Jack was a fitful sleeper Saturday night but usually consoled by the pacifier. Around 3 when I came in for the millionth time, he stood up to get out of bed, so I picked him up and he obviously had a fever (who knows for how long). We dosed him up with Motrin and finally got him back in bed after he started to cool off a little.
Sunday wasn't fun. His fever continued and just went up and up and wouldn't respond to anything -- even my Motrin/Tylenol rotation. Finally around 3, with his temp by ear at at least 104, T.J. and I decided to call in medical reinforcements. The doctor isn't available on the weekend, but I had remembered that in the weekly free newspaper, there was a listing of the pharmacies open on the weekend/after hours (remember, only one pharmacy per town is open after 7 and on Sundays. And since towns are big, you just can't drive around looking for it). It also has a list for emergency doctors. I called, and they said they would have a doctor at the house within 1-2 hours for only 60 euros (our regular doctor visits are 40, and the ER is 50, so it's well worth it to have someone come by!! Much better than spending the day in the ER.).
At this point, Amelia started complaining that her ear hurt, and was really starting to get worked up. I thought at first that she was just trying to get some attention, since Jack had been getting the lion's share. But when she started clutching her ear and crying, I figured it might be the real deal.
I left to quickly drop some dessert off at a friend's house down the street (we had been looking forward to attending a barbecue that afternoon at a new friend's house -- and a schoolmate's of Amelia's). As I was filling them in on our absence, they told me how their daughter, the week before, had the same mysterious fever -- 24 hours of a super-high fever with no other symptoms, and no medication would bring it down. But just as mysteriously and as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. And they said they knew of other children in the class who had the same thing.
Relieved to know that this was going around -- and knowing a little bit about what I was dealing with -- I headed home. The doctor had already arrived (wow, that was fast!) and prescribed alternating Paracetamol and ibuprofen for Jack. Amelia did indeed have the beginnings of an ear infection (good girl for telling us!), so she got some antibiotics. (Thank goodness we had the doctor come by, or else we would've had a terrible night with her!) She also gave me a prescription for antibiotic eye drops (more pinkeye!) and for antibiotics for Jack in case he came down with something like an ear infection.
Amelia and I headed out to the pharmacy to fill all the prescriptions, and on the drive there, she started screaming hysterically because her ear hurt. I felt so bad for her.
We got home, dosed everyone up with their respective medications, and Amelia took a 15-minute nap. Upon awakening, she was as good as new, and we haven't had any complaints about her ear since.
Jack and T.J. stayed at home, with Jack's fever remaining high until around midnight, and Amelia and I went to the party for a little bit. We had a nice time, but I'm not sure that T.J. had the same enjoyable evening.
It's now Tuesday, and Jack's fever did break Sunday night, but then returned around noon yesterday. It went back up to 103 (so at least not as bad as before), but he was as cheerful as ever. He hasn't slept well at all, but as of this morning, he's cool again. He made it through today without any fever, so I think we've beaten that. Hooray.
So now if we can just keep the pinkeye at bay, we're set. Certainly that can't go on forever....
Monday, May 21, 2007
Our First European Vacation
Sorry for the delay in posting. It's hard to find the time to blog a whole week's worth of traveling. Hopefully this will redeem me a little...
Below is our blog from our first big vacation. I've tried to post a bunch of pictures, but we took many, many more. I'm trying to upload them to ofoto.com. If you're interested in seeing more pix, just e-mail me, and I'll send you the links.
Day 1: Brussels to Heidelberg
We left on Saturday for our first stop, in Heidelberg, Germany. We stopped at a rest station along the way and had our first German sausage. The bathrooms were spectacularly clean, and you had to buy a 50 cent ticket to enter the turnstile to the bathrooms. Worth every penny! The kids did great (and did so throughout the trip).
TJ enjoyed (putting it mildly) driving on the autobahn. I'm not sure how fast we were going (though I know it was fast), but the rules of the road in Germany are very orderly, and people follow them, so we never felt unsafe. The scenery was beautiful, and Jack was enamored with the big, modern windmills.
We arrived in Heidelberg early enough to do a little sightseeing. Our hotel (the Molkenkur) was high up on a hillside and had a beautiful view of the city. The hotel had a nice path weaving down the hill to the town, and we had a nice walk down. We got down and walked around a beautiful castle, walked by the river and, blissfully, found Starbucks. Tons of shops and restaurants, and even more gelato shops.
