Our trip back to the States and Easter in Belgium

It's been a while!  The last month has been a whirl-wind - I can't believe how fast the time has gone and we're knocking on May's door!  Our trip back to the States was great - busy, but lots of fun.  Getting there was an adventure in and of itself.  Scott ended up with pneumonia prior to us leaving.  He missed about two weeks of work leading up to the week we were leaving, so ended up having to cram a lot of work into a very short period of time.  Poor guy didn't go to bed at all the night before we left.  Our flight(s) home included, to name a few:  a cancelled flight, a missed connection, lost luggage, confiscated alcohol, and a broken beer bottle within a suitcase, once we finally got our luggage back - 48 hours later.  Bo's suitcase was the lucky one.  But alas, we made it back to Dyersville, and had a great time with my parents and brothers.

A hot game of 'Memory'

Will and Uncle Tim at Beckman's production of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"

On Sunday we left for Omaha to visit Scott's family - three of his sisters and their families live there.  We had a very nice visit there - Will and Bo had an awesome time with their cousins - even the older ones who are so great with the smaller kids!

Having dinner at Aunt Stacie's

Will with cousin Elaina

Elaina - best baby ever - not sure I heard her fuss once?

Lindsay and Will

Air hockey at the Pizza Machine - we ended up with almost 300 tickets that we got to trade in for a bunch of junk:)

Dinner at Aunt Sara's - where we stayed

Baby Lauren - Will loved holding the babies

The Miller boys and the 'little Nebraskans'

Will and Aunt Katie

After Omaha we headed to Minneapolis where we stayed at our five-star apartment - aka, Todd and Jen's basement.  Will and Bo had a fabulous time with their cousins, Matthew and Luke.  Our ten days there flew by - filled with play dates, eating at our favorite places, visiting friends, Target, too much Starbucks and topped off with a visit from Don and Pat.  Don and Pat's short weekend trip turned into a six day visit, as Pat had to unexpectedly have her gallbladder removed Sunday morning!

Having our favorite lunch - tomato basil soup and grilled cheese from Turtle Bread - an old neighborhood fave!

Will and his best buddy, Carter - just like old times!

The Callahan and Olsen kids

Bo getting a hitch from Luke

Dad's last few minutes in Minnesota - he had to leave on Sunday, April 3rd to get back to Brussels

The boys at 'Madagascar Live!' - what a great show!  Everybody did really well - even Bo!

Celebrating my birthday at Jen's:)

Will and Ellie - play date at my friend Tara's house with my co-workers

Will and Jack

Splashing around with some starfish at the aquarium at the Mall of America

Will and his friend Amelia - my friend Missy's daughter

Lily and Jack - my friend Barb's kids

We then headed back down to Dyersville for 12 days of getting spoiled by the grandparents.  The boys had a blast - visiting family, going to a water park, ice skating, playing outside, and just hanging out with grandma and grandpa.

Feeding Uncle Mike's deer

Spider Man can now check Balltown off his to-do list

Bo LOVED the waterslides!

Bo and Mollie - or 'Aggie' as he calls her - even though he has no problem saying 'Mollie'

Ice skating with Uncle Nick

Attempting to get a good picture is always a fun time with Bo...

Then he got the boot.

My goddaughter, Amaya - my friend Malena's little girl

Having a great time at 'Jumping Janes'

Having lunch with the girls in Galena - we rented a house there for the weekend...good times:)

Jake and Mollie

Visiting with Aunt Cathy and Diane

Celebrating grandpa's birthday - 60 on the 27th!!

 Mom then drove the boys and I back up to Minneapolis for our flight out - after one last night at Jen and Todd's.  The drive back was not without excitement - we ran into lots of sleet and snow - and we're driving about 25 mph for some of it - at the end of April!

Saying goodbye to Aunt Trish

The trip back wasn't too bad - considering it was just me with the boys and  9 pieces of luggage/carry-ons!  People were very helpful - or maybe they just felt sorry for the crazy mom with the panicked look on her face.  I really do need to learn how to pack better.  

