Brussels Ice Magic/The Art of the Brick

Make a picture slideshow We organized a day in Brussels with friends and headed into town via the train.  A short walk from Central station up towards the Royal Palace and we were able to see the Brussels Ice Magic exhibition. It had a comic book theme and was cool.  We had gone to a similar exhibit a few years ago in Brugge which had an international theme and was a bit more impressive.  We then headed to the Brussels in the Sky which allowed us to go up 85 meters to see awesome views of the city in a rotating cabin.  Then, we headed down the hill to the Grand Place where we visited the Art of the Brick (Lego exhibition) by Nathan Sawaya.  It is housed in the Bourse (the old financial building in Brussels) and was absolutely amazing.  I highly recommend you go to see this exhibit if it comes to a town near you!  We rounded out the day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe with 30 total people and then the light show on the Grand Place.  It was a great day!  :)

Wisconsin Weekend

A digital slideshow by Smilebox My cousin Conor started college and playing football for the University of Wisconsin and then we moved to Belgium.  Thinking we would only be here for two years, we knew we’d get to see him play in person when we moved back.  Having started our fifth fall in Belgium in 2013 and knowing that Conor was graduating in December, we knew we’d have to make a special trip to the US to see him play.  Of course the obvious week (our fall break) the Badgers had a bye and an away game.  We chose to align the trip with Thanksgiving which meant it was the last game of the season against Penn State.  It was also Senior Week so it was extra special for Conor.  Thanksgiving was great in OH (see a few pics on the left side) and then we were off to Wisconsin.  My parents and Conor’s parents were also going to be at the game so it was a bit of a family reunion.  Camp Randall (the stadium) was filled with excitement and it was good fun to see Nicholas and Lindsey get caught up in the atmosphere.  We were able to tour the facilities, spend time on the practice field, meet Bucky the Badger and several players (Nick captured a few autographs), and spend time with Conor.  The game, unfortunately, was not the outcome we all wanted.  Afterwards, we met again on the indoor practice field to take pictures with Conor.  The energy was a bit subdued, but dinner that night and then hanging out with college kids at the bar helped to bring the energy level back up.  We are so proud of Conor and all that he has accomplished! :)  On Wisconsin!!

Mediterranean cruise for fall break

Slideshow design made with Smilebox For fall break this year, we planned a cruise with my mom.  After we booked, we sent an email to lots of friends to see if anyone wanted to join us.  Two families took us up on the offer to vacation together and we had a great time!  This was our 3rd Royal Caribbean cruise from Europe.  This one left from Venice, Italy and included two full days at sea.   Our first stop was Split, Croatia.  Our family took a taxi tour around the island where we learned a lot about the history.  We then walked around the Royal Palace grounds that have been converted into restaurants and shops.  We went up into the bell tower of the church and had amazing views of the city.   Ephesus, Turkey was our second stop and the kids convinced us to let them stay on the ship.  All 7 adults piled into one taxi van for a great day of sightseeing.  We first visited the home of Mary where she lived out the last of her days.  Next, we saw Roman ruins.  I bought one of those cool books that has the overlays of what the place had looked like originally.  It’s so fascinating!  Our taxi driver asked us to stop at a leather store (complete with runway strip) as a favor to him.  While the products were gorgeous, they were still a bit pricey.  He received a gas voucher for our troubles so it was worth it for him.   Mykonos, Greece was our 3rd stop.  Nick and Lindsey joined us this day and the weather was just beautiful.  It was windy, but warm and the sun felt great.  We walked the town and had a delicious Greek salad for lunch.  The main point of interest was the windmills which are no longer in use.   Argostoli, Greece was the final stop on our cruise.  Again, the kids wanted to stay on the boat.  This time we had to take 2 cabs for the 7 adults.  We drove to Drogarati Cavern which is a cave that had these impressive stalactites and stalagmites.  It was my first experience with that and though tit was super cool.  Next, we drove to Melissani Lake which is sort of an “indoor” lake.  The roof has collapsed and you take a brief boat ride around the cave in order to see the sunlight.   All in all it was a great cruise.  I did think these ports were not as exciting as some of the other cruises we have been on, but the company of the two other families and also quality Nana time was really awesome.

