Family Fun, or The Last Guests

---

Our first house guest was Jonathan's cousin Eric. Our last house guest (or one of them) is my cousin Molly. Accompanying Molly is her friend Sarah, and overlapping their visit is one from my brother Pat and his girlfriend Elisa. The girls and I did our final (?!) trip to Gravensteen (yes, that makes it six times for the kids and they still get a chuckle out of the knight's toilet) and helped the weary travelers to get accustomed to European train travel. We stopped in Brussels on our way home and while Molly and Sarah babysat (I mean slept) the other four of us went out to a few local watering holes to get Pat some "real" beer. He has been won over by the Belgian beer brewing (as though we had any doubts!). And the following day while Molly and Sarah went to Amsterdam for a day trip, Pat and Elisa explored romantic Brugges.

The scheduled train strike on Saturday kept them all local but gave them a chance to taste Belgian waffles, doner kebabs and more beer. Jonathan went out to dinner with the crew while I stayed in with the girls. We switched later in the night and I had our first meter of beer! We went to our first bar and figured out what we wanted while we watched a waitress carry this meter long wooden box to a table. Curiously we peer over and see that it is filled with glasses of beer fitted into holes in the wood. Needless to say when the waitress approached we turned and said, we'll have what their having. I can't believe we almost left Leuven before having a meter of Stella! A few more bars, some fooz ball, more beer and trecherous cobblestones and we made it home to tuck everyone into bed. Poor Pat and Elisa had to bike to the train station at 6am the next morning to catch their train to Paris!

The grand tally on guests is 31!
Two siblings (out of 10)
Two cousins (out of way too many to count)
Three parents (out of 4)
Three professors
Four kids
Five nurses
Two full time super dedicated amazing moms
And one archivist, one police officer, one engineer, one banker, one writer, one postal worker...

We thank you all for joining us in our adventure here. It was a pleasure to host you all and now you all need to go someplace cool so we can come visit you!

---

Photos

Abigail and Pat
Abigail was very attached to Pat when we went to Gravensteen prompting Pat to note, "she can talk as much as Tim!"

Blackmail
Hopefully some of Molly's siblings will see this wonderful photo of Molly passed out on the train back from Gent and get a good laugh!

Pat and the Fooz Ball
...this at bar number two...of several...

The Meter of Stella
Here it is!!!!

And about five minutes later...
...they were empty....

Comments

[Catherine]

That's Molly
That is definitely a Molly Picture, don't worry, I will make sure everyone sees this! I am sure you will miss Europe, but in some ways I am sure you miss the U.S. Next time you adventure over there I will have to come visit!

[Mom]

All's Well That Ends Well!
The pictures are terrific, everyone looks as though they are having a great time..how did we miss that meter of beer when I was there??????? That looks great!! Visitng with you was an incredible experience that I will always treasure, as will everyone else who made the journey.....THANK YOU!!