Going into the trip I was honestly a little afraid I wouldn't want to come back, but I'm proud to say I was actually really looking forward to it.  The boys really missed Scott (and I did too, of course:), and I think I really just realized that Belgium is home for us for right now - it's where my family is.  I was a little worried about Will too - he had a great old time being back - visiting old friends, hanging out with grandma and grandpa - it was all just like he remembered it - but he seemed ready to get back to Brussels as well.  It certainly hasn't hurt that the weather has been  absolutely GORGEOUS.  We had been told that spring in Belgium is beautiful, but, in the midst of the dreary, wet winter, it was a tad hard to believe.  Well, they were right.  I don't think I could ask for any better!   Blue skies and upper 70's all day, every day.  Plus everything's bloomed and green and smells amazing.  Coming from snow and 35 degrees in Minneapolis, this has been a little slice of heaven!  So we basically have spent every day since we've been back outside - going for walks, riding bikes, playing at different parks - it's been great!  As for the jet lag - this time has been better than when we flew over last July.  Last night was the first night everybody (including me) slept throughout the night - five nights in - but that's actually an improvement from last time, when it took Bo weeks to get it together.  I think this time I was actually the one who was most affected - I think I've napped every day so far!

The Easter Bunny also did manage to find us all the way over here as well.  Easter mass was definitely a little different than what we're used to, though.  No singing, out in 45 minutes.  What??  On Easter Sunday?!  I left really missing Christ the King and Father Dale - always loved the Easter celebration there.  There was an Easter egg hunt after church.  Here they don't do the plastic eggs with a treat inside like we're used to - instead they just use actual chocolate eggs.  Also, they mostly have huge chocolate animals and eggs that the Easter Bunny brings - no baskets, etc.  So right now, we have chocolate coming out of our ears.  Bo's in heaven:)

So now we're getting back to normal - Scott and Will both had Monday off ('Easter Monday' they call it - a national holiday!).  Will seemed to have a pretty good first day back to school - I was sad to see him off this morning - it's been fun having him home.  It'll be nice to get back into our normal routine for a while, though - until our next trip!

Dyeing Easter eggs.  They're not so pretty here - since all eggs  here are brown, they all turned out a little dull looking.  It was actually kind of a surprise back in the U.S. when I first opened a carton of eggs and saw white.  I was a little shell shocked.  Haha.

Will happy with his giant chocolate egg.

Enjoying a push-up at the park on Easter

Smashing the sandcastle dad worked so hard on

Posing in front of the lion we pass every day - have no idea what it stands for, but the boys love it, of course.

On Monday, we traveled south of the city to a forest we'd heard about that had millions of bluebells in bloom.  It was beautiful - my camera certainly doesn't do it justice.  The trip there was a bit treacherous, however.  After having to turn around about 12 times, we finally found the forest - only to have to make the dangerous trip in.  The road (a two-way road, mind you) was barely wide enough for our tiny little car - with no places to pull to the side to let someone pass.  So, if you met another car, the loser had to throw it in reverse and back out - a pretty long distance - which was not an easy task - just ask Scott:)

Having a picnic in the park.

This weekend we're off to Holland to check out the tulips in bloom.  Have a great week!

Birthdays and Bronchitis....

Happy Birthday to our Bo!  I can't believe he's two already - I mean, I know I say that a lot:  I can't believe Will's four, I can't believe we'll be here going on 8 months, I can't believe I'm turning 32...but I REALLY can't believe Bo's 2!!  And he is a 2-year-old in all his glory - a meltdown one minute and sweet as pie the next.  He's now getting into the hitting/pushing/not wanting to share phase - which I thought maybe he'd just skipped over, but after our park venture today, I realize that is not so:(  I watched my friend's 16-month-old for a few nights last week while they went to Venice, and Bo was not having another child in this house and sharing his mama without putting up a fight.  Poor Isaiah!

Bo had a good birthday though - a few friends over that morning to play, then 'Quick Burger' for dinner - a perfect day for a 2-year-old:)

The birthday boy

Climbing at Quickburger - he can make it all the way to the top...

...with a little help from his brother.

And he LOVES the slide.