Family pictures in Park Cinquantenaire

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On a very sunny and dry day in November, we went to Park Cinquantenaire in Brussels with our friend who is also a photographer.  It was a lot colder than it looked, but we managed to get several great pictures with the intent to use them on our Christmas card.  The whole idea was almost cancelled because earlier in that week Nicholas had chipped his front tooth (again).  I was hesitant to get family pictures taken, but Hope was able to make his mouth not a focal point.  Looking forward to doing this again with her in another Belgian location!

Fall family update 2013

A free slideshow by Smilebox Four and a half years into our two year assignment here in Belgium and life is truly speeding up.  The new people who are moving in can’t believe how busy they are here.  One friend just told me she wants to go back to work in order to slow down.  :) What a riot!  So even though I joined Facebook, I’d like to still keep up with the blog while we live here.  Even though it’s exhausting, I know I will one day appreciate that I took the time to do this.  I hope you can find some time to update me on your life as a lot happens in a year!  Take care! Nicholas -- At 9 and a half, Nicholas is very busy!  He is now taking weekly tennis lessons with 3 other boys and I can’t wait until we can play together.  Soccer season is about halfway through and he is still enjoying the goalie position.  Last week he was so good my friends on the other team kept asking how old he was!  So proud!  :)  He is also playing floor hockey again and the Sunday lacrosse clinic will start up next weekend.  He also ran a 4K with Paul in Brussels last weekend which was awesome! Nicholas begins and ends his day reading in his bed.  I now have to keep track of which number in the series he needs on my iPhone as he is reading so many different series right now.  4th grade has gotten off to a great start and they have already gone on one overnight field trip to the Belgian coast.  The highlight of the year will be a week trip to London with his classmates.  What a life! Lindsey -- Lindsey is 7 and a half going on 17!  She is very confident and knows what she wants.  If I had a dollar for every time someone said she was just like me, I’d be rich.  Bless her heart!  :)  Irish dance is on hold while they try to find a teacher, but the soccer season has been quite fun for Lindsey.  She is really getting the hang of it and is a strong defender.  Piano lessons were added last year and even though our teacher moved to another town, she is still keeping up with the lessons.  She loves to sketch, color, and do all things creative.  Singing all the words to all the songs is a favorite past time as well.   2nd grade is also going very well for Lindsey.  She has an American teacher who has most recently been teaching in Morocco.  There are a lot of new kids in her class this year and it has been fun watching Lindsey interact with them.  She’s still into reading and now loves going on a math website.  She got braces this fall in order to fix a front tooth that was sitting behind her lower teeth and pushing them forward.  It’s early for her age, but she’s lost 8 teeth already so we needed to get started.  It’s amazing how much better it looks in the month she’s had them on! Both kids --  It’s sad to realize we don’t spend as much time playing games and watching movies together.  As they grow up we all seem to be going in different directions with different interests.  There is still a lot of time spent on electronics, the trampoline, and fighting with each other.  Our family bonds the most during dinners and when we travel.  We are hoping to add family bike rides to our weekends, once we can get Lindsey more confident on her bike.  We just celebrated International Festival at school on Friday and the kids enjoyed showing their American pride! Gretchen -- I have managed to fill my days/weeks with lots of volunteering again this year.  I’m still involved with Scholastic as a way to offer books in English to the children at the school.  I’m also the homeroom mom for Lindsey’s class this year and not Nicholas’s.  I am still the co-chair of the Welcome Committee at school and I match up new families with existing ones.  We have had 120 new families start so far this year.  I’m still taking French lessons but have switched to a different teacher.  I am hoping to continue to learn and get confident in my ability to understand French.  I’m also taking tennis lessons and attending a bootcamp, both of which I really love.  :)  My goal this year is to explore Belgium a bit more with some of my new friends who have a lot of energy to get out there and do stuff!   We had the awesome experience of attending Oktoberfest in Munich this year.  Everyone gets dressed up in traditional lederhosen (boys) and drindls (girls).  It was so much fun! Paul -- Paul has been with ATMI for over 8 years now and spent most of those years in Belgium.  His travel is picking up and he is going to China and returning to the US more often.  Paul turned 40 in August and received a new set of golf clubs from us so he hopes to get to on the course more often.  He is assistant coaching both of the kids’ soccer teams this year which is keeping him super busy.  He ran in the 4K with Nicholas and perhaps that is the start of his father/son race career? That’s an update for you!  We have two big trips coming up: our fall break cruise through the Mediterranean and a trip to the US over Thanksgiving to see my cousin, Conor, play football in his last game at Wisconsin.  My goal will be to blog again before Christmas!  :)

