Church of Our Lady, Brugge

There were some places that we visited in Brugge that deserved their own posts, plus there were too many pics to fit in one post. These are from the Chruch of Our Lady. It is one of 2 large churches in Brugge. Unfortunately I didn't get a great pic from the outside, but will try to get one later. It is under repair and is unbelievable. It was built during the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Needless to say, it took awhile. The marble statue of the Madonna and the infant Jesus by Michelangelo was donated to the church in 1514. The carved pulpit shown in the pic was hand carved by a artist from Brugge in the 18th century and is an amazing work of art. Zane was so amazed by all of the paintings, sculptures, tombs and stained glass windows. Of course he had a million questions that I could not answer. One thing he was very curious about was the candle lighting and kneeling benches, so I explained to the best of my ability what they were for. I was very proud when he decided to use his own money to buy a candle and knelt to pray for his concerns. He then donated the rest of his money to the maintenance fund. He saw me watching him and told me that it really must cost alot to keep that place clean. I know the pics don't do justice to the craftsmanship, but I do my best.

Easter in Brugge

Our first trip to the city of Brugge was great and only makes me want to go back. When you enter the Grand Place the first thing you notice is the Belfry. It is 83 meters high and dates back to the 13th century. You have to climb 366 stairs to get to the top of it, which weh just were not up to that day with the stroller and all. The victory bell of 1680 is there and weighs 6,000 kgs and measures 2 meters across, but there are 57 bell in all. Next we went down to the flea market to check out the antiques. I got a really cool old bronze and wooden pitcher. The pic shows how the tables were laid out. You just kinda have to dig for treasures, but they are there for the finding. Some refer to Burgge as the Venice of the north because there are canals running through it. One leads all of the way out to the coast and they were used for delivery. We all enjoyed taking a boat ride and being given a guided tour. Our poor tour guide had to say everything 3 times. Once in french, german and english; but it was very interesting. The pic of me and the boys is taken in front of part of the Church of Our Lady, which I will blog about later. At the end of the day we took the kids to a carnival that they were having in the Grand Place. The rode a couple of rides and loved it so much that Logie threw a truly impressive fit when we loaded up to go home. Fortunately he was pretty easily bought off with some very good dark chocolate ice cream!!!

The Belgium Easter Bunny Rocks!!!!!

Zane came home the week before Easter telling me about how in Belgium the Easter Bunny leaves chocolate eggs in the jardin (garden or yard) on Easter morning. When the boys got up on Easter morning they found that to be true. He had left belgian chocolate eggs and ducks in the garden. They were a bit cold while doing the hunting but warmed quickly to the idea them. I'm was only a little ashamed of letting them have chocolate for breakfast, but it was really good chocolate!!!!! Then Zane read us a very good Veggie Tales Easter book and we traveled to Brugge for the day.

Visiting Brussels

Here are a few of the other things that we did while in Brussels. Our first priority was finding and visiting the Neuhaus Chocolate Facotory. After getting very lost on our first try we retraced our steps and found it, and let me tell you it was sooooo worth it. Unlike most of the other chocolatiers here they actually set out samples of their products and you get to try them before buying. I walked out with a major sugar high and alot of chocolates to take home. We then went out to an area called Brupark that has alot of the newer touristy things in Brussels. There is an indoor water park (b/c it too cold to have them outside), lots of restaurants, a theater, mini Europe and something called the Atomium (a very large model of the Iron atom). It looks neat at first glance, then we noticed that there were people zip-lining off of the top of it. Zane was sooooo excited and amazed!! We didn't have time that day, but I have promised to take him back to do it. You can do it tandem, that way he will not have to do it on his own and get frightened. So sometime I'll post pics of us flying through the air. While there we had lunch adn thought we would try out the mexican food in Belgium. We will not be trying that again. Logie enjoyed the guacamole, but otherwise it was nothing to write home about (although I guess I did anyway).

Meeting Mo in Brussels

Well, we have officially had our first visitor and it was GREAT!!! My friend Kim's (the one from KS that shares my brain) sister Michelle was in Europe for vacation for a couple of weeks and met up with us in Brussels on her way back home. Zane started calling her Auntie Mo forever ago and it has stuck. It was good to see someone from home and they really enjoyed their trip and gave us lots for great travel tips. We met them in the Grand Place where there is some great architecture and history. Zane walked by this guy who looked like he was made of cement and it weirded him out a bit at first. We also visited statue of the "Manequin Pis", the peeing boy. His story is that when his village was being attacked the enemy place a bomb there and lit the fuse and he peed on it, saving his town from disaster. So now he is forever immortalized in bronze on a statue, not to mention all colors of chocolate in the shops!!!! Michelle gave Zane her camera so that he could make a photo-journal of their visit. I'm pretty sure he took well over 100 pictures. After touring and visiting we ended our evening on "greek row", a road behind the Grand Place with many Greek restaurants. The food was FABULOUS and the company even better. Can't wait for more visitors.

Chievres Egg Hunt

Hey all, sorry it has been so long. We have been very busy, not to mention I am a professional procrastinator. Three weekends ago the air base near here held an egg hunt for all of the military kids. I wasn't really sure if Logan would really be "into" the whole egg hunting thing and at first he only wanted to throw them, but I found if I sing him the "clean up" song he will actually put them in the basket. He was an egg hunting machine after that. And of course Zane had his bag filled in record time. The also had other activities like a sack race, spoon race, making balloon animals (or in Zane's case a sword) and face painting. Zane requested that the girl turn him into Scooby Doo. He was actually pretty funky looking in the end, but it was a fun day.

Moving Day (Thank God for Mrs. Edith!!!!)

Well we are finally getting settled into our new (but very old) house in Mons. I thought I'd share a few pics of the day that we moved in. First of all I want everyone to know how great my friend Edith is. She came over and hung out with Logie for most of the day so that Jer and I could help the movers and get some things done. For those of you who are wondering Mrs. Edith is Edith Mills. We met her and her family (husband Thom, and kids Eric, Carol and Patrick) while at Ft. Stewart. They have been over here since early January and live in the carriage house of a castle about 20 minutes or so away from us. She and Logie had a great time and a room full of "new" toys to play with. It was like Christmas/Birthday for Logie, who hadn't seen many of his toys since before Thanksgiving when he went to stay with his Papa and Namma in Ok. He is stil discovering new things every day.
The other pics are of the house covered in boxes when the movers finished moving them in. The did an amazing job and made things pretty easy on me. Most boxes are in the rooms where they belong, so I just have to unpack them and find a place for everything to go. Easier said than done in a house with no closets. We made a trip to Ikea over the weekend (something I'll never do on a Saturday again)to get some storage items and rugs.

We will have to make another trip soon, but I told Zane we would go while he was on spring break (which starts in about a week and he gets about 20 days)so that he can play in the playroom there while I shop. It is quite the experience.
I'll have to take some pics and post them. Anyway, hopefully I'll get to take some pics of the house unpacked very soon and I'll give you a tour of that then.