We had a nice 2 bedroom room, so the kids slept in one room and we slept in the other, giving me plenty of opportunity to watch Jurassic Park in German. The hotel was hosting a wedding reception, and we fell asleep to some great 80s tunes.
Day 2: Heidelberg to Fussen, Germany
We woke up on Sunday, had a nice breakfast (standard European breakfasts: bread, spreads, soft-boiled eggs, meats and cheeses, yogurt, muesli, and dark coffee). The kids were up pretty early because of the sun, but I guess that way, we get a quicker start to the day.
We started the drive to Fussen, where we were meeting up with the Wordens. Amelia was so excited to see Maggie. TJ again loved the Germany driving. We averaged about 160km per hour but no matter how fast he went (200km max) there was always someone going faster, much faster. To put it in US terms, at 100 MPH, we would be passed by cars going easily 150. WOW! We arrived in Fussen around lunchtime. Fussen is a quaint little town -- a lot of tourism based on the Neuschwanstein and Schwangau castles close by.
Our kids were thrilled to see Maggie and Tommy after lunch, and it was great to see John and Deb. We had a great German dinner, with ice cream after. The girls stayed up way past bedtimes, playing with Amelia's ponies.
Day 3: Fussen -- the Castles
The day started off very early. T.J. and I woke up at 6 a.m. to the sound of singing. We looked out the window and saw a procession led by a priest and followed by about 20 people. They were just walking down the street, singing. Even though it was super-early, it was a nice way to wake up.
We had tickets with the Wordens to go see the castles. We had great weather, and had a beautiful tour of Schwangau. Then we had a quick lunch (but not quick enough) and took a horse and carriage ride to Neuschwanstein. The ride was nice (especially because it was quite a long -- and steep -- walk), until one of the horses got a serious case of gas, followed by him taking care of business.
The castles were both spectacular, though Amelia was disappointed that the princesses were all gone. We all had a great Italian dinner, followed by more ice cream, and more playing with ponies. The kids were all fascinated with all the fountains in town, and we found one that the kids found especially appealing. Unfortunately, Jack chose to stick his foot in it, and then got upset that his foot was wet.
Day 4: Fussen to Salzburg, Austria
Another day of autobahn driving, so T.J. was excited. It was sad to say goodbye to the Wordens. We headed off to Salzburg -- with a stop in Munich for lunch. We got there a little after 11 a.m., which gave us some time to walk around before the Glockenspiel went off at noon. For lunch, we went to the Famous Hofbrau Beer Hall for some sausages (I had German meat loaf, which was essentially a small meatloaf-shaped hot dog -- but it was actually very good!) and giant pretzels.
T.J. tried more German beer, while I had a mix of beer and lemonade which, again, I thought was quite tasty. I was convinced to spend 20 euros (don't tell T.J. it was that much!) on a Hofbrau Horse for Amelia. It's very cute, and it even came dressed in lederhosen (sp?).
After lunch, we headed back to the car for a quick trip to Dachau (Nazi Concentration Camp) for me to run around to the memorial site. Since Dachau is just a Munich suburb, I found it hard to not go. It was, of course, a very sobering visit. T.J. stayed with the kids while they napped, and I did literally run around the whole site. I would have liked to have stayed longer to have learned more, but we were running short on time, and we wanted to get to Salzburg.
Off we went again. Shortly after getting on the highway (still technically in Munich), we came to a standstill. Completely. Totally. And it started to rain. So we sat and sat and sat and wondered what was going on (of course, we understand nothing on the radio so didn't even bother). Engines off, people getting out of their cars, men running wildly to the trees while the women crossed their legs.
One fellow traveler got out of his car and started juggling.
So it's around 4, and it's a 1.5-hour drive to Salzburg. We have to check in to the hotel by 7, or they start charging fees. They don't let you check in past 10.
Then it's 5 p.m. And 6. Natives are restless, but surprisingly patient. Luckily I have some granola bars and chips and water and juice, but nothing of the dinner variety. T.J. offers the couple behind us some granola bars, and they give us some bananas. We find out that there was a truck on fire a few kilometers ahead, and they closed the highway.
Poor Amelia has to use the potty, but of course it's raining. We finally convince her to get in one of Jack's diapers, and she did so, but she wasn't convinced. She was afraid the diaper would leak all over her seat. She finally took advantage of the diaper, and thankfully hasn't made mention of it again!
We've called the hotel already to tell them we're stuck and will be late and promise to call with updates. 7 comes, then 8. Finally around 8:45 or so, things start moving. We make a frantic call to the hotel, saying that we would be there by 10:30, and they agree to wait.