LBI Beach week 2013

Picture slideshow generated with Smilebox This summer we did something new and rented a beach house in New Jersey on Long Beach Island (LBI) where my Aunt Carol & Uncle Tom have a beach house.  There were 21 of us in attendance it was good fun from the start!  The 9 kids (5 between Tina & Molly and 4 between me and Steph) immediately took to one another as if they had always been friends.  It was awesome!  The week was full of trips to the beach, riding bikes, boogie boarding, surfing, and planning our next meal!  Lots of laughter for sure! It was so much fun, we’ve already booked next summer’s LBI beach week.  Be afraid!

Summer 2013

Digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox Summer 2013 was just as crazy as the summers in the past.  We came, we saw, we conquered!  The kids and I left Belgium in July and headed to Kansas for a quick 6 days (note for next year, stay longer)!  Next stop was Portland, Oregon to visit a friend from AZ that lives there in the summer and also a friend that moved back to Portland from BE.  I fell in love with that city!  Just sorry that I didn’t take any pictures of our visit with Amy and family.  Next we were off to Phoenix for some heat!  It’s awesome to see how the kids welcome Lindsey and Nicholas and act as if we haven’t been gone for 4 years now!  Forever friends for sure!  Next stop was OH to visit with family.  We did lots of cool stuff with the cousins and caught up on movies at the theater.  (Such a treat after living here and not seeing a movie in the theater!)  I also squeezed in a girls’ weekend to Chicago and loved catching up with my college friends!  We also had a beach week in NJ but that will be a separate post as it was a whole vacation by itself!  :)

Nana & Poppi visit May/June 2013

Make your own free digital slideshow Nana & Poppi came to visit the end of May and it was super exciting for us as my dad hadn’t been to Belgium since the summer of 2010!  (My mom usually comes to visit while he is traveling to China).  We started the weekend off with Nick’s baseball game and then a family BBQ.  The next day was Nana’s birthday so we celebrated with the kids in the morning, attended Family Day at St. John’s (where we were able to watch Lindsey Irish Dance), and then the adults went out to dinner at Belga Queen.  The week was full of the kids activities including school and after school sports, shopping on the Chaussee in Waterloo, and projects in the house.  On Friday we went on a bike tour around Brussels that included a stop for fries and beer, with several of my friends.  The second weekend brought about Nick’s baseball tournament and my birthday.  We celebrated with our neighbors at a Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you.  It was a super quick visit, but we loved every minute of it.

Venice, Italy June 2013

Digital slideshow customized with Smilebox In June we had an opportunity to travel to Venice, Italy for a quick trip.  We arrived late Friday night and returned early Sunday morning.  The funniest part was that we were telling the kids we were going to Venice and they were excited to see the gondolas.  They were not excited (especially Nicholas), when they learned Venice was in Italy.  It turns out they had more than their fair share of pizza and pasta when we were in the Amalfi coast for spring break.  :)  Luckily it was a a quick trip and they survived!

