Too Much Booty In The Pants!!!!! LMBO!!!!

So, I had to upload just one more thing b/c it is just too funny not to share. In our boredom here at the hotel we watched a spoof movie called "Date Movie" the other day. It has the "band camp" girl on it and at the beginning she is very large. Logie was mesmerized with her dancing at the beginning of the movie and later during the credits he showed us what he had learned. Make sure you have the sound on when you play this b/c it is not nearly funny without the song (which I have now adopted as my theme song). I know it is sideways, but that is how Jer filmed it and I don't know how to change it, sorry. I was originally afraid that he would inherit his dads dancing gene, but this could be soooooo much worse!!! Enjoy

Random Post

Well, I was uploading and storing some more pics and thought I'd share a few random events. Our time here at Le Maisieres has been nice. Some people really complain about it b/c it is a rather old establishment and is not terribly up to date, but I disagree. While it may be lacking in new technology, the staff here is fantastic. The ladies at the front desk will help you to translate stuff from french and the housekeeping staff is awesome and not just b/c I didn't have to make my own bed every day. I swear to you Logie has spend twice as many nights in his pack and play as he has in his crib, but he doesn't seem to mind. When we got here with it I got and extra blanket and wrapped around the "matress" to make it a bit more comfortable. The next day after the maids had been her I noticed they had brought in an extra blanket and sheet to make it up like a real bed. It is so cute and they do it every day. Not that he will actually sleep under the covers, but the thought is appreciated.

Logie has had to put some effort forward to amuse himself during our time here. He seems to enjoy taking his socks off with his teeth. Not a talent many of us are interested in having, but it is amusing to watch. His favorite thing to do is tickle. He attempts to tickle anyone he can find (like Zane in the pic) and he says "ticka, ticka, ticka". It is very cute until he tries to tickle your face which doesn't feel very good. Zane is very good with him and you can hear them laughing all of the way down the hall!!

The other pics are of them eating their 1st Belgium waffles. Logie thought they were quite tasty and was not happy at all when he and daddy ran out. Zane had Nutella (a chocolatey hazelnut spread) on his and now has a new favorite meal. The waffle cart is about a five minute walk from the house and he already has plans to save me from making Sunday breakfast by going and getting us waffles. He also cannot wait to tell the waffle man about how his Namma puts sausage in her waffles to see if he can get him to do it. That boy always has such big plans!!!

The Market and Grand Place

Well, up to now we haven't gotten much time to attempt to see the sights around here (but we plan to change that soon). We have gotten the opportunity though to attend the Sunday market in Mons. It is just down the hill from our house about 4 blocks (not real American blocks, but that's the best I can do). It is open every Sunday morning from 0800 to 1200ish. The first time we went it took awhile to find what we needed, but now that we are familiar with it we can make our list and run down there quickly in the morning before church. There are booths from pastry shops in the area with sweets and breads, lots of produce wagons (my favorite is an Italian guy that is trying to teach me to say all of the fruits and vegetables in french and italian). He has the greatest pepperoni rouge (red peppers) that I have ever had, so I load up on salad stuff from him each weekend. There is also a HUGE wagon that is big rotisserie. It is filled with chickens, ribs and roasts (pork only) and baskets of potatoes. The chicken is fantastic!! We have been eating much better and healthier since we discovered the market (there is only so many meals you can create in the microwave!!!)

The Grand Place is located up the hill from our house past the front of the Cathedral. On the way you walk into what is called the pedestrian street that is full of shops and eateries (and Zane's favorite waffle cart, more on that later). When you get to the Grand Place it is an open area surrounded by bigger restaurants and coffee shops. The entire area is circled in chairs and tables from the eateries and I've heard if you go at night that it is full of people. One of the pics is of one side of the Grand Place showing the shops (with Zane's large head at the bottom). Another is of the monkey that is on a wall of the Grand Place. You are supposed to rug his head with your left had for good luck. More on adventures soon.

The Chocolate Festival

La Fete Du Chocolat de Mons, the French way of saying the Chocolate Festival in Mons. This was the 6th year for the festival and Zane was especially excited about going (and of course you know how I was dreading it!!!) It was held on the pedestrian street (a street with shops and restaurants, but no cars) near our house and down to the Grand Place where the big "Village" was located. It was comprised of a dozen or so separate exhibits by regional chocolatiers of their art, and let me tell you, some of it was very artistic. As you can tell from some of the pics some of the chocolates were beautifully decorated. Each painting design stood for a different addition to the chocolate. We tried on with pepper added. Zane was not a fan, but the rest of us really liked it, even Logie. Zane was very intrigued by the artisan making the cars (and got to buy one in the end). The brought their molds with them and were making them on site. Zane's favorite was the chocolate village, where a major chocolate distributor Cote D'Or had a set up with different tents where you went to learn about different aspects of chocolate. You got to fill out a quiz and if you got them all right you got a Chocolate diploma and goodie bag at the end. Let me tell you, that was the best hot chocolate I have ever had in my life!!! We also had some fabulous chocolate pie (not like pie at home, but the same general idea, but somehow better), some fresh chocolate covered marshmallows, and some truffles that were unbelieveable (I'm sending a tube to the parentals if any of you can talk them out of a taste, good luck!!!). Anyway, it was a great day, but I must say I was in a bit of sugar shock by lunch time!

Home Sweet Home (away from home!!)

Well, we have been in Belgium for almost a month now and the search for somewhere to put down our roots for awhile has ended. It feels like it has taken forever, but when I talk to some of the others staying here at the hotel with us, evidently we made quick work of finding a place and getting out of lodging. We will have been here exactly a month when we leave and our friends the Mills Family (from Ft. Stewart) are the only ones we have met that have gotten out of here faster. I met a nice lady my second day here and she showed me a house that was great, but too small for us. I told her so and apologized for what seemed like wasting her time. Evidently she like me because she called a lady looking for me to show me a different house that she thought would be great for us, and it was!!! The house is located on a corner across the street from the Cathedral in Mons. If you find a really good satellite photo on google maps, you can sometimes see it. We went there this weekend to see how good the location really was and it was better than I imagined. We are 2 blocks (if you can call them that) from the train/bus station and about a 5 minute walk from both the market and Grand Place (I'll go into both of those more later).

The pics I posted with this post are of us in front of our house and one with a better shot of the house. The other 2 are of the Cathedral across the street. It is a beautiful structure from the outside and I can only imagine that it is as grand on the inside. We will have to explore that soon.