So after all that time, we finally make headway. The kids really did great, and the DVD player held its battery for most of the trip. I was really proud of the kids.
We're about 30 minutes outside Salzburg, it's 10pm and the kids are exhausted. Amelia starts to nod off, Jack tries but wakes up screaming. Which wakes Mia up, and she starts screaming. They both stop crying, nod off, and start the whole racket again 5 minutes later. Meanwhile, it was pouring down rain, pitch dark and we were driving through the mountain highways of Austria. If the trip to Fussen was T. J.'s all time best driving experience, this was easily the worst. It was a long, long drive, but we finally made it.
We got to our room around 11, and then the kids were wide awake, of course. But we all crashed hard and had a good night of sleep, happy to be out of Munich!
Day 5: Salzburg
We all slept late, after our big day the night before. We had another great breakfast and then headed out for some sightseeing (we were actually staying in a town about 10 minutes from Salzburg. We were supposed to go on Fraulein Maria's Bicycle Tour of all the Sound of Music hotspots. Unfortunately, we were running late, and I thought the tour met at a different spot than it actually did. So instead we walked around, found more fountains, and walked through a beautiful Mirabell Gardens.
We took a horse and carriage ride through town, and then we took another cog train up to the castle. On our way to the cog train, there was a stand with a bunch of different kinds of pretzels -- cinnamon sugar, bacon and cheese, regular. So very tasty! The castle was beautiful -- fun to imagine what it must've been like hundreds of years ago.
In the afternoon, we headed off to the Salzburg zoo. It was truly the most scenic zoo I've ever been to, with the mountains and snow in the background. The zoo itself was right up against a hillside, and it was really neat. HOWEVER, I totally understand why there are so many reports of animals killing zoo goers in Europe. The barriers are minimal, and in many cases, you could touch the animals if you really wanted too. Some children were picking long weeds and feeding the capybaras ("Mom, why can't I feed them? Those children are..."). Even by the lions, there was a posted sign warning of getting, uh, sprayed. Note in the picture below of Amelia on the right, and the lion on the left.
Day 6: Salzburg to Lucerne, Switzerland
Another travel day. It was a holiday so nothing was open. We stopped at Innsbruck for lunch and had a hard time finding something that was open. We finally stopped at a place in town where everyone else seemed to be eating. There wasn't much to do, so we didn't linger long.
We traveled through many tunnels, and between them and the rainy weather, we didn't get to enjoy the scenery much. But we arrived safely in Lucerne, and the children were delighted to see that our hotel had a playground and ponies and goats to pet. Success!
Day 7: Lucerne
We walked around the city, and got our obligatory Starbucks. We had an enjoyable boat ride, and we even sat across from three young folks from Fairfax.
We had also gone to see the lion monument and the nearby glacier park (Jack was thrilled to see all the big rocks).
We drove to Zug in the afternoon and took another funicular ride. It was a beautiful view, and we had a wonderful dinner (I had fondue that was fantastic).
Day 8: Interlaken
We drove to Interlaken for the day. We kept seeing parachutists floating around -- the kids were fascinated. More walking around town, and another funicular ride. There was a big slide that the kids loved and a few other bits of playground equipment.
We had another great dinner (more fondue for me!) and a few more Starbucks for good measure. It's not even the Starbucks iteself that I wanted -- just the takeaway coffee that I miss.
Amelia insisted on buying a cow bell (why do all the Swiss cows and goats wear bells?) for Stripey the Zebra, since she forgot to bring him on the trip. She chose not to bring him, but then she spent the last 3 days of the trip constantly asking when she would see Stripey.
Jack woke up with another case of pinkeye. (Seriously, does ANYONE know how to get rid of this? I've been washing hands and using hand sanitizer on everyone like crazy, but I can't seem to kill the bacteria.)
Then Jack woke up around 10 that night with croup. Then around 2 am spiked a fever. Luckily, I came prepared with meds. Jack was as happy as can be, but he sounded like a beached seal, poor guy. At least we were getting ready to head home!
Day 9: Lucerne to Brussels
We had a long day of driving ahead of us, but it went smoothly. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch (only because it was convenient, not because we craved it) and then passed through Strasbourg, France (where the Neunreiters are from). We also drove through Luxembourg (our motto: Where the country is short but the lines are long). There were 2 rest areas, and the lines for gas were 5 or 6 deep. The parking lot held a few hundred cars, probably, and it was PACKED. Apparently they have cheap cigarettes and booze there.