Edinburgh, Scotland May 2013

Create your own slideshow design Every year we get two days off for Ascension break and it’s a great time to visit a city that doesn’t need a full week.  This year’s choice was Edinburgh, Scotland and it did not disappoint!  The fun started when we got to the airport and because Scotland is out of the EU, we had to go through passport control.  Of course we travel on our US passports, but because we also live in Europe, we have to show our Belgium identity cards.  I keep mine and the kids’ in my wallet so this is not usually an issue.  Except all 3 id cards had expired in March (it was May) and I hadn’t realized that.  Awesome!   After first trying to throw Paul and his company under the bus for not getting his work permit on time and getting the process started, I was reminded that Paul now has a 5 year Belgian identity card and didn’t need to go through the yearly process.  Unfortunately, it was my fault they expired.  It was explained to me that it wasn’t an issue for me to leave Belgium, but that it might be an issue on my return trip in 4 days.  I decided to take my chances! We traveled with two other families so there were 11 of us on the flight and the party started early when one of them bought wine at the airport!  :)  Although I had traveled to Edinburgh in college when I studied abroad, Paul and the kids had never been.  It is a great town for walking around, taking in the sights, shopping, & having fun.  The people are friendly and there is a lot to do.  It was a bit colder than Belgium so our first stop out of the hotel was a cute booth of hats.  You’ll see our choices in all of the pictures to follow!  I put some highlights of things to see/do on the right side of the blog. For those of you curious about what happened when we arrived at the Brussels airport on Sunday morning (without Paul as he was on his way to China), keep reading.  There were 4 lines of passport control and my friend Barb and her two boys were in front of us with one couple in between us.  When Barb started to get into a confrontation with the officer because her son’s passport had an expired date (even though it had been renewed), I knew that was the wrong line for me.  As Barb said, “This is not my mistake (and it wasn’t),” I quietly slipped out of line with the kids and walked over two lines away and got behind another dozen people.  I wasn’t taking my chances with those dudes.  Finally, it was my turn and I smiled sweetly to the officers as I handed them my passports.  Of course they asked for our identity cards and when I handed them I explained that they were expired but the process had been started with the commune (a little white lie).  They asked me a few questions confirming where I lived (they could clearly see the information in their computer so my responses were matching up) and then stamped the passports and let me go.  Whew!  Close call! Of course on Monday morning I was in the office of the Waterloo commune to get the process started.  I was even able to encourage the woman to request a 5 year id card since my husband had one.  I’m happy to write that was approved and we don’t have to go through that process again . . .

Spring break to Amalfi Coast

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Spring Break Amalfi coast trip

This year for spring break we headed to Italy to see the Amalfi coast with our good friends, the Lian's.  This was to be their last European vacation before moving back to Portland, Oregon after 4.5 years of living in Belgium.  Since everyone loves a good struggle story, I’ve included a few details for you.  

• Naples:  We flew into Naples, which is really just a stop over place to try the best pizza ever.  After leaving our bags in a locked storage compartment for 45 euros, we had a taxi drop us off at Pizzeria Michele (the same place where Elizabeth Gilbert raved about in her book Eat, Pray, Love).  The wait was 2 hours long so we took our number and then proceeded across the street to a different pizza place.  It was truly amazing and then after lunch, we waited a half hour to get pizzas from the famous place which we carried around with us and ate as a snack.  Eating pizza is an art form in Naples as it requires a fork and knife.  

After our pizza detour, we walked around Naples and were amazed at how much trash, graffiti, and general ickiness is there.  We were anxious to get to Sorrento where we stayed for the week.  Our car ride was derailed twice thanks to a throwing up Lindsey.  Poor girl.  Luckily our driver was a total sweetheart and took care of her by stopping for fresh air and water.  The next day I bought anti-nausea medicine in anticipation of future car rides and boat trips.  

• Sorrento: Our hotel was located walking distance from the town and shops as well as the marina.  The view of the Bay of Naples was gorgeous.  Easter Sunday we went to an Italian mass at the beautiful local cathedral and marveled at it all.  Monday we took a ferry to Capri.  The weather was a bit dodgy and the kids weren’t thrilled with the bumps of the ocean.  Wanting to see the beauty of Capri from the sea, we took a tour boat around the island.  As you’ll see from the pictures it was absolutely gorgeous!  Unfortunately, the Blue Grotto was closed as the sea was too rough.  And more unfortunately, Nicholas got sick after the boat ride all over the streets of Capri.  It was obvious he had strawberries for breakfast.  (Total puke count 2 out of 4 Morrison's).

