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Published: October 25th 2007
Emma, Abigail & Cole
In front of Arenburg Palace. We fed the ducks here and we were chased by an insane goose!The long awaited, much anticipated arrival of friends from our hometown is here! The girls have been beside themselves with excitement for weeks, diligently marking off the calendar we made and trying to plan every minute of their playtime with their pals. Friday, October 19 our friends Amy & Patrick and their son Cole arrived. After a quick nap we made them forget about their jet lag with a trip to our local palace, Arenburg, and for the more important cappuccino next door (while the kids played on the hotel swing set). We went out for some traditional Belgian food that night and watched the Red Sox highlights and felt like we were almost back in Massachusetts.
Saturday morning our friends Bill & Wendy and their kids Collin and Sophie arrived. It was officially a houseful of fun! It was as though the kids had never been separated. There were constant laughs and good times. They reverted into their old imagination play, but with new medieval characters thrown in for ambiance (of course the boys getting knights' shields probably helped that). It was hard to drag them out of the house but we managed to do a short walk through
The Line Up
In the Begijnhof: Cole, Emma, Abigail, Sophie & Collin town. We showed some sights and more importantly procured some Belgian goodness: the warm waffles. EVERYONE was in heaven and couldn't believe a waffle could taste that good! We came back and had a big dinner at home and unfortunately by this point Wendy had figured out that she had strep throat. Yikes. Amy, Patrick, Jonathan and I stayed up quite late playing cards and enjoying the Belgian beer!
Sunday morning found Bill, Wendy and I trekking around town to find an ER, where luckily they prescribed her something fairly quickly. We returned home and she crashed while the other 11 of us went on an adventure to Namur, which is a town in the French speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia) with a huge citadel. We had been there earlier in the summer but it had been a semi disaster because Emma had gotten the stomach flu. We walked through town and reached the river and I pointed and said what do you think, Collin and Cole both just looked around and then finally their eyes caught the sight of the massive stone fortress on top of the hill and they just stood slack jawed and said, 'oh, wow...'
Namur
The kids on the bridge staring up at the citadel. From that moment on it was FIVE hours of running, jumping, rolling and storming the citadel. They only stopped moving for a snack when we were way-layed by a television crew filming a movie (pretty cool!). The boys carried their shields and Collin, ever the eagle eye, even found an old sword someone had made. We found a dragon's keep and a jail, and when it got late and we discovered most of the gates to the paths leading down were locked we teased that we would be sleeping in them that night. It got cold fast but we finally found a route back down off the hill into town where we found a nice warm place to grab some pizza. We made it home by 9pm (8 hours later!) and the kids crashed pretty hard. Once again we watched Red Sox highlights (GO SOX!)
Monday morning found Amy, Patrick & Cole off to other European adventures in Germany. Luckily the morning also found Wendy feeling MUCH better. After morning workouts Jonathan went to work and Bill, Wendy, Emma, Abigail, Collin, Sophie, Eliza & I all headed to Brussels. We had a unique Brussels day. We saw two comic
strip murals, had a Brussels waffle (complete with whipped cream and chocolate sauce), saw the Mannekin Pis (which elicited some serious giggles), Collin got a Belgian soccer jersey, Bill got into a fight with a store owner (really!), we stood in awe at the Grand Market and ended at the immense St. Catherine's Cathedral.
Back at home we fed the kids and had them in bed very, very early. Wendy got to experience first hand grocery shopping for 9 on two bikes!! Pretty impressive that we were able to put 100 euro worth of groceries into the saddle bags on two bikes! After shopping we booked their trains and hotel for their adventure in Paris later this week, and we ended the night by introducing Bill and Wendy to the traditional Belgian Lambic beers, which I think have won them over.
Tuesday morning Bill went to Antwerp to meet another outfit of police mountain bikers that he had been in contact with in the States. Wendy and I ended up spending the day with a bunch of happy kids at the pool. The girls swam non stop for hours and Collin went down the water slides at least
50 times. Even Eliza tried the water slide on my lap! Wendy and I got to go for a run together before a big chicken and veggie stir fry dinner. Once our kids were in bed Jonathan and I went out for a walk around town (the first one alone at night since we have been here!!). We passed by the KU Library and found that the names of all of the schools that donated materials after the library was destroyed in WWII were engraved around the outside. We couldn't believe how many schools from Massachusetts were listed there (Medway HS, Waltham HS, Holy Cross College, etc). But the highlight was when I found one of Jonathan's alma maters: Cooper Union! When we returned we helped the Laramees finish packing and in the morning they are off for Paris and we will eagerly be awaiting their return.
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Mom
non-member comment
Great pictures and narrative. Everyone sounds and looks as though they are having a terrific time!! Can't wait to get there. Go Sox (Erin and I are going to Game 2 of the World Series tonight-pinch us, we must be dreaming!!).