All in all, we logged 2500 km and 7 countries without ever showing a passport.
Returning Home
We had a great visit, but we were ready to get home. But have you ever been away from home and thought, "Man, I just can't wait to get home where all the food is normal and everyone speaks English?" That was the hard part about returning. It's good to be home, but I still would like more English and more recognizable food. A road trip just isn't a road trip without a big bag of Cheetos.
New Things I Miss
Shredded cheddar cheese. You don't know how much you miss it until you slice open a knuckle after hand grating it....
Instant mashed potatoes. I actually found some and made them for dinner the other night. They were awfully yellow and not especially tasty. Can't hold a candle to Wal-Mart's Loaded Instant Mashed Potatoes.
Other Things
The sun is coming up earlier and earlier -- it's light outside around 5 now, and it's still dusky at 10 at night.
I have become a Belgian biker. Jack and I are doing bike rides to market in the morning. I have a basket for the front of my bike (and plan to get saddlebags for the back) and fill it with flowers and food. Jack has been enjoying it, and I've enjoyed riding. I even took a ride the other night at 9:15 at night when it was still perfectly light.
The neighbors got a trampoline and set it up right on the other side of our fence. So all day long, Amelia is begging me to go let her jump. Sigh. I foresee disaster. She has also discovered the joy of asking "Why" after everything I tell her. So we had a 10-minute conversation in the car the other day, and everything was "why? why?" I better become really smart, really fast.
And I put both the kids on antibiotic eye drops after Jack came down with the last Pinkeye round last Saturday. They finished their course on Thursday -- yay! But, then, I got it on Friday. SERIOUSLY. I need help.
Below is our blog from our first big vacation. I've tried to post a bunch of pictures, but we took many, many more. I'm trying to upload them to ofoto.com. If you're interested in seeing more pix, just e-mail me, and I'll send you the links.
Day 1: Brussels to Heidelberg
We left on Saturday for our first stop, in Heidelberg, Germany. We stopped at a rest station along the way and had our first German sausage. The bathrooms were spectacularly clean, and you had to buy a 50 cent ticket to enter the turnstile to the bathrooms. Worth every penny! The kids did great (and did so throughout the trip).
TJ enjoyed (putting it mildly) driving on the autobahn. I'm not sure how fast we were going (though I know it was fast), but the rules of the road in Germany are very orderly, and people follow them, so we never felt unsafe. The scenery was beautiful, and Jack was enamored with the big, modern windmills.
We arrived in Heidelberg early enough to do a little sightseeing. Our hotel (the Molkenkur) was high up on a hillside and had a beautiful view of the city. The hotel had a nice path weaving down the hill to the town, and we had a nice walk down. We got down and walked around a beautiful castle, walked by the river and, blissfully, found Starbucks. Tons of shops and restaurants, and even more gelato shops.
We had a nice 2 bedroom room, so the kids slept in one room and we slept in the other, giving me plenty of opportunity to watch Jurassic Park in German. The hotel was hosting a wedding reception, and we fell asleep to some great 80s tunes.
Day 2: Heidelberg to Fussen, Germany
We woke up on Sunday, had a nice breakfast (standard European breakfasts: bread, spreads, soft-boiled eggs, meats and cheeses, yogurt, muesli, and dark coffee). The kids were up pretty early because of the sun, but I guess that way, we get a quicker start to the day.
We started the drive to Fussen, where we were meeting up with the Wordens. Amelia was so excited to see Maggie. TJ again loved the Germany driving. We averaged about 160km per hour but no matter how fast he went (200km max) there was always someone going faster, much faster. To put it in US terms, at 100 MPH, we would be passed by cars going easily 150. WOW! We arrived in Fussen around lunchtime. Fussen is a quaint little town -- a lot of tourism based on the Neuschwanstein and Schwangau castles close by.
Our kids were thrilled to see Maggie and Tommy after lunch, and it was great to see John and Deb. We had a great German dinner, with ice cream after. The girls stayed up way past bedtimes, playing with Amelia's ponies.
Day 3: Fussen -- the Castles
The day started off very early. T.J. and I woke up at 6 a.m. to the sound of singing. We looked out the window and saw a procession led by a priest and followed by about 20 people. They were just walking down the street, singing. Even though it was super-early, it was a nice way to wake up.
We had tickets with the Wordens to go see the castles. We had great weather, and had a beautiful tour of Schwangau. Then we had a quick lunch (but not quick enough) and took a horse and carriage ride to Neuschwanstein. The ride was nice (especially because it was quite a long -- and steep -- walk), until one of the horses got a serious case of gas, followed by him taking care of business.