• Cooking class in Sorrento: Tuesday we had arranged a private cooking class for the 7 of us.  What fun we had!  First, we peeled eggplants, which were cut into strips and then grilled.  Next, we made pasta dough that was then cut into strips and we twirled it around sticks to create fusilli pasta.  (See pictures of the action shots as well as all of our final products).  Next, we made pizza dough which after rising, made individual pizzas with sauce, smoked mozzarella, and parmesan.  The grilled eggplant came back, we wrapped it around small chunks of fresh buffalo mozzarella, and then placed it in a pan to be covered in sauce and parmesan.  Finally, we made meatballs which were then braised and put into a sauce.  For dessert we made individual chocolate molten lava cakes.  Everything was divine and we came out of the class with our aprons and an extra 5 pounds!  

Unfortunately, when we arrived back to our hotel room we had a small ant infestation.  The hotel staff came up and took care of the small critters with an odorless, but powerful insecticide.  So powerful that when I came in contact with it, it stung the back of my throat and made me sick.  I’m pretty sure all of my cooking went to waste as it all came back up.  (Total puke count 3 out of 4 Morrison's).

• Amalfi, Ravello, Positano: Wednesday we took an hour bus ride along a winding, no-guard rail, super narrow road to the city of Amalfi.  I sat away from the views and was just fine.  Those with window seats along the coast were a bit white knuckled.   Luckily, the anti-nausea medicine was working just fine for our two kids.  Amalfi is a great tourist town with a beautiful cathedral on the hill.  Our friends, the Brodrick's,  who were staying in Positano met us at a great local restaurant where we polished off 4 bottles of wine during lunch.  Missing the bus up to Ravello by a few minutes, we took a cab to the next town.  Ravello has the most gorgeous views of the Bay of Naples.  There is a place in town where it’s hard to tell where the sea end and the sky begins.  Stunning.  After a quick walk around town we headed back to Amalfi to catch the next bus to Positano.  This town is supposed to be the jewel of the Amalfi coast.  It’s set on the cliff side and is above and below the crazy, winding road.  We met the Brodrick's again for dinner but unfortunately didn’t have enough time to tour the city as we had to take the 8:00 pm hour bus ride back to Sorrento.

• Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius, Herculaneum, Solfatara: Thursday we had a guided tour for the places listed above.  We started out in Pompeii, which was a good half hour drive from Sorrento, towards Naples.  Our guide did a great job bringing alive the history and the past of these places.  I cannot even begin to remember all the details but I have placed links to learn more information on the right hand side.  The one thing I had to keep reminding myself about was that Pompeii and Herculaneum were both completely underground at one point.  Neither city has been fully excavated.  Crazy!  After our tour of Pompeii, we went to a delicious restaurant that was at the base of Mt. Vesuvius for lunch and wine tasting.  The pasta was brought out in a huge bowl, family style. I have never in my life eaten more bread with olive oil, pizza, & pasta in the space of one week.  Even the kids were tired of that menu by the week’s end! 

Instead of going to the top of Mt. Vesuvius, we went to the Solfatara, which is the site of an inactive volcano that still smokes the sulfur.  It stunk to high heaven and is nicknamed the Devil’s Stink!  It was pretty cool to see bubbling mud that was roped off because it was too dangerous and yet we could stand on top of the sulfur mounds.  Hindsight being 20-20 though, I would have preferred to climb Vesuvius.  We did learn there is an active volcano in Sicily, which is currently erupting so maybe we’ll head there one day?!  

