Cologne, Germany July 16th, 2011

The morning of July 16th we took a 2 hour drive to Cologne, Germany. Back home we would have been at the cabin in Brainerd, MN in 2 hours; now we were in a whole new country.  By the time we arrived in Cologne it was 12 and we were ready lunch.  We ate at Casa Nostra an Italian restaurant. We should of had some German food but we know the boys will always eat pizza and Greg and I both enjoyed our pasta.  He also had spaghetti ice cream.  Whipped cream on bottom, topped with vanilla ice cream pressed thru a spaghetti press, strawberry sauce and white chocolate.  Yum!



Greg did enjoy a traditional Cologne beer!

Cologne is home to the 3rd tallest church in the world.  It has some of the most beautiful stain glass windows I have ever seen.  While in the church Aidan lite a candle for Great Grandpa Vadnais; he wanted to sit down and stay but Jax is not the sitting type and there was a service going on. 

Jax does not like to get his picture taken, we should have turned the stroller. Hindsight is always 20/20. 

From there we took an hour long boat ride on the Rhine River.   We should have just walked around the town.  Thankfully since it is not too far we can go again and walk around more. 

One thing we found interesting here is that it is a large Bachelor and Bachelorette party destination.  The guys had the groom dress up, one was dressed as a bunny, there was a guy in an angel outfit with a blonde wig and another guy with a blue light on his head.  The groomsmen and friends all had matching T-shirts too.  The girls were more tame, just matching shirts. The Rocky Horror Picture Show was also playing so there were a lot of interesting Goth like outfits too.

Before heading home we each enjoyed a Stawberries and Cream drink from Starbucks.  For some reason it did not taste as good as home but it still tasted good.

 The boys also took part in a one man puppet show before we left.

We finished our day and headed back home.  We stopped at McDonald's in Aachen, Germany for a special stop for the kids.  They enjoyed there happy meals and we continued home, arriving just in time for bed.  We thought about spending the night but did not have a bag packed.  I think in the future I will just put somethings together for situations like this where we decide to stay at the last minute.

Jaxon's first movie in a theater!

We finally found CARS 2 in English at a theater in Leuven and went on July 9th.  We went to a 5:15 showing, got there in plenty of time at around 4:45 p.m. After purchasing our tickets we proceeded upstairs to the theater area but before you get to the theaters you walk thru a mini grocery store.  They had sweet popcorn, nacho's, sandwiches, pop and M&M's and a variety of other snacks.  After our purchase of "dinner" all junk food, we went to our theater.  There were about 15 other people in the 300+ seats.  Jaxon has seen a lot of movies since we moved but this was his first theater experience.  On top of getting there to early, the previews started on time but stopped abruptly and we waited for about 10 minutes then more previews.  In addition there was a 10 minute intermission part way through the movie.  Both boys lost interest part way thru but Greg and I enjoyed it.  We did not get home till 8pm that night and as many of you know, past Jax's bedtime.

Random Thoughts and kid ?'s

Today is July 14th and for the past 2 weeks Jaxon has been asking to go home.  Keep in mind he is telling me this while we are at our house.  I tell him we are home but he insist NO HOME.  Meaning MN.  If I could I would bring us all back for a visit. Instead I tell him we will go home at Christmas, thankfully he has no concept of time and hopefully when he starts school this fall that will help distract him.  Plus Grandma Shari and Papa Steve are coming 1 week from today, that should help.

As you know we recently went to Spain in June.  The morning we went to the airport Jax asked where Grandma was.  He had been with when we picked her up in March and in May.  He even asked again when we were at the airport in Spain.

FIRST PARTY WITH FRIENDS JULY 10TH:  We had our first big party with all of our new American friends living in Belgium.  We had about 20 adults and 12 or so kids.  We started getting ready for the party and realizing how many things we left home, like the ice bucket, card table and chairs and other things that are helpful when having a party.  I don't know if I did not think we would have friends or have friends over. It was crazy trying to figure what to bring.  The party went well despite not having a few missed items. We were even blessed with nice weather, by nice I mean it did not rain!

PARKING THE CAR:  It never seems to fail.  Parking spots here are not properly sized unless you drive a smart car.  The grocery stores have some spots for people with kids, but many times people without kids park there.  Anyway, twice now I have parked on an end spot, I park over the line on the end to allow more room on the other side so I can get whoever out.  The first time someone parked very close to me where there was not a spot, despite the fact that there were about 10 spots nearby to park in.  The second time the car that parked in a spot next to me parked on the line and crooked, making it very difficult to get Aidan in.  I am suprised by how many people have nice cars, because everyone's doors are scratched and dented. A fact of life here I guess. I can't wait to get home to the oversized or appropriately sized parking spaces, granted there are people back home who can't park but not like here.

June 26, 2011 Boudewijn Seapark

We got up and took a drive to the Boudewijn Seapark near the Belgian coast. We had a great time watching the dolphin show, all the commentary was in Dutch and French but you've seen one you get the idea.  Both boys enjoyed the show. We had a great lunch there, then after lunch we went on an Orka roller coaster and then on to old style cars, these cars required nothing of us, no steering and no brakes.  The second time on the cars we came around the corner and saw a stopped car just ahead, we waited for the ride controller to stop us but she didn't and we rear ended the car in front and then we were hit from behind.  On the 3rd time around Greg pointed out the sign that says you may be hit, only here would that happen.

In this picture above I had Jaxon parked so he could see the roller coaster while we were waiting for Aidan and Greg. There was a lady to our left in a wheelchair and her granddaughter next to her. This BIG MOMMA comes and stands right in front of Jax, blocking his view.  Meanwhile, her kids wait behind her and to make the situation even better she is eating ice cream.  If she would at least of let her kids stand there he could have seen.  I tried to say something to her but she ignored me, did not even acknowledge I was talking. Even if she did not speak English she would have gotten the point if she would have looked.

The boys loved this ride, we waited at least 30 minutes for our 60 seconds of fun.

After spending the morning at the seapark we headed to the beach, and as usual the boys fell asleep in the car on the 15 minute drive to Blankenberge.  On the drive we found a huge sand castle display done for or by Disney.  There is a sand castle of Cinderella's castle and other characters. We have until September to check it out.
We ate dinner at a nice restaraunt on the Boardwalk and then spent 3 hours driving home which should only be about 1.5hours.  Just like coming home from the cabin on a sunday. Hopefully, we will learn our lesson soon, travel is not good on Sunday's.