The castles were both spectacular, though Amelia was disappointed that the princesses were all gone. We all had a great Italian dinner, followed by more ice cream, and more playing with ponies. The kids were all fascinated with all the fountains in town, and we found one that the kids found especially appealing. Unfortunately, Jack chose to stick his foot in it, and then got upset that his foot was wet.
Day 4: Fussen to Salzburg, Austria
Another day of autobahn driving, so T.J. was excited. It was sad to say goodbye to the Wordens. We headed off to Salzburg -- with a stop in Munich for lunch. We got there a little after 11 a.m., which gave us some time to walk around before the Glockenspiel went off at noon. For lunch, we went to the Famous Hofbrau Beer Hall for some sausages (I had German meat loaf, which was essentially a small meatloaf-shaped hot dog -- but it was actually very good!) and giant pretzels.
T.J. tried more German beer, while I had a mix of beer and lemonade which, again, I thought was quite tasty. I was convinced to spend 20 euros (don't tell T.J. it was that much!) on a Hofbrau Horse for Amelia. It's very cute, and it even came dressed in lederhosen (sp?).
After lunch, we headed back to the car for a quick trip to Dachau (Nazi Concentration Camp) for me to run around to the memorial site. Since Dachau is just a Munich suburb, I found it hard to not go. It was, of course, a very sobering visit. T.J. stayed with the kids while they napped, and I did literally run around the whole site. I would have liked to have stayed longer to have learned more, but we were running short on time, and we wanted to get to Salzburg.
Off we went again. Shortly after getting on the highway (still technically in Munich), we came to a standstill. Completely. Totally. And it started to rain. So we sat and sat and sat and wondered what was going on (of course, we understand nothing on the radio so didn't even bother). Engines off, people getting out of their cars, men running wildly to the trees while the women crossed their legs.
One fellow traveler got out of his car and started juggling.
So it's around 4, and it's a 1.5-hour drive to Salzburg. We have to check in to the hotel by 7, or they start charging fees. They don't let you check in past 10.
Then it's 5 p.m. And 6. Natives are restless, but surprisingly patient. Luckily I have some granola bars and chips and water and juice, but nothing of the dinner variety. T.J. offers the couple behind us some granola bars, and they give us some bananas. We find out that there was a truck on fire a few kilometers ahead, and they closed the highway.
Poor Amelia has to use the potty, but of course it's raining. We finally convince her to get in one of Jack's diapers, and she did so, but she wasn't convinced. She was afraid the diaper would leak all over her seat. She finally took advantage of the diaper, and thankfully hasn't made mention of it again!
We've called the hotel already to tell them we're stuck and will be late and promise to call with updates. 7 comes, then 8. Finally around 8:45 or so, things start moving. We make a frantic call to the hotel, saying that we would be there by 10:30, and they agree to wait.
So after all that time, we finally make headway. The kids really did great, and the DVD player held its battery for most of the trip. I was really proud of the kids.
We're about 30 minutes outside Salzburg, it's 10pm and the kids are exhausted. Amelia starts to nod off, Jack tries but wakes up screaming. Which wakes Mia up, and she starts screaming. They both stop crying, nod off, and start the whole racket again 5 minutes later. Meanwhile, it was pouring down rain, pitch dark and we were driving through the mountain highways of Austria. If the trip to Fussen was T. J.'s all time best driving experience, this was easily the worst. It was a long, long drive, but we finally made it.
We got to our room around 11, and then the kids were wide awake, of course. But we all crashed hard and had a good night of sleep, happy to be out of Munich!
Day 5: Salzburg
We all slept late, after our big day the night before. We had another great breakfast and then headed out for some sightseeing (we were actually staying in a town about 10 minutes from Salzburg. We were supposed to go on Fraulein Maria's Bicycle Tour of all the Sound of Music hotspots. Unfortunately, we were running late, and I thought the tour met at a different spot than it actually did. So instead we walked around, found more fountains, and walked through a beautiful Mirabell Gardens.
We took a horse and carriage ride through town, and then we took another cog train up to the castle. On our way to the cog train, there was a stand with a bunch of different kinds of pretzels -- cinnamon sugar, bacon and cheese, regular. So very tasty! The castle was beautiful -- fun to imagine what it must've been like hundreds of years ago.
