Christmas

I realize it's a little late for a Christmas post but I've been too busy/lazy to post anything till now. Anyway, Santa here is a little different to say the least. Here in Belgium we have Sinterklaas instead of Santa Claus. In early November he sails over from Spain with his black-faced helper 'Zwarte Piet.' The children leave their shoes out near the chimney on December 5th then Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet leave the presents over night. Here's the wikipedia entry for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

We were in Amsterdam with the Loyola students the weekend Sinterklaas arrived so we took the boys to see the parade. It was pretty weird to see all the people in black face. Definitely not something you would see at a parade in Baltimore.


Here's a few pics of the boys goofing around at a giant 'I amsterdam' sign located near the art museums. I think Jesse has a future as the class clown and Jack's going to be the 'cool' guy.

The boys also had some Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet art projects at school.

It snowed just before we left for the States. The Begijnhof had a whole new look with a covering of white.


Our flight to visit family in Lake Tahoe was a little longer than expected. We had a connection in DC which was canceled due to the large snow storm that hit the East coast. They rerouted us to London to catch a flight to LA the next morning. After a night in a hotel near the airport we went to catch our flight the next morning and were told that they had no record of our reservation. By the time we stood in line at the United desk to figure it out the flight had left. Luckily we managed to get standby on a New Zealand Air flight and made it out to LA. The New Zealand service and amenities were much better than our usual United flights, but the down side was that we had already spent 8 hours at the airport waiting to get on a 12 hour flight. We decided to get a room in LA and we made the short hop to Reno the next morning. We were a day late and sick of airports by the end of it but the boys did a great job on all the flights, buses, and airport lines. I guess they earned the right to have two days of presents, the first from Sinterklaas on the 6th and then from Santa Claus and the family on the 25th.

My mom came out to Tahoe so the boys had both grandmas to spoil them and help them build a snowman.

They also had plenty of quality time (i.e., logged plenty of time on the Wii) with their cousins

Cousin Joey with Jack and Jesse during a rare snack break between Wii sessions.

They also tried some skiing and snowboarding. By the end of the week they were both cruising down the hill like the big boys. Here are some videos of them on the hill.


This is Jack and Jesse both coming down together. Jesse decides that the best way to stop is by crashing into me, but he stays on his feet and keeps going down the hill.



This is Jack's first try at snowboarding. Somehow he already knows boarding is 'cooler' than skiing. We also think it might be that his brother knows how to ski now so Jack has to try something different.



At lunch the boys took some time to slide down this hill. Not sure what Jesse was doing here but I thought it was pretty funny.

The flight home went smoothly. We've been back a week but we're still recovering from the 9 hour jet lag.

Antwerp

We took a side trip to Antwerp and the Belgium coast. Antwerp was much closer than we thought (only a 45 minute drive). Here's some of the best pics:

Cathedral in the center of town - even though we've seen several around Europe this one was still impressive.

Jack at the famous statue of Brabo throwing the giants hand. Legend has it that Antigoon was a giant that was charging high tariffs on all river traffic. Brabo fought him and cut off his hand.

Close up of one of the sea monsters

Castle near the river - we saw this ivy on several buildings, very striking in the fall colors

Taking the very long pedestrian tunnel under the river

Some great views of the city from across the river

Boys on a large hand statue (maybe it's Antigoons hand?)

Jack and Jesse cutting loose in Antwerp

After a rainy night in Antwerp we made the short drive to the coast. Our first stop was the Atlantic sea wall museum. These were the remains of fortifications used as a shore battery in WWI and then rebuilt and reused as part of the sea wall defenses against invasion in WWII. The great thing about this site is that they've tried to recreate the scenes of soldiers and weapons used at the location.

Jack and Jesse looking out for enemy aircraft

The kids loved all the tunnels and trenches you can explore

One of the several examples of uniforms and weapons (Jesse talked about the machine guns for the rest of the day).

After exploring the defenses we drove up the coast to De Haan, a very nice seaside resort.

Boys at the beach

On the way home we stopped by Bruges. I also took the drive through the country to practice driving the stick shift. All went well till we hit the city and I stalled a couple times at street lights. By the end of the drive I had it pretty well figured out but it's still not completely natural yet.

The tower at Bruges. My mom and I made it to the top (366 steps)

Some views of Bruges from the top of the towerMarkers at the top of the tower showing the direction and distance to towns. This one shows Den Haan where we stayed at the coast.

It was a fun trip and everything is so close we will probably return next spring.

More Visitors and Halloween

My mother, Jane, and my Aunt, Mamie, arrived on October 23rd just in time to join us for the bus ride to Iepers the next day with the students. Mamie is 89 so we weren't sure if she would be up for sight seeing after flying over the day before, but she was up early and ready to go. We split up the boys, so Jack came with us and Jesse stayed in Leuven with Nana and Papa. It's a lot easier on the trip without having to break up any fights between the boys.

Jane and Mamie at Sanctuary Woods

Jack leading some students into a tunnel at Sanctuary Woods

Jack and Jane in Iepers

The next day we all went out to breakfast for some Belgium waffles and showed my mom and Mamie around Leuven. On Monday we drove Mamie to airport so she could fly to Frankfurt to visit her granddaughter. After a little more sightseeing around Leuven, Bill and Marilyn also flew home the next day.

Jane and Bill at the Abbey Park near our house in Leuven

On Wednesday the students had a Halloween party. The American students felt bad that Jack and Jesse were going to miss the trick or treat fun back in the states so they set up one at the dorm. The boys dressed as Superman and Spiderman. The students were really generous and the boys came back with a lot of loot.

