Belgium-Brussels and Flanders (Ypres)

The beginning of December we spent a week touring around Belgium, Netherlands, Luxumbourg and Germany--whew!!  We had such a fun time--December is a great time to travel because so many towns in Europe have Christmas markets which are so charming and so fun.  Here is the first installment of our trip--the first day we spent in Brussels.  We went and saw the atomium, a giant sculpture that was built for the world's fair--it was unique, we saw manneken pis (the statute of the boy peeing), the main plaza in Brussels--which was unbelievable, etc.  We had a great time.

The Atomium behind us

Grand Place in Brussels--the main plaza--it was unbelievable.

So the Grand Place in Brussels is the main square--it was very interesting--back in the 1600s it was destroyed in a war.  The square was rebuilt a couple of years later by the city's guilds and each guild wanted to outdo the next and so each building is so unique and pictures just don't do them justice--I was surprised at how ornate each building was.

Manneken Pis--I was surprised at how small he was.  Apparently each week they dress him in different clothes, he obviously wasn't dressed the day we saw him!

The coolest merry-go-round I have ever seen--very steampunk

 When we were in Liege, Belgium we went to an aquarium and saw this creepy mermaid--it was made by a professor--creepy!!

One day on our trip we went to Ypres (Flanders), Belgium.  Ypres was the center of intense battles between the Germans and the Allies during World War I.  It was fascinating learning about the history that occurred here and the thousands upon thousands of soldiers that died here fighting.  It was very sombering.

At one of the memorial cemeteries

The unknown soldier

As part of our learning, we went to a very interesting museum about the war and the role the Flanders area in Belgium played in the war.  One of the cool things was that you wore a poppy flower bracelet and as you went through the museum you could scan your bracelet and learn about real people that lived during that time and what impact the war had on them.  It was very interesting.

On top of the museum looking over the city

The museum had a carillon tower and the kids are pretending to play the carillon (bells).

On the Belgium seashore--not quite as warm and nice as the Spanish coast--it was VERY, VERY WINDY!!!

Sports and Activities

Between trips and people visiting us, we do lead a normal life!! This fall the kids have been involved in sports--we started out doing soccer in September and October and then the boys started flag football in November and December--I feel like we were spending our lives sitting at practices or games (however, it was fun!!)  Ethan REALLY enjoyed flag football--he was the center and his coach had sent home a playbook, so several times we were outside practicing his plays and what he needed to do each play.  Cade also played flag football, but he didn't do games.  He also REALLY enjoyed it.

Kailey being a woman of leisure at the game

Cade hamming it up for the camera

Ethan is out there in the center wearing the blue shorts with a white stripe

Kailey also started girl scouts this school year and has been loving it.  Here are some pictures from a beach clean-up we did in November.

Kailey with her friend

All the girl scouts together

 And lastly, our house faces the ocean so we have the most amazing sunrises and sunsets.  We really are spoiled!!  Here is one of our recent sunsets--GORGEOUS!!  In real life it looked so much better!

Halloween 2013

We had a great halloween--the kids had MULTIPLE opportunities to wear their costumes--so I felt like we got good use out of them.  We had a day at school where they dressed up in their costumes.  I got to go in and help in Kailey's class with a little party--we decorated cookies, played games and made mummies (they were learning about Egypt).  A real mummy also came to their school--that is a story for a different blog post--let me just say that I LOVE SPANISH SCHOOL--they do such awesome things.  We also went to a trunk or treat at the drive in on base and also trick or treating--it was fantastic!!

Here are the pumpkins we carved--notice how awesome the ghost was--that is they one Cade and I made and I think it is the best!!

Our annual spooky dinner, we had mummy pizza, apple teeth, spiderweb dip, a snake eyeballs and for dessert ate a spooky graveyard.  It was delicious!!

Kids with their pumpkins

At the trunk or treat--I had the hulk, snow white and a monkey!

Here is the costume that Cade's teacher made for him--he is a spider and she made it out of a trashbag--she is a miracle worker when it comes to trash bags.  I think I must have at least 4 or 5 costumes that the kids teachers have made out of trashbags!

For Halloween, Kailey was monster high--someone gave us this costume--not thrilled about my sweet little girl looking like this!!

We had a potluck before trick or treating and here are all the kids.

We went trick or treating with one of Ethan's spanish friends--it was his first time.  We had a lot of fun with him and his parents.

Madrid and Segovia

Back in October, when Eric's mom was visiting, we went up to Madrid for a couple of days with her.    We had so much fun walking through the plazas, seeing such interesting buildings, we went and saw the royal palace, went to the Prado museum (which is a famous art museum), ate fantastic food, and more.  Here are a couple of pictures from our time.

The symbol of the city is this bear eating a tree-we saw it EVERYWHERE!

The oldest restaurant in the world (Eric went on a tour and ate here on a previous work trip to Madrid)

We love our street performers--this guy was playing the accordion and was really good!

In front of the Royal Palace (it was modeled after Versailles and after being to Versailles last year, I could really tell the similarities)

Annette was so righteous and went to the temple.

While Annette was at the temple, we went and got churros and chocolate!!

 One of our day trips from Madrid was spent in Segovia.  We went and saw a really cool castle and also they have a roman aqueduct running through part of the city.  It was so cool.

We saw tons of knights and armor this trip--the kids loved it!

Tons of really cool stain glass throughout the castle

This was one of my favorite rooms.  They had all these people around the top of the room that were all famous leaders .

Outside of the castle

Pretend my eyes are open in this picture--if they had been, this would have been a pretty good family picture!

This aqueduct is right in the middle of town--it was so cool!

Climbing up to the top

At the top almost!!

Ethan always wants to take our picture, so this was one of his--Eric and I look pretty good!

Can you spy Annette all the way down at the bottom??

We also love our cutouts--can't pass them without sticking our faces in!!

It isn't just the kids, Eric and I love sticking our faces in also!!