Catch up info

Well it has been hard to update this since we were without internet for 2 weeks after arriving.  So I thought I would just give a brief overview of all we have done and experienced since being here. 
Thankfully, the boys adjusted to the new time zone within a few days, amazing and a God send.  I need my sleep and so do they.  They are both doing great.  Aidan started school 5 days after we got here.  He started off going half days to school.  The teachers recommended he go all day, since a majority of kids his age stay all day.  He was not napping anymore at home without a struggle so the second week he started as an "all day child" and is loving it.  He gets to eat lunch with his friends, make bread and help set the table.  We are so happy we started with Montessori school and were able to continue that here.

Aidan had his first trip to a doctor on January 22nd. He had been complaining off and on since we arrived that his ears hurt. I figured it was just pressure from the plane because he complained on descent too.  Anyway he spiked a high fever and I assumed he had an ear infection.  We did not know how to find a doctor on a saturday so while Greg was in with Jaxon I ran across the street and knocked on a neighbors door.  An older lady answered and spoke English she was nice enough to call the doctor for me and help me get Aidan an appointment.  It turned out Aidan just had pressure built up but no ear infection, his fever continued for 3 days but then he was better.

Then on January 31st I came down with what was thought to be the stomach flu. After 8 days of "stomach flu" and having been seen by a doctor 4 days into it I saw another doctor provided 3 stool samples and was diagnosed with campybactor.  I am doing better now that it is February 13th.

Aidan with his two Teachers (English on left and French speaking on right).  They have been wonderful.

1/22--1/27- Our first outings in Belgium

After getting somewhat settled we were able to make a few brief excursions with Margaret and the kids to the city center of Brussels and the othe "University Town" close to us Leuven.  We spent the Sunday morning in the Grand Place which is the beutiful main square in Brussels and we met up with Mary, who is Margeret's cousin and lives in Mons, Belgium working with military as a teacher.  As you can see by the pics below the kids enjoyed the european architecture :) and enjoyed walking around brussels. 

We went to Leuven one evening to check out a toy shop that the kids got GCs for during Christmas and we had dinner which was amazing.  As with all of Belgium there is a pastry shop every 50 feet so there is a picture of Aidan hanging in the shop. 

 
This is our quick trip to Leuven

1/21-1/24/2011- Our first couple days in Belgium

After getting most of the boxes unpacked on day one and day thanks to Margarets help!  We made some trips to our local grocery store (Carrfour) which is truly an intense process since all of the labels are either in French or Dutch and since we are not fluent or not even close to fluent in either it makes things a challenge to say the least.... you could be buying meatball or bull testicles...who knows :)  It is always refreshing to see pics of branded items  (Mr Clean pic is always the same but its not called that here).  

On Monday 1/24 we made had our big appt at the ING branch with the manager to get our accounts finalized which despite the nearly two hour meeting things went smooth.  We left with a temporary cash card and after our money was wired from our US account we actually had some funds! 

Shortly after it was off to the city hall where our relocation agent met us to help with process of filing for our residence permits...Got to love all the legal documents...thank goodness for the for immigration attorneys.  After filing for our residence permit a police officer came to our door abour a week later to confirm we live there (yes we do) and then our applications were almost done.  Once they are finalized all of us will get a hard plastic electronic residence card which we will bring with our US driver license to the police station to get our international driver license. 

The pictures below are from our first day in the house, the kids first ride in mommy's new car and then our first trip into brussels (in the underground parking ramp)

1/20/2011- Arrival In Belgium

After arriving in Brussels, Greg's company was great and hired a porter to meet us at our airplane.  Thank goodness as we had a lot of stuff.  He was great, helped us get our 12 bags, 5 carry ons, etc.  He got us thru customes and finally to this awesome mini-bus to bring us by Greg's work to pick up Amy's car and then to our new house where the movers where waiting.  Below is a few picture of our move from airport to house.

Jan 19th, 2011...The dreaded flight to Brussels- MSP-JFK-BRU

After finally making it thru security and getting all the bags checked in we had lunch quick and "Uncle Matt" who works at MSP joined us as well!   We then flew from MSP to JFK which was not to fun as Jaxon cried most of the way.  Due to some aiport construction we had to actuallt walk down stair out of airplane onto the tarmack and thru some wooden tunnels...NOT fun with two kids in tow (again, Margaret saved the day).  After a brief layover we were onto our next plane for an 8 hour plane ride from JFK to BRU....As you can see by the pics below, Aidan got to visit with the pilots and enjoyed his cuisine.  Thankfully the chairs layed "almost flat" and we were all able to get some sleep before landing at 9:20am (Brussels time) which is 2:20am back in MN...Yikes!  

Jan 19th 2011- Time to move to Belgium!

After the never ending packing ended.... the day finally came to move to Belgium!  With 2 kids, stroller, 5 carry-ons, 10 suitcases and 2 boxes to check as luggage we were ready!

Then at 10:30 the limo arrived to take us to MSP.... Margaret (Amy's cousin) was awesome and joined us to help with the adventure (yes, she even speaks fluent French!).  The kids loved the limo as they thought is was a bus

Jan 11-12th, 2011- Last Minute trip to NY, NY to obtain residence visas for Belgium

About 7pm on Monday Jan 10th, Greg got word from the immigration attorney's that they received the work permit and have all of the remaining paperwork...Greg was online booking flight and hotel at 10pm to fly to to NY on Tuesday as they law firm would send all of the required documents via Fedex overnight for 8am arrival on Wed, Jan 12th at my hotel in NY.  Given the last minute Greg took a chance and used priceline and ended up flying Airtran for the first time ever and got a good deal on a decent hotel for Tuesday night next to Rockefeller center in NY.  On the way to NY the flight attendent was talking about the big storm heading to the East Coast in the next couple days and how they will get stuck their....Not a good sign for events to come!    On Tuesday night it started snowing and snowing...Wednesday morning getting worried about package arriving at 8am!  Well....No package at 9:30am and Belgian Consulate is only open from 9-12:30pm to accept the visa paperwork!!  Thanks to the supervisor from the mailroom in our corporate office he was able to find that the package was finally arriving at the Fedex Hub in Manhatten to be put on a truck for delivery, but i would not have gotten package in time...Thanks to some quick thinking he got Fedex to freeze package at facility for pickup.  At 11:00am Greg dashed downstairs hailed a taxi and off to Fedex facility he went..picked up package and dashed in another cab at 11:30am (consulate is closing soon!) and off to the building with Belgian consulate...after getting thru security up to the visa officers he went!  After learning that they were missing the "visa pics" from the rest of family and paperwork for insurance verification they had to put file on hold until next day.  Greg left in pretty good shape as BCBS was faxing them a letter in that day and immigration attorneys were sending photos overnight......However, after getting in cab to head back to hotel and aiorport to fly back to MN, Greg was informed the attorneys sent those photos to partner law firm in Brussels for the residence process when we arrive...Aghhh.  After picking up Aidan at school, Amy jumped into action and got new photos of everyone andd sent them to Belgian Consulate overnight.  Since Monday, Jan 17th was MLK day they could not assure we would have them on Tuesday, so we booked our flights to Brussels for our big move for Wednesday, Jan 19th.    Alas, we received the visas and my work permit on Saturday afternoon and we were set tp go!!