No worries, we are still alive and well! Last week was dominated by garage sale prep and squeezing in outside time whenever it wasn’t raining. We have had a rainy few weeks and we are some sunshine and shorts weather. I see people writing about Spring coming to an end in the US and we haven’t really seen ours yet. On top of the “waiting on Spring funk” Owen has temporarily launched back into his 5 AM wake ups. I say temporarily because it just can’t go on. We have gotten through it before and I know it is somewhat teething related. This too shall pass, but we are tired!
Here are a few pictures from last week….
cereal is much more fun when it is crushed and poured while mommy is busy cooking and distracted
these shutters were on an old farm house we passed on a walk…wouldn’t they look beautiful on my wall. I wonder how much the farmer would want for them?!
beware of these leaves!! They cause and itchy reaction with white welts. we know from experience.Luckily our friend knew exactly what herb to pick to rub on it and relieve some of the reaction!
eew.
amazing view!
cookies to sell at the garage sale!
the garage sale was semi-successful, we sold all of our big stuff but had lots of little stuff left. We plan to put out a table at the upcoming neighborhood sale that we just learned about! After that it’s off to goodwill!
and on Sunday morning after our long week when we thought we couldn’t go on we were serenaded by this spectacular house band that revived us for a new week!
ps-more coming this week! House updates from back home as well as a post I have been working on about taking meals to friends!
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This year we spent Easter Sunday making our way home. We woke up and made a nice breakfast and then packed up and hit the road. I think it was the first time in my life that I have ever not been in church on Easter Sunday. For those of you that celebrate Easter and believe that Jesus rose from the dead you know what a wonderful celebratory morning Easter Sunday is. It is something we celebrate year round but there is something special about celebrating as a church family! So, I will admit, our nontraditional day was a bit off. But we enjoyed being together as a family and made the most of it.
On our way back to Ramstein Seth decided that he wanted to stop at the Waterloo Memorial and then in Luxembourg for our picnic lunch. It was a beautiful little city and as we drove down the main road we spotted an amazing park. It was the first day we had had clear skies. So we hopped out and let the boys explore for a while. It had a big wooden pirate ship, ginormous slide and a really cool water system.
By the end of our time we thought Jackson was going to opt to stay and live in the park, finding sustenance from the remains of picnic scraps. Oh wait, that was Seth. He loved it as much as the little guys!
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sissy-boy homeland was a beeeUtiful store in which I could afford nothing. but I enjoyed browsing this store sans boys!! Our time in Maastricht was also very rainy and cold so we bustled through the city, went into a couple of shops and grabbed lunch before heading back to Brussels to warm up! We didn’t take many pictures there because of the rain. On our way home we stopped at the Floralia Brussels tulip gardens. If you live in the area I would definitely recommend it! But i also have to give a shout out for Dallas Blooms in the Dallas Arboretum! We have such fond memories there and I must say they could definitely compete with any of these Euro displays! We hit it on the first weekend so many things had yet to bloom but it was still so pretty.
home again, home again clippity clop!
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Bruges was about an hour and a half drive from Brussels. Jackson and Seth climbed to the top of the bell tower while Owen and I attempted to hop into a few shops. Owen wasn’t thrilled with the arrangements! After their climb we met up for a lunch of Flemish stew for Seth and fish and chips for the boys and I. After lunch we walked around some of the churches in the city. It was neat to be in the churches on Good Friday and to see some very realistic images that gave us a fresh reminder of what our Savior did for us when he died on the cross.
view from the top
366 steps!!
this statue of Jesus appeared to be carved from wood. It was in the basilica that supposedly houses a vile of Jesus’s blood. It was a beautiful little stone church. Even our rowdy boys began to understand the need to be quiet in churches.
After Bruges we drove a little ways to the coast so the boys could see the beach. It was fuh-reezing! but they loved it!
happy dance!
this was Owen’s first time to see waves, he enjoyed running from the incoming tide!
I think by the end of this series of picture travel blogs I will need to do a blog on how to travel cheaply in Europe with kids and how the heck we afford to do the day trips we do. In all honesty a week of hopping around other parts of Europe was cheaper (excluding gas) than living a normal, everyday kind of week in Bern!! I wish the Swiss would realize the rest of the world just doesn’t operate on insanely expensive living.
Up next we drove to Maastricht in the Netherlands and back to Brussels for a tulip garden. The next day we drove back to Ramstein to again break up the ride home. I may try to squeeze all of this into the next post so as not to bore you all for days on end!
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