Jack 'Bring it on'

I would have shown Jesse in a fighting pose also - but this is the only picture where he stands still long enough to get a clear shot. All the rest are a blur of fists and feet.

All tired out after getting the big haul.

Longest Post Ever

This month has been pretty busy so I've neglected the blog. Here's all our adventures since my last post.

We've been missing our kayak and boating back on the Chesapeake so we found a place that rents kayaks just south of Leuven. We had a peaceful trip down the river with the boys in a couple of double kayaks.

Kathy and Jesse with some of the local fauna

We also found some used kids' bikes on the internet. Now we just need to train the boys to ride them without training wheels.

Jack practicing without training wheels

We also bought a device to attach their bikes to ours so we can take longer trips. It's worked great so far; we can ride out of town and then the boys can practice. Here's a short clip showing how it works.




Kathy's parents arrived at the first of October. We rented an electric scooter for her dad since he has MS. It's been a great way for him to explore the city since most things are within walking (or scooter) distance but aren't easy to drive to.

All this month we've been giving unit dinners for the students. Basically the 70-person dorm is split into 6 units with around 9 to 15 students each. We host two dinners each week. Kathy's parents really helped out by cooking up a big pot of chili one week. The students loved it and it made it easy to feed these large groups. Almost half the students are from Loyola in the US, the other half are a mix of Belgians and internationals. So we always have a diverse group of different nationalities to talk to.

One of the unit dinners

We also took a few side trips with the whole family. One weekend we took a scouting trip to Ypers (we'll be heading back there with the students next week). This was the site of some of the worst battles during WWI. About a million soldiers died in this area. The city was totally destroyed but has been rebuilt to match the old structures. So the city hall and churches look much like all the other original structures you see in Belgium. Just outside the city is a place called Sanctuary Woods with some trenches that have been preserved.

Some existing trenches in Sanctuary Woods

The next weekend we headed east. We stopped for lunch in Maastricht just across the border in The Netherlands. With the EU being so seamless now you don't even know when you cross into another country. The only indication we had was a change in the look of the road signs

Bill (Papa) and Marilyn (Nana) having lunch in Maastricht

That afternoon we went to Aachen. This city was an old spa town during Roman rule and later became Charlemagne's primary home.

Charlemagne's church. The center section is original (786) and the rest was added over time.
The church was very ornate inside with marble columns and mosaic tile in the ceiling.

Aachen also has several great fountains. This one has figures you can pose.

As you can see the weather turned a little wet that morning so we got back in the car and headed to the Neander Valley the site where they first found Neanderthal bones. We had a hearty German lunch and toured the large museum about the history of the Neanderthals and homo sapiens. The museum was even kid friendly so it was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

After that we tried to get a room in Dusseldorf but they were all booked up so we went a little north to the town of Duisburg and managed to find a room. The next day we also stopped by Cologne, Germany the site of a very impressive Chathedral.

Jack took our picture in the Cologne Cathedral

A few days after we returned Bill and Marilyn left on a side trip with some friends to Normandy. While they were gone we took the students to Ghent.

Gravensteen

Here we are at the top of the castle. Jesse was surprisingly glum even after seeing the very cool room full of medieval weapons. Maybe he was bummed he couldn't take one home.

The boys in front of a very old cannon showing off the castle set we bought in Ghent. Jesse perked up after our visit to the toy store.

On the walk home from the train station we meet a family from St Louis that lives just up the street in the Begijnhof. They have two boys 6 and 9. They also know another family from Montreal that live in the Begijnhof that have two boys 6 and 12. So we should have a few friends to hang out with when the weather starts turning cold.

Day trips

An old coworker of mine has noticed I haven't posted lately. I guess he's a little short of reading material to keep him entertained at work. So here goes:

We've taken a couple of short trips lately. One afternoon in Brussels and a day in Brugge with the students.

Brussels is only a thirty minute drive so we went over to check it out and do some scouting for a possible day trip with the students later.

Atonium building

Our first stop was the Atonium park area. We also looked in on a very nice indoor water park at that location. Not much else there, we passed on the rest of the tourist attactions. Instead we took a subway into the center of town.

It turns out that we came on the anniversery of the liberation of Brussels by US troops. So the town square was filled with vintage vehicles and people in costume. There was a band playing 40's music and even a marching band at one point. We tried a fizzy cherry flavored beer called Kriek. It was good for a hot day, but tasted nothing like beer. I think it's a Lambic beer which is normally very fizzy and often tastes more like champagne than beer.

Liberation day in the middle of Brussels

We also did a day trip to Bruges. It's about 1 1/2 hours by train. It was kind of hectic with the boys and the 24 students. I think Kathy and I need to make it back one day without the kids to fully appreciate the city. I think it would be fun to bring a bike to explore and to see it at night when it's all lit up.

Boys playing in the center of Bruges, the famous tower is in the background

Besides that we've just been starting to get into a routine. The boys go to school at 8:30 and get out at 3:30 most days, so I've had some time to take some bike rides to explore the area. I'll try to remember the camera next time to show some of the sites.

We also had a reception wine and cheese party for all 70 students that live in the dorm. That includes the 24 Loyola students from the US and all the other Belgium and international students that are staying there. It got pretty packed with that many people in the house, but everything worked out ok.

Next week Kathys parents arrive for a visit and I'm starting my first fencing class. So I should have more to report by next week.