Singing 'Happy Birthday' to himself - he probably sang it 200 times that day - but always 'to Grandma' - not sure why?  Maybe because her birthday was the last one celebrated and we sang to her a couple of times over the phone?  And this is Will and my masterpiece - that's supposed to Mickey Mouse:)  After my boys' birthdays this year, I certainly don't see a professional cake decorating business in my future.

Getting into trouble with his new friend Carmen.

We actually had three birthdays that we celebrated here last week - along with Bo, our good friends Angie and Rachel both celebrated their birthdays.  Angie had a group of us over for dinner on her birthday, the 19th, then Rachel's husband, Brent threw her a birthday/grad school graduation combo party last Saturday night.

The birthday girl and her husband Brent.

Poor Scott has had a miserable go of it here the last few weeks.  He was diagnosed with bronchitis a couple of weeks ago, seemed to be getting over it, then caught something else this last week that, after two trips back to the doctor, they've just thrown the blanket term 'viral' at it, gave him a whole slew of prescriptions, a 'doctor's note' for work, and sent him on his merry way.  It's kind of interesting here...he actually needs a 'doctor's excuse' to miss work - I feel like he's a high schooler punching the clock, working for minimum wage.  It is actually kind of nice, though - doctors have seemed to be very liberal with the days they'll excuse you from, which kind of takes the pressure off a little bit.  He must certainly not feel well - he hasn't really been checking email much at all!  I don't think I've ever seen him this sick...hopefully things will start to turn around in the next day or two.

Bo enjoying his first sip of kool-aid.  Scott wanted something other than juice or water, so when Bo saw him drinking something bright red he had to have some too, of course!  Loved. It.  

Will had his last basketball camp last weekend, and luckily Scott was between illnesses and able to coach.  All the kids got a medal and he is SO proud of it - I still need to get a picture of him with it.

Besides that, not a whole lot else going on right now.  I wanted to make a trip to Amsterdam before we have our trip back to the states, but with Scott being sick this weekend, we're running out of time.  Will has off all this week for their Carnaval break.  I always thought that Carnaval immediately preceded Lent, but it looks like here celebrations are planned all throughout March and even into April - so all throughout Lent?  Saturday some friends and I took our kids to what we thought was a big Carnaval celebration - ended up being very low-key, but the kids still enjoyed it, and it got us out of the house.  Next Saturday is supposed to be the big local Carnaval with a parade and costumes...so we'll see.  Will's very excited about not having school for a whole week.  The other night I was telling him how cool it was that he was learning French and he's only four, and how proud I was of him because daddy and I don't even speak it, and he tells me, "yeah, mom, all you know how to say is 'bonjour'"!  Aaugh!  But I guess he does have a point:  a couple of weeks ago, I was walking home from school with the double jogger.  I have to walk up a very big hill, and must've looked like I wasn't going to make it, because a man walking by smiled and said something to me.  Now, my normal response to people who speak to me in French is mostly just to nod and smile and say 'oui' (yes).  Stupid, probably, and some people look at me like I'm crazy, but what else am I supposed to do?  Anyway, this time was no different, so I smiled, nodded my head, and said 'oui, oui'.  Well, apparently the guy must've asked me if I needed help or something, and I'm sure it was just rhetorical, because he looked at me a little strangely, gave a little laugh, then proceeded to take the stroller from me and start pushing it himself.  So unless I'm ready to just hand my children over to some complete stranger, I guess I better stop answering yes to everything! :)

My biggest news is that I (finally) learned how to drive a stick.  I was so sick of not ever being able to drive anywhere myself, or dropping Scott off at work and keeping the car for a day for myself.  Anyway, I was telling my friend Christie about it and she offered to teach me.  It really wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  I had a basic knowledge of it, anyway, and after a few times around a parking lot, something just clicked, and I've been driving ever since!  I figured there are probably, what, one billion people in this world who drive a stick, I'm not an idiot, I should be able to manage...It's been so great - especially with Scott being sick now.  It's kind of like I'm a teenager again - I can't wait to get behind the wheel.  The driving the stick itself isn't the hard part - it's the crazy rules of the road here that is...but so far I'm managing.  

It was a beautiful day today here in Brussels - hopefully we'll have more like it all week!  Have a great week!