In the afternoon, we headed off to the Salzburg zoo. It was truly the most scenic zoo I've ever been to, with the mountains and snow in the background. The zoo itself was right up against a hillside, and it was really neat. HOWEVER, I totally understand why there are so many reports of animals killing zoo goers in Europe. The barriers are minimal, and in many cases, you could touch the animals if you really wanted too. Some children were picking long weeds and feeding the capybaras ("Mom, why can't I feed them? Those children are..."). Even by the lions, there was a posted sign warning of getting, uh, sprayed. Note in the picture below of Amelia on the right, and the lion on the left.
Day 6: Salzburg to Lucerne, Switzerland
Another travel day. It was a holiday so nothing was open. We stopped at Innsbruck for lunch and had a hard time finding something that was open. We finally stopped at a place in town where everyone else seemed to be eating. There wasn't much to do, so we didn't linger long.
We traveled through many tunnels, and between them and the rainy weather, we didn't get to enjoy the scenery much. But we arrived safely in Lucerne, and the children were delighted to see that our hotel had a playground and ponies and goats to pet. Success!
Day 7: Lucerne
We walked around the city, and got our obligatory Starbucks. We had an enjoyable boat ride, and we even sat across from three young folks from Fairfax.
We had also gone to see the lion monument and the nearby glacier park (Jack was thrilled to see all the big rocks).
We drove to Zug in the afternoon and took another funicular ride. It was a beautiful view, and we had a wonderful dinner (I had fondue that was fantastic).
Day 8: Interlaken
We drove to Interlaken for the day. We kept seeing parachutists floating around -- the kids were fascinated. More walking around town, and another funicular ride. There was a big slide that the kids loved and a few other bits of playground equipment.
We had another great dinner (more fondue for me!) and a few more Starbucks for good measure. It's not even the Starbucks iteself that I wanted -- just the takeaway coffee that I miss.
Amelia insisted on buying a cow bell (why do all the Swiss cows and goats wear bells?) for Stripey the Zebra, since she forgot to bring him on the trip. She chose not to bring him, but then she spent the last 3 days of the trip constantly asking when she would see Stripey.
Jack woke up with another case of pinkeye. (Seriously, does ANYONE know how to get rid of this? I've been washing hands and using hand sanitizer on everyone like crazy, but I can't seem to kill the bacteria.)
Then Jack woke up around 10 that night with croup. Then around 2 am spiked a fever. Luckily, I came prepared with meds. Jack was as happy as can be, but he sounded like a beached seal, poor guy. At least we were getting ready to head home!
Day 9: Lucerne to Brussels
We had a long day of driving ahead of us, but it went smoothly. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch (only because it was convenient, not because we craved it) and then passed through Strasbourg, France (where the Neunreiters are from). We also drove through Luxembourg (our motto: Where the country is short but the lines are long). There were 2 rest areas, and the lines for gas were 5 or 6 deep. The parking lot held a few hundred cars, probably, and it was PACKED. Apparently they have cheap cigarettes and booze there.
All in all, we logged 2500 km and 7 countries without ever showing a passport.
Returning Home
We had a great visit, but we were ready to get home. But have you ever been away from home and thought, "Man, I just can't wait to get home where all the food is normal and everyone speaks English?" That was the hard part about returning. It's good to be home, but I still would like more English and more recognizable food. A road trip just isn't a road trip without a big bag of Cheetos.
New Things I Miss
Shredded cheddar cheese. You don't know how much you miss it until you slice open a knuckle after hand grating it....
Instant mashed potatoes. I actually found some and made them for dinner the other night. They were awfully yellow and not especially tasty. Can't hold a candle to Wal-Mart's Loaded Instant Mashed Potatoes.
Other Things
The sun is coming up earlier and earlier -- it's light outside around 5 now, and it's still dusky at 10 at night.
I have become a Belgian biker. Jack and I are doing bike rides to market in the morning. I have a basket for the front of my bike (and plan to get saddlebags for the back) and fill it with flowers and food. Jack has been enjoying it, and I've enjoyed riding. I even took a ride the other night at 9:15 at night when it was still perfectly light.
The neighbors got a trampoline and set it up right on the other side of our fence. So all day long, Amelia is begging me to go let her jump. Sigh. I foresee disaster. She has also discovered the joy of asking "Why" after everything I tell her. So we had a 10-minute conversation in the car the other day, and everything was "why? why?" I better become really smart, really fast.
And I put both the kids on antibiotic eye drops after Jack came down with the last Pinkeye round last Saturday. They finished their course on Thursday -- yay! But, then, I got it on Friday. SERIOUSLY. I need help.
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