Living overseas really makes you appreciate more where you come from. There are things that drove me crazy in the states that now I yearn before: the supped up El Camino blaring the latest Nas track, the holographic pictures of Jesus on the rear window of cars that the first time I saw it I wondered if it was a sign, you get the picture ;).

Halloween in Belgium is different than in the states. It seems kids go around on different nights (which I think is dictated by the school or neighborhood they live in) and they dress as scary things like witches, ghosts, goblins, etc. You won’t find a buzz lightyear in the bunch! Traditionally large groups of kids go together from house to house and they will stand in front of your house yelling Dah-may Bon Bons (yes I’m taking french and don’t know how to spell the first word so I spelled it out phonetically. The French is going well obviously :D). The kids scream it until people throw candy on the ground from their window or doors (think of a pinata breaking). This is our 2nd halloween in belgium and we haven’t had anyone come yelling and haven’t seen any kids dressed up around town either.

There is a small population of Americans in the area though, so leave it to them to do Halloween like only an American can! On Friday night, the boys donned their costumes of choice and off we went to Trunk or Treat!

This was really awesome! I’d say there were about 30-40 “trunks” that participated! Most of the participants dressed up and really got into the spirit. There were probably a couple hundred children that walked through with their parents to get candy. The kids loved it and as parents it was just so nice to see the kids experience it. This is something that only Americans could have done (there seemed to be plenty of British and Canadian kids enjoying it as well though)!

Ian still loves the super heroes and I think always will.

And below is master Brum

How was everyone else’s Halloween

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I’m not a huge history buff, but I do enjoy learning about the area around me. In the states, we have always been very good about getting out and learning the history and really experiencing the life that is around us. We have been doing the same thing here in Belgium, but more at a distance, rather than really looking closely.

Belgium has a lot of history and because of its geographic location, has played a part in so much European and World history. Since we’ve been in Belgium, we have done some pretty great things, been to some amazing cities and countries, but we often overlook what is right here, within a short drive.

Last week we were watching some special on the Battle of Waterloo. I had actually told Drew the week before that I wanted to head out there this past weekend so it was perfect timing that it was on. Before watching this special, all I knew was that Waterloo was where Napoleon was defeated. It was great learning about everything that led up to the battle and even the battle itself was so interesting.

This past weekend we drove 30 minutes out there (yes it’s that close) to see the area. It was pretty humbling standing there knowing that you were standing on the same ground that such an important battle was won on; one that surely changed the course of world events.

In one picture below is a statue that was built of a lion with his paw on the globe, “defending world peace”. The other is a view onto the town. You can’t really see much here, but this is pretty much an accurate picture of the weather in Belgium during the cold months.

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Mommy, I don’t really believe that reindeer can fly

Ian said this as we were watching “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (incredible movie). Hearing this come from a 6-year old made me sad. I think I was 7-8 when I found out Santa Claus wasn’t real. My family was getting ready to drive down to Florida for the holidays from Charleston, SC. The station wagon was loaded with the gifts and my sister and I looked at the name tags. “To Jen, From Santa” and “To Sara, From Santa”.

I’m not ready for him to not believe in Santa, but there is only so much you can do. When did you find out by Santa if you ever believed at all? Anyone still believe??

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Today is Blog Action Day and the idea is that bloggers around the world will all blog about one topic. This year’s topic is the environment. I’m not a big environmentalist but I do think one of the best ways to help ensure the future of the environment is to teach our kids about it.

We’ve always been an outdoorsy kind of family. We go camping as often as we can, we love to go hiking; we’re basically trying to bring up the boys with the same love for the outdoors that we have as well as a respect for it. I wasn’t that exposed to doing outdoor activities growing up, but when my family moved to Colorado, I was just overcome with the natural beauty there. After I left home I moved to Monterey, CA, where kayaking, camping, and hiking were regular activities. Drew shares the same appreciation for the outdoors that I have.

Take your kids outside and show them what nature has to offer. Here are some great ways to to spend time with your kids outdoors:

1. Go in your backyard and look at the different vegetation and different bugs you have in your garden. Kids LOVE playing in dirt!
2. When you take your kids to the playground, take some time to just stop, look around, and point out the different trees in the area and listen to the noises that surround you.
3. Go on a nature hunt! This is one of our favorite things to do. Decide what you are going to hunt for ahead of time (as many different leaves as you can find, flowers, bugs, sticks, pine cones, etc) and go out in the trails and hunt for as many as you can find!
4. Go to a Zoo!
5. Grab a frisbee and just start up a game in your yard or in the park! You don’t need to be involved with nature to appreciate it
6. Plan a camping trip! Waterproof your tent and go to a campground, or just pitch it in your backyard! If the park allows, have a fire. Make sure to bring the marshmallows and hot dogs.

I could really go on and on. What kinds of things do you do to get outside with the family? For those without kids, what did you do as a kid growing up?

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After Arizona, I flew to Savannah to visit some good friends and a place I would love to call home again. I had an AWESOME time there and really didn’t want to leave. I got to do everything I wanted to do and spend a lot of time with my friends; it couldn’t have been better.

Below are some pictures I took of the city. I am so enamored with it obviously, but with scenery like this, how can you NOT be?

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My trip around the states has been pretty great so far! I arrived in New Jersey on Wednesday and it was just a nice feeling to be back in the States. Until you are really removed from your way of life, you don’t realize how much you take for granted. I’ve always been a proud American and have known how great our country is, but living overseas just really cements it in you. There are so many simple things we take for granted. John (my business partner and good friend) and I went out to dinner on Wednesday night and it was so nice to just get a glass of ice water, and I knew that if I drank it all, the server would be there within minutes to refill it. I know this may seem like nothing to most people, but we don’t get to have that in Belgium. That was one of the highlights of my day!