At the end of the day we had to say good bye to the Lian’s who were on their way to Rome.  Naples is only 20 minutes away and yet with the city traffic, we were in the car over an hour.  Even our guide fell asleep on Paul’s shoulder in the front seat (luckily, he was not the driver!).  In a panic to make the 7:00 pm train to Rome, our driver got the family as close to the train station as he could and everyone hopped out to get luggage, bags, etc.  Imagine the city bus that was behind us honking because we were holding up traffic trying to get 4 people with multiple bags across two lanes of traffic, as well as the dozen cars that were behind the city bus who were also honking.  It was madness!   The tour guide went with the Lian’s to help them get the tickets and we all had the quickest goodbye.  It was like ripping off a band-aid.  We had enjoyed a lovely week with our friends and then they were off to Portland after their Rome visit.  The wound was fresh and someone cried the whole way to Sorrento.  Plans are in the works to visit them in Portland this summer, so hopefully this story has a happy ending.  :)  

First Family Ski Trip

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Ski Trip

Our family decided to try skiing for the February break, a time when most other families from school are also skiing.  Normally we would head to the sun, but this amazing opportunity to stay in a catered chalet fell into my lap and I jumped at it.  Let me be very clear, this was the right decision!  The entire vacation was one of our best ever!  

As the chalet had a Sunday to Sunday policy, we left Brussels on Saturday to drive to Dijon, France.  We met up with the two other families at our hotel (there are 12 of us total) and proceeded to the city center to have dinner and walk around a bit. The next day we all headed to Samoens, France after making a pit stop in Geneva, Switzerland for a Starbucks run.  (You do remember that we only have Starbucks at our airports and train stations in Brussels, right?)  The town of Samoens is quite small and very quaint.  Everything centers around the ski resorts.  We bought our ski tickets (and later found out we had purchased lift passes for Nordic (cross-country) skiing instead of Alpine (incline).  Mistake #1 by me, but luckily it was rectified by our lovely chalet host. The 12 of us also got all of our rental equipment and were picked up by Chris and taken to the chalet.  I am including the link for their website on the right hand side so you can get a good impression of the chalet.  It was beautiful!

Chris & Allie, our chalet hosts, were very welcoming and put everyone at ease right away.  They sat down with the kids on the first night and came up with a menu for the week that suited everyone.  The adults ate separately and after the kids which was wonderful!  We had the 3 boys sleep in one room, the 3 girls sleep in another room, and then each of the couples had their own room.  All bedrooms are en suite.

Our days for the week pretty much went like this: 

• breakfast at the chalet (cereals, eggs to order, yogurt, fruit, smoothies)

• the kids and I had ski lessons from 9:00 - 11:30  (side bar comment, beginner skiers, which I am, in France are called debutantes, which I loved!  I think I’ll be a debutante for the rest of my ski career!)

• adults (minus me and Nancy - who didn’t ski at all) skied on their own

• all adults and kids met back up and headed to lunch together (we ate at the same restaurant at the same table every day that week).  Hot wine (vin chaud) would be drank to warm up

• after lunch we would ski some more; sometimes keeping together, other times breaking off by families or ability levels.

• some more vin chaud (pronounced a bit like va show) while the kids played in the snow and then back to the chalet for tea, hot chocolate, and cakes.

• relaxation, hot tub, showers, games, tv, dinner for kids, dinner for adults, kids to bed, and then the adults would retire to the tv room for games, tv, cheese, and some more wine.  

One night Chris & Allie don’t cook dinner and that also happened to be Valentine’s day so we ate at a local restaurant and had a great meal.  One day the guys and I had massages in the chalet and one afternoon the ladies and I went to the spa (win-win for me!) in the afternoon.  I was seriously shocked with how much our kids enjoyed the skiing and loved showing off their skills to us!  They are already talking about a ski trip for Christmas and in February!  

Jet lagging with Lindsey

Lately, the jet lag goes like this:  Nicholas sleeps fairly well and gets back on track quickly.  Paul sleeps okay but tends to wake up at 3:00 am and start working. Lindsey falls asleep for a few hours and then is up for at least 3-4. I  either fall asleep and then wake up with Linz or I don’t even get the chance to fall asleep and then stay up with Lindsey.  We’ve gotten to the point where we can stay in bed and don’t need to eat, watch tv, or do anything that will let our bodies think it’s time to get up.  That being said, we still don’t fall asleep until 3:30am or later and then sleep hard until 11:00 or later.  It’s a bad cycle, and I’m not sure how to fix it.  If you fall asleep at 4:00 am you sure as heck can’t wake up when the alarm goes off at 8:30.  Since I know you love a good struggle story, here’s what happened this go around.  

