First Day of School!

The school day ended with, "Mom, I have the greatest teacher EVER!"  That made my heart so happy, and I would say that day 1 was a huge success!!  Both kids are excited about their teachers and the kids in their classes.  Here are some of the obligatory first day of school pictures.  

Thomas ~ 4th Grade!
A former student, now in his mid-twenties, pointed out on Facebook that this was the age he was when he walked into my classroom.  Wow!  That puts things into perspective.  

Allison ~ 6th Grade!  This is her last year of elementary school....sniff sniff!  The poor thing was attacked by mosquitos in the night a couple of nights ago.  Her bottom lip and ear are quite swollen. She also had bites all over her neck and ankles.  This is not the look she was going for on the first day of school.

I gasped when I saw this one.  Oh Allison, please stop growing up!!!

I REALLY wanted a picture in front of the sign at school.  So, I made them stand in the median.  They were mortified!  And, the picture didn't turn out anyway because the sun was too bright.  And, I am not complaining about the bright sun one bit!

A shot in front of the chateau after school.

And, the picture in front of the sign finally worked after school. :)  Right after this, Allison lost a tooth...her second one this week.  It was a very eventful day!

Until next time,
Wendy

Le Palais Royal de Bruxelles

While the royals are away, the commoners will play!  

The Royal Palace in Brussels is open for just over a month from the end of July until September 9th.  This proved to be a terrific way to end our summer vacation.  What a beautiful place!!!  The pictures will speak for themselves.  Thank you again Staci for the invite.  We are so happy we went along!

Allison and Ella 

The entrance to the palace. 

I'm thankful I do not have to clean the chandeliers!

Our assumption was this was Murano glass from Venice, Italy...with all of the Venice paintings surrounding it???  If only I had spent that euro on the palace guide.  Darn!

My favorite room!  AMAZING!  Of course, I like the way my iPhone picture turned out rather than this one.  Check it out on Facebook.

This ceiling and chandelier were created with 1.4 million shell casings of Thai jewel beetles.  Yep, you read that correctly.  It was beautiful, but it still gave me the creeps!

Crafts in the "beetle room".

All of the kiddos!

I still walk around the city in awe and think to myself...I can't believe I live here.

Until next time,
Wendy

SonGames 2012

Our church, the International Protestant Church, hosted the SonGames!  We loved the Olympic theme for this years VBS.  Nothing makes me happier than watching a group of young people share their faith with each other and singing praises to Jesus!  What a great way to spend a Saturday!

We just moved into this church location this summer.  Our congregation shares the space with a Catholic congregation.  It was fun to spruce it up with our VBS decor.

The sixth graders of the church serve as volunteers for VBS.  Allison was given the role of Tumbelina, the spunky gymnast, who works hard to unite Team Smallvania.  To say she made me proud would be an understatement.  I sat back and watched my girl take on a whole new role of  a leader.  She embraced her part on stage, helped with music, and rotated around to the groups to see who needed help.  It was like she grew up overnight.  I had this glimpse into the future, and I think we're going to be okay. :) 

Thomas was part of team Red-S-A.  They made up that cool name all by themselves! ;)

The actors...what a great group!

Super cute snacks!  That is a pretzel rod with cream cheese bagels on the end.  Adorable!!! 

I helped with storytelling.  Thank you First Mennonite Church for the tunic inspired from VBS about three years ago.  This was a shower curtain in its past life. :)

Look out!  She has the microphone!

Sharing their team flag.

Love that face!

"Thanks be to God!" He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

Until next time,
Wendy

Aqualibi...Revisited!

It's been a while since we've visited Aqualibi, but with the new school year quickly approaching, we are trying to fit lots of fun things in before homework takes over our lives.  

We are so lucky this waterpark is only about 20 minutes from our house.  Walibi is the adjoining amusement park that you can see through the glass enclosure.  The kids have been to Walibi with Chris, but I'll certainly need to go because they said it was AWESOME!  I found out just today that Walibi has a Halloween event similar to Fright Fest at Six Flags.  We will definitely have to see that! 

I've had the pleasure of doing these slides over and over again on past visits.  The kids would never let me skip the rapids, which is the attraction that would never be allowed in the US.  You attempt to swim, slide, and dive gracefully while dodging others and trying to keep your head above the water. My main goal is to get to the bottom without drowning and making sure my children do not drown as well.  I just assume I will be missing teeth after each run.  You may remember the busted chin on Thomas just weeks after we arrived in Belgium.  Yes, same attraction.  But today, I actually got to sit in a chair and chat because we came with FRIENDS!!!  Okay, okay, I did give in and do the rapids...just once...and I emerged with all of my teeth.

The group!  Such great friends!
Note the change in swim attire on the boys (it's required.)  Needless to say, Chris hasn't been to Aqualibi, and I'm not sure I will ever get him there.  He says he'll just stick to Walibi.

Before leaving, we always get a waffle.  They are delicious.  Allison claims they are the best in the Brussels area.  Miss A's waffle was so good she decided to wear it...all over her face. So cute! :)

Until next time,
Wendy