I stayed in New Jersey for 2 days and on Friday I flew to Phoenix to see my sister and her family. It’s been over 3 years since I’ve seen them so it has been just awesome to see all of them! We’ve had a fun time getting out and checking out the stores. Today I get to watch football all day…it’s a wonderful thing. In Belgium the early game starts at 7pm and that is IF I want to watch the game that is showing. But the early game here starts at 10 am so I get a full day of football and have so many choices. I know it sounds like all play and no work, but it is a working vacation so today, while watching football, I will have my laptop on my lap doing my work.

I do dearly miss my boys back home but they are doing really great. Drew is an awesome father and there is really no one better to take care of them! It’s football time which means it’s time to sign off. I haven’t taken too many pictures yet this trip so don’t have anything to post yet, but that should change next week!

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I’m sitting at the airport about to embark on my journey to the states. I am going several places: New Jersey, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina…alone. You read that right folks… alone! I’ve got mixed feelings about this as sure it’s cool to have some time alone every once in a while and it’s a lot easier to travel by yourself than with kids, but I’m going to miss them! I think I’ve only spent just a few days away from the kids at a time and those times have been rare. This time it will be for a couple of weeks though. Drew definitely has his hands full. but he’s an awesome Dad so I know he will be just fine.

Getting to the airport was a stark contrast to my arrival here. When I got here not a single person would help me and I SO needed it. Coming here, I parked the car and took the train right into the airport. The person sitting behind me just grabbed one of my suitcases when I stood up and just started walking. So I walked with her. There was a head nod so I understood what she was doing. I tried to speak to her in English, French, and what very little dutch I know, to which she didn’t respond. I didn’t really need her help as I was managing but she seemed to really WANT to help so who am I to say no? We walked in silence for 10 minutes and she was walking fast, so I followed. When we got where we needed to go she nodded and I said thank you and she was gone. I don’t know who this masked woman was, but THANK YOU! It’s nice when you experience kindness when you least expected it. My flight will leave soon, so I’m off. I will update more later.

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Well, we got to take a little summer vacation a couple weeks ago, although we didn’t stray too far from home. Normandy is a region in France and is probably best known for it’s important battles in WWII. I thought it would be a great opportunity to see the area and teach some pretty important things to the boys. We left in the morning and arrived just after noon in the town of Caen. The town was heavily bombed during the war but somehow the Chateau/fortress of William the Conqueror (moat included) was left untouched. So we got to see that which was built almost 1000 years ago. It was really neat. Let me try to tell you about our trip through pictures.

Here is a picture of the boys trying to get the cannons to work on the grounds of William the Conqueror

The Cathedral

One of the places we made sure we went to was the American D-Day Memorial. It was definitely pretty powerful and even the boys felt something there.

Below are the flags of the allies

It was very interesting to see this. I wondered what Ian was thinking.

I was looking at some of the things when Ian all of the sudden called me, “Mom! Come here!”, so I go to see what’s up and he is standing in this hallway. It is very cold and there is nothing in it, but there are speakers that are saying the names of everyone who died. He was very moved by this and he asked me if these were the people who died. “Yes Ian, they are.” He asked, “Will we ever have a war like this again?”, I told him that I hoped not. He knew his Daddy went to war and I had no doubt this was on his mind. He brought it up several times over the course of the trip. After this hallway there were pictures of people with their story. He was VERY interested in this and he wanted to know what kind of “brave things” they did. So I spent the time to show him that it was okay to die for your country. I’ve never been one to sugar coat things so they don’t sound as bad, although I will avoid the gory details at all cost. It was all very heavy.

After we went through the Memorial we went to the cemetary where almost 10,000 soldiers are buried. It was a really neat site. The cemetary overlooks the ocean. Ian made the observation that it would be a great place to be buried. I agreed.

Abram started hugging the grave markers

Over the course of the days we visited several D-Day beaches. Here are some views of the cliffs from Omaha Beach.

We went to the top of the cliffs and the landscape was incredible. There were a ton of bunkers there and giant craters where artillery shells had fallen. The boys had fun running in them.

This used to be an archway but was bombed heavily

Every night we ended our evening on the beach watching the sunset.

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This summer we’ve been keeping close to home, but been keeping busy with work and play. We haven’t taken any trips since our trip to England so we are in need of one! Drew’s unit had an inspection so we couldn’t really go anywhere until now. And school starts on the 21st!!!

Next week we hope to change all of that though. It looks like we are going to visit the Normandy Provence of France. There is a lot of American history there and that is something we want to be able to see before our time is up here. So hopefully this time next week I will have some cool pictures to show you!

Hope everyone is well! I’ve included some pictures I’ve taken this summer.

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No, not THAT Brum, but this one!

Happy birthday Abram, Abe, Brum, Brummy, The Great Destroyer, and every other name we call you. It’s hard to believe he is 3. Since we did such a big trip around Ian’s birthday for the both of them, we stayed close to home this weekend but still had some good times. Abe really wanted to see a castle and there is no shortage of castles here in Belgium. We actually ended up going to a citadel in the city of Namur. It isn’t quite a castle but more a fortress protecting the city. We saw some buildings that were built in the 11th century. Here is a picture from across the river:

It was a really cool series of buildings lining the hill. There was an old roman amphitheater there too, but a rock concert was being held there that same day so we didn’t get to explore the amphitheater. Here are some pics from up top:

Well, we all know how I like birthdays and I think they should be celebrated, so of course we celebrated all weekend long. On Sunday we spend the day at the zoo and playgrounds and out to dinner that evening. Ian even let Abe play his Nintendo DS.

Here is a pic I took of the birthday boy!

And here is a picture that Abe took of his big brother

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