Most entertaining moments of being with jet-lagged Lindsey (all of which occurred between 11:00-4:00am):

• asking me what Nana did when I was younger and couldn't sleep

• asking me what she should do to fall asleep

• walking to my room to get her water bottle

• drinking from bottle loudly

• asking me to come sleep in her room

• counting by 2's, 10's, & 20's

• putting her nose on my cheek

• scratching my back

• making patterns on my back with her hand

• switching spots in the bed with me

• taking blankets off because she is too hot

• saying "this is really boring"

• singing a song about not being able to fall asleep

• reading the time on the clock: it's 00:01 ("it's zero-zero-dot-dot-zero-one"), it's 00:28, it's 1:01

• reading a plaque near her bed "If the princess ain't happy ain't nobody happy" (even though it was pitch black and she     couldn’t actually see the letters on said plaque

• walking loudly down hallway to bathroom

• taking the night light out & then putting it back in

• resetting her twilight turtle night light every 25 minutes (when I asked her what the turtle was called she got real close & says "Turtle, what do you want your name to be?")  I bust out laughing at this one!

• asking me when we will see the sun here

• talking about her new year's revolutions

• and finally, singing “I am in misery” (The first lines from a Maroon 5 song (my favorite band).  This was by far my favorite moment and caused me to take notes on my phone as I didn’t want to forget it in the morning)

Christmas 2012

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Spending Christmas in the US has been our tradition and this year was no different!  We started out in Ohio and enjoyed seeing our friends and family.  We traveled to Kansas next to spend the remainder of the break with friends and family from the other side.  There never seems to be enough time for all that we want to see and do, but we managed to cram in as much as possible in the two weeks we were there!  Already looking forward to our summer visit!

Universal Studios/Sea World

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Universal Studios/Sea World

After having read each of the Harry Potter books and then seeing the movies with Nicholas, the family was dying to see Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.  It was being called the “Theme Park within a Theme Park” and we knew we didn’t want to go in the summer with the humidity and the long lines.  This December we left the grey skies and rain of Belgium early and headed to Orlando.  The warmth and sunshine were a welcome change.  

We spent two days at Universal Studios & Islands of Adventure where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is located.  It was great fun as you will see in the pictures.  The only spoiler alert for those of you who haven’t been is that the Harry Potter bit is not a theme park in and of itself.  It’s a normal part of the scene at Islands of Adventure where there are 4 rides/experiences, restaurants, shops, etc. that all relate to the theme.  I was under the assumption it was a theme park where you could spend the whole day.  Not so.  That being said, it’s really well done and believable and worth the time.  Our entire family got hooked on butterbeer which is a nonalcoholic drink of cream soda and other special ingredients.  We liked to drink it frozen (like a slushie) and shared them.  The line for butterbeer was sometimes 20 people deep!  It was crazy!  I have found a great article about butterbeer and put it on the right hand side of the blog.

Our second evening at Universal, we went to see Blue Man Group.  Before the show we saw people being moved up to sit in the “poncho zone” section.  Nicholas really wanted to sit there and politely asked the woman who was doing the rearranging if he and his dad could move seats.  Who could turn down such a sweet kid?  Not her!  The only picture I have is of the two of them in their ponchos.  You couldn’t take pictures during the show and to be honest, I was too mesmerized to even think about it.  What a fun and enteraining way to spend the evening!

Our third day in Orlando we spent at Sea World.  We had taken the kids to Sea World in San Diego when they were 2 & 4 and had a great time.  The kids didn’t really remember it, except for when Shamu splashed me and Lindsey so we were soaked.  We had another great day seeing shows and riding rides.  It’s a huge park and best if you can plan your attack in advance rather than wander back and forth as we did.  

One of the neatest parts of our trip was meeting the woman who worked in the restaurant at the hotel where we stayed, Coco Key Resort.  Her name was Teneika and she was a ball of energy.  She had an amazing attitude and a lot of energy and it was a great way to start the day.  She has a gift that I hope will allow her to be a positive force in this world.  :)  All in all, it was a great trip and got us ready to see our family in OH!